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City of Westminster Gaslights Short Walk

Enchanting, meandering route through the Royal Parks and the West End under the warm glow of gaslights. Through parks, squares & courtyards, along alleyways, secret passages, lanes, paths & streets.

Easy London

History

Club walks since April 2015, and a summary which goes back to Jan 2010.

Date Option Post # Weather
Thu, 19-Mar-26 b Evening Walk - City of Westminster Gaslights Part II: Westminster, Whitehall, Covent Garden, St. Giles and the Embankment (St. James's Park to Embankment) 8 warm
Thu, 19-Feb-26 Evening Walk: The Westminster Gaslights (Lancaster Gate to St. James Park) 5 mild and dry
Thu, 20-Mar-25 Evening Walk - City of Westminster Gaslights Part II: Westminster, Whitehall, Covent Garden, St. Giles and the Embankment (St. James's Park to Embankment) 9 pleasant and warm
Thu, 06-Mar-25 Evening Walk - City of Westminster Gaslights Part I: Royal Parks of the West End, St. James's and Westminster (Lancaster Gate to St. James's Park) 6 cloud free but mild
Thomas G
Part I of this walk was posted a few weeks back...
Length : 6.8 km (4.3 mi)
Net Walking Time : 1 ½ - 2 hours
Meet: St. James’s Park Station at 18.45 hours (northeasterly station exit, at street level, by the junction of Petty France and St. Anne’s Gate streets). St. James’s Park Station is a stop on the District and Circle Lines .
Finish : Embankment Station, a stop on the District and Circle Lines as well as the Northern (Charing Cross Branch) and Bakerloo Lines and very close to Charing Cross Mainline Station.
Both stations as well as the whole route are within Zone 1.
The blurb for the full route, split over two evenings:

“In 1807, London was the first city in the world to light its streets by gas, which was much cheaper and produced brighter lights than the previously used candles or oil lamps. More than 200 years later, there are still about 1,300 gas-fuelled street lights left, bathing their surroundings in a markedly warmer, yellower glow than electric lights. About 270 of those are in the City of Westminster, preserved after a campaign to stop the Council from replacing them all on cost grounds.

This meandering route through the Royal Parks of the West End, St. James’s, Westminster, Whitehall, Covent Garden, St. Giles and the Embankment passes a fair few of those gaslights, while leading through parks, squares and courtyards and along alleyways, secret passages, lanes, paths and (mainly) residential streets, while also passing numerous well-known and not so well-known sites of historical, architectural or political interest, many of which will be new even to born Londoners.

The route is rewarding in light as well as in darkness, as some of the parks and alleyways are closed at night, while some of the gaslights in those areas are on even during the day.”


Eat/Drink: Numerous options en route and at the end. Check the pdf for details.

For walk directions , map, photos and gpx/kml files click here .

  • Thomas G
    Mar-26

    5 walkers convened at the start point on a warm evening. The pubs around St. James's and all through the route were heaving with punters standing around outside and enjoying what feels like the start of spring, but we marched on, following the warm glow of the gas lights.

    At some point after Westminster Cathedral, in those very atmospheric side streets with just gaslights and hardly any electric light pollution from residential buildings (they're almost all offices), we overtook a mini-group of 3, who turned out to be SWC as well. Having arrived late, they chose a slightly straighter route. 8

    1 left on Long Acre in Covent Garden, the rest stayed together to the end at Gordon's Wine Bar, where 4 others said their farewell and 2 were convinced by their just-returned Antipodean company that only inside tables would do for dinner (despite the overhead heaters at Gordon's). So, L'Olivo around the corner it was.

Stargazer
The Westminster Gaslights (Lancaster Gate to St. James Park)
Meet: Lancaster Gate Station at 18.30 hours (at street level). Lancaster Gate is on the Central Line and a short walk from Paddington Station. Finish : St. James’s Park Station , a stop on the District and Circle Lines. Both stations as well as the whole route are within Zone 1.
Distance: 3.9 Miles/6.2km
Difficulty: None
This is the first half of a longer walk that explores the atmospheric gaslights of central London which were first fired up in 1807 -- London being the first city in the world to use gas lights! I thought it would be fun to explore the lights while the evenings are still dark.... Although there is some overlap with the start of last Thursday's walk -- it does not appear anyone did that walk.... Hopefully, there is better turn out this time around....
The first portion of this meandering route goes through the Royal Parks of the West End to St. James’s Park. The second half which will be posted in due course will go from St. James' Park to Embankment.


Eat/Drink: Plenty of options en route plus at the end The Two Chairmen (Greene King), The Sanctuary House Hotel (Fuller’s), the Blue Boar , The Feathers (Nicholson’s) or The Old Star (Greene King).

For more information on the walk and its instructions and map, click here .

  • Ann Onymous
    Feb-26

    Having missed the start of this walk on Thurs, I estimated I might intercept other walkers at Hyde Pk Corner but had no luck either there or subsequently. I hope other people did the route, and enjoyed it as I did - very atmospheric, as well as interesting historically.

  • Baker
    Feb-26

    Sorry we missed you!4 of us assembled at Lancaster gate, and after waiting 5 minutes, we set off. The weather was surprisingly mild and dry , the gas lamps still interesting, we ventured into Blue Ball Yard and Pickering Place too. Had to give a pass to a few pubs as they were very crowded, ended up in Silver Cross.

