London’s Hidden River Pubs, Part 2 - To the Thames

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. 

Transcript

PUBLICITY - LONDON BY PUB

EPISODE 5 - Pubs of London’s Lost Walbrook River - Part 2

[VOICE - COLD OPEN]

A Welshman and an American walk into a bar - The Queen of Hoxton, Shoreditch. There’s an old song playing on the jukebox…

Oranges and lemons,
Say the bells of St. Clement's.

You owe me five farthings,
Say the bells of St. Martin's.

When will you pay me?
Say the bells of Old Bailey.

When I grow rich,
Say the bells of Shoreditch.

One man looks at the other and laughs. 

“That’ll be the day, mate. Until then, I guess this round’s on me.”

The other asks, 

“What are we celebrating?”

His mate says,

“We just walked the Walbrook - the western bit time forgot, and the eastern.”

The bartender sets down their pints, saying,

“You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Followed by,

“Wo-oh, you’re halfway there.” 

And,

“Come back and finish what you started.”

Because they haven’t. Yet.

They still need to finish the eastern branch, find where it joins its sibling, cross London Wall, pick up a few more sibling tributaries, and mosey on to Big Daddy - Old Man River - the Thames. Race Across The World style. 

Didn’t that just wipe the smug smiles right off their faces.

Wonder if they left the bartender a tip? He was so generous with his.

Drink up 'cause baby, it ain't over 'til it's over.

Time to finish what we started. 

I’m Expat Andy - your host for Publicity - London By Pub, broadcasting from Miami, in the Sunshine State. The only Welshman who cannot sing…

[MUSIC – INTRO]

Last episode, yes, we traced both branches of the Walbrook - the Western Branch, forgotten for 600 years after Charterhouse Monastery diverted it, and the Eastern Branch, remembered but only fully understood in 2016 thanks to Stephen Myers’ groundbreaking PhD thesis.

But we didn’t quite finish. Due to distance, we left the Eastern Branch just as it met its Epworth Tributary.

Today, we pick up from that confluence at The Queen of Hoxton pub, on the corner of Worship Street and Curtain Road. From there, we follow the now-unified Eastern Branch southwest to Finsbury Circus, where it joins the Western Branch.

We’ll walk this unified Walbrook as it flows to its next junction - with the Barbican Tributary - just outside the old City wall. Then it’s on through the heart of the City of London, gathering a few final tributaries near Bank Station, before reaching its end at Walbrook Wharf, where fresh water met the tidal Thames - where Roman London truly began - at the confluence of river and empire.

[MUSIC – BUMPER 1]

ACT 1: THE CONFLUENCE - TWO RIVERS BECOME ONE            

Eastern Branch Source 1 and 2 and Epworth Tributary Continue As One to Finsbury Circus

[MAP 6]

Closest public transport – Shoreditch High Street London Overground.

Walking distance - 0.7 miles.

Walk from closest public transport to the start of our walk - 0.4 miles.

Total walking distance - 1.1 miles.

As with all our Walbrook walk sections on Episodes 4 and 5, listeners are referred to the episode page on our website where we list walk directions, route and river maps.

Exiting Shoreditch High Street Station, we head southwest to pick up where we left off on our last section - The Queen of Hoxton pub. From herewe follow a combined Eastern Branch south toward Finsbury Circus, where the two branches of the Walbrook finally unite.

Finsbury takes its name from Fensbury - a nod to the marshy Moor Fields - or possibly an old manor called Vinisbir. In 1415, Moorgate was added to the City Wall by order of Lord Mayor Thomas Falconer to access these fields - later popular for archery, skating, and Sunday strolls.After the Great Fire of 1666, Moor Fields served as camps for displaced Londoners.

Moorgate. Don’t you love these names? Can’t you just picture what lay beyond? We’ll walk the entire London Wall, stopping at the location of the seven gates and a host of historic pubs in a future episode.

Onto Finsbury Circus - created in 1815 on on the former site of Bethlem Hospital. It became London’s first public park after Moor Fields were drained.

Designed by William Mountague and George Dance the Younger, none of the original 19th-century buildings remain, though Grade II-listed Salisbury House (1901) and Grade II* Lutyens House (1924–27) survive.

Still London’s oldest public park, Finsbury Circus spans 5.4 acres, is Grade II Listed, and framed by plane and Japanese pagoda trees. Crossrail’s 42-metre shaft for the Elizabeth Line was built here in 2010, and but the park has been fully restored.

