On a recent trip to London, I went on a "The Original London Walks" Shakespeare tour. I didn't enjoy the tour, nor did a lot of the other people on the tour, particularly because the guide didn't really talk about Shakespeare. I e-mailed my opinion to the people at London Walks, who basically e-mailed me back and told me that my opinion didn't count because everyone else just loves the tours (David, the person who e-mailed me back, was very degrading and pretty much tried to explain to me that I was just too stupid to have appreciated the tour). If anyone else has had a bad experience with a London Walks tour, or with the personnel, please respond. If you are planning a trip to London, my advice would be not to use London Walks just because the response that I got was so degrading, that they obviously don't care about their customers and there are plenty of other walking tours available.

I'm sorry to hear that Jaclyn had a negative experience with OLW--and also surprised. I've taken :: counting on fingers :: at least five walks with them --ghost tours, Jack the Ripper tours, theaterland tours--and had a wonderful time on each. It seemed to me that the people around me on each tour were enthusiastic as well. Don Rumbelow, on the Jack the Ripper tour, managed to keep a massive February crowd of probably 200 people together, happy, entertained, and enjoying themselves. Edward Petherbridge, the magnificent British actor who led one of my theaterland tour, may have committed the "sin" that so upset Jaclyn, not exactly talking *precisely* about what the general name of the tour was. He talked less about the theaters in the area than about all sorts of interesting gossipy stories and history regarding the area itself. He was charming and delightful and I wouldn't have missed his tour for the world. <BR> <BR>While I'm sure that Jaclyn's experience was indeed disappointing, I'd venture my opinion that it is likely to be the exception rather than the rule. I've talked to a lot of people and read a lot of comments (here and elsewhere) about OLW, and this is the first real negative I've read. I don't doubt the veracity of her story, but I do think that one person's negative experience, particularly weighed against a lot of positive experiences from a number of others, shouldn't influence potential travelers away from using Original London Walks.

Ok, here's your second negative one. Actually I posted this story a year or two ago. Four of us took the Jack the Ripper tour, highly praised by just about everyone. We had the name of "the" person to do the tour with, but the night we got there about 200 people showed up and they split us all into smaller groups. We had no choice of whom we were going with. Our guide was a total bore. We got the same story about 10 times until everybody started sighing each time we stopped and she started droning on and on again. The final straw was arriving at the "selected" pub which was jammed with people, filled with smoke, and very hot inside. We passed as did most of what was left of our group, and went to our own "favorite" pub. Many others had departed or drifted away as we went along. Clearly no one in our group that started as about 50 people enjoyed our London Walk that night.

Patrick, that's too bad. I wonder if they changed how they handle large Ripper tours based on situations like yours? When did you take the tour? I did that particular tour in February of 2000, and as I said there were about 200 of us as well...and they didn't split the group. Well, not exactly right. They gave an option of going with a smaller group that left with another guide, and a few did that, but most people wanted to stay with Rumbelow and the group we did have was about 200 people. Sounds unmanageable, but Rumbelow did a great job with us and was a lot of fun. <BR> <BR>So maybe they changed how they manage the overflow they always seem to get on Rumbelow's tours after groups like Patrick's had problems with the "alternates"?

We just did the British Museum Tour with OLW this past Saturday, and it was great. The guide managed to make sense of what would have been an overwhelming experience, even with all the crowds you'd expect on a Saturday during mid-term school break in England. I think he's name was Brian. I would recommend it, certainly for a first time visit to the British Museum.

Gina, maybe you are right. Our tour was in May of 1999. Nearly everybody wanted to stay with that main guide, but they made it clear that we needed to break into smaller groups and we got about a half hour delay while everybody argued about who was going with whom, so obviously we weren't in the best frame of mind when they finally told us if we wanted to go at all we'd have to go with the guide they put us with.

I've only taken one London Walk, The Soho Pub Walk last September, and I really enjoyed it. It was definitely one of the highlights of my trip. Richard III was our tour guide. I can't believe that London Walks would give a tour to a group of 200 as Patrick said. That sounds awful! The walk I went on had a group of about 25-30. Thanks for the warning Jaclyn, the next time I take one of these walks, I'll look at how big the group is before paying my money.

Hi all, <BR> <BR>I really have to say - I completely agree with Gina. I try to do at least one walk on each jaunt over to London, and I talk 'em up to everyone. I leave tomorrow and I'll be introducing a few more friends to some of the walks. <BR> <BR>Not to mention, I met a close friend on one of these walks 5 years ago - William had just moved to London from New Zealand and we just so happened to walk next to each other for the 3 hour walk... and went out afterwards, and have kept in touch ever since - I'll be seeing him in a day or so! so hey, OLW changed my life! What better testimony can you have than that... <BR> <BR <BR> <BR>Beth <BR> <BR>

I don't know if it is going to be a lot of help if this thread just catalogs a bunch of individual experiences. I have been on at least 20 of their walks since 1993, which have varied from ok to great. There are lots of reasons why folk may be disappointed with a particular walk - expectations too high, misunderstanding the focus of the tour, guide having an off-day, unsympathetic participants, too many unruly kids - so the fact that Jaclyn was unhappy is not surprising. What is surprising is the claim of how she was treated by David Tucker in her e-mail correspondence with him. I have corresponded with him in the past and have taken walks that he led, with no problems. By the way, David is an American ex-pat, from Wisconsin, I believe, so that this alleged rudeness should in no way negate the views in the other thread today about the friendliness and helpfulness of Londoners. <BR> <BR>Jaclyn closes her note by suggesting that there are lots of other walking tours. In 1993, that was certainly true - there were three or four companies, including OLW, that had medium-sized walking itineraries and brochures available everywhere. Now we have OLW with its huge list of itineraries and the other companies have disappeared or become totally marginal. Perhaps the shift from a competitive marketplace to a near monopoly has affected customer service?

We have gone on John Muffty"s Historical <BR>Tours for years. They are informative <BR>and amusing,with a manageable sized <BR>group. If there are pubs on the tour <BR>they are interesting and not too crowded. <BR>John's schedule is bright yellow but <BR>hard to find in hotels or the tourist <BR>office. We usually just appear at the <BR>Friday 7pm Chelsea Pub Walk @ Sloane <BR>Square Underground station or at my <BR>favorite, the Sunday Mayfair Pub Walk, <BR>meeting at 7pm at Green Park Underground <BR>station. <BR>E-mail: [email protected] <BR>[as of 12/99]

Daphne, I was just about to post my reply and there was your post!!! <BR>John Muffty's tours are wonderful! <BR>His company is called Historical Walking Tours of London and they are excellent. <BR>He usually has a much smaller number of tourists on his walks and much more managable. <BR>He is very informative and entertaining. I have been on many of his tours and thoroughly enjoyed all of them. <BR>It is well worth it to find his yellow brochure. <BR>