Hidden Gems Near London
Written by UK Hidden Gems Editorial
Updated 5 August 2026
The hidden gems near London are The Smallest Police Station in the UK, Churchill War Rooms, Pickering Place, Two Chairmen Pub, St. Margaret's Church, Neal's Yard, The Jewel Tower and The Vaults.
London hides its curiosities in plain sight, often within a few minutes' walk of its grandest landmarks. Around Westminster and the West End, the crowds sweep past corners that reward a slower eye.
On the edge of Trafalgar Square stands The Smallest Police Station in the UK, a stone box built into a lamp-holder, while beneath Whitehall the Churchill War Rooms preserve their wartime offices. Westward in St James's, the tiny Georgian courtyard of Pickering Place and the old Two Chairmen Pub near Queen Anne's Gate keep their eighteenth-century air.
Beside Westminster Abbey you can slip into St. Margaret's Church and the medieval Jewel Tower, two survivors of a vanished palace.
North in Covent Garden, the painted courtyard of Neal's Yard bursts with colour, and across the river beneath Waterloo, The Vaults on Leake Street turn a railway tunnel into ever-changing graffiti. Here are eight hidden gems to seek out near London.
The Smallest Police Station in the UK
Photo: John Salmon via Geograph.org.uk
The Smallest Police Station in the UK is a tiny one-person post built into a hollowed-out stone lamp-holder at the south-east corner of Trafalgar Square. Little more than a round stone box with slit windows, it was made in the 1920s so that police could keep watch over demonstrations in the square and telephone for help, and it was used until radios made it needless.
Despite its nickname it was never really a police station, with no cells or desk. It still stands on the corner, topped by its lamp, an easy curiosity to miss among the crowds.
Churchill War Rooms
Photo: David Dixon via Geograph.org.uk
The Churchill War Rooms are an underground complex of preserved wartime offices beneath Whitehall in Westminster, run as a branch of the Imperial War Museums. They combine the historic Cabinet War Rooms, including the Map Room and Cabinet Room left much as they were in 1945, with a modern Churchill Museum telling the wartime leader's life story through personal objects and an interactive timeline.
The rooms went into use in 1939 and were closed at the end of the war, opening to the public in 1984. The entrance is at Clive Steps on King Charles Street.
Pickering Place
Photo: Colin Smith via Geograph.org.uk
Pickering Place is a tiny enclosed Georgian courtyard reached through a narrow, low passage beside the wine merchants Berry Bros and Rudd, off St James's Street. Often said to be one of the smallest public squares in the city, it keeps its 18th-century brick fronts, iron railings and gas lamps.
A plaque on the passage wall records that the Republic of Texas had its London legation here between 1842 and 1845. Stories of duels once fought in the yard are part of its lore rather than proven fact, a hidden pocket of old London.
Two Chairmen Pub
Photo: Andrew Abbott via Geograph.org.uk
The Two Chairmen Pub is a small, old back-street pub at 39 Dartmouth Street in Westminster, facing Queen Anne's Gate and close to St James's Park. Its name recalls the chairmen who carried sedan chairs and waited here for fares in the 18th century, when a royal cockpit stood opposite.
The building is listed, with bench seating and an 18th-century painted mural on the back wall. A separate pub of the same name stands near Trafalgar Square, so the two are sometimes confused.
St. Margaret's Church
Photo: Robert Lamb via Geograph.org.uk
St. Margaret’s Church Most visitors sweep past it on their way to the Abbey, which is rather the point of stopping.
Standing just to the north on the Parliament Square side, within the same Westminster World Heritage Site, this Perpendicular Gothic church of the late 1400s and early 1500s has served as the parish church of the House of Commons since 1614. Its Flemish east window, linked to Catherine of Aragon, dates from the early sixteenth century.
Sir Walter Raleigh lies buried within, while Pepys, Milton and Churchill were all married here. It costs nothing to step inside this working church in the Abbey's shadow.
Neal's Yard
Photo: D Williams via Geograph.org.uk
Neal's Yard is a small, brightly painted courtyard tucked away in the Seven Dials area of Covent Garden, between Shorts Gardens and Monmouth Street. Its buildings are washed in bold colours and hung with plants, making it an easy spot to miss and a favourite for photographs.
Around the yard is a cluster of independent shops and eateries, among them the wholefood and remedies businesses that grew up here from the 1970s. It takes its name from Thomas Neale, who laid out the surrounding streets in the seventeenth century.
The Jewel Tower
Photo: Roy Hughes via Geograph.org.uk
The Jewel Tower is a three-storey medieval stone tower near Westminster Abbey, across the road from the Houses of Parliament, one of only two substantial buildings to survive from the old Palace of Westminster. It was built in 1365 for Edward III as a secure store for the king's treasure and plate, and it stands beside a remnant of the palace moat, with original ribbed stone vaulting on the ground floor.
It later held Lords records and then the offices that tested weights and measures, and it survived the fire that destroyed most of the palace in 1834. English Heritage runs it, with a small exhibition inside.
The Vaults
Photo: Robert Lamb via Geograph.org.uk
The Vaults is a set of railway arches beneath Waterloo station, reached along Leake Street, a road tunnel that has become the city's best-known legal wall for graffiti. The walls are painted and repainted constantly, so the artwork changes from week to week, sometimes from day to day, and it is free to walk through.
Off it, in the arches, are bars, street-food traders and an underground venue putting on immersive theatre, comedy and club nights. It is a lively, changing corner of the South Bank, busy in the evenings.
FAQs
Which hidden gems near London are free to visit?
Several cost nothing. St. Margaret's Church beside Westminster Abbey is free to enter, Neal's Yard in Covent Garden is an open courtyard, and The Vaults along Leake Street beneath Waterloo is free to walk through.
Where is the smallest police station in the UK?
It sits at the south-east corner of Trafalgar Square in London, built into a hollowed-out stone lamp-holder. Made in the 1920s so police could watch over demonstrations, this round stone box was never truly a police station, with no cells or desk inside.
What can you see at the Churchill War Rooms?
The Churchill War Rooms, beneath Whitehall in Westminster, preserve the Cabinet War Rooms, including the Map Room and Cabinet Room left much as they were in 1945. A modern Churchill Museum tells the wartime leader's life story through personal objects and an interactive timeline.
Conclusion
For all its scale, London rewards those who wander off the main routes. Squeeze past The Smallest Police Station on Trafalgar Square, descend into the Churchill War Rooms beneath Whitehall, or find the hidden Georgian calm of Pickering Place and the old Two Chairmen Pub in St James's.
By Westminster Abbey, St. Margaret's Church and the medieval Jewel Tower recall a lost royal palace, while Neal's Yard splashes Covent Garden with colour and The Vaults turn a Waterloo tunnel into a shifting gallery of graffiti.
Nearly all lie within a mile of Westminster, an easy day on foot with a river crossing to the South Bank. Whether you come for wartime history, a quiet courtyard or street art, these are the hidden gems to seek out near London.
