PODCAST · society
Publicity - The Travel Guidebook Gap
by Andy Meddick The London Travel Podcast Guy
Where rolling stones gather moss... Guidebooks do a great job of telling you where to go, but not why those places matter. On this travel podcast we explore neighborhoods through everyday spaces, including pubs – revealing rhythms, stories, and hidden histories. Favoring observation over itinerary, we give you the tools to make best use of your travel time, and not return home having missed out.Where guidebooks end, and understanding begins. Travel the way it could be.
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The London Pub That Changed History - The Duke's Head Putney
We'd love to hear from you!Looking for historic London pubs, fascinating London history, a walk along the River Thames, or something different to add to your London itinerary?This episode of the Ready. Set. London! Love Letter to London Pubs series takes you to The Duke’s Head in Putney, a beautifully preserved Victorian riverside pub overlooking the Thames and the starting point of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.But Putney’s story goes far beyond rowing and riverside pints.Just moments away is St Mary’s Church, site of the Putney Debates of 1647, where soldiers and political leaders debated voting rights, representative government, and the idea that people should be governed by consent. Discover why this remarkable moment in British history continues to attract the attention of historians studying the development of democratic ideas.You’ll also uncover Putney’s connection to Thomas Cromwell, explore the remarkable Victorian interior of The Duke’s Head, and discover some of the famous historical figures who once called this corner of southwest London home.From Tudor history and the Putney Debates to Victorian pub heritage and the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, Putney packs centuries of London history into one fascinating stretch of the Thames.If you’re searching for things to do in Putney, historic pubs in London, River Thames walks, London history, the history of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, or authentic London experiences beyond the famous landmarks, this episode will show you why Putney deserves a place on your London itinerary.
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Windsor Day Trip from London - Castles, Pubs & Royal Secrets
We'd love to hear from you!Planning a Windsor day trip from London? In this episode, discover exactly how to spend a day in Windsor, from catching the best train from London to exploring Windsor Castle, the world's oldest occupied castle and home to King Charles III. We'll take you inside the magnificent State Apartments and St. George's Chapel, reveal the best spots to watch the Changing of the Guard, and uncover hidden gems most visitors miss—from the Crooked House and the Long Walk to riverside pubs, Eton College, and breathtaking views across Windsor Great Park. Packed with practical travel tips, local history, royal stories, and recommendations for the best pubs, cafés, and photo stops, this is your complete guide to one of the best day trips from London - and the perfect companion for planning your UK vacation.readysetlondon.com
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London Trip Planning Made Easy - Meet Ready. Set. London!
We'd love to hear from you!Planning a London trip just got easier. Publicity – Your London Travel Toolkit has evolved into Ready. Set. London! Trip Planning Made Easy, a redesigned London travel planning website, podcast and content hub built to help you make sense of one of the world’s biggest cities. Discover a smarter approach to London trip planning, from choosing where to stay and understanding London neighborhoods, Tube stations and fare zones to grouping attractions geographically, exploring beyond famous landmarks, finding historic pubs and walking routes, and adding the stories that bring London to life. Plus, get a first look at the new London Landmark Trip Planner, designed to turn your must-see London attractions into sightseeing days that actually make sense on the map.
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Where to Stay in London - How to Choose the Best Area
We'd love to hear from you!Where should you stay in London—and what’s the best area for a first-time visitor? In this episode of Publicity — Your London Travel Toolkit, Expat Andy explains why there isn’t one universally “best” area to stay in London and offers a more useful way to choose your London home base. Learn how to match your hotel location to your itinerary, preferred neighborhood atmosphere, budget and London transport connections; why staying “central” isn’t always the answer; and when Central London makes sense for a first visit. Andy also walks through a practical six-step method for narrowing the city down to two or three areas that fit the London trip you actually want to take.For more help, visit https://publicitythepodcast.com/start-here/TRAVEL & SAFETY DISCLAIMERPublicity – Your London Travel Toolkit (“Podcast”) and its website and related materials provide travel information, recommendations, opinions and commentary for general informational and entertainment purposes only. They are not intended to provide professional, legal, medical, safety or other professional advice.Information Changes and Must Be Independently VerifiedTravel information can change at any time and without notice. This includes, but is not limited to, prices, opening hours, reservations, ticket availability, admission requirements, transportation schedules and routes, accessibility, walking conditions, construction, closures, laws, regulations and the availability or condition of attractions, restaurants, pubs, hotels, tours and other businesses or services.Neither the Podcast nor its producer, host or guests guarantees that information presented in an episode, on the website, in show notes, on social media, in promotional materials or elsewhere will be accurate, complete, current or available when a listener chooses to act upon it.Before making a reservation, purchase, journey or other travel decision, you should independently verify current information directly with the relevant business, attraction, transportation provider, governmental authority or other appropriate official source.Bookings, Reservations, Prices and AvailabilityMention of a hotel, restaurant, pub, attraction, tour, event, ticket, transportation service or other business, product or service does not guarantee its availability, price, quality, suitability, admission, reservation availability or continued operation.You are solely responsible for confirming current information before making travel arrangements, reservations or purchases.To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the Podcast, Producer, Host and Guests are not responsible for losses, expenses, cancellation charges, additional travel costs, inconvenience, disappointment or other consequences resulting from inaccurate or outdated information or from the unavailability, closure, cancellation or changed price, schedule, policy or condition of any business, attraction, service or destination discussed in the Podcast or