When I write my stories, I’m always consulting maps. Many of the places in my books are real—though some no longer exist. London is full of history and secrets hidden where you’d least expect them… and a few of those inspired scenes in my book.   The Golden Spider 1) Crossness Pumping Station

While the South London Waterworks that inspired Airship Sails in The Golden Spider no longer exists, you can experience the same Victorian industrial grandeur at Crossness Pumping Station. This magnificent sewage pumping station, built between 1859 and 1865 as part of Sir Joseph Bazalgette‘s revolutionary sewerage system, this magnificent station earned the nickname “Cathedral of Sewage” for a good reason.

The Station opens its doors on special event days where you can explore the ornate ironwork and machinery of the Victorian era. On Steam Days, you can see the Prince Consort engine in operation, its enormous flywheel turning, hear the hiss of steam, feel the vibration of steam power beneath your feet.

2) The Effra River

The Effra is one of London’s lost rivers—once wide enough for boats, now buried beneath the city and reduced to a storm drain. In Victorian times, a coffin was said to have floated down it from West Norwood Cemetery to the Thames, the grave above collapsing into the hidden stream below.

To glimpse what remains, head to the south side of Vauxhall Bridge. At low tide, you can spot the original outfall between the bridge and Vauxhall Cross. The larger outlet by the MI6 building marks the later storm relief channel, now viewable from the new Isle of Effra riverside platform opened in 2025.

Venomous Secrets 3) Burlington Arcade

Opened in 1819, Burlington Arcade is one of Britain’s earliest covered shopping arcades, stretching 196 yards between Piccadilly and Old Burlington Street in the heart of Mayfair. Built by Lord George Cavendish for “the sale of jewellery and fancy articles of fashionable demand,” it originally housed seventy-two small shops selling everything from hats and gloves to walking sticks and cigars.

What makes Burlington Arcade truly unique is its private police force—the Burlington Beadles, recruited from Lord Cavendish’s own regiment, the Royal Hussars. You’ll spot them easily in their Victorian frock coats, gold buttons, and gold-braided top hats, patrolling the arcade and enforcing a strict Regency-era code of conduct. This is the location of an early scene in Venomous Secrets.

4) The Albany

Just east of Burlington Arcade lies one of London’s most prestigious addresses—a place so discreet you could walk past it a hundred times and never notice. The Albany is an enclave of bachelor apartments. Prospective residents are vetted by a daunting residents’ committee, and the interiors remain largely unchanged—poky, dark, arranged in ways that resist modernization, but utterly private and quiet. It’s featured in Venomous Secrets as our hero’s residence and is exactly the sort of address where you can hide secrets. While you can’t tour the interior, standing at its entrance gives you a sense of the hidden London that exists in plain sight.

5) The Lamb and Flag

Tucked away on Rose Street in Covent Garden, this historic pub served as inspiration for The Hissing Cockatrice in Venomous Secrets. Built in 1623 with much of its original timber frame still intact, the pub earned the nickname “Bucket of Blood” for its links to prize fighting. In 1679, the poet John Dryden was attacked in the narrow alley beside it. Inside are timber beams, dim passages, centuries of stories. The alleyway to Lazenby Court remains, still shadowed enough for Victorian intrigue.

6) Kensington Gardens & The Italian Gardens

Walk through Kensington Gardens, adjacent to Hyde Park, where the Serpentine winds. Make your way to the Italian Gardens on the north side near Lancaster Gate—an ornamental water garden created in the 1860s as a gift from Prince Albert to Queen Victoria. The elaborate design features four main basins with central rosettes carved in Carrara marble, and the striking Portland stone and white marble Tazza Fountain at its heart. 

The Pump House overlooks it all, its pillar cleverly disguising the chimney that once vented the steam engine powering the fountains—on Saturday nights, a stoker kept the engine running to pump water into the Round Pond so the fountains would have enough pressure to run on Sundays. This is where Cait and Jack exchanged their vows in Venomous Secrets, surrounded by water, marble, and Victorian engineering.

7) The Reptile House, London Zoo

The original Reptile House opened in 1849 and now houses birds, but its legacy remains. For readers of Venomous Secrets, this location carries particular significance. As you walk through, you might find yourself eyeing the exhibits with the same wariness as our characters—wondering what venomous creatures might lurk just out of sight.

The original Reptile House opened in 1849 as the world’s first purpose-built reptile house at any zoo. It was replaced by the Blackburn Pavilion in 1882-83—a red-brick building in the classical style popular for garden pavilions at the time. Inside its lofty hall, three ponds were set into the floor, the largest housing crocodiles, while hot-water pipes ran beneath to direct heat to the reptile enclosures. When a new Reptile House was built in 1926, the Blackburn Pavilion was converted to house birds in 1927-28, a role it continues today as one of the few 19th century animal houses at London Zoo still in use.

A Reflection of Shadows 8) Ye Olde Mitre, Hatton Garden

Tucked down an alleyway off Hatton Garden in London’s jewelry quarter, this historic pub dates back to 1547. Originally built for the servants of the Bishop of Ely’s palace, it once technically belonged to Cambridgeshire rather than London, creating an urban legend that criminals could evade arrest by seeking sanctuary here, beyond the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police.

The pub served as inspiration for The Three-Eyed Bat in A Reflection of Shadows, and once you step inside, you’ll understand why. The atmosphere transports you centuries back—dark Tudor-style paneling installed in the 1930s covers the walls, heavy oak furniture fills two cozy rooms separated by a central bar, and pewter mugs hang from the rafters. In the corner near the entrance, behind glass, sits the preserved trunk of a cherry tree that once marked the boundary between the Bishop’s garden and land leased to Sir Christopher Hatton, Queen Elizabeth I’s favorite courtier. Legend claims she danced around this tree with Hatton, using it as a makeshift maypole.

Flight of the Scarab 9) Highgate Cemetery

For those drawn to the beautiful and macabre, Highgate Cemetery is essential. Walk through the Egyptian Avenue—a city of the dead flanked by two imposing obelisks. In the Circle of Lebanon, you’ll find Egyptian vaults arranged around where a magnificent Cedar of Lebanon once stood at their center. The tree stood for nearly two centuries before succumbing to age in 2019. Despite the theme, it’s unlikely you’ll find yourself invited to a mummy unwrapping party…

10) The British Museum

The museum houses over 100,000 Egyptian artifacts spanning from 10,000 BCE through the Roman period—the largest collection outside Cairo. The museum houses over 100,000 Egyptian artifacts spanning from 10,000 BCE through the Roman period—the largest collection outside Cairo. For those interested in historical mycology look for wooden tomb models showing brewers straining mash through cloth into ceramic vessels—visual evidence of ancient fermentation processes. Seek out the three-cornered loaves of bread preserved from the 11th dynasty temple at Deir el-Bahri, and the ceramic brewing vessels that still show evidence of heat exposure from the beer-making process.

Pack your walking shoes! London never runs out of hidden corners to explore. Whether you’re wandering its alleyways or turning the pages of a book, there’s always another story waiting to be uncovered. I hope this list helps you see the city—and my stories—in a new light.