Pick up a sarnie, a Scotch Egg and assorted nibbles and beverage at nearby M&S. You’ve got two options. If you’re in the mood for a full shop, there’s a Tier 1 Full-Service Department Store with Foodhall at 70 Finsbury Pavement, Moorgate, EC2A 1SA. If you just want grab and go lunch food, there’s a Tier 3 Rail Convenience store at Liverpool Street Station at 22 - 23 Walkway Level, EC2M 7PY.

Find a shaded bench in Finsbury Circus, sit, rest, and enjoy a peaceful break from our walk.

[MUSIC – BUMPER 2]

Eastern Branch (Source 1, 2, Epworth Tributary) Continue As One with Western Branch

[MAP 7]

Closest public transport - Liverpool Street London Underground.

Walking distance - 0.4 miles.

Walk from closest public transport to the start of our walk - 0.1 miles.

Total walking distance - 0.5 miles.

This part of our walk traces the first section of a unified Walbrook - both Western and Eastern Branches. We’ll descend quickly from Liverpool Street Station past Finsbury Circus, cut across London Wall and stop to see a surviving stretch of Roman London Wall by All Hallows on London Wall, It’s then a quick walk to the end of this section at the corner of Tokenhouse Yard and King’s Arms Yard where The Barbican Tributary and our next section of our walk awaits.

[MUSIC – BUMPER 3]

Barbican Tributary

[MAP 8]

Closest public transport - Moorgate London Underground.

Walking distance - 0.5 miles.

Walk from closest public transport to the start of our walk - 0.3 miles.

Total walking distance - 0.8 miles.

The Barbican Tributary - a branch of the Walbrook identified by Stephen Myers - originates beneath the Barbican Estate. It runs southeast to The Globe pub, then runs south under Moorgate and east along King’s House Yard, joining the main Walbrook at Tokenhouse Yard. Our walk exiting Moorgate station heading to the Barbican Estate close by.

“Barbican” comes from the Roman Barbecana, meaning watchtower - likely located between St. Giles Cripplegate and today’s YMCA on Fann Street. Where the Barbican Estate now sits was once part of Cripplegate, and home to London’s rag trade. This area was flattened in WWII, wiping out much of London’s rag trade. It was later reborn as this Brutalist landmark for post-war professionals. Take the Barbican tour, it’s amazing!

A plaque on The Globedates it to the reign of Charles I. Its name nods to Portugal’s maritime trade - symbolized by a globe emblem for Port and Madeira. The current pub is a lovely Grade II listed early 19th century Victorian building.

Poet John Keats was born next door in 1795 at the Swan and Hoop Inn. The pub became The John Keats before merging with The Globe in 2012. 

Nearby stood the second site of Bethlem Hospital (Bedlam), designed by Robert Hooke. Known for Cibber’s statues of “Raving and Melancholy Madness”. It relocated to Southwark in 1815.

A 1770 entry in the diaries of John Wilkes notes,

“Dined at Globe near Moorgate”. 

John Wilkes was a radical politician, journalist publisher of The North Briton, and Member of Parliament. He became Sherrif of London in 1771, then Mayor of London in 1774. 

Wilkes was clearly a very sharp-minded individual. When John Montagu, Fourth Earl of Sandwich (great title) commented to John Wilkes,

“You will die either on the gallows, or of the pox",

Wilkes snapped back,

"That must depend on whether I embrace your Lordship's principles or your mistress".

In 1763, Wilkes successfully sued His Majesty’s Government following his imprisonment for publishing a critique of the King. The result? Britain established protections against illegal searches and the right to publish parliamentary debates. These were to become key influences on American civil liberties.

American colonists, such as John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and James Otis were facing similar issues with "Writs of Assistance” from King George III. These gave agents of the King authorities to conduct searches of anyone, anywhere, and anytime regardless of whether they were suspected of a crime.

The Colonists corresponded by letter with John Wilkes seeking his assistance following his legal case Wilkes v Wood.

“The Right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures…” 

is embedded in James Madison’s Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified on December 15, 1791.

From The Globe, continue south along Moorgate, tracing the Barbican Tributary as it runs beneath London Wall, then south and east through King’s House Yard to join the main Walbrook at the corner of Tokenhouse Yard and King’s Arms Yard. 

