Two roads stretch north from Eastcheap either side of 20 Fenchurch (the Walkie Talkie); Philpot and Rood Lane are dotted with some fascinating relics of historic London. Coming in from the east, one passes a quaint-looking Georgian town house with a strikingly blue façade on ground level. Seemingly out of place among the towering city buildings, this house at 45 Eastcheap, is home to Manon Café – a local favourite for serving complimentary Belgian chocolate with all beverages. Behind it stands the church of St Margaret Pattens – a grade-I listed building reconstructed by Sir Christopher Wren. Walking up Rood Lane might require some resilience – the path encircling the Walkie Talkie is known to be especially windy, owing to the building’s new-fangled design. Pedestrians can cross over onto the parallel-running Philpot Lane, walking directly in front of the looming skyscraper. 20 Fenchurch Street itself was designed by Rafael Vinoly and is home to a number of insurance companies, two renowned restaurants – Darwin and Fenchurch – as well as the Sky Pod Bar, which sits atop the 35th floor. Tucked under the giant’s western side, Philpot Lane boasts some decent eateries.

Most of the heritage of the neighbourhood area is contained within the aforementioned church of St Margaret Pattens. Established at the turn of the previous millennium in 1067, this was, most likely, originally a wooden structure. Having undergone numerous reconstructions, including after the Great Fire by Christopher Wren – known for playing a significant role in restoring much of London post-1666, the church was in fact fortunate to have remained largely unharmed by the Blitz. One of the few remnants of the Georgian period in the area is hidden inconspicuously off of Philpot Lane. The original residence was built in 1710 as a merchant’s house but it has since been restored and was even open to the public during Open London in 2013.

Peter Delmé, a prominent merchant in the 18th century and Lord Mayor of London between 1723 and 1724, has a memorial dedicated to him at the church of St Margaret Pattens, which was close to where his home had stood on Fenchurch Street. Delmé traded with Turkey and Portugal during the time of the great expansion of trade in the UK. Against this backdrop, the merchant came to be known as the “greatest exporter of woollen goods of any one person in England”. Between the years 1717 and 1718, Delmé served as Sherriff of London. Not unusually for the time period, both his son and his grandson were to be named Peter Delmé and both would become politicians during their lifetimes.

One would not expect to find the smallest statue in the capital in the streets populated by London’s tallest buildings. But on the corner of Eastcheap and Philpot Lane, one might find two stone mice fighting over a piece of cheese on the wall of an ornate Grade II listed Victorian building. It is said that the mice are a monument to a tragic case in 1862 when two construction workers fell to their death from the top of the building. The pair were fighting over a missing lunch which was later found to have been eaten by the rodents.

The celerity of the locale, 20 Fenchurch Street – the Walkie Talkie – has received mixed reviews from Londoners. As has already been mentioned, the bulging design of the building has meant that strong currents of winds are not uncommon in the streets below. The concave shape of the glass has also won the skyscraper the nickname, “Walkie Scorchie”, for the intense sun rays that it reflects onto Eastcheap below; the concentrated beams have even been capable of melting the bumpers of cars in the past. If one sticks to the inside of the building, however, one can enjoy unparalleled views of the capital from the Sky Garden on the top floor.

Commuters will be pleased to hear that recent improvements have been made to Bank Station. A new entrance on Cannon Street, upgraded concourse, and an expanded Northern Line platform with step free access have been added. Above this new entrance will also sit a new office block. Taller than originally planned, planners recently gave permission for TFL to add an eighth floor to their plans, with work scheduled to start by the end of 2022. Planning has also been approved for the redevelopment of the site at 50 Fenchurch street, one block to the east of Rood Lane. Plans detail a 35-storey mixed use commercial development with ground floor retail and a huge green wall extending up past a public terrace garden on the 10th floor.