walk/tour
John Nash, 1820
Bonner Gate, Sewardstone Road, Bethnal Green, E2 9JW
what3words: feels.piper.storms
Calling all canal enthusiasts - known as gongoozlers - to walk through the social and industrial history of Victoria Park, Haggerston, and Islington along Regent's Canal. Discover how a purpose-built canal shaped the lives of East Enders, Londoners, and the United Kingdom.
Bethnal Green
Cambridge Heath
277, 388, 394, 55
Walking tour starts in Victoria Park at Bonner Gate. Tour ends at Angel, Islington.
Deaf-Aware Walking Tour, includes: pre-tour key word list, visual information of places/people, access to lip reading, radio aid trained.
Sun safety: Practice safe sun, walk is often full sun exposure. Active-paced walk: Walking a distance, comfier shoes make a comfier walk.
Gongoozlers are defined as canal enthusiasts, those who marvel at canal life strictly from the towpath. Regent’s Canal from Victoria Park to Angel offers lots for gongoozlers to ponder. Join us to ‘gongoozle’ the waterway’s history from the Industrial Revolution to modern-day regeneration.
Did you know? London’s first mass transportation network were the London canals.
Regent’s Canal was built out of need to transport goods across further distances. Industry in the North and Midlands needed to readily connect with London and the international waters of the River Thames. By connecting to the Thames, domestic barges could exchange with sea-bound vessels of the vast British Empire.
‘Canal mania’ ballooned in the Regency and Victorian Eras, particularly under the minds of merchant Thomas Homer and architect John Nash, director of the Regent’s Canal Company.
This tour trails Victoria Park to Angel, Islington. From terraced houses to gasworks, basins to school houses, the towpath splashes into London’s industrious past from 1801 to 1969, then peeks ahead to its continuously gentrifying future.
In 2024 and 2025, if you enjoyed gongoozling from Limehouse or Little Venice, you will enjoy this updated 2026 canal walking tour. The third installment to the Regent’s Canal gongoozling journey!
Golden Key Academy
This tour is led by an alumnus of Open City’s Golden Key Academy - an eight month course designed to train insightful and engaging guides who bring London’s rich stories to life.
