Photo: londondrum.comUseful things to know before your visit
Address: Royal Exchange, Bank Junction, The City EC3V 3LR. Telephone: 0203 861 6500. Website: theroyalexchange.co.uk
What are the opening hours?
Opening times for the building are 7.30am to 11pm (Mon-Fri); 11am to 11pm (Sat). For the shops it’s usually 10am to 6.30pm (Mon-Fri). The bars and restaurants could be anything from 7am to 10pm (Mon-Sat), depending on the restaurant.
How much time do you need?
A typical visit to the Royal Exchange takes 15 minutes.
Which buses go to the Royal Exchange?
Bus routes 8, 11, 21, 23, 25, 26, 43, 76, 133, 141, 242 and 388 all stop close by.
Which is the closest train station?
The nearest station is Bank, which connects with the Central DLR Northern and Waterloo & City lines. It only takes a minute to walk to the Royal Exchange.
Which other attractions are nearby?
These attractions are all within 15 minutes walk of the Royal Exchange: Bank of England Museum, Mansion House, Leadenhall Market, London Mithraeum, Horizon 22, Sky Garden, Guildhall Art Gallery, Guildhall, The Monument, Billingsgate Roman House & Baths, One New Change, All Hallows-by-the-Tower, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Postman’s Park and Clink Prison Museum.
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London was a big city in the 1570s but it still didn’t have anywhere for merchants to come together and trade – somewhere to buy, sell and share information about stock prices and ship times etc – so the English financier Thomas Gresham decided to copy an idea he’d recently seen in Antwerp and build the city’s first financial exchange.
Photo: londondrum.comThis building stayed up for a hundred years until it burned down in the Great Fire of London. Attempt number two succumbed to another blaze in 1838, and what you’re looking at today is by the Victorians.
World War II put paid to the trading floor and following bomb damage in the Blitz they never got back in. The building was then allowed to fall into partial disrepair and it wasn’t until 2001 that it was finally redeveloped into the luxury shopping mall that we see today.
Photo: londondrum.comAnd just look at it! It’s not unlike the Pantheon in Rome. If I could choose a view for every tourist to see the second they arrive in London then this is it. I’d walk them up the station steps at Bank, stand them outside the Lord Mayor’s residence at Mansion House and go ta-da! Forget Big Ben. Forget St. Paul’s and Buckingham Palace… this should be your first photo right here.
Shops & Restaurants
It might be a shopping centre but it’s not the kind of place where you’d come to do your Sunday shop – not unless you want to live on white wine and truffles all week. It’s all diamond rings and handbags. They’ve got luxury leather goods by Montblanc and Aspinals, travel bags by Tumi, jewellery by Tiffanys, watches from Omega and Bremont, and clothes by Hermes, Crockett & Jones.
Photo: londondrum.comI’ve been nosing through the windows and most of the items haven’t even got a price tag on – that’s how you know you can’t afford them. And you have to browse around in the shadow of a six-foot security guard with his hand hovering over an earpiece.
Photo: londondrum.comIf you really want to buy something then try the cafe in the covered courtyard. It’s run by Fortnum & Mason and has waiters waltzing around with silver trays on upturned fingers, dropping off little thimbles of coffee and flakey pastry cakes to the busy City suits.
The Royal Exchange appears in my best way to see London in a day itineraries, two free London itineraries, three 2-day London itineraries and 7-day London plan
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What do you think? (2)
Ask a question, or share your experience of the Royal Exchange
Steve I have fond memories of the Royal Exchange because when I used to work in the city we often held our morning meetings in here, taking a table in the middle with our coffees. It was the best part of the day! (reply)
Jan This is a lovely building with some wonderful shops inside and we had a lovely meal. It feels very special. I wish I could afford to buy the things on display but maybe we’ll come back when we win the lottery. (reply)
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