related materials.Walking Routes and Physical SafetyThe Podcast and website may describe or recommend walking routes, streets, sidewalks, footpaths, stairs, steps, entrances, exits, pubs, restaurants, attractions, transportation facilities and other locations.A description or recommendation of a route, attraction, business or location does not mean that the Podcast, Producer, Host or Guests have inspected, evaluated or guaranteed its safety or suitability.Conditions may change at any time. Potential hazards may include, without limitation, stairs or steps; uneven, wet or slippery surfaces; cobblestones; curbs; road crossings; traffic; bicycles; construction; crowds; inadequate lighting; restricted access; weather conditions; temporary obstructions; and other natural or man-made hazards.You are responsible for observing your surroundings, obeying signs and instructions, evaluating current conditions, considering your own abilities and circumstances, and deciding whether a particular route, location or activity is safe and appropriate for you.Third-Party Premises and ServicesHotels, restaurants, pubs, attractions, museums, transportation providers, tour operators and other businesses or organisations discussed by the Podcast are independent third parties unless expressly stated otherwise.The Podcast, Producer, Host and Guests do not control and are not responsible for the condition, maintenance or safety of third-party premises or for the acts, omissions, products or services of those third parties.A recommendation, description or discussion of a third party does not constitute a representation or warranty concerning the safety of its premises or services.ASSUMPTION OF RISK AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITYBY USING INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE PODCAST OR WEBSITE TO PLAN OR UNDERTAKE TRAVEL, VISIT A LOCATION, FOLLOW A WALKING ROUTE, ENTER A BUSINESS OR ATTRACTION, OR PARTICIPATE IN AN ACTIVITY, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT TRAVEL AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES INVOLVE RISKS AND THAT YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ASSESSING THE CONDITIONS YOU ACTUALLY ENCOUNTER.TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE PODCAST, ITS PRODUCER, HOST AND GUESTS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR PERSONAL INJURY, DEATH, PROPERTY DAMAGE, FINANCIAL LOSS, LOST RESERVATIONS, ADDITIONAL EXPENSES, DELAYS, CANCELLATIONS OR OTHER LOSS OR DAMAGE ARISING FROM A LISTENER'S RELIANCE UPON INFORMATION PROVIDED THROUGH THE PODCAST, WEBSITE OR RELATED MATERIALS OR FROM A LISTENER'S INDEPENDENT DECISION TO VISIT A LOCATION, FOLLOW A ROUTE, USE A SERVICE, MAKE A BOOKING OR PARTICIPATE IN AN ACTIVITY DISCUSSED IN THOSE MATERIALS.TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THIS LIMITATION IS INTENDED TO APPLY TO CLAIMS ARISING FROM ORDINARY NEGLIGENCE TO THE EXTENT SUCH LIABILITY MAY LAWFULLY BE LIMITED OR DISCLAIMED. IT DOES NOT EXCLUDE OR LIMIT LIABILITY THAT CANNOT LAWFULLY BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED.No Guarantee of SafetyNo statement made by the Podcast, Producer, Host or a Guest should be interpreted as a guarantee that a particular destination, walking route, attraction, business, activity or premises is free from hazards.For example, a recommendation to visit a particular pub or attraction does not constitute a representation that the route to that location, its entrance, stairs, steps, floors, exits or other premises are safe.Listeners and website users remain responsible for their own travel decisions and personal safety.Geographic ScopeAlthough Publicity – Your London Travel Toolkit primarily discusses travel in London and the United Kingdom, the Podcast is produced in the United States and is distributed to an international audience. Travel activities take place under the laws and conditions applicable at the location where the listener travels.This disclaimer is subject to the Podcast's Terms of Use and to applicable law.
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Kew Gardens & The Pub Behind Mutiny on the Bounty
We'd love to hear from you!Planning a London vacation, Kew Gardens needs to be on your itinerary. Don't miss the remarkable history waiting just across the road. In this episode, discover how an unassuming historic London pub - the Coach & Horses on Kew Green - connects to Thomas Gainsborough, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Joseph Banks, Captain Cook, and the extraordinary events that led to Mutiny on the Bounty. Stroll through one of London's most beautiful neighborhoods, uncover hidden gems, royal history, Georgian coaching inns, famous graves at St Anne's Church, and the surprising stories most visitors walk right past. Whether you're building a London itinerary, searching for hidden things to do in London, or looking for the best historic pubs near Kew Gardens, this episode will change the way you experience one of London's most iconic destinations.
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Canterbury - A Beautiful, Easy Day Trip from London
We'd love to hear from you!Planning a London itinerary? Discover why Canterbury is one of the best and easiest day trips from London.Just 55 minutes by high-speed train from St Pancras, this UNESCO World Heritage city packs 2,000 years of history into a walkable afternoon. Explore the magnificent Canterbury Cathedral, follow the footsteps of Chaucer's pilgrims, see Roman ruins, visit England's oldest parish church, wander medieval streets, enjoy a traditional English afternoon tea, and have lunch in one of the country's oldest pubs. From hidden gardens and riverside walks to Shakespeare-era history and fascinating WWII stories, this episode gives you the perfect self-guided Canterbury itinerary - helping you make the most of a memorable day beyond London before you're back in the city for dinner.
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The Kinks' Muswell Hill — The Clissold Arms Pub Walk
We'd love to hear from you!Where did The Kinks play their first gig? The Clissold Arms in Muswell Hill, North London — the same pub where the full band gathered for the last time, 36 years later.Ray and Dave Davies grew up at 6 Denmark Terrace, directly across Fortis Green from the pub their father drank in. In this Love Letter to Pubs short, Expat Andy walks the North London streets where one of Britain's most influential bands was made.You'll hear how a slashed speaker cone from a Muswell Hill radio shop produced the guitar sound behind "You Really Got Me"; why the pub carries two plaques giving two different dates for the same first gig; how Alexandra Palace turned a village built around a medieval well into an Edwardian suburb; and why Muswell Hill still has no Tube station.Also on the walk: the Grade II* listed Everyman cinema, the site of the first ever Wetherspoons, and the railway line that became London's longest nature reserve.Planning a London trip and want to get past the guidebook into the real neighbourhoods? This is your London travel toolkit — historic London pubs, hidden London, and the things most visitors walk straight past.Nearest Tube: East Finchley (Northern line). Allow half a day.
