For a year and a half, I have not been to central London, which for me is very weird as most of my life is spent up here, socialising, performing comedy and even working. In June decided to stay a couple of days in the capital for a bit of a break – sounds a bit weird but actually a few days away from home in a city you haven’t had a chance to visit is pretty relaxing  – especially when it is a place that is very different from the Capital you used to know and love.

Just like every place in the world, London has changed quite a lot due to the pandemic and no I dont just mean because of social distancing and covid restrictions in place. I mean the place as a whole is very different to what it was before pandemic – there are less tourists, famous tourist attractions are not as busy as they used to be, the roads are not full of traffic and the streets are easier to walk down.

For me as a Londoner, I have never seen the city as quiet as what it was on a hot summers day, usually you would get frustrated with the pathways being full, you would avoid a lot of the areas like the plague but it wasn’t like that in some parts it felt like a ghost town. Whilst it was weird seeing London in this way, it was also really lovely as well.

Being able to walk around a city that you have done the same thing for years is so strange when there is not a lot of people around when you are used to there being hundreds however it allows you to really embrace what the city has to offer. It was so nice seeing buildings in a different light and here are a couple of my favourites.

Westminster Abbey

Everytime I have walked past this building there always been a flood of tourists or cars dropping and picking people up but this year when I walked past there was not a tourist in sight, there were no cars and it was there, standing tall and on it’s own. Even when I look at the photos I cannot believe that it is in Central London and it looks like a building in a different city in the United Kingdom. Not having any tourists around really allowed me to really take in the wonder of the architecture and just how grand it actually is.

Royal Courts Of Justice

It is a place that is surrounded by journalists, people of the court and lawyers, the traffic going past is usually incredibly hectic and beeping left right and centre. Walking down Fleet Street with hardly any traffic and the odd person was very bizarre and it allowed you again to really take in the building and the power that it has. The street itself I think is really understated until you see it in this way and you can truly appreciate just how striking it actually is.