[MUSIC - BUMPER 4]

Western Branch, Eastern Branch (Source 1, 2, Epworth Tributary), Barbican Tributary Continue As One

[MAP 9]

Closest public transport – Bank London Underground.

Walking distance - 0.4 miles.

Walk from closest public transport to the start of our walk - 0.2 miles.

Total walking distance - 0.6 miles.

We’ll start at Bank Station and walk up to the start of this section where we left off our last walk at the corner of Tokenhouse Yard and King’s Arms Yard. 

From here, the unified Walbrook - fed by western, eastern, and Barbican streams flows south under Tokenhouse Yard under St Margaret Lothbury.Dedicated to 4th-century martyr Margret of Antioch, the site has housed a church since 1185. A rebuild in 1440, funded by Lord Mayor Robert Large,extended the church over the Walbrook via a stone arch. This church was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. The current structure was built by Sir Christopher Wren in 1692. The tower by Robert Hooke was added in 1700. A dip in Lothbury Street still echoes the old river course - a topographical memory of the buried Walbrook.

The Bank of England was founded in 1694 to fund war with France, settling at its current location over the buried river in 1734.

We’ll cut down to the Mithraeum and The Bloomberg Building to end this section where the remaining two tributaries – St Stephen’s and Mercer Hall join a unified Walbrook just south of Bond Court on Walbrook.

[MUSIC – BUMPER 5]

St. Stephen’s Tributary

[MAP 10]

Closest public transport - Bank London Underground.

Walking distance - 0.1 miles.

Walk from closest public transport to the start of our walk - 0.1 miles.

Total walking distance - 0.2 miles.

For this short section, we’ll start at Bank Station. The dip in the road around Mansion House and down Walbrook Street traces the old river valley. Walk down past Mansion House to Christopher Wren masterpiece St Stephen Walbrook - built long after the river it’s named for was buried. We’ll stop just south of Bond Court on Walbrook.

[MUSIC – BUMPER 6]

Mercer’s Hall Tributary

[MAP 11]

Closest public transport - Bank London Underground.

Walking distance - 0.6 miles.

Walk from closest public transport to the start of our walk - 0.1 miles.

Total walking distance - 0.7 miles.

Again, for this short section we’ll start at Bank Station. Cut across Poultry and Cheapside to Mercer’s Hall - home to the Worshipful Company of Mercers - the oldest of the City’s twelve livery companies. Founded in the Middle Ages as a guild for luxury fabric merchants, it was incorporated in 1394 and now focuses on charity and education. 

The original hall was lost in the Great Fire of 1666 and its successor destroyed in WWII. The current building, opened in 1958, includes restored 17th-century woodwork and Victorian stained glass. It’s also the only livery company with a private chapel.

Cheapside comes from the Old English “ceap” or “chepe”, meaning marke - fitting for its role as a medieval trading street. Looking east from Bank Junction toward Cornhill, the name recalls both 14th-century corn market and the elevated site where Roman Londinium began.

Return east on Cheapside, the street becomes Poultry - named for the poulterers who once sold birds here in medieval market stalls, much like nearby Milk and Bread Streets. Before the Great Fire, Poultry was known for its taverns, most of which were never rebuilt.

As we cross the hectic six-way Bank Junction, note Cornhill, Poultry, and Threadneedle Street met here in medieval times. Princess Street was added in the 1600s; Queen Victoria and King William Streets in the 1800s.

Heading east up Cornhill, pause at The Royal Exchange. Now a posh mall, it was England’s first trading floor, founded in 1571 by Sir Thomas Gresham. Two notable statues stand just outside.

The equestrian Monument to the Duke of Wellington was unveiled on June 18, 1844 - marking his 1815 victory at Waterloo. Sculpted by Sir Francis Chantrey (and completed by Henry Weekes), it honors Wellington’s support for the London Bridge Approaches Act of 1827. The bronze came from captured French cannon. A granite block from the original London Bridge is set in the pavement, while its elevational stonework now spans the Colorado River in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. The surrounding lamp standards were gifted by London’s twelve great livery companies in 1985.

The Monument to Engineer James Henry Greathead by sculptor James Butler, was unveiled on 17 January 1994. It honors Greathead’s invention of the tunnelling shield - technology that made deep-level tube lines possible and is still used globally. Cleverly, the statue’s hollow plinth doubles as a ventilation shaft for the Underground, added after the 1987 King’s Cross fire.