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Day Trip From London - Portsmouth Museums, Southsea Victorian Seaside
We'd love to hear from you!London is incredible — and after three or four days, exhausting. Here's the move smart travelers make - take a day off in the middle of your trip and get out of town.This episode is your blueprint for Portsmouth and Southsea — 90 minutes by train from Waterloo, and a world away from the city. Actual sea. Actual horizon. Eight hundred years of British naval history and a grand Victorian seaside resort packed into one walkable day.Expat Andy, a Brit who spent his twenties living nearby, walks you through it the way a local would. Start in the Historic Dockyard with Nelson's HMS Victory, the ironclad Warrior, and the raised Tudor warship Mary Rose. Break for lunch at a harborside pub from 1700, where warships pass close enough to make you duck. Then spend the afternoon in Southsea. Victorian piers, the D-Day Story museum, a seafront common lined with naval memorials, and the spot where Henry VIII watched the Mary Rose sink.You'll learn which station to get off at (and which to ignore), why locals call the place "Pompey," where Charles Dickens was born, and how to read a city that's half rough naval town, half genteel seaside resort.No guidebook filler. Just the day-trip that makes your London week better.I'm Expat Andy. This is Publicity — Your London Travel Toolkit.
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Beyond Baker Street: Harrow-on-the-Hill, Metro-land's Hidden Gem
We'd love to hear from you!A 25-minute ride from Baker Street takes you to a 1901 pub, an ancient hilltop, and the school that shaped Churchill, Byron, and Nehru.You've got your days in London mapped out — the towers, the museums, the markets. But what about the morning you want something quieter, older, and a little off the usual route? Expat Andy takes us to Harrow-on-the-Hill. A green hilltop in the city's northwest that people have treated as sacred for more than twelve hundred years, sitting just 25 minutes from Baker Street on the Metropolitan line.There's a pagan shrine older than England, a hilltop church consecrated in 1094, and the famous school where Byron carved his name into the paneling, Churchill came back to sing during the Blitz, and a future first Prime Minister of India read his way toward revolution. At the foot of the hill sits The Castle — a Fuller's pub built the year Queen Victoria died, with its original curving bar, glazed partition, and three working fireplaces still in place. CAMRA rates its interior of outstanding national importance. It's barely changed since opening day in 1901.Expat Andy gives you the story and the logistics in one go: why this hill matters, what to look for inside the pub, and exactly how to get there (Harrow-on-the-Hill tube, Zone 5, then a ten-minute walk up the hill). If you want one easy, atmospheric escape from central London that most visitors never find, this is your blueprint. Real history, real ale, no clichés — a signal in the travel information static.
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Brighton Day Trip from London - Is It Worth It?
We'd love to hear from you!Thinking of taking a day trip from London to Brighton? In this episode, I cover whether Brighton is worth visiting for a day, how to get there by train, what to see and do, and how to make the most of one day in Brighton. An hour from Victoria sits "London by the Sea." Here's the one-walk, half-day Brighton plan—palace, pier, oldest pub in town—for your London trip. You've done the museums. You've queued. Your feet hurt and everyone around you is staring at their phone. So here's the move smart London visitors have made for two hundred years: get on a train at Victoria and an hour later you're standing on the beach in Brighton — "London by the Sea."This is your half-day escape, planned door to door. One downhill walk to the water, one historic pub in the middle, and a town that exists, to misbehave beautifully by the sea.You'll get the lay of the land before you arrive. The bohemian North Laine, the bonkers Royal Pavilion that looks like a Mughal palace dropped by a twister, the Palace Pier, the burnt-out skeleton of the West Pier, and the oldest working electric railway on Earth. Lunch is sorted at The Cricketers, the oldest pub in Brighton, where Graham Greene wrote part of Brighton Rock.Then the why. How a Saxon fishing village became a royal party town, how the 1841 railway turned an aristocrats' resort into everybody's, and why Brighton has always been the place where the rules loosen — right up to its standing as the unofficial LGBTQ+ capital of Britain.If you're planning a London trip and want one perfect day out of the city — no car, no kids to wrangle, no guidebook autopilot — this is the one to save.I'm Expat Andy. This is Publicity — Your London Travel Toolkit, Summer Shorts Series.
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Is Bath Worth Visiting from London? The Ultimate One-Day Guide
We'd love to hear from you!Planning a day trip to Bath from London? This episode shows you how to spend one day in Bath, England, exploring 2,000 years of history, iconic architecture, literary landmarks, local food, and a traditional pub—all on foot.Just 90 minutes west of London by train, Bath is one of England’s most rewarding day trips. The only city in the UK that's a UNESCO World Heritage Site in its entirety.Discover the Roman Baths, Bath Abbey, the Royal Crescent, the Circus, Pulteney Bridge, the Pump Room, and the city’s connections to Jane Austen, William Herschel, Ralph Allen, and Georgian society.Along the way, explore Bath’s Roman origins, medieval wool trade, honey-colored Bath stone architecture, hidden historic streets, and famous landmarks. You’ll also discover where to stop for a Sally Lunn bun, afternoon tea, and a traditional pint before catching the train back to London.For travelers looking for the best things to do in Bath in one day, this episode provides a practical walking route through the city and the fascinating stories behind the places you’ll see.
