A Reason to StopFree on the App Store

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.

Open in A Reason to StopFree on the App Store. iPhone, iOS 26 or later.
London Silver Vaults, hidden gem in London
Photo: Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)., CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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 StarsNightlife · 250 m awayA 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 RoastersCafe · 300 m awayA 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 MuseumMuseum · 300 m awayThe 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 MuseumMuseum · 350 m awayThe architect's own house, left exactly as it was in 1837. Crammed floor to ceiling with antiquities, paintings, and architectural curiosities.

More hidden gems

See all 69 hidden gems in London