We’ll continue east along Cornhill, take a brief detour south on stopping at The Jamaica Wine House at St Michael's Alley, EC3V 9DS - home to London’s first coffee house and a window into the City’s financial and colonial past.

Opened in 1652 as Pasqua Rosée’s Head, it introduced coffee from the Ottoman Empire. With killjoy Oliver Cromwell’s tavern bans - coffee houses became the City’s sober meeting spaces.

By 1655, it became The Jamaica Coffee House, a hub for West Indies merchants. Here, news of colonial uprisings, cargoes, and slave auctions were posted.

The role of coffee houses in financing the British Empire’s sugar and slave trade is undeniable. A 1744 advertisement listed The Jamaica Coffee House as the contact for the sale of a 15-year-old enslaved boy.

The original building was lost in the Great Fire and rebuilt in the late 1660s as The Jamaica Coffee House. The current red brick and sandstone structure, designed by Banister Fletcher in 1885, is Grade II-listed.Locals call it, “The Jampot”.Since 2009, a Freehouse with Shepherd Neame, the ground-floor pub occupies the original coffee house rooms, with a wine bar in the old cellar. Ledgers of old coffee house transactions are displayed in the windows.

Charles Dickens is said to have modeled Scrooge’s office on the place. Legend goes that a ghostly woman in grey haunts nearby George and Vulture at 3 Castle Court, EC3V 9DL. The George and Vulture - a Grade II listed Samuel Smiths pub where Dickens drank and included in The Pickwick Papers. There has been an inn on this site since 1152.

Continuing east on Cornhill, stop at The Counting House at 50 Cornhill, EC3V 3PD. From the front, it’s a grand pub; from St Peter’s Alley, it feels like a cozy hideaway - though inside, it’s cavernous. Opened as a pub in 1998, the building was originally a bank, founded in 1759. Rebuilt in 1893 as Prescott’s Bank, it joined the NatWest network in 1970.

Look across Cornhill to Number 65. It was once home to publishers Smith and Elder. On July 8, 1848, they were surprised by a visit from their star authors ‘Currer’ and ‘Acton’ Bell. Men who turned out to be Charlotte and Anne Brontë, revealing their true identities.

Return west on Cornhill. Stop at Number 32. Note the original home of Cornhill Insurance - its name still carved into the stone pediment. The mahogany doors feature detailed relief panels, designed by Arts and Crafts artist Bernard Philip Arnold and carved by Walter Gilbert in 1939. The eighth panel (bottom right) shows the Brontë sisters with William Makepeace Thackeray, symbolizing the site's literary legacy with publisher Smith and Elder.

See the alley running beneath the building? That’s Change Alley - one of London’s few remaining historic passages. Once known as Exchange Alley, it connected Cornhill to Lombard Street. It was a key site in the early days of the stock exchange. Before the Royal Exchange, stocks were traded at nearby coffee houses. Look for plaques marking Jonathan’s and Garraway’s Coffee Houses.

Jonathan’s Coffee House became the first home of the stock exchange after rowdy brokers were expelled from the Royal Exchange in 1698. It hosted key events in financial history, including the South Sea Bubble - which was the world’s first Ponzi scheme - and the panic of 1745 panic, when the Jacobite Rebellion over Bonnie Prince Charlie’s advance sparked cash hoarding and Bank of England runs.

Lloyds of London began at Lloyds Coffee House. Its original 1600s frontage is now owned by the company and displayed at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.

Surprise! Cut through the alley, and you’ll reappear at the James Henry Greathead statue we saw earlier.

Back on Cornhill, look across the road for two clues to the Walbrook flowing beneath.In 1927, the roadway collapsed during construction of the Lloyds Bank building - blamed on unstable soil from the buried Walbrook.

First, an obelisk style cast-iron water pump, erected in 1799, marks the site of an ancient well first dug in 1282. It’s Grade II listed,with inscriptions and fire insurance emblems. The original stone trough is gone, but the pump remains.

Potato/Potatoe. I see an obelisk, others a metronome. I find metronomes creepy, so favor an obelisk.

Second, a red marble fountain from 1911 commemorates the jubilee of the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association. With that catchy name they provided free, clean water for people and animals.

From Bank Junction, head southwest down Mansion House Place, then northwest on St Stephen’s Row to reach Mansion House. This is the official residence of The Lord Mayor Of London.Designed by George Dance the Elder in a Palladian-style and completed in 1753. Tours of this Grade I listed building are available.

