The Best Things to Do in Smithfield, London
Humble Grape has just opened in Smithfield — and as the neighbourhood's newest locals, we've made it our business to know it properly. Here's our guide to the best things to do on our doorstep, from a 900-year-old church to a medieval plague pit. We'll see you after.
Welcome to Smithfield — where the ghosts of market porters past still seem to haunt the cobbled streets at dawn, where Norman churches stand cheek by jowl with Victorian ironwork, and where the after-work crowd has always known how to find a good drink. We're delighted to be the newest locals in the neighbourhood: Humble Grape has just opened its doors in Smithfield, bringing over 500+ sustainable wines and a team who already loves this part of London. Allow us to be your guides.
Because while we'd obviously love you to come straight to us (and we'll come to that), Smithfield and the surrounding Farringdon and Clerkenwell area is genuinely one of London's most rewarding places to spend a few hours — historically extraordinary, surprisingly un-touristy, and full of the kind of discoveries that make you feel like a local rather than a visitor. Here's what we'd put on your itinerary before making your way to our door.
Getting here: Farringdon station (Elizabeth line, Circle, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan lines) and Barbican station are both within easy walking distance. St Paul's is a few minutes south on foot. Whether you're coming from the City, Islington, or further afield, you're better connected than you think.
Humble Grape Smithfield — Your New Neighbourhood Wine Bar
Before we get to the sightseeing, let's talk about where the day ends (and where, frankly, it could also begin — no judgement here). Humble Grape Smithfield is our newest wine bar and the one we're most excited about opening — not least because we think this neighbourhood is exactly right for what we do.
We've brought over 500+ sustainable wines with us: organic, biodynamic, and low-intervention bottles imported directly from independent makers around the world, many of them exclusive to Humble Grape in the UK. The by-the-glass list rotates with the season and the retail shop means that anything you fall for over the course of an evening can follow you home. And as ever, the team knows these producers personally — so the stories that come with the wine are well worth asking for.
No stuffiness. No expectation that you'll walk in knowing anything. Tell us what you fancy in whatever terms feel natural — "something cold and a bit interesting" is a perfectly good starting point — and we'll take it from there. That's how it works across all our London wine bars, and it's how it works here.
We also have private and semi-private spaces available for group bookings, wine tastings, and corporate events — because Smithfield's mix of City workers, creative industries, and neighbourhood regulars makes it exactly the kind of place where a great wine evening can take several forms.
To find us, head for Farringdon or Barbican stations — both a short walk away. Full details and opening hours are on the Humble Grape Smithfield page, and the weekly wine offer is worth bookmarking for whatever we're most excited about pouring that week.
Ready to explore the neighbourhood first? Here are our top picks.
Our Top Picks for Your Visit to Smithfield
1. Watch a working city in the small hours at Smithfield Meat Market
The Smithfield Meat Market — formally West Smithfield — has operated continuously since the 10th century, making it one of the oldest trading sites in London. The current Victorian buildings date to 1868, designed by Horace Jones (who also gave us Billingsgate and Leadenhall), and the ornate ironwork is spectacular at any hour. But the real Smithfield experience is a 5am visit to watch the wholesale trade in action — and following the porters to the Fox and Anchor on Charterhouse Street afterwards, one of the few pubs in London still licensed to serve alcohol from 7am. It's the sort of thing you do once and tell people about for years. Come and find us later in the day to debrief over a glass.
2. Step inside St Bartholomew the Great — London's oldest parish church
Founded in 1123 by Rahere — an Augustinian monk who was also, wonderfully, a court jester to Henry I — St Bartholomew the Great is the oldest surviving parish church in London and one of the finest examples of Norman architecture anywhere in the country. The interior is dark, stone-vaulted, and astonishingly peaceful for somewhere this close to the City. It has featured in dozens of films (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Shakespeare in Love, and more) without ever quite feeling like a film set, which is testament to how seriously it takes itself. A small entrance fee applies; the churchyard and medieval gatehouse arch are always free. After which, you've more than earned a glass at Humble Grape Smithfield.
3. Visit Barts — the world's oldest hospital on its original site
Founded alongside the church in the same year, by the same man, St Bartholomew's Hospital has been treating Londoners continuously since 1123. The gatehouse on Giltspur Street carries a gilded statue of Henry VIII — the hospital's great patron and reformer — and is one of the most quietly remarkable pieces of historical streetscape in the city. The Barts Pathology Museum opens to the public on Friday afternoons, with Victorian specimen jars, nine centuries of medical history, and a room that most Londoners have never found. Morbidly brilliant. We'll be here when you're done.