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The Great Stink – How London Finally Got Its Stuff Together
We'd love to hear from you!As London swelters through record-breaking June temperatures in 2026, we look back to another scorching June that changed the city forever. In 1858, soaring temperatures turned the Thames into a foul-smelling open sewer, creating the Great Stink and forcing Parliament to approve one of the greatest engineering projects in British history. Walk along the Thames Embankment with me as we visit two historic Westminster pubs that bookend the story of a Victorian public health crisis and discover how Joseph Bazalgette's engineering masterpiece transformed London's riverfront—and why every visitor to London still benefits from it today.
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Wimbledon - More Than Tennis
We'd love to hear from you!The Fox & Grapes - A London Country Pub by Wimbledon Common. “One of the few pubs in London that's best reached by horse,” and, “About as rural as you can get in Zone 3.” [Londonist]London pubs are more than a place for a pint — they're the key to a whole neighborhood. In this Love Letter to Pubs short from Publicity – Your London Travel Toolkit, Expat Andy raises a glass to The Fox & Grapes, a Georgian country pub on the edge of Wimbledon Common that feels more English village than big city. Built in 1787 and one of the few London pubs best reached on horseback, it's the thread that ties together everything first- and second-time visitors miss when they come to Wimbledon only for the tennis: ancient woodland and heathland, a 200-year-old windmill, the football folklore of Wimbledon FC and AFC Wimbledon (the supporters' club born in this very pub), the Wombles, and the affluent, leafy charm of Wimbledon Village. If you love historic London pubs and want London travel tips, neighborhood guides, and London pub history that help you plan a smarter trip and see the real London, this is your London travel podcast. Perfect for travelers planning a first or second trip to London who'd rather find a great country pub and a quiet common than queue with the crowds. Subscribe for more historic London pubs, London neighborhood guides, and London travel tips.
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Day Trip From London – Cardiff’s Victorian Splendor
We'd love to hear from you!Planning a trip to London and looking for an easy day trip from London by train? Skip another packed day in the UK capital, and head two hours west to Cardiff, the grand coal-built capital of Wales. A whole other country, with its own language, anthem, and parliament. Yet no passport check needed! In this Day Break episode of Publicity – Your London Travel Toolkit, host Expat Andy walks you through the best of Cardiff in a day. The Victorian fantasy of Cardiff Castle, the City of historic Victorian shopping arcades, Cardiff Market, Captain Scott's Antarctic connection, and the beautiful tiled Golden Cross pub. Plenty of Welsh led food options for lunch - a proper pub lunch at a Brains Brewery tied house, The Hayes, Cardiff's Cafe Quarter, and "Chippy Lane." Cardiff Bay - the old Tiger Bay docklands where Shirley Bassey, "Our Shirl," was born. Part travel guide, part love letter to a proud rugby city, it's the London day trip your guidebook probably forgot to mention. Whether you're building a London travel itinerary, searching for London travel tips, or just want a reliable London travel podcast for Americans planning a UK trip, this is your signal in the travel information static. For more London travel guides and day trips from London, visit publicitythepodcast.com. Special gift this episode! Since Wales is, "The Land of Song", we've got some lovely music queued up with the episode. Croeso i Gymru, fy mamwlad. Cymru. Gwlad y Gân.This is Cardiff, there’s a lot to cover. Welcome to Wales, my homeland. Wales. The Land of Song.
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Hidden London - Stunning Victorian Backstreet Boozer
We'd love to hear from you!Planning a trip to London and looking to go beyond the usual tourist checklist? In this Summer Shorts episode of Love Letter to London Pubs, Expat Andy takes you to Stockwell, a South London neighborhood that offers a fascinating glimpse into the city's Victorian past. The Marquis of Lorne is just ten minutes from the crowds of Leicester Square by tube. One of London's most striking surviving Victorian pubs, wrapped in spectacular ceramic tilework and surrounded by stories of royal scandal, railway expansion, David Bowie, and London's largest Portuguese community. If you're researching authentic London neighborhoods, historic London pubs, South London attractions, Victorian London history, or where locals go in London, this episode will add a new dimension to your trip planning. It's a perfect introduction to the Summer Shorts series—and an invitation to explore more of Publicity: Your London Travel Toolkit, the podcast that helps travelers experience London with greater depth, context, and confidence.
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Bow – Experience London on a Human Scale
We'd love to hear from you!Tired of London crowds? Build a day off into your trip. London Travel Expert, Expat Andy shares the perfect escape from the tourist treadmill. A slow, self-guided day in Bow in the East End of London. Just a few Tube stops from central London but a world away from Westminster's queues and tour groups.Wander without deadline through one of London's best under-the-radar neighborhoods. Tree-lined Victorian streets, canal-side parks, and historic pubs, with a relaxed pub lunch as the anchor of your day. Along the way you'll find the Green Bridge and Mile End Park, Victoria Park, the site of London's first WWII "doodlebug," Sylvia Pankhurst and the Bow suffragettes, the 1888 Matchgirls' Strike, Chaucer's medieval nuns, and the spot where Gandhi stayed in 1931. Finish with a pint at The Morgan Arms or The Lord Tredegar beside one of London's finest Georgian squares.An easy, walkable day built for first- and second-time visitors who want real local history, hidden gems, and a break from the crowds — proof that London rewards you for slowing down.Publicity — Your London Travel Toolkit is the London travel podcast for American visitors planning a first or second trip to London, hosted by British expat "Expat Andy" from Miami.To be a guest contributor — London pub owners, tour guides, and travel experts welcome — email [email protected]. Learn more at publicitythepodcast.com.
