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 Gresham Street, EC2, Tel: 020 7606 3030, Website: www.cityoflondon.gov.uk,
Guildhall Art Gallery Open: 10am-5pm
Mon-Sat and noon-4pm Sun, last admission 30 minutes before closing time. Closed Christmas Day, Boxing
Day and New Year’s Day, Tube: St Paul's,
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As the administrative centre of civic government in the City of London for well over 800 years, the
Guildhall has a long, turbulent history, having been damaged in the Great Fire of London, bombed
during the Blitz and horribly modernised in the early 1970s.
Derived from the Anglo-Saxon word "gild" - meaning "for payment"
- very little
remains of the original structure, aside from the porch and crypt (the latter of which can be seen
as part of a guided tour). With origins dating back to 1411, it also happens to be the only
remaining secular building in London to pre-date the Great Fire of 1666.
However, the Guildhall is not just a place of symbolic interest, as the
building's Great Hall continues to play host to sumptuous state and civic banquets. The interior,
which features monuments to national heroes such as Wellington, Lord Nelson and Churchill, is also
used for the Presentation of the Freedom of the City (in which the new Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of
London are annually elected).
On the same site, the new Guildhall Art Gallery (the original of which was
burnt down after a German air raid in May 1941) displays over 250 works including a few by famous
artists such as John Constable, John Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. As well as organising
temporary exhibitions, the Gallery also contains a small gift-shop with prints of the works
displayed.
During a visit, you're unlikely to miss what is undoubtedly the centrepiece of
the gallery, John Singleton Copley's The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar,
September 1782 (which had a double-height wall built specially to house the picture).
Hay's Galleria
 London Bridge City, Tooley Street, SE1,
Tel: 020 7940 7770, Website: www.haysgalleria.co.uk,
Tube: London Bridge,
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As one of the most impressive (and indeed sympathetic) restorations in Bankside, Hay's Galleria
boasts an upmarket collection of wine bars, pubs, craft-stalls and traditional shops, such as Jones
the Bootmakers.
Originally built in the 1850s, Hay's Wharf (as it was then known) served as a
dockside warehouse, unloading tea, spices and other provisions from around the world. Nicknamed the
'Larder of London', it was also one of the first places in London to use cold storage, importing
dairy goods from as far afield as New Zealand.
Now refurbished as a piazza, the Galleria's huge iron columns support a gently
winding clear-glass panelled roof. Aside from the building's sheer size, the river facing north-end
features a wonderfully inventive moving sculpture - The Navigators - by David Kemp. Equipped with
water jets and several fountains, the 60ft kinetic sculpture is a real favourite with children.
Nearby are some of London's top attractions including Tower Bridge, The London
Dungeon, HMS Belfast and the Tower of London.
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