UPDATED 1st July 2025…
THE most comprehensive history of rock and pop ever presented by a London tour guide just got BIGGER and BETTER.
Adam writes… In 2023 and 2024 I presented A History of Rock & Pop in the West End as a four-part series. For 2025 this series has been expanded to include Camden & Chelsea!
NEXT OUTING: Across SIX Sundays in December 2025 & January 2026, covering six different routes, we will unfold the history of pop and rock’n’roll in London.
If you book all six tours you get a 50% discount – 6 great tours for the price of 3!
Tour One: Soho
Tour Two: Covent Garden
Tour Three: Marylebone & Fitzrovia
Tour Four: Mayfair & More Soho
Tour Four: Chelsea
Tour Four: Camden
Scroll down for tour descriptions…
Seventy-plus years of amazing music set against the backdrop of 400 years worth of entertainment history PLUS… tales of drunkenness and cruelty, the gangsters of the music biz, the fashion and the drugs and the scandals.
Beginning in Soho with the origin story of the British music business we will cover everything from punk to psychedelia to Britpop, as well as all the roots musics – folk, blues and jazz.
You can join Adam for the whole series – book all six episodes for the price of three – or you can drop-in for individual tours (each walk is designed to work as a standalone event as well as well as an episode in a series).
Tour 1: Soho
MEET: Tottenham Court Road Tube (Exit 1)
NEXT SCHEDULED DATE: 10.45am Saturday 27th December
From the origin story of rock and pop in the UK to Britpop…
We’ll take in the Rolling Stones first gig and Jimi Hendrix’s last. We’ll chase the ghosts of legendary venues. From coffee to cocaine we’ll look at the drugs that fuelled the music. We’ll catch David Bowie on the cusp of international superstardom and Marianne Faithfull in the heroin fogged aftermath of her first fame. The Who will smash the place up, Eric Clapton will walk away from stardom at the age of 20 and we’ll witness the birth of Led Zeppelin.
Skiffle, blues, folk and jazz are the roots musics on the bill. Soho is the stage – and with Soho comes four centuries-worth of tales of drunkenness and cruelty.
Artists Covered On This Tour Include…
David Bowie
The Who
Jimi Hendrix
Marianne Faithful
The Beatles
Oasis
Queen
The Sex Pistols
Themes:
50’s Rock’n’Roll Roots
60s R&B
70s Punk
90s Britpop
West End History 1660s- Present Day
Tour ends near Oxford Circus/ Tottenham Court Tube
Tour 2: Covent Garden & The West End
Meet: Tottenham Court Road Tube
NEXT SCHEDULED DATE: 10.45am Saturday 3rd January 2026
Along the route of this History of Rock & Pop in London walk… the Stones began to roll, Bob Marley touched the world, the Kinks punched and kicked their way to notoriety and Bob Dylan vied with The Beatles in the invention of the pop music video. There’s rich pop pickings in this part of London.
The backdrop to this walk is 400 years of entertainment history.
We’ll go… in the footstep of David Bowie during his years of obscurity… to John Lennon’s last British gig… to the tiny cellar where Paul Simon regrouped from commercial failure… and we’ll rummage in the gentrified ruins of Denmark Street.
Artists Covered On This Tour Include…
The Rolling Stones
The Kinks
The Beatles
Paul Simon
Sandy Denny
Pink Floyd
Bob Marley
The Clash
John Lennon
Bob Dylan
Themes:
The drug culture
60s Psychedelia & Rock
70s Punk
Theatre History 1660s – Present Day
Tour ends near Charing Cross/Covent Garden Tube
Tour 3: Marylebone & Fitzrovia
MEET: Outside Marylebone Train Station
NEXT SCHEDULED DATE: 10.45am Saturday 10th January 2026
This edition of the series is the Beatle-heavy extravaganza. No part of London is more associated with the Fab Four than Marylebone. The Beatles lived here and they wrote here and they filmed here. We’ll track their Cuban-heeled bootprints through the first explosion of unprecedented pop fame to their first faltering steps after the death of their manager Brian Epstein.
The Fabs are top of the bill, but the supporting cast for this walk isn’t too bad either. We’ve got the pre-fame Pink Floyd in their original London stomping ground. And there’s Dylan’s first British gig way back in the bleak midwinter of 1962. And then there’s the glorious old BBC in Portland Place. We’ll round-up the records they banned, the birth and death of Radio One and the scandals that have enveloped the corporation in recent years.