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Summer Shorts Series Trailer - London Pubs & Day Trips Ideas
We'd love to hear from you!Planning a trip to London? Publicity – Your London Travel Toolkit helps travelers build a London itinerary that hits the highlights without burning out.All summer, two short series alternate weekly. Love Letter to London Pubs takes you inside one historic London pub and decodes the neighborhood around it. Day Break solves the mid-trip slump — when jet lag and sightseeing catch up — with a planned day trip anchored by a great lunch.In the fall, Season Two of the main show returns with 30-minute episodes, new segments, and special guests.Subscribe, catch up on past episodes, and pass it to a friend planning a London trip.Email: [email protected] Web: publicitythepodcast.com
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Old Isleworth – London's Hidden Thames Village Escape
We'd love to hear from you!Discover Old Isleworth, London's hidden Thames village, home to the 500-year-old London Apprentice pub, Lady Jane Grey, Syon House, Henry VIII, riverside walks, and one of London's most peaceful day trips. Planning a London trip and looking for hidden London pubs beyond the usual tourist crowds? Our podcast shorts series is perfect for quick travel research tasks and a great way of supporting London pubs.In this episode of Publicity – Your London Travel Toolkit, Love Letter to London Pubs shorts, we explore The London Apprentice in Old Isleworth. Getting ready to reopen after a major refurbishment by Greene King aimed at preserving the building’s Tudor and Georgian character while modernizing the pub for future generations.A historic Thames riverside pub connected to Lady Jane Grey, Henry VIII, smugglers, ghost stories, and over 500 years of London history.Discover hidden London history, riverside walks, authentic local neighborhoods, Tudor intrigue, Thames beer gardens, and one of west London’s most atmospheric historic pubs near Richmond, Twickenham, Kew Gardens, and Syon House.Perfect for travelers searching for: hidden London gems historic London pubs Thames walks unusual things to do in London authentic London experiences London pub culture
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King's Cross: From Run-Down to London's Hottest Neighborhood
We'd love to hear from you!King's Cross sounds like it should have an ancient, heroic origin story, but the name comes from a mocked 1830 monument demolished fifteen years after it was built. This episode traces the incredible arc of one of London's great train station neighborhoods. From open countryside to Victorian industrial powerhouse, decades of post-industrial abandonment, street prostitution, and a fatal Underground fire that killed thirty-one people. Finally reinvigorated as a global benchmark for urban regeneration. Along the way, our story takes in, a lot! Boudica's alleged burial ground at Platform 9¾. The graveyard where Mary Shelley fell in love and modern science fiction was born. A Welsh drifter found near the station in 1943 who became a World War Two spy after his death. The poet laureate who saved St Pancras from demolition with days to spare. Shane MacGowan founding the Pogues in a local pub, and fifteen regulars who bought their own pub to stop it becoming a coffee shop. Oh — and Elvis is barred from one of them. The reasons are not recorded. We manage to stop at several historic pubs along the way, because as always it's the pubs that survive to tell the tales of evolving neighborhoods.
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London's Hardest Pub to Find - Where Elizabeth I Danced
We'd love to hear from you!This bonus episode is our love letter to Ye Olde Mitre, one of London's most hidden and historically rich pubs. When we visited recently, the bar staff gave us one of the most friendly welcomes we've experienced in a busy city center pub. So, this episode is our return gift to you.Tucked down a narrow alleyway off Hatton Garden, accessible only through a passage barely wide enough for two people. We trace the site's remarkable 700-year backstory. From a medieval Bishop of Ely's palace that hosted John of Gaunt, King Henry VII, and King Henry VIII, through the story of Christopher Hatton (the dancing commoner who became Elizabeth I's Lord Chancellor and gave Hatton Garden its name), to the street's evolution into the world's diamond capital and the scene of the 2015 Hatton Garden Heist.We also explore Ye Olde Mitre's famous jurisdictional quirk. The the land belonged to the Diocese of Ely in Cambridgeshire, the pub was technically not in London for most of its existence, meaning Victorian criminals could outrun the Metropolitan Police by ducking through its alleyway. The episode closes with a practical guide to the pub's interior and a warm personal note from Host & Producer Expat Andy after a recent visit.
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The Lord Raglan - London's Roman Wall Pub
We'd love to hear from you!The Lord Raglan pub recently proudly announced the launch of their new food menu.To congratulate the pub on this great news, we decided to gift them with a special, short, bonus episode featuring the history of their pub - The Lord Raglan, Holborn.Enjoy and share the joy! Send this episode onto your network. It's a great way to support British tourism, and the host of small businesses that are our historic pubs.
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Ep 12 Trailer - King's Cross/St Pancras, Look Ahead to Season 2
We'd love to hear from you!A preview of Episode 12 – King’s Cross, Up Down Up Again. The episode traces the neighborhood's arc from quiet rural crossroads to Victorian industrial powerhouse. We move through post-war decline and the grim decades of the 70s–90s, to the dramatic revival anchored by Eurostar's move to St Pancras in 2007. We end with Argent's massive £5 billion regeneration project. As always, the area's surviving pubs frame the whole story. We also make a broader announcement with a look ahead to Season 2. The show is rebranding as "Publicity – Your London Travel Toolkit" with the tagline "A signal in the travel information static". Season 2 will introduce rotating guest contributors including London tour guides and publicans. A reminder the show is a partner, not a competitor, to the London travel and tourism industry.
