Quirky London tourist attractions

[Subeccoo]

Hey all
I know London very well and usually only visit family there but my 16 yo ds and I have a few days there next week and we want to do some stuff.
We've done all the usual tourist stuff, so looking for some hidden gems?!
DS loves anything geeky. He's obsessed with Japanese culture too. Art is good, museums if they're really engaging... Anything goes really!
Anyone got any good ones?

Where's the Banksy tunnel that people are referring to please? I am taking DS to London for the Banksy exhibition and we're going to see as much street art as we can.

Feeling so much love for London reading this thread

Surprised no one mentioned England’s oldest prison, neat London Bridge
We enjoyed

www.clink.co.uk/

Freaky - Leake St near Waterloo I believe.

Did the Clink last year!

Highgate cemetery, it's fascinating.

I'm making a note of all these suggestions for next trip to London hopefully not far away

This is why I love mn. You just come a across a thread you weren't expecting and get loads of ideas

I was just thinking that @SunSeaSurfGin 😊

Cheers, @Subeccoo

@SunSeaSurfGin

I'm making a note of all these suggestions for next trip to London hopefully not far away

This is why I love mn. You just come a across a thread you weren't expecting and get loads of ideas

@Subeccoo

Would you consider asking MNHQ to move thus to the 'London' topic, so it's a bit more readily discoverable by others who are planning trips?

[quote Marmitemarinaded]Feeling so much love for London reading this thread

Surprised no one mentioned England’s oldest prison, neat London Bridge
We enjoyed

www.clink.co.uk/[/quote]
I mentioned it on page 2 SO THERE

Also it may be a bit of a tourist cliche, but you have to have proper pie and mash at least once.

@Subeccoo

Will defo do the mound! He loves the saatchi gallery, been loads of times. Did sky garden last year, loved that ! We've been to Spitalfields loads of times and brick lane but he's never had a famous brick lane bagel so that's on the list too!

Yes he must have a bagel! Delicious!

@Subeccoo

So many ideas, thanks all!! I've a huge list, we've done a lot of what's been suggested but got some new ideas now 😁 In particular anything Japan related is at the top, he will love all of it, with obviously some good sushi consumed too 🍣😁

The Tokyo Diner in Chinatown.

Also we've booked here

www.theguardian.com/food/2021/jul/04/jay-rayner-restaurant-review-humble-chicken-london-it-is-a-huge-amount-of-fun

Sounds amazing and very cheap!

These are things I've done and enjoyed:

Escape room (creepy toy store theme)
noescapelondon.co.uk

Harry Potter style cocktail making experience (they do family friendly ones)
www.wizardexploratorium.io/potions

Crystal Maze
the-crystal-maze.com/london/hire-us/

This is my absolute favourite - virtual reality escape room/game. Do the Ubisoft one as the graphics are amazing and if your kids love gaming they'll LOVE this!
www.dnavr.co.uk/

Take a Go boat out for a spin
goboat.co.uk/

For food - try Mercato. Lots of indoor food stalls with bench seating.
mercatometropolitano.com

JesusInTheCabbageVan can you recommend any pie and mash places ? We went to London a couple of weeks ago and the one we had been recommended had closed down.

I will ask to have this moved to "London".... Glad it's given people new ideas, im very excited. Like I say, I go all the time to see family (was there last weekend and this one coming) so it's not often you do the tourist thing when you've done 12x a year visits for 35+ years

Lcachu, mercato is one of our fave places 😎 I will give dnavr a look, sounds right up his street

@Violetparis last time I went to one was years ago, I'm afraid! But Goddards in Greenwich has great reviews - chuffed as that's very near where we're staying, woohoo!

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186338-d3180656-Reviews-Goddards_at_Greenwich-London_England.html

(You have to have the green gravy btw, with vinegar, otherwise it doesn't count)

John Soanes
Geffrye Museum
Museum of Brands.

@Subeccoo they've got a few branches. I normally go to the Hammersmith branch which is usually quiet.

You can do an arcade session where they can play lots of different games as solo or group plays and/or do the escape room type thing which is amazing - I've done the lost pyramid and Medusa's gate (the latter my nephew loved as it's along the same veins as Assassins creed...) I personally preferred the lost pyramid one as it was more challenging.

thames rib boat?
I've not done it on the Thames but been on a rib boat, it was awful but funny

Thanks Jesus I love visiting London.

Done the rib, terrifying!!

@SabsFabulous

Market Halls for food - they have branches in Victoria, Fulham & Oxford Street www.markethalls.co.uk Would recommend the Malaysian food and in particular Roti kanai

Also Eataly right next to Liverpool St Station www.eataly.co.uk

Market Halls have gone bust over the pandemic

@1990s thankfully they haven’t! I was in the Victoria one two weeks ago. They have undergone recent funding exercise though