London Silver Vaults
A subterranean arcade of dozens of independent silver dealers, reached through a bank-vault door and set behind steel-reinforced walls five levels below Chancery Lane.
- Hidden gem
- Price: Free
Open in A Reason to StopFree on the App Store. iPhone, iOS 26 or later.

Did you know
The vaults began in 1876 as a secure strongroom where wealthy Londoners rented safe-deposit boxes for their valuables, and only became retail shops after the original building was bomb-damaged in the Second World War and rebuilt for the silver dealers who had been storing stock there.
Local tip
Entry is free and it's a genuine working arcade rather than a tourist attraction, but photography is banned throughout, and it closes at noon on Saturdays and all day Sunday, so plan a weekday visit.
Finding it
- Address
- The London Silver Vaults, Southampton Buildings, Blackfriars, City of London, Greater London, England, WC2A 1HL
- Nearest station
- Chancery Lane (Tube), 142 m away
Details change, so check with the place before you set off.
More places nearby
- The Seven StarsA Grade II-listed pub on Carey Street behind the Royal Courts of Justice, dating from at least 1602 and among the oldest surviving pub buildings in London.
- Catalyst Coffee RoastersA coffee roaster and café on a corner of Gray's Inn Road in Holborn, roasting and grinding its own beans on site since 2016.
- Hunterian MuseumThe Royal College of Surgeons' museum at Lincoln's Inn Fields, tracing the history of surgery through 18th-century anatomist John Hunter's own specimen collection, reopened in 2023 after a five-year, £4.6 million redevelopment.
- Sir John Soane's MuseumThe architect's own house, left exactly as it was in 1837. Crammed floor to ceiling with antiquities, paintings, and architectural curiosities.