Lunchtime Talks at The London Centre

The London Centre runs free lunchtime talks every Friday from 12:30 to 13:00, a series that runs from 9 January to 18 December 2026. They're all about London's historical and physical development, and the whole thing is built around the models on display in the centre.

The centre itself opened in April 2023 in the West Wing of the Guildhall complex. It's run by New London Architecture (NLA), an independent organisation that works with government, business and the public on the city's built environment. Inside, there are three large-scale models: the original City of London Model (1:500); the New London Model (1:2000), which shows 240,000 buildings across 200 square kilometres of Greater London; and the 3D-printed Royal Docks Model (1:1000), with a separate Barbican model alongside them. Dozens of wall displays set out the opportunities and logistics city planners and builders have to weigh up.

The talks invite you to explore London's historical and physical development through those models and displays, so you're seeing the city's growth and change laid out in front of you rather than just hearing about it. On the first Friday of every month, the NLA programmes a themed model talk, which gives the series a bit of a focal point throughout the year.

It's a half-hour session, so it fits into a lunch break without taking over the whole day. The talks are free, and they run every Friday from 12:30 to 13:00 at The London Centre, 3 Aldermanbury, London EC2V 7HH.