Globe Theatre

The Globe Theatre was built in 1599 in London. William Shakespeare most famous plays were performed here.

Nearby Attractions

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Tate Modern
Tate Modern has become the central hub of London’s modern art scene and is one of the largest museums of contemporary art in the world.
Shakespeare's Globe
The Shakespeare's Globe is an academic replica of The Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse built in 1599 in London where the most famous William Shakespeare plays were performed.
Millennium Bridge
Nick-named by Londoners 'the wobbly bridge' due to unexpected swaying in its early days, this pedestrian walkway over the Thames opened in June 2000.
Bankside Hotel
From its sustainability commitment to its partnerships with local artists, the urban hotel is the ideal spot for travelers looking for an authentic London experience.
Tate Modern Terrace Bar
In 2017, the Tate handed over their taps to independent craft brewers, embracing the idea that art extends beyond visual mediums.
Southwark Bridge
The Southwark Bridge connects The City of London with Southwark. At the time it was built, it further integrated the warehouses and industry south of the river with The City's financial district.

Related Tours

London Bridge & Southwark: Private Half-Day Walking Tour
Explore some of London’s most iconic buildings, markets, theatres, and fabulous views on this private walking tour in the London Borough of Southwark along the south bank of the River Thames and discover the London Bridge, Southbank, Borough Market, and more! 

On your private half-day walking tour you will: 

  • Start your tour beside the river on the beautiful Bankside footpath and enjoy incredible vistas of London's finest bridges, castles, and cathedrals;
  • See Blackfriars Railway Bridge with its red pillars – and learn how it was demolished during the war;
  • Walkthrough the Founder's Arms, a lovely pub with incredible views across to St Paul's Cathedral;
  • Have a look at Bankside Beach and enjoy the marvellous view of the Thames;
  • Pass by the incredible Tate Modern art museum, and the iconic wobbly Millennium Bridge – made famous by the last Harry Potter book/movie;
  • Stop at Shakespeare’s Globe and the now-iconic mural of the Bard for a fantastic photo and to hear all about life in Elizabethan London.;
  • See the Golden Hind pirate ship, and hear the tales of Sir Francis Drake, Queen Elizabeth I’s favourite sailor who circumnavigated the globe;
  • Visit Southwark Cathedral, the oldest Gothic church in London where Shakespeare’s brother is buried;
  • See HMS Belfast from the outside as you stroll along the river;
  • Explore Southwark's treasure trove of galleries, historic buildings, and pubs. Visit the Hay's Galleria, an impressive Grade II listed mixed-use building and desirable warehouse in London;
  • Learn about the area's strong connection with Shakespeare and Dickens, see the Globe theatre and the infamous Clink prison where Dickens's father was imprisoned for debt;
  • See the old prison walls, the haunting pauper’s burial grounds of the ‘Winchester Geese’ and London's last surviving coaching inn;
  • Visit Borough Market - where your tour ends - and learn the history of the historic market before enjoying its many fares. 
Begin at London Bridge, where the small trading town built by the Romans stood upon the river Thames. Hear the stories of how the Thames helped Britain take command of the oceans - from Sir Francis Drake and his journey on the Golden Hind to the HMS Belfast, the most significant surviving Royal Navy warship from the Second World War. 

For centuries, London has stood at the centre of the world’s commerce, adapting to the shifting tides of power and technology. A former dockland and industrial slum, and now an icon of successful regeneration, London Bridge is one of London’s most historic and storied districts.

Move west along the river and into the time of Shakespeare, as you pass by one of the world's most famous theatres, known for the timeless words penned by arguably the greatest playwright of all time. 

A few blocks east and several centuries later, step into the world of Southwark, which was built on industrial, smoky origins. Grand Victorian wharves, granaries, and shipyards once spanned its shores, amassing the trade and treasures of Her Majesty's Empire. 

