Tourists sometimes wrongly assume that Westminster just consists of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. In fact, it’s a city within a city (just like the City of London’s financial district, which confusingly is also a city outside the city of London!)
Many areas that you likely already know are also within Westminster City (we’ll meet them in a second). Not surprising, considering it runs from the River Thames through to Oxford Street.
Westminster is also home to the West End (with 39 theatres, this is more than anywhere bar New York’s Broadway). You likely will get there on one of the iconic bright red double-decker buses, which carry 6 million people daily across the city.
It’s said that Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels were inspired by the number of the bus (007) that used to pass by his favourite pub!
There are also two major churches here: Westminster Cathedral (one of the biggest Catholic churches on earth) and the Anglican Westminster Abbey (where monarchs are crowned).
Built in a neo-Byzantine red brick style, the Catholic church caused embarrassment for a right-wing party a few years back, when it complained that a BBC presenter was reporting from ‘outside a mosque’.
Not that there was anything wrong it had been, but it showed that ‘nationalists’ don’t even know their own architecture!
Actor/writer Alex Andreou began a Twitter feed of ‘ThingsThatAreNotMosques’ (posting images say of the Eiffel Tower) to gently chastise those who seek to divide, rather than unite the most tolerant of nations.
Another ‘English’ political party made a similar mistake, thinking that Brighton Pavilion was a mosque. And these people wish to run us?
The Great Striking Clock of Westminster
Big Ben is an iconic landmark with five bells, situated at the north end of the Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament) where MPs meet to shout at each other. Built in 1859, it has 334 steps to the belfry and at the time of being installed, was the most accurate chiming clock in the world.
Even today, News at 10 uses its ‘bongs’ to present the headlines on TV. Its nickname is likely named after someone called Benjamin, but there are debates as to who.
The tower also has an oak-panelled Prison Room, where in 1880 the newly-elected MP Charles Bradlaugh was placed, after he refused to swear a religious oath of allegiance to Queen Victoria, due to being an atheist.
The City that Houses Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace is of course the seat of our monarchy, controversial due to the huge expense (when homeless people live within walking distance). Originally a townhouse built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703, the palace has:
- 188 staff bedrooms
- 92 offices
- 73 bathrooms
- 52 private bedrooms
- 19 state rooms
- A swimming pool
- A doctor surgery
- A cinema
- A jeweller’s workshop
- A 42-acre Garden
- Lakes and a tennis court
- A landing pad for helicopters
- Royal Mews (that house cars and carriage horses)
The palace was bombed 9 times during the Second World War, which destroyed the chapel. In modern times, some rooms are open to the public to raise funds (after a claim to heat the palace from public community energy funds was rejected). Due to fears on public opinion, when many people can’t afford to heat their homes.
As recently as a few decades ago, the Palace tried to become exempt from the Race Relations Act 1968, so could not be complained about, for not employing black people for clerical jobs (only as domestic servants).
Things have thankfully moved on, but it does give food for thought, against a system still ruled based on bloodlines. The Monarch still has right to appoint Bishops and pardon anyone in prison. Of course, King Charles would never release a serial killer, but he could if he wanted.
Trafalgar Square (and its pretty pigeons)
Trafalgar Square is home to the stone lions and Nelson’s Column. Each year, a gifted tree arrives from Oslo, to thank for help during World War II. Some say rather than shipping it across the North Sea to Felixstowe, it would be better to grow and replant a local tree.
Trafalgar Square was also home to thousands of feral pigons, until people were banned from feeding them. It’s good to leave wildlife alone.
But sudden stops can cause starvation, so councils should have worked with pigeon experts, rather than send in haws that sometimes ripe birds apart, in front of terrified children.
Trafalgar Square is also home to England’s smallest police station. As the square has often been used for peaceful protests, the station housed a discreet police officer, who could quickly call Scotland Yard for help, if protests got out of hand.
A London Market (once owned by monks)
Covent Garden is known for its flowers and mime artists, but used to be owned by the monks of Westminster Abbey. The market building still houses pineapple-shaped lamps, due to being the first place you could buy tropical fruits, back in the day.
If buying or selling flowers, know toxic flowers to avoid near pets. Avoid displaying foliage near gardens, to help stop bird strike.
The monks lost the garden after property was seized during Henry VIII’s Reformation (when he replaced himself as head of the church over Rome’s Catholic Pope).
Here you’ll also find Drury Lane (London’s oldest theatre) and Royal Opera House (students at the Royal Ballet School can reach it over the concertina-like Bridge of Aspiration).
Other well-known districts of the City of Westminster are:
- Soho was originally for aristocrats, but today is more for other professions (back in 1854, the area was hit with a bad outbreak of cholera).
- St James (home to a park, and handmade shirts for rich gentlemen).
- Victoria was built to ferry people from London to Chatham or Brighton (a major holiday destination).
- Knightsbridge (shared with Kensington) is home to Harrods (singer Leona Lewis declined the offer of turning on the Christmas lights, due to it selling fur).
- Green spaces include Green Park, Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park (home to an IRA bombing that killed not just humans, but 7 innocent horses).
The ‘Westminster vs Westminster’ Court Case
Pimlico is south of Belgravia, known for Regency architecture (over 350 Grade 2 listed buildings). Most of this area (and half of neighbouring Mayfair, the most expensive property on the Monopoly board) are owned by the Duke of Westminster.
The previous Duke went to court (‘Westminster vs Westminster’) after being told to sell 750,000 properties to leaseholders at a fair price, due to long-term tenancy.
He resigned from the Conservative party in protest, despite owning up to 300 acres of exclusive London districts, with an estimated worth of 3.5 billion pounds.
Since his death, the empire has transferred to the young shoulders of his son, who despite being born with ‘the longest silver spoon anyone could have’ is using some wealth to help the less fortunate.
But calls for him to ban hunting on estates he owns (one creature was killed in someone’s garden, after the hunt pursued it onto private land) have gone unheard.
The trial about leaseholds a few years back, opened up a can of worms on what ‘upper class, middle class and working class’ people were entitled to. The Sunday Correspondent offered a crate of brown ale for the best description of working class, and the winner wrote:
Wearing overalls on weekdays and painting somebody else’s house to earn money? You’re working-class. Wearing overalls at weekends, painting your own own to save money? You’re middle class.
Barrister John Mortimer (who wrote ‘Rumpole of the Bailey‘) said that Margaret Thatcher had already abolished the working class, so now you were either ‘middle class or sleeping in a cardboard box’.
The City of Westminster is also home to a major public school. This is a private school open to people of any background and not run for profit of the owner (though fees are a whopping £30K or so a year).
Famous pupils include Louis Theroux, Helena Bonham-Carter, John Gielgud, Tony Benn, and Gary Holton (from TV series Aufwiedersen Pet, who sadly died after drug and alcohol problems at just 33).
