Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square: Free Art, Excellent Pigeons, and One Column

Trafalgar Square is one of the few genuinely public spaces in central London where you can sit for an hour without being asked to buy anything. The fountains, the steps, the bronze lions at the base of Nelson’s Column: all free, all accessible, and all perpetually occupied by a mixture of tourists, office workers eating lunch, and skateboarders who have been arguing with the local council about their right to be there for three decades.

Nelson’s Column is 51.6 metres tall. Admiral Horatio Nelson at the top is another 5.5 metres. The four bronze lions surrounding the base were added in 1867, 25 years after the column they guard was completed. They are popular for photographs because they can be climbed, which is tolerated.

The National Gallery

The southern face of the square is defined by the National Gallery, which contains one of the most important collections of Western European painting in the world, is free to enter, and receives significantly less attention from tourists than it deserves. People prioritise the Tate Modern across the river or the V&A in South Kensington; this is wrong. The National Gallery’s collection runs from 1250 to 1900 and includes Van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait, Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus, Vermeer’s Young Woman Standing at a Virginal, and Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire. Open daily 10am to 6pm, Fridays until 9pm.

The Sainsbury Wing on the west side houses the early Renaissance collection in a space that is well-scaled for the intimate paintings. Prince Charles famously called an early design proposal a “monstrous carbuncle”; the finished building is considerably less monstrous and serves the collection well.

The Fourth Plinth

The northwest corner plinth was intended for an equestrian statue of William IV that was never funded. Since 1999 it has held a rotating contemporary art commission, each lasting roughly 18 months. Past works have included Antony Gormley’s “One and Other” (where 2,400 ordinary people occupied the plinth for an hour each), Katharina Fritsch’s vivid blue cockerel, and Marc Quinn’s alison lapper pregnant. The current commission is always visible from the square and is updated every year or two. Some have been genuinely excellent; all have generated public debate, which is the correct response to public art.

St Martin-in-the-Fields

James Gibbs’s church on the northeastern corner, completed in 1726, is widely considered the model for the classical church architecture that spread across Britain and the American colonies over the following century. The crypt below has a cafe and a London brass rubbing centre. Concerts in the main church run several evenings per week (tickets from around GBP 12). The free lunchtime recitals on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays are one of central London’s better inexpensive experiences.

Where to Eat

The National Café inside the gallery does reasonable lunches for GBP 12 to 18, with the collection immediately accessible. Better value is Chinatown in Gerrard Street, 10 minutes’ walk north: roast duck and rice for GBP 9 to 12, excellent congee, full range of bubble tea. The location alone justifies Chinatown for a break in a full central London day.

Getting Around

Charing Cross station (National Rail and Tube) is 200 metres south. Tube stops are Charing Cross (Bakerloo and Northern lines) and Leicester Square (Northern and Piccadilly lines), both five minutes’ walk.