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Murder, ravens, people in funny hats: even if you've never been to the Tower of London, you know the vibe. It’s a massive, medieval castle right in the centre of town, and an absolute, nailed-on essential for tourists and school trips. I’ve stepped through its gates many times, but never after dark.
So I was intrigued by the rare chance to tour the grounds at night, without the crowds – and to witness the ancient Ceremony of the Keys, a mysterious medieval ritual that has taken place every night for centuries.
Seeing the Ceremony of the Keys is one of those London bucket-list experiences, and while it’s open to the public, it’s normally very tricky to book. A small batch of £5 tickets go on sale each month, and sell out at Glastonbury-esque speeds.
No luck getting those tickets? Want an even bigger dose of history? Enter The Tour Guy: a company who will spirit you inside the Tower after-hours for a 90-minute after-dark tour. It's led by one of the 35 resident Yeoman Warders – one of the ceremonial Tower guards, better known as Beefeaters. Once the tour is wrapped up, you get a front-row spot for the Ceremony of the Keys. So I went along on a cold Tuesday night to try it out.
Our guide for the evening was Tam Reilly: a Scottish RAF veteran with a powerful voice, excellent comic timing and a whole load of gruesome stories to tell. This place has a thousand years of torture, infanticide and botched beheadings to rattle through. Along the way, Tam gleefully pointed out bits of the tower with names like Traitor’s Gate, the Bloody Tower, and the ‘murder holes’. Game of Thrones fans will not be disappointed.
Visiting the Tower after dark is a far cry from the tourist mobs of the daytime. It’s just you and a small group in the stillness of the Tower grounds. We even saw a Beefeater’s black cat doing its nightly rounds, probably glad all the schoolkids had gone home for the day.
It is pretty incredible to be surrounded by medieval walls and guardhouses, feeling like you’re several centuries away from the skyscrapers looming just outside. And the nocturnal views of the illuminated Shard and Tower Bridge are fabulous.
After 90 minutes of bloodshed, it’s time for the Ceremony of the Keys – which, Tam warns us, is strictly not to be photographed or filmed. (FYI, it involves guardsmen with bayonets marching right past you. You really don't want to be the one caught taking a sneaky pic.)
We line up against a medieval wall, along with a larger group who have come just for the Ceremony, and it begins: a precise ritual of stamping, saluting, shouting and lots of marching around. With much fanfare, two Beefeaters and a host of Tower guardsmen (in long grey coats and peaked caps) lock up the outer and inner gates, then hand the keys over for safekeeping. The Ceremony is atmospherically lantern-lit, and every noise echoes off the ancient stone. Proceedings are so impeccably timed that the army bugler starts playing the Last Post exactly as the guardhouse clock strikes 10.
After it’s all over, Beefeater Tam takes us aside for a final Q&A. ‘You're part of history now,’ he tells us all – and it honestly feels a bit like we are.
Oh, and in case you were wondering: no, you aren't locked in the Tower overnight for a sleepover. A small ‘wicker gate’ lets ceremonygoers (and the Beefeaters and their families) come and go until midnight. Stepping out at 10.15pm, I feel weirdly jet-lagged – like I've just travelled forward a few hundred years, back to the London of Lime bikes and £9 pints.
The Tour Guy’s after-hours Tower of London experience doesn’t come particularly cheap: the usual price is £180 per person, though they do run half-price sales. But, according to the company, it’s only the second time that you've been able to book a night-time tour of the Tower of London – so this is a rare experience. And for history heads and London nerds, it’s quite the trip back in time.
You can book the after-hours tour of the Tower of London via The Tour Guy now, with tour dates starting from April. Time Out was a guest of The Tour Guy. Here’s more on the Tower of London.
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