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Beyond Borough Market - Bermondsey Beer Mile
We'd love to hear from you!Before craft beer, before the taprooms, before the Saturday crowds with their route maps, Bermondsey smelled of rotting hides, urine, and dog filth. In short, industry! Episode 11 of Publicity - Your London Travel Toolkit pulls us south of the Thames to trace the evolution of one of London's most overlooked neighborhoods. From stinky medieval tanneries banished across the river by the City of London, the world's largest brewery, Victorian railway arches built of sixty million bricks, post-war council estates that held a community together through decades of industrial collapse, to the night a furious Irish cheesemonger returned from New York, rented an arch on Druid Street, and accidentally started a revolution. The Bermondsey Beer Mile gets decoded, Publicity style. Not just as a fun Saturday crawl, but as the latest chapter in a five-hundred-year story about what happens when a place is cheap enough and overlooked enough for the right people to do something important in it. The episode where a railway arch becomes the most honest expression of a pub in centuries, and where the smell of malt turns out derives from the same story as those nose curling tanning pits, except now we have Instagram.
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Pie & Mash Explained – London's Strangest Great Meal
We'd love to hear from you!Step into the bustling streets of old East London, where the air is thick with history and the scent of freshly baked pies, and discover the story behind one of the city’s most iconic comfort foods, now part of Britain's "Heritage Foods Movement". This bonus episode serves up more than just pie and mash—it’s a journey through generations of grit, flavor, and tradition, from eel-slinging street vendors to the tiled institutions still standing today. You’ll meet the legendary families who built this culinary empire, uncover the surprising origins of that vivid green “liquor,” and feel the pulse of a city that fed its people fast, cheap, and with heart. By the end, you won’t just be hungry—you’ll be planning your own pilgrimage to London, ready to pull up a marble-topped table, order a “two and two,” and taste a living piece of history.
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How London Created Charlie Chaplin
We'd love to hear from you!Join Publicity – The Guidebook Gap in our two-mile walking tour of Charlie Chaplin’s London neighborhood. Our walk maps how institutional poverty and family chaos produced the raw material of Chaplin’s art.We’ll visit pubs, music hall sites, residences, markets, and street art in Walworth, Kennington, Lambeth, and Camberwell. Discover how Chaplin’s character of The Tramp was not invented in California but assembled from lived experience on these specific streets. We begin with Chaplin's disputed birth on East Street in 1889, run through his parents' separation, mother Hannah's mental collapse, the workhouse, the pauper school at Hanwell, and the death of his alcoholic father.We then follow Chaplin’s professional growth from a childhood spent absorbing crowd mechanics at the Canterbury Music Hall, to Fred Karno's mime-based training at the Fun Factory in Camberwell, where the grammar of silent performance was drilled into him six years before Hollywood needed it. We pivot through Chaplin’s American ascent, The Tramp's debut at Keystone in 1914, the political courage of The Great Dictator, and the revocation of his re-entry permit at sea in 1952, before closing with his honorary Oscar, his 1975 knighthood, and that stolen coffin. At our final stop at the Chaplin Mosaics at Chandler Hall on Lambeth Walk where we consider that pub back rooms created music hall, music hall created Chaplin, and Chaplin by removing dialogue, turned a South London street education into a global art form.
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Ep 11 Trailer - Bermondsey Beer Mile - Going The Extra Mile
We'd love to hear from you!In 1850, a Victorian journalist walked into Bermondsey and wanted to head back for the door. His senses assaulted by raw hides, tanning pits, human urine, pigeon and dog feces, slaked lime, and ground oak bark. The unmistakable fragrance of a neighborhood that had been turning dead animals into leather for five hundred years.Today it's barley malt over dead cows and dog feces, a significant upgrade for the community.How do you get from bovines to barley, cows to craft beer in one postcode? We’re going to decode that in this episode. Our story involves a cheesemonger who went to New York and came home furious. An Austrian general who made the catastrophic decision to tour a brewery full of people who despised him. And a working-class community that held an entire neighborhood together long enough for something remarkable to happen inside it.It's a pub crawl, of sorts. By the end I'll make the case that a taproom in a Victorian railway arch isn't a departure from the London pub. It's the most honest evolution of it in fifty years and built on a logic that's been running in this neighborhood for half a millennium. Find the space nobody else wants and do something essential in it.This is Publicity – The Guidebook Gap. I’m your host, Expat Andy, broadcasting from Miami in the Sunshine State. My job is to be your insider guide to the London that doesn’t make it onto the highlight reel - the London that’s hidden in plain sight, decoded through its pubs – if you know where to look.Pull out your walking shoes. Episode Eleven - The Bermondsey Beer Mile, Going The Extra Mile drops Monday April 20 wherever you get your podcasts.
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Ep 10 Trailer Charlie Chaplin’s London, Poverty, Pubs & Music Halls
We'd love to hear from you!A late 19th century South London childhood shaped by poverty, illness, and instability. These are the tough beginnings of a generational creative talent that would emerge into global stardom, and exile. On these South London streets, and in the backrooms of its pubs, the music hall begins. Unruly, unforgiving audiences. If you wanted attention, you earned it. This is where Charlie Chaplin learned his craft – born out of survival.A performer at aged five. Workhouses at age seven. On stage again before age ten. By his twenties, Chaplin leaves for America to join a new start up industry - moving pictures. Within years, he becomes the most recognizable figure on earth, a self-made man. The Tramp. The walk, the resilience, the quiet defiance. It originated not in California, but South London. In the next episode of Publicity – The Guidebook Gap, we’ll walk Charlie Chaplin’s formative years through Walworth, Kennington, and Lambeth. The workhouse, music halls, eviction addresses, and the pub where he last saw his father. Every stop a chapter in how a South London kid in borrowed clothes became the most recognizable person on earth.Charlie Chaplin’s London - Poverty. Pubs & Music Halls, Episode 10 available Tuesday April 7 wherever you get your podcasts.