  • Baker
    Feb-26

    Final number is5 with previous commenter.

Thomas G
Length: 6.8 km (4.3 mi)
Net Walking Time: 1 ½ - 2 hours
Meet: St’ James’s Park Station at 18.45 hours (Broadway exit, at street level). St. James’s Park Station is a stop on the District and Circle Lines.
Finish: Embankment Station, a stop on the District and Circle Lines as well as the Northern (Charing Cross Branch) and Bakerloo Lines and very close to Charing Cross Mainline Station.
Both stations as well as the wh ole route are within Zone 1.
The blurb for the full route, split over two Thursdays:
“In 1807, London was the first city in the world to light its streets by gas, which was much cheaper and produced brighter lights than the previously used candles or oil lamps. More than 200 years later, there are still about 1,300 gas-fuelled street lights left, bathing their surroundings in a markedly warmer, yellower glow than electric lights. About 270 of those are in the City of Westminster, preserved after a campaign to stop the Council from replacing them all on cost grounds.
This meandering route through the Royal Parks of the West End, St. James’s, Westminster, Whitehall, Covent Garden, St. Giles and the Embankment passes a fair few of those gaslights, while leading through parks, squares and courtyards and along alleyways, secret passages, lanes, paths and (mainly) residential streets, while also passing numerous well-known and not so well-known sites of historical, architectural or political interest, many of which will be new even to born Londoners.
The route is rewarding in light as well as in darkness, as some of the parks and alleyways are closed at night, while some of the gaslights in those areas are on even during the day.”


Eat/Drink: Numerous options en route and at the end. Check the pdf for details.

For walk directions , map, photos and gpx/kml files click here .
  • Thomas G
    Mar-25

    Knowing that half the people that were on the first part of the walk a couple of weeks ago wouldn't be able to make it today, I was not surprised when no one else had arrived at the meeting point even 4 minutes after the appointed time. A bit sad, but there you go, life can be tough for walk posters! It was great weather for an evening stroll though, even if I knew the route inside out, so off I set as just the 1. 5 minutes later I received a phone call from another one of those that had been on part 1, asking whether I'd be coming on the walk and proclaiming that 'they' were waiting for me. Turns out another 8 had met at another exit from the station, and were indeed still there. I duly waited at Westminster Abbey for them to catch up and on we went together. Unlike part 1, this part of the walk has various areas that are closed at night, so some of the lights and atmospheric squares and parks we had to circumvent. Group cohesion proved a problem once we hit Westminster tube station and almost all the areas beyond that, purely for the amount of people everywhere: tourists, after-work drinkers, commuters, the lot. But we always re-grouped after a while. Once in Covent Garden, 2 split off to go home. 5 of the rest stayed in Gordon's Wine Barat the end (outside table with a heater or two) until half past 10, sorting out the world (and areas beyond). A pleasant evening out in fine company (eventually). 9 pleasant and warm

Thomas G
Length: 6.2 km (3.9 mi)
Net Walking Time: 1 ½ - 2 hours
Meet: Lancaster Gate Station at 18.45 hours (at street level). Lancaster Gate is on the Central Line and a short walk from Paddington Station.
Finish: St. James’s Park Station, a stop on the District and Circle Lines.
Both stations as well as the wh ole route are within Zone 1.
The blurb for the full route, split over two Thursdays:
“In 1807, London was the first city in the world to light its streets by gas, which was much cheaper and produced brighter lights than the previously used candles or oil lamps. More than 200 years later, there are still about 1,300 gas-fuelled street lights left, bathing their surroundings in a markedly warmer, yellower glow than electric lights. About 270 of those are in the City of Westminster, preserved after a campaign to stop the Council from replacing them all on cost grounds.
This meandering route through the Royal Parks of the West End, St. James’s, Westminster, Whitehall, Covent Garden, St. Giles and the Embankment passes a fair few of those gaslights, while leading through parks, squares and courtyards and along alleyways, secret passages, lanes, paths and (mainly) residential streets, while also passing numerous well-known and not so well-known sites of historical, architectural or political interest, many of which will be new even to born Londoners.
The route is rewarding in light as well as in darkness, as some of the parks and alleyways are closed at night, while some of the gaslights in those areas are on even during the day.”


Eat/Drink: Plenty of options en route plus at the end The Two Chairmen (Greene King), The Sanctuary House Hotel (Fuller’s), the Blue Boar, The Feathers (Nicholson’s) or The Old Star (Greene King).

For walk directions , map, photos and gpx/kml files click here .

  • Thomas G
    Mar-25

    The Central Line (westbound) was a bit troubled, so we waited 5 minutes or so beyond the posted time, then set off, with a cloud-free sky, mild temps and a half full moon, ie ideal conditions for a walk based around not-quite-so-bright streetlights (of which there were many). We took 95 minutes to get to near St. James's Tube, where the old adage that Thursdays are the new Fridays was proven to be very true indeed: stacks of people outside every pub going, extreme noise levels inside and long waits at the bar to order. 6 of us ate in the (possibly) noisiest dinner environment ever, at The Sanctuary House, then tubed it home. cloud free but mild