Even if you haven’t seen any Charlie Chaplin films, you’ll enjoy this walk through one of central London’s quietest areas. Notice I didn’t say ‘undiscovered’. For this area is one of London hottest property spots. Why? Because you’re a stone’s throw from Westminster but it’s full of quiet, leafy squares and charming Georgian and Victorian housing. But 120 years ago many of these houses were tenements full of the poor like Charlie Chaplin and his family. You hear how Georgian splendour became Victorian squalor before returning to gentrified splendour in recent years. And you see several addresses where young Charlie lived, and the streets where he first did an impression of a local man which was to later morph into his Little Tramp character. One of these houses was between a slaughterhouse and a pickle factory. The house is still there, you’ll be relieved to hear the slaughterhouse and smell of pickles is not! You’ll You also see a workhouse water tower that appeared on Grand Designs. And you’ll also see the areas where Michael Caine and Max Wall lived as tots. And there are several pubs, shops, a school and even a public loo (now an arts centre!) still there with Charlie connections. We can finish at one of these pubs, in a lovely leafy square, or at a cute cafe, or simply a tube station. Or we can even drop you in Lambeth Walk, where you can ‘do’ the Lambeth Walk.

Start Outside Three Stags pub on the corner of Kennington Road and Lambeth Road close to Lambeth North underground station
Finish In a square or pub close to Kennington underground station