From here we’ll cut southwest on Walbrook to where our last sections have left off at the Mithraeum/Bloomberg Building just south of Bond Court on Walbrook.

[MUSIC – BUMPER 7]

Walbrook With All Branches & Tributaries Unified To The Thames 

[MAP 12]

Closest public transport - Bank London Underground.

Walking distance - 0.8 miles.

Walk from closest public transport to the start of our walk - 0.1 miles.

Total walking distance - 0.9 miles.

We start this section exiting Bank Station at Bank Junction and cut back down to where we left off our last section - at the Mithraeum/Bloomberg Building just south of Bond Court on Walbrook. From here, the Walbrook River unified with all branches and tributaries flows southwest under Walbrook, down Dowgate Hill, and Cousin Lane to its outfall at The Thames.

Then we’ll walk southwest along to Cannon Street corner. Pause here. Look around. Notice how Cannon Street slopes upward in both directions - Ludgate Hill to the west, Cornhill to the east. We're standing in the Walbrook valley, flanked by the very hills upon which Roman London was founded.

Continue east to Cannon Street Tube Station, where a fragment of the London Stone sits behind a grate. Referenced as early as 1100 CE, and linked to Roman milestones known as Milarium. The most famous Milarium is the Milliarium Aureum erected by Emperor Augustus in Rome’s central forum. All Roman roads were considered to begin at this monument and all distances in the Roman Empire were measured relative to it. According to the 19th century historian Philip Schaff, the proverb, "All roads lead to Rome" is a reference to the Milliarium Aureum.

The London Stone may have marked the heart of Roman Londinium. It’s Grade II listed - a lasting symbol of ancient London.

Nearby, the Romans built their key riverside structures - the Governor’s Palace, public baths, and wharves - right where freshwater from the Walbrook met the tidal Thames.

Across the road and just down Bush Lane sits The Bellat 29 Bush Lane, EC4R 0AN. One of the City’s smallest pubs, it claims origins back to 1673 and is now Grade II-listed. The name likely stems from a time when pub signs needed to be simple and visual for illiterate citizens.

In the 1960s, archaeologists uncovered the remains of a Roman residence beneath the pub - mosaics, underfloor heating, an ornamental pool, and a riverside colonnade. Once thought to be the Governor’s Palace, it’s now believed to be part of an administrative complex. Steps away, the Temple of Mithras was discovered in 1954 along the ancient course of the Walbrook River.

Back up to Cannon Street east and a southwest turn on Martin Lane where we find The Olde Wine Shades at 6 Martin Lane, EC4R 0DP - one of the few buildings to survive the Great Fire of 1666.

Built in 1663 as a merchant’s house, it once had a tunnel to the Thames, now sealed after WWII bomb damage. This Grade II-listed pub even inspired a novel in Martha Grimes’ Richard Jury series.

From The Olde Wine Shades we’ll continue southwest on Arthur Street before turning west on Upper Thames Street. Upper Thames Street is one of London’s oldest roads. Once lined with wharves and warehouses, much of its medieval fabric was lost to the Great Fire and the Blitz - but echoes remain. Chaucer may have lived at No. 177;Samuel Pepys wrote about it often; and Dominic Mancini recorded important scenes from the time of Richard III. Upper and Lower Thames Street have also inspired literature - Dickens, Conan Doyle, and T.S. Eliot all set scenes or referenced the area in their works.

Along this section of Upper Thames Street we can see the Dowgate Fire Station (built 1975) - the City’s only fire station, known for its Brutalist design by Hubbard Ford & Partners, and home to London’s fire investigation unit. We’re also at the western edge of the Steelyard - the Hanseatic League’s London base from 1250 to 1598. German merchants enjoyed tax breaks and legal autonomy here, which bred resentment among local traders.

The name “Steelyard” likely comes from the Low German stâlgard (courtyard). Its location gave it direct river access. Cousin Lane Stairs remains - one of London’s few surviving historic water-stairs. Such stairs allowed free access to the shore. At high tide, people boarded ‘wherries’ - water ferries to be rowed across The Thames by watermen.

By 1598, the League’s influence was fading. Samuel Pepys recorded the Great Fire reaching the Steelyard in 1666. The site was sold to the South Eastern Railway in 1852. In 1866, Cannon Street Station was built here, with its Wren-style towers, brick arches, and grand iron and glass train shed. The adjacent Italianate styled City Terminus Hotel, added in 1867 and designed by Edward Middleton Barry was demolished in 1960.