4. Discover the Charterhouse — a medieval monastic complex still in use today
The Charterhouse is one of London's most extraordinary and most under-visited places, which is precisely why we're telling you about it. Founded in 1371 and continuously occupied ever since, this medieval monastic complex turned Tudor mansion turned almshouse sits on Charterhouse Square, just north of the market. Guided tours run Tuesday through Saturday and take you through 650 years of history: a plague pit beneath the square, a Great Hall, a chapel, and residential quarters still home to a community of Brothers today. Book in advance via the Charterhouse website — and once you've absorbed 650 years of history, come and let us pour you something to process it all with.
5. Take a moment at Postman's Park
A short walk south towards St Paul's, Postman's Park is a small Victorian garden that contains the Watts Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice — a covered wall of ceramic tiles commemorating ordinary Londoners who died saving others. Each tile carries a name, a date, and a brief account of what that person did. It is one of the most quietly moving places in London, and almost no one outside the local area knows it's there. It won't take long, but it will stay with you. We'll be ready with something restorative when you arrive.
6. Find your way to Cloth Fair
Cloth Fair is a narrow medieval street running alongside St Bartholomew the Great, largely unchanged in character since the Middle Ages and one of the most atmospheric walks in this part of London. John Betjeman lived here; so, briefly, did Rahere himself. The street and its surroundings have a cluster of good independent restaurants and cafés that have grown up in the shadow of the church, and the whole area rewards a slow wander. That said — we'd be lying if we said we weren't hoping the wander ends at Humble Grape Smithfield.
7. Have a pre-dawn breakfast at the Fox and Anchor
We've mentioned it in relation to the market, but it deserves its own spot on this list. The Fox and Anchor on Charterhouse Street has been serving market workers and their guests since 1898, and the full English breakfast served from 7am in a beautifully preserved Victorian pub interior is one of the great London experiences. If you're visiting on a market morning and the idea of 5am doesn't horrify you, this is the move. Then sleep. Then come and see us in the evening.
8. Explore the Barbican — world-class arts on the doorstep
A short walk north brings you to the Barbican, one of Europe's largest performing arts centres — and one of London's most distinctive pieces of Brutalist architecture, which you'll either find thrilling or want to escape from immediately. The concert hall is home to the London Symphony Orchestra; the cinema screens independent and international films; the galleries host significant exhibitions year-round. Whatever you make of the architecture, the programme is consistently excellent. A pre-concert drink at Humble Grape Smithfield before heading in? We're right on the way.
9. Dance until morning at Fabric
Fabric has been one of London's defining clubs since 1999, housed in a former cold store beneath Charterhouse Street. Its near-closure in 2016 prompted a remarkable public campaign that said a great deal about its place in the cultural fabric (no pun intended) of the city. It survived, and continues to operate as one of the most serious electronic music venues in Europe. For those whose Smithfield evening runs more to natural wine than techno, we are, of course, the obvious alternative. But if you're doing both — start with us, and pace yourself accordingly.
10. Take in St Paul's Cathedral — and the walk to get there
Walk east along Charterhouse Street and then south towards Ludgate Hill, and you'll begin to catch glimpses of St Paul's dome appearing between the buildings. The walk itself — past the Old Bailey, down towards the river — is as rewarding as the destination. St Paul's needs little introduction, but the view of it from the approach up Ludgate Hill remains one of London's great street-level moments. On your way back, you know where to find us.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Smithfield in London known for? Smithfield is best known for its Victorian wholesale meat market — one of the oldest trading sites in London — alongside St Bartholomew the Great (London's oldest parish church), Barts Hospital (the world's oldest hospital on its original site), the Charterhouse, and a strong and growing food and drink scene. Humble Grape's new wine bar is the latest addition to that offer.
What is there to do near Smithfield Market? Within easy walking distance: St Bartholomew the Great, Barts Pathology Museum, the Charterhouse (guided tours Tuesday–Saturday), Postman's Park, Cloth Fair, the Barbican, Fabric, and Humble Grape Smithfield — the neighbourhood's newest wine bar, stocking over 500+ sustainable wines from independent producers worldwide.
Is Smithfield worth visiting? Absolutely. It's one of London's most historically extraordinary and least-touristy neighbourhoods — dense with genuinely remarkable places that most Londoners haven't found yet. Humble Grape Smithfield is a great place to begin or end any visit to the area.
Where can I get a good glass of wine in Smithfield? Humble Grape has just opened in Smithfield, bringing over 500+ sustainable wines — many exclusive to Humble Grape in the UK — to the neighbourhood. The team can guide you through the list whatever your level of knowledge. Full details at humblegrape.co.uk/smithfield.
