Mid-morning and, at least on a weekday, much of the population are hard at work. You can join them, and have a bit of fun to boot, by visiting workplaces that offer public access.
City of London Distillery
22 Bride Lane, EC4Y 8DT (Blackfriars)
An increasing contingent of spirit distilleries now operate in London. You can see how they work their alcoholic magic at a number of locations. The subterranean City of London Distillery puts on tours of its rather handsome stills and bottling facilities, as well as regular gin tastings. Likewise the East London Liquor Company which produces both gin and vodka at its home near Victoria Park.
Houses of Parliament
Do you really need the address? (Westminster)
It’s also possible to watch our glorious leaders hard at work. Both the House of Commons and the House of Lords have public galleries, from which citizens and overseas visitors can watch the great debates of the age. You can usually turn up any weekday (except during recess), and simply join the queue at the Cromwell Green entrance, though be sure to bring photo ID. The exception is Prime Minister’s Question Time, which is usually popular enough to be allocated by ticket (bizarrely, still acquired by writing to your MP). When Parliament is not sitting, public tours of the two chambers and the historic Westminster Hall are readily available.
London’s Courts
Old Bailey, EC4M 7EH (St Paul’s or City Thameslink)
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, WC2A 2LL (Temple)
The judiciary at work can be scrutinised at two of London’s most elegant buildings. More commonly called the Old Bailey, the Central Criminal Court has daily queues for its public galleries, with entry on a first-come, first-served basis. If you’re lucky, you might catch a glimpse of the building’s incredible frescoes in the main entrance lobby, and look out for the small shard of glass, still lodged in the ceiling, following an IRA bomb explosion in 1973. Similarly, one can readily visit the vast Gothic Revival pile that is the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand, and wander into any court hearing. Be sure to take a look inside the main hall, a cathedral-like space with mesmerising floor tiling.
London Glassblowing
62–66 Bermondsey Street, SE1 3UD (London Bridge)
Peter Layton’s studio on Bermondsey Street is a treat for the eyes. You can walk in whenever you like and watch the artisan glass blowers perfecting their skills. The studio’s shop is filled with vitreous wonders, but you’ll need to have broken through several glass ceilings in order to afford the larger items.
Blenheim Forge
Arch 229, Blenheim Court, SE15 4QL
(Peckham Rye Overground)
This modern-day smithy nestles in one of the area’s many railway arches, where Jon Warshawsky and James Ross-Harris hand-craft superior knives for the capital’s chefs and food obsessives. They even source wood for the handles from local parks. There’s quite a waiting list for their products, but you can walk by anytime and peer into the forge.
Whitechapel Bell Foundry
32–34 Whitechapel Road, E1 1DY (Aldgate East)
This is reckoned to be the oldest manufacturer in the UK. Dating back to at least the 16th century, it has cast just about every famous bell in history: from Big Ben to the Liberty Bell (now in Philadelphia, USA), and many of the Square Mile’s church bells. It’s still going today, designing the clanger for the 2012 Olympic Games, and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee bells. You can pop into the small foyer-cum-museum any time, but a full tour should be booked in advance (and there’s a fair waiting list).
The Griffin Brewery
Chiswick Lane South, W4 2QB (Stamford Brook)
Of the dozens of brewers now fermenting in the capital (62 last time I counted in February 2015) around 15 offer behind-the-scenes tours, where you can learn about the craft of beer-making and try a few samples. The Griffin Brewery, on the banks of the Thames in Chiswick, has been around for centuries. It produces the ubiquitous London Pride, as well as many other well-known Fuller’s tipples. £10 tours take place most weekdays. Smaller breweries elsewhere around town offer similar experiences and usually need to be pre-booked. Most are housed in industrial units, railway arches and other marginal spaces, producing beers with greater character and (often) strength than mainstream rivals. Personal favourites include By The Horns Brewing Company in Tooting, Crate Brewery in Hackney Wick and The Redchurch Brewery in Bethnal Green, but you’re guaranteed a friendly, tipsy time at any of them.
Darwin Centre
Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 5BD
(South Kensington)
Of all the trades, that of scientist is perhaps the most inaccurately represented in films and media. Smoking, bubbling test tubes, mysteriously coloured lighting and eccentric hairstyles are absolutely not part of the mix – well, not usually – as you can see for yourself at the Natural History Museum’s Darwin Centre. This distinctive, cocoon-shaped building offers visitors the chance to spectate as the museum’s 220 research scientists go about their business, sorting beetles, sequencing DNA and tending to samples. You can even interrogate researchers about their work through a microphone connected to the laboratory.
AT THIS HOUR:
If you want to get into the opera or ballet on the cheap, join the queue for day tickets at the Royal Opera House. The venue holds back around 70 discounted seats every day for last-minute purchase at the Link Box Office (in the corridor that runs between Covent Garden and Bow Street). For popular productions (i.e. all of them), you’ll want to get in the queue with plenty of time to spare. Only one ticket is allowed per person, unfortunately.