London's Chinatown is a few minutes walk from the Piccadilly Circus stop on our London tour and offers a range of cuisines from different parts of China. The Chinese community started settling in London having been employed on the ships of the East India Company transporting tea, silk and spices to the Limehouse docks. During the Second World War London's docklands were a target of choice for German bombing raids, which resulted in the destruction of the Limehouse area and dispersed the Chinese community throughout the city.

Following the war, attracted by low property prices and a Soho address, the community regrouped and gradually transformed the area into a vibrant and colourful part of the West End.

The area has many excellent Chinese restaurants specialising in Cantonese and Szechuan foods along with a growing number of specialist Chinese stores. The Gerard Street entrance to Chinatown is arched with Chinese gates and the telephone boxes throughout the area are disguised as Pagodas. Late January is always a great time to visit as the area sees street parties and traditional Dragon dancing as the Chinese New Year is celebrated in style.

Chinatown is only a small part of Soho, which is an area with a very chequered history. Today it is alive with clubs, bars, restaurants and coffee shops. Whilst it still has a lively Bohemian ambience, especially at night time, little is left of its once ‘colourful’ past. The area is now renowned for its fashionable bars and nightclubs.

In the late 17th century Soho began to develop from an area of hunting land and became a magnet for refugees fleeing their own countries. French Huguenots  arrived to escape the religious persecution by Louis XIV, and followers of the Greek Orthodox Church escaping the Ottoman occupation, built the first Greek Orthodox Church in Britain here. Other nationalities soon arrived and the area quickly became a melting pot of culture, skills, trades and languages.

Karl Marx, Percy Bysshe Shelley, landscape painter John Constable and many other writers and artists have all lived in Soho, and in the 1960s the area became the centre of the pop world as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Kinks would all frequent the bars there.

Much more about this area of London can be discovered on our Beatles London Walking Tour which departs from our Trafalgar Square Big Bus stop every day.

Piccadilly Circus lies at the heart of London’s entertainment centre and is recognisable by one of the capital’s leading landmarks - the statue of Eros.

Erected in 1893 the statue is the centrepiece of the circus and is Albert Gilbert’s depiction of the Angel of Christian Charity. It was originally placed as a memorial to Lord Shaftsbury, the Victorian philanthropist and is often referred to by Londoners as Eros after the Greek god of Love.

The statue, made of aluminium, rises gracefully above the bronze fountain which serves as its plinth. Regarded as one of London's most picturesque statues Eros has long been a favourite meeting place for lovers.

Eros offers some of London’s most distinctive photo opportunities and of course the best views are from the Big Bus open-top sightseeing tour!

In 1910 Piccadilly Circus became the first place in the world to display outdoor illuminated electric advertisements. The advertisements are still one of the principal attractions of the area and the coloured lights have become a symbol of London nightlife.

Shaftesbury Avenue lies at the hub of London’s theatre land. It was named after Anthony Ashley Cooper, the 7th Earl of Shaftsbury, a philanthropist and social reformer during the reign of Queen Victoria. The street was created to improve connections and communications in the west end of London and was driven through what was then some of the poorest slum areas in the city. Today Shaftesbury Avenue is home to some of London’s best traditional theatres, with the Apollo, Gielgud, Queens, Lyric and the imposing Palace theatre staging plays and musicals with internationally renowned casts.

The Palace Theatre, Shaftsbury Avenue plays host to Monty     Pythons 'Spamalot'