Rob Smith


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Tour guide Rob Smith at a riverside pub in London
Contact 07806 714006 or mail

Rob is a member of Clerkenwell & Islington Guiding Association.

“Despite my 35 years in London” he says “I’m always amazed how you can find a new street that’s got an amazing story to tell. The thing I like best about London is how a tiny thing, like a decoration on a building can tell a big story. When you’re walking you are following in the footsteps of Londoners from the past, it makes the history come to life much more than just reading about it”

Rob is most interested in social history, and the way that inventions have changed people’s lives, but he always makes room in his walks to tell the stories of his London heroes.

Rob’s walks take him all over London, and beyond with a series of walks along the River Thames heading out East of London towards the Thames Estuary. You can also join him on day trips out of London to places like Rochester, Reading and St Albans.

He has written a book The Industrial History of the Lower River Lea based upon one of his tours.

He has worked on TV with The Hairy Bikers on The Pubs that Made Britain, featured in a film about Barking Power Station, and appeared on a programme about the East India Company for Iran International TV, featured in a documentary about the Great Smog on French TV and worked with ITN News reporter Sally Williams. Rob has appeared on the Radio 4 programme Screenshot with Mark Kermode and on History Hit Podcast with Dan Snow.

When not out walking, Rob also teaches London History courses at Morley College, South Thames College and Bishopsgate Institute.

His current Footprints of London walks and online virtual tours are:


10Jul
11:00 - 13:00
Letchworth Garden City Station - Station Road, Letchworth, SG6 3AN

Walking Tour -The First Garden City – A Walk Around Letchworth

Ebenezer Howard had a vision for building a new kind of city with the best elements of town and coun...

03Oct
14:00 - 16:30
Tower Hill Tube Station - Trinity Square , London, EC3N 4DJ

Walking Tour – The Long Good Friday Revisited

A walk looking at some of the locations from the film The Long Good Friday and how the story in the...

29Oct
20:00 - 21:00
Online Event

Virtual Tour – Scary Things from The British Museum Collection

This virtual tour on Zoom looks at the scariest, most gruesome , most creepy objects in the British...

01Dec
20:00 - 21:00
Online Event

Virtual Tour – Christmas in Georgian London

A look at how Christmas was celebrated in the 18th and early 19th centuriesAt the start of the Georg...

02Dec
20:00 - 21:00
Online Event

Virtual Tour – A Victorian Christmas in Islington

This online looks at the how Christmas was celebrated in Islington during the Victorian period with...

03Dec
20:00 - 21:00
Online Event

Virtual Tour – Christmas in Edwardian London

In the first years of the 20th century Christmas traditions started by the Victorians evolved for a...

05Dec
14:00 - 15:45
Angel Tube Station - Islington, London, EC1V 1NE

Walking Tour – A Victorian Christmas in Islington

This walk looks at the different ways that Christmas was celebrated in Islington during the Victoria...

21Dec
14:00 - 15:00
Online Event

Virtual Tour – A Victorian Christmas in Islington

This online looks at the how Christmas was celebrated in Islington during the Victorian period with...

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