The Two Barts, a Hogarth Staircase and Lunch at St. JOHN

Come out onto Aldersgate Street and head west along Long Lane. Turn left into Cloth Fair, a narrow street named after the great Bartholomew Fair that was held here for over 700 years. Look out for nos. 41–42, a pair of early 17th-century houses that escaped the Great Fire. The lane brings you round to the churchyard; follow it to West Smithfield and the half-timbered gatehouse.

Duck under the 13th-century stone arch, topped by a Tudor timber-framed gatehouse, and walk up what was once the nave. The church you reach is only the choir of Rahere's much larger priory church: the rest was pulled down after Henry VIII dissolved the priory. What survives is the oldest parish church in the City, dark and massive, with round Norman arches and pillars.

Find Rahere's tomb beside the altar, and Prior Bolton's oriel window, set into the wall high up so the prior could watch services from his lodgings. You may recognise the interior from Four Weddings and a Funeral and Shakespeare in Love. The 15th-century cloister now houses a café, good for a coffee.

Allow 45 minutes. Open Monday to Saturday from 10am; closed to sightseers during services.

Cross West Smithfield to the hospital's Henry VIII Gate (completed 1702, with the king himself in a niche above the arch). Just inside the gate is the hospital's own church. It began as one of the priory's chapels. After the Dissolution it became a parish church inside a hospital, which no other English hospital foundation has.

The 15th-century tower and west wall are the only medieval buildings left at Barts. The light, octagonal interior was designed by George Dance the Younger in the late 18th century and rebuilt by Thomas Hardwick in the 1820s. Inigo Jones was baptised here, and Sir Thomas Bodley, founder of Oxford's Bodleian Library, is buried here.

Open 8am–9pm. Please respect the people who come here to pray.

A few steps across the hospital square is the North Wing. James Gibbs designed it in the 1730s as the ceremonial heart of the hospital. It reopened to the public in October 2025 after a £9.5 million restoration.

Climb the Hogarth Stair, lined with William Hogarth's two enormous paintings, The Pool of Bethesda (1736) and The Good Samaritan (1737). Hogarth was a governor of the hospital and gave his work for free. At the top is the Great Hall, under a gilded plaster ceiling by Jean Baptiste St Michele, his only known work in Britain. Its walls are covered in boards recording centuries of donors in gold letters. Look for the painting of Henry VIII and the Charter Window, and visit the small hospital museum on the way out.

Allow an hour. Free, no booking. Mondays, Tuesdays and the first Sunday of each month, 10am–4pm.

Leave by the Henry VIII Gate and cross West Smithfield past the Victorian market buildings. St John Street runs north from the far side, and the restaurant is a short way along it. Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver opened it in 1994 in a former smokehouse across from the meat market. It became famous for 'nose-to-tail' eating: plain, confident British cooking that uses the whole animal.

The menu changes daily, but the roast bone marrow and parsley salad is the classic, and there is always something for people who would rather not eat bone marrow. Pick up a bag of warm madeleines from the bakery on the way out.

Lunch Monday to Saturday, noon–3pm, with a shorter Sunday lunch. Book the dining room in advance, or try the bar, which takes walk-ins.