*the title of this piece may or may not be inspired by a memorable encounter with a dog while sitting in a local London park. After a short greeting the small dog proceeded to lift its leg and unload an astonishing amount of liquid over my backpack. Apart from the faint smell of dog piss that reminds me to this day to stay hydrated whenever I use that bag, what has stuck with me from that encounter is a quest for free yet sheltered (!) public spaces in London.
Some days, getting home from another adrenaline-fueled cycle, I will be sufficiently high on car fumes to cave and admit that life in London can be less than enjoyable. And that’s not just me whining. A Greenpeace-commissioned study by the Wuppertal Institute in 2018 showed that London had the most expensive public transport, third-worst air quality and was one of the most dangerous to walk and cycle out of 12 other comparable cities. Triple score. Equally, the Economist’s annual global liveability index 2023, which ranks world cities based on quality of healthcare, education and infrastructure, among others, sees London falling behind, dropping to rank 46 out of 173 cities.
So, why stay?
For me there is one thing that London does better than many other capitals I know – providing free places to be and enjoy art, science or literature. Since 2001 the fee to all national museums and galleries has been lifted, making them free at the point of entry. (There are many things to say about the cost at which many of the items on display were procured *coughs* *colonialism*, but that would make for a whole other and very different kind of blog post).
Below I share a tentative list of my favourite museums and galleries that I desperately cling to when justifying to myself why I choose to stay.
Uber-scientific criteria for places to make it on the list:
1. You can sit and read for free.
2. You can consume your own drink and food.
3. It’s generally inspiring.
For fun I throw bookshops into the mix. Those are sadly but understandably not free. The order of the list doesn’t mean anything except that this is how they came out. Make of that what you will (I’m still wondering what it means).
South Ken towards Hyde Park: Serpentine Gallery + Goethe-Institut Library
South Ken towards the ‘French quarter’: V&A + L’Institut Français Médiathèque
Bloomsbury Group-y: British Museum + London Review of Books Bookshop
South Bank: Tate Modern + National Poetry Library + second-hand book sale under the bridge (alternatively the Foyles bookshop there)
Further South still: Goldsmiths Contemporary Art Gallery + Feminist Library (double-check opening times on Instagram)
The City, now and then: The Walkie Talkie roof terrace (free but you need to book a timeslot) + a walk around the remains of the London Wall. Check out the Barbican while you’re there!
For eyes and ears but not for the faint-hearted: Tate Britain (I love the ‘Beauty as Protest: 1845-1905 room and the ‘A room of One’s Own: 1890-1915 room) + a short walk along North Bank + listening to the Evensong choir at Westminster Abbey (This is also free but not on every day, so important to check timings. If you are not too squeamish, you might be excited to know that as part of the service you’ll be sitting near the Poets’ Corner in the Abbey, where more than a 100 writers and poets are buried or memorialised.)
The most bearable places in Soho: National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery + Foyles (The Charing Cross Road branch, amazing selection of foreign language books)
The only bearable place near Oxford Circus: The Photographer’s Gallery (they do charge £8 entry but it’s half price with a National Art Pass. Compared to what everything else around Oxford Circus costs, it’s basically free) + their amazing photography bookshop
For studenty vibes: The Gower Street Waterstones + the Wellcome Collection library and reading rooms (the library covers thousands of years of health and medicine across different cultures, they have very cool exhibitions as well but only some are free, so worth checking).
Brick Lane vibes: Whitechapel Gallery + Libreria Bookshop then Spitalfields Market for food (Whitechapel Gallery also has a great bookshop)
For a posh outing: The Wallace Collection + Daunt Books (the Marylebone branch)
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