London never runs out of surprises. Skip the usual checklist for a day and dive into the wonderfully weird side of the city. Here are 15 properly quirky experiences that feel like discovering secret levels in a video game.
1. Drink Cocktails in a Disused 1940s Tube Station
Cahoots isn’t just a bar — it’s a full-on 1940s underground shelter complete with vintage tube carriages, sandbags, and “air-raid” sirens. Order a Winston Churchill-inspired cocktail served in a hip flask. Kingly Court, Soho.
2. Attend a Silent Candlelit Tour of a Huguenot House
At Dennis Severs’ House in Spitalfields, you wander through ten rooms lit only by candles and firelight. The artist staged it as if a family of 18th-century silk weavers just stepped out for a moment. No talking allowed — just the creak of floorboards and the smell of woodsmoke.
3. Sleep Next to Roaring Lions
London Zoo’s Gir Lion Lodge lets you spend the night in wooden cabins metres from nine Asiatic lions. Private after-hours tours, lion roars at dusk, breakfast with lemurs. Yes, really.
4. Visit a Museum Dedicated to Celebrity Poo
The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities in Hackney displays (among many stranger things) faecal samples from celebrities. You’ll also find dodo bones, taxidermy mermaids, and a lion’s-head absinthe fountain downstairs.
5. Watch Surgery Without Anaesthetic (Sort Of)
Climb the narrow spiral staircase to Europe’s oldest surviving operating theatre (1822) in Southwark. Surgeons once sawed off legs in 90 seconds while students watched. The herb garret still smells of lavender and opium.
6. Have Afternoon Tea… on a Double-Decker Bus
Bustronome runs a glass-roofed vintage Routemaster that tours the sights while you eat a six-course tasting menu. Best seat: top deck front row as Tower Bridge opens in front of you.
7. Get Lost in the World’s Largest Second-Hand Bookshop
Peruse over a million books across eight miles of shelves at the family-run Bookmongers in Brixton. The resident dog, Fidel, will judge your choices.
8. Pay Respects at the Outcast Graveyard
Cross Bones Graveyard in Southwark is a memorial garden for 15,000 prostitutes, paupers, and “Winchester Geese” denied Christian burial. Locals tie ribbons to the gates every month during candlelit vigils.
9. Hunt Neon Signs at God’s Own Junkyard
A warehouse in Walthamstow overflows with salvaged circus signs, movie props, and vintage neon. Think Las Vegas meets East London scrapyard. Free entry, excellent café next door.
10. Take a Sewer Tour (Yes, Really)
Thames Water runs guided tours through the Victorian brick sewers beneath Clapham and Brixton. You wear waders and a hard hat. Smells exactly as you imagine — but it’s fascinating.
11. Drink Coffee Surrounded by 1,000 Houseplants
At Palm Vaults in Hackney, pink walls, hanging greenery, and pastel lattes make you feel like you’ve walked into a millennial jungle dream.
12. Try Cereal Killer Café’s 120+ Breakfast Cereals
The Brick Lane original lets you mix Lucky Charms with Japanese imports, then drown them in 30 kinds of milk. Open until 10 pm for late-night sugar rushes.
13. Wander the Tiny Museum of Brands
Over 12,000 packets, toys, and adverts from Victorian times to now fill a time-tunnel in Notting Hill. Spot the original 1920s Kit-Kat wrapper and 1970s Space Dust.
14. Ride the Mail Rail
The Postal Museum’s underground railway once carried letters beneath London. Now you ride tiny trains through the same 100-year-old tunnels 70 ft below the streets.
15. Join a Ghost Walk… With Actual Actors
The original London Ghost Walk (run by acclaimed actor Declan McHugh) features dramatic performances at supposedly haunted spots. No jump scares — just superb storytelling under gas lamps.London proves endlessly eccentric once you step off the beaten path. Pick any three from this list and you’ll have the most memorable day of your trip — and stories nobody back home will believe.
Want someone to show you the quirkiest corners without the research? We run small-group “Hidden & Weird London” walking tours that include many of these spots (and a few we keep secret). Come join the fun!