Now, the area has evolved into one of London's most trendy and exciting districts. The neighbourhood has arguably the best vistas across the city, its finest riverside walk, and London's most beloved food and fresh produce at Borough Market.
Shakespeare’s London: A Private Tour of The Bard’s Life in London
Journey back in time to the 16th Century and wander through the streets of Shakespeare’s London. See where he lived and worked, as your guide brings to life the myths and legends about the most famous playwright of all time and the exciting hubbub that was Elizabethan London. On your private tour you will: 

  • Enjoy the personal attention of your private guide. 
  • See the places where Shakespeare lodged as a young playwright and actor. 
  • Learn about life in Elizabethan London, the merchants, the beggars, the nobles, the actors. 
  • Begin at the Cockpit Pub, which is the former site of the Old Priory Gatehouse, which Shakespeare bought for £140 in 1613. The only property he owned in London.
  • Walk around the magnificent St Paul’s Cathedral – where you’ll spy a plaque commemorating the now destroyed house where Shakespeare first boarded in London
  • Hear fascinating stories about his life, loves, failures and successes as you explore his former homes, theatres, pubs and other places of significance to ‘the Bard’. 
  • Learn about the many London settings that appear in his plays, including the Tower of London, where Richard III imprisoned and murdered his nephews, ‘the princes in the tower’Blackfriars, where Katharine of Aragon was put on trial; and stop in at the Boar’s Head Inn, Eastcheap – where lived Falstaff in the Henry plays. 
  • Learn about life, business, religion, politics and pestilence in late 16th century London as you cross London Bridge, from the ostentatious Elizabethan fashions of the nobility to the poverty of the vagabonds, the hustle and bustle of the many European tradesmen and guilds, and the ever-lurking dread of the Plague. 
  • Visit beautiful Southwark Cathedral, where Shakespeare worshipped and where his brother Edmund is buried. You’ll see a bust of Shakespeare inside, as well as contemporary 16th-century paintings of London, the most reliable images of The Globe and its neighbouring theatres we have, giving us a tantalizing glimpse into the past. 
  • Enjoy a scenic stroll through leafy churchyardsruins and hidden cobbled alleys that have relevance to Shakespeare’s life in London. 
  • Walk around the neighbourhood we know Shakespeare lived near the infamous Clink Prison
  • End at the iconic Globe Theatre, and hear about Shakespeare’s involvement as a business owner, writer and actor. 
  • Your guide will finish your tour nearby the 16th Century pub, where you can pop in for a well-deserved, refreshing drink! 

Shakespeare is the world’s best-known playwright, but little is truly known about his life. This tour will weave together what we know of his childhood and family life in Stratford-on-Avon, where lived his wife, Anne and three children Suzanne, Hamnet, and Judith – and the places we know he lived, loved, worked, ate, drank, acted, wrote, schmoozed with the nobles, and got into various rowdy pub brawls, in London. 

Little remains of Elizabethan London, thanks to the Great Fire of London in 1666 and the Blitz of World War 2. However, there are traces and glimpses all over London that offer the life of Shakespeare up to our imaginations – and it is down these memory lanes you’ll wander with your expert guide. 

London in Shakespeare’s day was home to about 100,000 people – including a huge cross-section of society: royalty and nobility, merchants – both English and European, drawn by the booming economy – and skilled artisans, labourers, servants, actors, beggars, thieves, publicans, dressmakers and spies. It was an international melting pot, welcoming many merchants and refugees who had escaped religious persecution on the continent. 

It was in this heady atmosphere that Shakespeare lived from about 1590 until just before his death in 1613. He wrote nearly 40 plays and 154 sonnets in London, where he performed at Blackfriars, the Rose, and of course the Globe theatres. Not only was he an actor and writer, but he became a businessman too as part-owner of a troupe of actors, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, and part-owner of the now-iconic Globe, where your tour of Shakespeare’s London will end, after exploring the lanes and streets and locations where he himself walked 500 years ago. Despite the many changes London has gone through, his spirit lives on in these streets... after all, he was not for an age, but for all time. 
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