Travel Curious launches new tour at London's Great Scotland Yard Hotel
Governments, secrets and power are themes of Travel Curious’ newest London tour. Madeleine Barber visits Great Scotland Yard Hotel to uncover the details
Stepping over the threshold and into the entrance of number 3-5, Great Scotland Yard – the historic headquarters for London’s Metropolitan Police – an impressive chandelier catches my eye above. But I quickly realise it’s not a chandelier at all; it’s an art installation – a fragmented and “exploding” clock made of metal and glass. Time is frozen at 6pm, which is a reference to teatime in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Why? Lewis Carroll, the book’s iconic author, was once interrogated by the police in this very building on suspicion of being the infamous 19th-century murderer Jack the Ripper.
Now a luxury hotel, Great Scotland Yard’s lobby is festooned with policing memorabilia and art alluding to the building’s clandestine past. To my left, the wall is lined with 30 portraits, or “mugshots”, of notorious gangsters and criminals, as well as prominent politicians, police personnel, judges and literary greats in a work of art by Nicola Green named Service. Cressida Dick, Theresa May, Judge Rinder and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle all feature in this bold display that’s inspired a new walking tour of the surrounding area: The Temple of Detection in the Heart of Power.
The private tour is currently being offered exclusively to Great Scotland Yard Hotel’s guests by tours and activities provider Travel Curious. It talks of history and literature’s fiercest figures on a route around Whitehall, Trafalgar Square, Westminster and Parliament Square.
On my visit with guide David Harry, a retired banker with a passion for storytelling, I hear how Winston Churchill and his cabinet were based in a building disguised as a toilet during the First World War, as well as how the founder of the modern secret services, Mansfield Cumming, discovered that human semen makes an effective invisible ink! We also stop at The Sherlock Holmes pub, where visitors can browse Sherlock memorabilia and taste themed cocktails.
GLOBAL REACH
The Temple of Detection in the Heart of Power is just one of hundreds of tours curated by and offered with Travel Curious, which is currently launching around 60 virtual and real-life tours every month in destinations around the world.
Recent additions to the real-life portfolio include the Private Walking Tour of the Memphis Music Scene; and the Welcome to Lisbon: Sao Jorge Castle, Se Cathedral and Baixa Private Walking Tour. An alternative new London option is the Bridgerton-inspired London River Cruise, Greenwich and the Prime Meridian tour.
The new virtual tours portfolio, which has been developed since the pandemic took hold, so far features 95 digital journeys from Paris to Sydney and is proving popular for education. As an example, one travel agency has purchased a virtual tour to prepare its staff for selling trips incorporating the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar.
TRADE FOCUS
Travel Curious is also supporting the travel trade with the recent launch of an agent portal. The platform allows agents to search for tours and activities by location, type and price, and make commissionable bookings.
“This portal offers additional new revenue for agents as they are able to deliver full bookings and bespoke travel experiences for their clients,” says Alexia Renedo, senior vice-president of partnerships at Travel Curious. “It’s a unique way for them to upsell on all their usual bookings.”
Amir Azulay, co-founder and chief executive, adds that the team “takes the biggest pride in creating memorable experiences with hotels”, which is why they’re so excited about the new tour centred on Great Scotland Yard Hotel.
LIFE OF CRIME
My tour highlight emerges upon taking a seat in the hotel’s 40 Elephants Bar – not because a signature cocktail is included in the tour price, although that’s certainly welcome – but because the bar is named after The Forty Thieves. This was an all-female crime syndicate famous for operating out of London’s Elephant and Castle area between the late 18th century and 1950s.
A chandelier (real this time), made of broken glass, dominates the centre of the bar. A “stolen” jade jewelled necklace hangs between the shards, while below a long wooden table contains equally illicit artefacts linked to the gang.
David promised that “the theme of the tour would be governments, secrets and power”, and there’s no doubt it’s the crime stories I find most captivating – this experience provides an exclusive opportunity for clients to lift the curtain on London’s furtive history.
Book it: The two-and-a-half hour Temple of Detection in the Heart of Power tour costs from £59pp, based on four people taking part.
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