Official Guides to the City of London

Nick Collinson

Languages:

English.

Themes:

Accessible tours, Architecture, Black History, Christmas Walks, Christopher Wren's London, City churches, Corporate Tours, Crime and punishment, Evening walks, Gardens and open spaces, General city tour, Great Fire of London, Jewish history, LGBTQIA+, Lectures and talks, Markets, Medieval London, Pub tours, Public art, Religion, Romans.

Biography

Nick is a young, energetic guide with a passion for London and in particular, people-focussed tours.

He is also known as The Urban Rambler - the name of his own private tour company.

With a rich and varied background, including attending an ancient City of London institution for his schooling, he is perfectly placed to break it down to you like nobody else can.

Qualifications

Until 2025, Nick was employed full time by English Heritage for 10 years, where he produced exhibitions, trails, tours, films, models etc, to being the history of heritage sites to life for visitors from all backgrounds.

He has his own tour company, with a strong specialisation in London's queer history and hidden stories. In this capacity he has developed and led walking tours for English Heritage, The Bishopsgate Institute, The London Museum, and Sothebys.

He is currently a self employed tour guide / speaker, and freelance researcher, specialising in LGBTQIA+ history.

 

CITY OF LONDON GUIDE.

Guided Tours

The Famous Square Mile

The Great Fire of London 

Black History in the Square Mile 

Queer Soho

Queer Vauxhall

Queer Docklands (Limehouse, Poplar, Stepney)

Death and Damnation in the Square Mile 

City of London: Urban Jungle

Westminster: City of Sovereigns

Lost Rivers of London: Wandering the Walbrook (Shoreditch to Cannon St)

Lost Rivers of London: Following the Fleet (Kings Cross to Blackfriars)

Lost Rivers of London: Tracking the Tyburn (Mayfair)

Lost Rivers of London: The Hidden Hackney Brook 

Lost Rivers of London: At the Source (Hampstead Heath)

Executions in the Square Mile

Walking the Fashion City: Jewish East End

Walking the Fashion City: Jewish West End 

Secrets of Londinium: Roman rule in London

Tales from the Thames Path: Rotherhithe to Tower Bridge 

The History of the City: From Marsh to Metropolis 

Historic Pub Crawl (Blackfriars to Bloomsbury)

The Guildhall Art Gallery and Roman Amphiteatre

 

Talks

Nick can offer various talks on queer history in London, the UK more broadly, and beyond. Topics include:

London's LGBTQ+ theatreland

Queer Music

The Bloomsbury Group

Queer Soho

Queer stately homes 

Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci - Renaissance Gays

 

Any of his walking tours can be converted into a talk format if required. 

Reviews

“Nick has run fantastic walks for our English Heritage members over the years. His knowledge of London and his ability to entertain a group is unparalleled, and keeps members returning for his tours time after time. If you want to learn some of the secrets of London that are right under your nose, Nick is the man to show you them!”

— Rosie, English Heritage

 

“We loved the Soho tour so much we wanted to do it all over again, this time we explored Limehouse, including stopping off for a drink at The Grapes pub, which was an amazing spot and new to a lot of us. We discovered so much history about this area, which is only a short distance away from our hospital, and also added some new great queer bars to our list too!

Nick is an awesome tour guide - he is so knowledgeable and makes the tours super interesting and fun.”

— rainbow LGBTQ+ staff network, Homerton Healthcare Trust

 

“Thoroughly enjoyed the hidden river tour, the content was really interesting and Nick is very engaging. I loved that it took me to parts of London that I had never been before. I have also done his kings and queens tour which was brilliant, I loved the lesser known facts about the places they lived and shopped. Would highly recommend doing Nick’s tours. ”

— Jemma, private client