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Eat Your Way Through History – London's Best Street Foods
We'd love to hear from you!It's all about London's great street food in this episode. We start with a famous Earl who named the humble sandwich. John Montagu, Fourth Earl of Sandwich, is remembered not for his long career at the Admiralty, nor for giving Hawaii its first English name, but for a piece of bread with meat inside it. We follow that legacy into the broader story of London's street food - from Roman oyster shells in the mud of Londinium to the eel pie shops of the Victorian East End, the surprisingly global origins of fish and chips, and the foods that didn't survive long enough to be romanticized. We visit the George & Vulture Pub, Cornhill, home of the Earl of Sandwich's Hellfire Club, The Red Lion, Barnes - the pub running the world's biggest sausage roll competition. We trace the line from a jellied eel to the birth of British rock and roll, and ask why the oyster went from the food of the poor to the food of the privileged while the whelk just disappeared. Plus the best street food markets in London, and where to find the city's finest fish and chips.
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Ep 9 Trailer Bite Me - The Upper Crust & Underbelly of London Street Food
We'd love to hear from you!Bite Me – The Upper Crust & Underbelly of London Street FoodApril 1779. A man waits outside a London theatre with two loaded pistols. A lady he’s enamored with is about to leave the building. The problem is she’s the mistress of another, well known man. What happens next will scandalize the city.Who is this other well-known man? You probably had at least one of these snacks named after him already this week. This is Publicity – The Guidebook Gap. I’m Expat Andy, broadcasting from Miami in the sunshine state. My job is to be your insider guide to the London that doesn’t make it onto the highlight reel - the London that’s hidden in plain sight, if you know where to look… History, culture, pubs, and all.Our next Episode, Episode 9, is titled Bite Me – The Upper Crust & Underbelly of London Street Food. It’s about London street food – the portable kind you eat with your hands, on the go. It’s about John Montagu - the Fourth Earl of Sandwich. Hellfire Club member. First Lord of the Admiralty. The man who accidentally named Hawaii. The man who died broke. And the man whose defining contribution to human civilization may have been invented at a gambling table – or a desk - depending on which version of the story you prefer.It’s about the East End of London, and the eel. The only creature that could survive in the filthy Victorian Thames. And the food culture it produced that’s still - just barely alive today.It’s about Greggs. And Pret. And fish and chips. And why “as cheap as chips” no longer means anything.It’s about London’s famous food markets such as Borough Market. Their Cornish pasties, pork pies, sausage rolls, and scotch eggs.And it’s about a pub named after a food, that became famous for something else entirely. It launched the careers of the Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, and Eric Clapton in the process.London’s food. London’s myths. London’s pubs.Launching wherever you get your podcasts Monday March 23.
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Marylebone - Posh Streets & Dark Secrets
We'd love to hear from you!We're off to Marylebone - using the neighborhood's dark origins as a launch pad for a story of spectacular reinvention. Our walk begins at Marble Arch, where a barely-noticed pavement plaque marks the site of Tyburn Tree - London's primary gallows for nearly six hundred years and the execution ground for over 50,000 people. From there, we traces how the area shed its grim "Tyburn" identity through a medieval rebranding around a church dedicated to St Mary, eventually becoming the elegant Georgian grid of Harley Street, Portland Place, and Baker Street laid out by the Portland and Portman estates in the 18th century. Against that backdrop, Expat Andy guides listeners through a carefully chosen set of historic pubs - including the 1791 Barley Mow on Dorset Street, one of the last free houses in central London, with its rare surviving Victorian drinking booths - weaving in characters ranging from executed highwaymen and Catholic martyrs to Charles Babbage and the piano player Tony "Fingers" Pearson, who has been holding court at the Golden Eagle on Marylebone Lane since 1988. Marylebone's pubs are the living memory of a neighborhood that reinvented itself so thoroughly it nearly erased its own history. Its pubs are the best place to find what was buried underneath.
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Ep 8 Trailer Body Snatchers & Marylebone Pubs
We'd love to hear from you!Trailer for Episode 8 - Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Marylebone StyleThis is Marylebone. Its story - told through its pubs - is one of execution and resurrection, bodysnatching and high society, muddy fields and marble halls. What? You expected Sherlock Holmes, didn’t you? Well, your guidebook will cover the detective, we’re going to be detective, as today, we decode Marylebone, the Publicity way… I’m Expat Andy, broadcasting from Miami in the Sunshine State. You’re listening to Publicity – The Travel Guidebook Gap. Episode 8 drops March 9. Until then catch up on former episodes at publicitythepodcast.com
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Covent Garden Explained – Hidden Stories, Pubs & History
We'd love to hear from you!In this episode, we rip the polished Instagram filter off Covent Garden and ask a far more interesting question than “Where’s the Apple Store?”We ask what scene this place is playing. Beneath the street performers and opera crowds lies a district that has shape-shifted more times than London itself. From monastic vegetable patch to aristocratic social experiment, from chaotic fruit-and-veg battlefield to theatreland playground of actors, rogues, and bare-knuckle brawlers. Designed as a pristine piazza for “Gentlemen and men of ability,” it veered way off script, and filled with market traders, taverns, gossip, vice, and spectacle. When you build a stage, London sends in a cast. Through pub lore, architectural ambition, market mayhem, and near-demolition drama, we trace how Covent Garden became a pressure valve between power and performance - a place that was never what it was supposed to be, and is far more compelling because of it. By the end, you won’t just see Covent Garden - you’ll decode it.