Artists Covered On This Tour Include…
The Beatles
Pink Floyd
Bob Dylan
Cream
Themes:
The drug culture
60s Psychedelia & Rock
Censorship & the arts
Celebrity & fame
London History 1660s – Present Day
Tour ends near Goodge Street/Warren Street Tube
Tour 4: Piccadilly & More Soho
Meet: Bond Street Underground (Marylebone Lane Exit, by Disney Store, north side of Oxford Street)
NEXT SCHEDULED DATE: 10.45am Saturday 17th January 2026
On this episode of the A History of Rock & Pop in London we will see… The most expensive square on the English Monopoly board – Mayfair £400 – where Jimi Hendrix made his home.
The most celebrated theatre in British showbiz – The London Palladium – where the Rolling Stones made a stand against the old guard.
The most luxurious department store – Liberty’s – where David Bowie conceived his most famous look.
The most stylish street in the world of gentlemen’s style – Savile Row – where The Beatles played their final gig.
The most famous junction in the UK – Piccadilly Circus – where The Beatles launched themselves on international stardom.
With such a cast of characters, it’s all bound to end up in court – so we’ll visit the spot where Jagger, Johnny Rotten and two of The Clash were put on trial in the 60s and 70s.
Artists Covered On This Tour Include…
The Beatles
David Bowie
Jimi Hendrix
The Clash
The Rolling Stones
The Small Faces
Themes:
60s Rock
70’s Glam Rock
70s Punk
60s & 70s fashion
West End History 1710’s – Present Day
Tour ends near Piccadilly Circus Tube
Tour 5: Rock’n’Roll Chelsea
Meet: Outside Sloane Square Underground Station
NEXT SCHEDULED DATE: 10.45am Saturday 24th January 2026
On this episode of the A History of Rock & Pop in London we will see… One of London’s most exclusive neighbourhoods.
The famous Royal Court Theatre – birthplace of the Rocky Horror Show.
The exclusive street where Mick and Keith lived.
The stylish street where the 60s hipsters shopped and the 70s punks prowled.
the studio where Pink Floyd recorded their first single.
The birthplace of Band Aid.
Artists Covered On This Tour Include…
The Beatles
The Rolling Stones
Jimi Hendrix
The Sex Pistols
Nick Drake
Themes:
60s Rock
70s Punk
60s & 70s fashion
London history & culture 1660’s – present Day
Tour ends near World’s End
Tour 6: Camden
Meet: Chalk Farm Underground
NEXT SCHEDULED DATE: 9am Saturday 31st January 2026
On this episode of A History of Rock & Pop in London Walk we will see… The most famous market in London.
Three great record shops.
The famous Roundhouse. the former railway shed and gin distillery turned concert venue.
Grass roots venues.
The Camden Walk of Fame – a unique set of tributes to the great and good of pop culture.
Artists Covered On This Tour Include…
Amy Winehouse
Madness
The Ramones
The Doors
Pink Floyd
The Clash
Blur
Oasis
Themes:
60s Rock
70s Punk
Ska
Reggae
60s & 70s fashion
London history & culture 1800’s – Present Day
Tour ends near Camden Town Tube
Rock’n’Roll Soho
A bit of background history of the area covers organised crime and the sex industry. As with the Rock’n’Roll London walk above, drug misuse will feature prominently as a theme, as will drug-related deaths.
Rock’n’Roll Covent Garden & The West End
A range of drug-related stories feature on this walk from the use of L.S.D to the misuse of prescription drugs.
Rock’n’Roll Marylebone & Fitzrovia
The stories of drug use on this tour also feature tales of police corruption relating to the sentencing of those found guilty of drug offences in the 1960s.
Rock’n’Roll Mayfair, Piccadilly & More Soho
Death from drug misuse is a prominent theme on this tour.
Rock’n’Roll Chelsea
Death from drug misuse is a prominent theme on this tour.
Rock’n’Roll Camden
Themes discussed will include drug and alcohol abuse and death resulting from substance abuse.
The perfect companion piece to this series is the full day tour The Rock’n’Roll Explorer Day to Barnes, Twickenham & Richmond. For more info and booking on the Explorer day, have a look HERE.
For my non-music themed tours, please visit the famous London Walks company website HERE