Review: Donut tour of London with kids

Can you ever have too many doughnuts? It’s a question I was seriously considering as we reached the half-way point of a very fun donut walking tour of London with kids.

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If you’re wondering what a donut tour involves, it’s two hours discovering some of London’s long history as you stroll around Borough, Southwark and along the Thames towards Tower Bridge… punctuated by stops to pick up some of the city’s best donuts.

One of the most unusual walking tours of London with kids, it’s currently the only UK location from the Underground Donut Tour, which has similar experiences in Chicago, Boston, New York and Miami – its first location overseas, London has since been joined by a tour in Dublin too.

And our guide Dan (along with trainee guide Bhavani) was a mine of information and trivia along the way – not to mention providing handy donut recommendations.

After decades living in the capital and visiting London with kids (from my own childhood to exploring with my daughter), you might think that there’d be nothing new for me to discover on a walking tour of London.

But with thousands of years of history along the banks of the Thames here, there’s always something new to find out about my home city.

Starting by St John’s Bakery, near Borough tube station, we munched through our first of four doughnuts of the tour – my pick: raspberry jam, my daughter: chocolate – and learned how the serene church opposite had links to the riotous medieval Southwark fair.

And that’s riotous by 14th century standards, not by modern ones, so they’d have been indulging in far more than a few sweet treats… right up until the Puritans came to power and stopped all the revelling.

They’re still uncovering more evidence of London’s historic inhabitants too. Planned building work nearby revealed the remains of a Roman ‘mansio’ – the equivalent of an ultra-luxurious ‘hotel’ for high-ranking Romans visiting Britannia.

By the time we reached our second of the donut shops, Doughnut Time, we’d also spotted the oldest pub in Southwark with a rather more modern view of the Shard behind.

Be prepared for a much tougher choice here, by the way, although the biscoff-flavoured David Hasselhoff is always one of our favourites.

The George Inn was once (probably) Shakespeare’s local, while Charles Dickens certainly stopped in for a drink, and Chaucer’s pilgrims may well have passed through on the way to Canterbury.

Along the street near Borough Market, you can find more narrow historic buildings squeezed in between the more recent additions – look out for the Grade II listed facade of the old hop factors, while the grandiose Hop Exchange lies just a street away, reminders of London’s long brewing history.

And around the corner, Borough Market itself, one of my favourite places to browse and nibble in the whole city. Despite having stopped at two donut destinations already, the smell of all the amazing food was making us ravenous.

Needless to say my good intentions to just have a bite or two of each donut and to pace myself were already crumbling in the face of temptation! A word of recommendation: if you’re also planning this walking tour of London with kids, it’s well worth setting up some ground rules – especially as the tour runs before lunch!

The market itself is the site of donut stop number three at Bread Ahead bakery, which had some of the most eye-catching flavour combinations and decorations – honeycomb & salted caramel won out over rhubarb & custard, or a tempting coconut coated concoction (but it was a close-run thing).

if you have space for lunch afterwards, there are street food stalls galore, as well as all the market stalls inside to browse. Somehow we found stomach space for a few cheese samples as well (and I couldn’t resist some to take home).

Borough market itself has its own long history. It’s thought there has been a market around this area for a thousand years, and the first documented mention dates back to 1276 – when, as Dan pointed out, the Byzantine emperor still ruled much of what is now Turkey and Greece.

Wandering around the streets nearby, we passed the ruins of Winchester Palace, the former home of the Bishops of Winchester, which was once the site of a wedding between a Scottish king and and English princess.

Around the corner, the Golden Hinde, the replica of the Tudor galleon which Sir Francis Drake sailed around the world – and where we had our own memories of sleeping on board as part of the Night Voyage, as well as our recent Escape from the Golden Hinde.

With one more sugar rush ahead, we weaved our way along the Thames, discovering the tale of why Norwegian king and saint, Olaf, is commemorated near London Bridge – and what that has to do with a nursery rhyme.

Plus the story of a very Victorian scandal, where a mathematical miscalculation and some shocking flashes of ankle meant the platforms at London Bridge station had to be rebuilt.

While the doughnut tour doesn’t cover a huge amount of distance, it’s a good reminder that peeling away the layers of London’s history means you can always discover something new, with quirky facts galore.

And as we headed to our final stop near Tower Bridge, a final reminder that this particular tour wasn’t just full of fun trivia, it was – of course – full of donuts, with our fourth sweet treat from Crosstown Doughnuts.

As ever, the hardest part was trying to decide between some of the fabulous flavours – peanut butter & blackcurrant, Sri Lankan cinnamon or blood orange were just a few of the options on offer that day. Decisions, decisions…

A good job really that I had my 10-year-old along for the ride, as we solved the problem of how to choose by having eight separate flavours between us over the course of our donut tour of London.

And the answer to whether you can ever have too many doughnuts? Obviously, it’s no – but I decided that you can have too many doughnuts before lunch. The solution? Bring a couple home to save for later!

For more ideas of the best desserts in London with kids, check out my top picks

Need to know: Donut tour of London with kids

Book tickets for the Underground Donut tour of London here – adult tickets cost £55, child tickets cost £33.84, including the cost of four donuts plus drinks (coffee/tea and water).

The tour runs every day except Mondays, usually around three times per day, and starts at St John’s Bakery near Borough tube station.

It finishes at Crosstown Doughnuts in More London Place, not far from London Bridge station, and the tour primarily takes place around Borough High Street, Borough Market, Southwark, Bankside and London Bridge.

For more things to do near Tower Bridge with kids, check out my top picks

The tour lasts approximately two hours but is flexible. We spent around two and a half hours, including some time to browse Borough Market and taste cheese – if you have to finish promptly, the guides normally check at the start but otherwise, let them know.

Even better, leave some time free afterwards to head back to Borough Market for lunch (if you have room!)

If you’re taking the Underground Donut tour of London with kids, as I was, it’s worth setting a few ground rules before you set off. The doughnuts aren’t small, and eating all four in one go is a challenge even for an adult stomach: they’re all boxed/bagged and you do get a bag to carry them home in so there’s no worry that they’ll be wasted!

If you don’t fancy doughnuts, check out some of the other walking tours of London with children, including other ideas for a food walking tour, London attractions and more family-friendly things to do in London here.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links – any purchases you make are unaffected but I may receive a small commission. My tour was free for the purposes of review, courtesy of Viator: the choice of tour and all opinions (including which flavour donut to try and whether you should eat four before lunch or not) are my own.

Images copyright MummyTravels

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