Italian restaurant near Lincoln's Inn FieldsLondon's largest public square, 21 minutes from Fiena

Until the 17th century, cattle grazed here. To let people walk across without the animals escaping, turnstiles were put up around the edges, and shops grew up along the footpaths. Two of those alleys survive in their names: Great Turnstile and Little Turnstile.

The square was laid out in the 1630s by the builder William Newton, who got permission in 1638 to put up 32 houses, on condition that the middle stayed open to the public. A plan for the gardens was said to have been drawn by Inigo Jones. The oldest surviving house from that time is Lindsey House, at 59–60, built in 1640. The gardens were bought by London County Council and opened to everyone in 1895, and today they're listed Grade II on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. There's a tennis and netball court and a bandstand in the middle.

• The Bank of England: its charter was sealed at Powis House, now 66 Lincoln's Inn Fields, on 27 July 1694.
• A theatre: the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre stood here from 1661 to 1848. It staged the first paid public performances of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas in 1700 and John Gay's The Beggar's Opera in January 1728.
• Dickens: in Bleak House, the sinister lawyer Mr Tulkinghorn has his offices on the square, in a building that most closely matches Lindsey House. See our post on the Charles Dickens Museum.
• Wartime: the Royal Canadian Air Force had its British headquarters at 20–23 during the Second World War. A memorial and a Canadian maple tree were planted nearby in 1998.

On the north side, at numbers 12, 13 and 14, is Sir John Soane's Museum, the architect's own home. On the south side is the Royal College of Surgeons, which includes the Hunterian Museum and the medical collections of John Hunter. The London School of Economics has also been on the square since 2003. The gardens are locked every night at dusk, so plan a daytime stroll. Background from Wikipedia's Lincoln's Inn Fields page.

It's about 1.6 kilometres, around 21 minutes on foot (walking route from OpenStreetMap). The route heads up through Little Turnstile, across High Holborn and Theobalds Road, past Queen Square and Brunswick Square to Judd Street. Making a day of it? See our posts on Sicilian Avenue, Gray's Inn, Lamb's Conduit Street and the British Museum.

Morning: breakfast runs from 08:00 to 14:00, with coffee all day. See breakfast meetings near King's Cross.

Lunch and dinner: the main menu starts at midday. Start with Bruschetta or Padron peppers, then go for Lasagna with slow-cooked beef ragù, Sea bass with capers sauce, the Lamb cutlets with beef jus, or a pizza. Finish with Tiramisu from the dessert menu. After a day at work? See after-work dinner near King's Cross.

Guests on a schedule like the pace. Neil, in for a quick lunch, wrote: Food was great, arrived quick, service was lovely. (Neil, Google review)

“Super fresh and tasty - the service was impeccable too!”

Phoebe, Google reviews, 2026