We’ll continue west on Upper Thames Street and cut across Whitington’s Garden to St Michael's Church Paternoster Royal, College Hill, EC4R 2RL. Here on College Hill, stands St Michael Paternoster Royal, dating to the 13th century. Dick Whittington was buried here in 1423. Rebuilt by Wren after the Fire and restored after wartime damage. Since 2018, it’s been the headquarters of the Mission to Seafarers and home to the Bishop of London.

Back down to Upper Thames Street, return east and pause at Cousin Lane next to Cannon Street Station. Cousin Lane was named after merchant William Cosin. The lane dates to 1305. Look south at The Thames River. We’re standing right above Walbrook Wharf.

In Roman times, this was a navigable estuary. Boats sailed up the Walbrook to trade. Today, the site houses Walbrook Wharf Waste Processing Plant - the only operational freight wharf in the City of London, protected as a “Safeguarded (working) Wharf.”

The Thames foreshore at Cousin Lane reveals 1,400 years of trade - from Roman cargo to Victorian warehouses, to modern refuse. This marks the end of the Walbrook’s full journey from fresh stream, to sewer, to symbol of forgotten infrastructure.

We’ll walk southwest down Cousin Lane and stop for a well-deserved break at The Banker at Cousin Lane, EC4R 3TE - a Fuller’s pub nestled beneath Cannon Street Railway Bridge with fantastic views of the Thames. Immediately to our west (your right looking at The Thames), just below Walbrook Wharf is the sluice gate where the Walbrook meets the river.

We’ve concluded our walk of the entire length of the long buried Walbrook River.

If you’ve walked all sections from Part 2, your total walking distance today was 4.8 miles. Part 1 sections total 5.9 miles. A grand total of 10.7 miles for the full Walbrook.

If you did the whole walk – congratulations! You’ve achieved something that was impossible for almost 600 years. You’re part of an exclusive club of modern day explorers who’ve completed this walk.

[MUSIC – BUMPER 8]

CLOSING: THE RIVER BENEATH YOUR FEET

At 12.3 miles including access from public transport stops, the entire Walbrook is walkable in a day. Our route and the river path make it easy to reach each river branch source by London Transport Underground and Overground lines. You can do it all at once. I personally would split across two days as designed in our two episodes. This gives you time to stop and smell the English roses, appreciate what’s there, what’s hidden, and what’s lost to time.

For 2,000 years, the Walbrook made this entire journey daily - nourishing Celts, Romans, Anglo Saxons, and medieval Londoners. By 1600, it was buried - London’s first lost river, hidden long before the Great Stink or Bazalgette’s sewers.

It’s not truly lost. It still flows in Victorian culverts, through Bazalgette’s system, and out to the Thames. More importantly, it left a map. Not of streets, but of pubs. Where water flowed, communities formed, and where communities thrive, pubs endure.

I acknowledge that researching long-buried waterways beneath modern streets—despite rigorous analysis—is ultimately a synthesis of limited evidence and remains a topic of academic debate.

I want to thank Dr. Stephen Myers for his seminal work on this subject and his significant contribution to engineering work in London. 

Thanks for walking the Walbrook with us - from 40 meters up in Barnsbury above Islington, and 25 metres up in Hoxton, down through 2,000 years of history, twenty-two pubs, a Marks and Spencer, and a city built on a forgotten stream.

The Walbrook shaped Roman London. Its mouth dictated the site of Londinium. Over time, we forgot the river - its western branch completely erased from memory until Stephen Myers rediscovered it in 2014. For 600 years, we’d walked the wrong route.

The pubs, however, were right all along - holding the line, preserving the path.

You can bury a river - but not what it built. The valleys remain. The names remain. The pubs - remain.

At low tide by The Banker pub at Cannon Street Station, you can still see the Walbrook’s outflow - a concrete pipe pouring two millennia of history into The Thames. Romans worshipped here. Tanners polluted it. Londoners buried it. Pubs still stand above it - serving pints over a hidden river.

If you want to walk this route yourself, check our website for all pub addresses, sources, and maps. Support these pubs, and the historic attractions we’ve mentioned. They’re not just businesses; they’re London’s memory keepers.

Until then, remember, every pub, every neighborhood, has a story to tell, if you know where to look…

I’m Expat Andy, and this has been Publicity - London By Pub. Travel the way it could be.

Thanks for listening.

[MUSIC – OUTRO]