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Why The City of London Pubs Feel Different
We'd love to hear from you!What if the secret to understanding a London neighborhood and its pubs… were the grocery stores?In this episode of Publicity – The Guidebook Gap, Expat Andy takes us to the City of London - where historic pubs and modern finance meet. We reveal a travel planning superpower - The Publicity M&S Litmus Test. By learning to decode the type of Marks & Spencer nearby, we’ll know exactly what kind of neighborhood we're in - and what kind of pub experience to expect.This isn’t about lists, or lectures. It’s about reading the city, and going beyond your guidebook.We'll walk Fleet Street, duck into Leadenhall Market (pun intended), and sip stout in historic cellars. Most importantly, we’ll understand why certain pubs feel like neighborhood living rooms… and others... boardrooms with beer.
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London's Lost River Rediscovered - Part 2
We'd love to hear from you!Brutalist estates, haunted pubs, Roman temples, and a river you've never seen—Part 2 of our world exclusive Walbrook walk dives deep into the hidden heart of London. Join Expat Andy as he traces the true, long-lost path of the Walbrook to its mouth on the Thames. Along the way: buried tributaries, literary ghosts, the city’s first coffee shop, and a riverside mystery that ends at a freight terminal. This isn’t just history—it’s a revelation beneath your feet.
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London's Lost River Rediscovered - Part 1
We'd love to hear from you!Beneath London’s bustling streets flows a river you’ve never seen—and until now, we’ve all been walking it wrong. In this world exclusive, Publicity uncovers the true path of the lost Walbrook River, hidden for over 600 years. Join Expat Andy as he follows this buried waterway from Roman Londinium through plague pits, pubs, and surprising side streets. From Islington’s ghostly springs to Shakespeare’s stomping grounds, this is history with a pint in hand and a story around every corner.
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Notting Hill – The Boom and Bust Behind a London Icon
We'd love to hear from you!A guided walk through 275 years of urban failure, reinvention, and the long, slow gentrification of Notting Hill - told through the pubs that developers built first (usually before they went bankrupt). From gravel pits and pig farms to punk gigs and overpriced pints, we trace how these buildings reveal the neighborhood’s real story. Featuring forgotten racetracks, bad drainage, Joe Strummer, Tsarist Russia, and one wildly confident pub that stood alone on a muddy hillside. Welcome to the pubs that built Notting Hill - and survive to tell the tale.
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Decode London - Why Every Neighborhood Feels Different
We'd love to hear from you!Why did Bermondsey’s working-class pubs serve up pints to tanners reeking of dog poo. While Hampstead boasts literary haunts filled with poetry and spa visitors? It’s not luck. It’s topography - for the answer is buried deep. From glacial gravel, to wandering water, to the winds of fortune, this episode takes you on a rollicking ride through the forces that shaped London’s pub map long before the first pint was pulled.From gravel terraces and Victorian fogs to posh mews pubs and riverside alehouses, we’re mapping the city through sediment.You’ll learn why there are more Tube lines north of the river (hint: mud), why Belgravia even exists (money and dirt - literally), and how pub names like The Flask or The Woolpack are basically geological signposts in disguise.This isn’t trivia. This is the secret decoder ring for understanding where pubs are, what they meant, and why your pint tastes different in Hampstead than it does in Bermondsey.Listen before you plan your next trip - because the ground beneath your feet might just tell you more than your guide book.
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The Chelsea Most Visitors Miss
We'd love to hear from you!Welcome to Publicity - London By Pub - the travel podcast that helps you actually experience London, not just tick off landmarks.In this debut episode, we crack open Chelsea - London’s posh-meets-punk neighborhood -where our host Andy (a British expat now based in Miami) retraces a trip that should’ve been epic… but ended in full-on travel regret. With Expat Andy on board, we’ll get to revisit Chelsea but with a walking tour of five iconic pubs, each one a portal into the stories guidebooks don’t tell - from royal scandals to Rolling Stones auditions to a still-unsolved murder in the cellar.From bohemian past to posh present, Chelsea's pubs are more than just pretty pints - they're cultural cornerstones. From The Cross Keys to The World's End, each stop reveals a different side of Chelsea - art, royalty, punk, pottery, and that unsolved murder.You’ll also learn why British pubs are disappearing fast, and why visiting them now isn’t just fun - it’s urgent.This is trip planning meets storytelling. A podcast to listen to before you pack your bag.
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Publicity -The Guidebook Gap Trailer
We'd love to hear from you!Ever traveled only to realize you walked past everything that mattered? Hosted by British expat Andy from Miami alongside an American traveler and a London local, Publicity explores London's neighborhoods through their historic pubs - not as drinking destinations, but as silent witnesses to the culture, revolutions, and stories that shaped each area. With a balanced perspective added by two co-hosts – an American traveler, and a London local, and through conversations with architects, historians, interior designers, publicans, and local travel guides, the show uses pubs as decoder rings to help you actually experience London's neighborhoods rather than just recognize them. Whether you're planning your first trip or your fiftieth, Publicity helps you avoid coming home with a suitcase full of FOMO and regrets, ensuring you remember what you felt and contributed to these living, breathing communities.
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Where rolling stones gather moss... Guidebooks do a great job of telling you where to go, but not why those places matter. On this travel podcast we explore neighborhoods through everyday spaces, including pubs – revealing rhythms, stories, and hidden histories. Favoring observation over itinerary, we give you the tools to make best use of your travel time, and not return home having missed out.Where guidebooks end, and understanding begins. Travel the way it could be.
HOSTED BY
Andy Meddick The London Travel Podcast Guy
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