Pudding Lane Steps

These stairs lead to a viewing area looking out over the River Thames.

Exploring London, as I do, I invariably discover new shortcuts, pieces of history or some hidden gem that I knew nothing about.

So it was on this particular Bank Holiday as I, Keilyn and my friend Gary made our way from Aldgate, via a meandering route, towards Baker Street, taking in the sites along the way.

As we approached The Monument I remembered that there was a stairway that would lead to a viewing area, above the north bank of the River Thames, so we set about finding it.

The stairway was easy to find, being situated on the corner of Monument Street and Pudding Lane, so up it we climbed, with Keilyn going ahead and looking for fossils in the stone walls of the office building.

At the top of the stairway, with the offices to our right, we could look down on Pudding Lane on our left, while ahead was an information board and an engraved slab.

Roman London information board.

Archaeology Information.

The route then took us across a high walk over Pudding Lane and onto a wide concourse. Here the route split with one path that would take you along the side of Peninsula House and back to Monument Street, while the other route traversed Lower Thames Street, which was the one we took.

Looking down onto Lower Thames Street.

Looking down on the crowds walking along Lower Thames Street we suddenly realised that we had these great views and walkways to ourselves. On the south side of Lower Thames Street a set of stairs wound their way down to the street and the Church of St Magnus the Martyr, but we continued straight ahead.

We then passed between an opening of an office building and found ourselves on a massive viewing area, that was utterly deserted. 

Looking across at The Shard.

Directly in front of us The Shard looked dark and menacing as it waited for the sun to breakthrough the clouds. Tower Bridge and HMS Belfast could be seen, unobstructed from our vantage point, with London Bridge to the west.

Looking down onto the River Thames from our deserted vantage point.

The mass of crowds below us, filling the narrow north bank path, passed by oblivious to our presence above them.

Having had our fill of the view we headed down a stairway and joined the masses on the crowded north bank.

Below is a link to a short video of our route.

The Route