We are proud to be the provider of excellent training for London tour guides.

  • The Westminster Tour Guiding course gives students the knowledge and skills they need to design and deliver engaging walking tours around this borough that is the royal, political and cultural heart of London.
  • As well as exterior guiding (street-based walking tours), the course also covers interior guiding (tours inside heritage sites) and virtual guiding (online tours).
  • The course serves both as the ideal starting point for students intending to become professional tour guides and as an inspiring experience for students progressing their personal development.
  • The course is the the pathway to membership of the City of Westminster Guide-Lecturers Association and successful students are awarded the CWGLA badge by the Lord Mayor of Westminster.

The practicalities at a glance

  • We meet on Saturdays from late September to mid-May. Half of these Saturday sessions are full days, typically 10.00 to 16.30, and half are mornings only, typically 10.30 to 13.00.
  • Some sessions are in the classroom, some are out on the streets of Westminster, some are at interior sites and one or two are online. The classroom sessions take place at an educational institution close to Baker Street station.
  • Students are assessed by means of two pieces of written coursework and two practical exams. These assessments are evenly spread out across the programme to support the learning process most effectively. 
  • The course caters for students who are completely new to guiding, students who have some guiding experience but no qualification, and students who already hold a guiding qualification.
  • The selection process requires applicants to attend an interview at which they will deliver a three-minute talk on a pre-assigned Westminster topic.

Special features

  • The Westminster Tour Guiding course is supported by two handbooks, written specially for the purpose by the course director and available as pre-course reading, plus a large online collection of additional resources.
  • The Westminster Tour Guiding course is built on proven pedagogical principles, with an integrated assessment design that skilfully interweaves knowledge acquisition and skills development, and our students receive detailed written feedback on all four of their assignments.
  • As well as teaching the fundamental guiding skills covered by all tour guiding courses, The Westminster Tour Guiding course goes further and explores areas such as storytelling skills, the psychology of performance and how to market yourself as a guide.
  • The routes for both practical exams on the Westminster Tour Guiding course are specially designed to deliver maximum generic content so that students can enjoy building the framework for their overall knowledge of Westminster at the same time as being assessed on their guiding skills.
  • The Westminster Tour Guiding course employs the principle of “accreditation of prior learning” for students already holding a relevant guiding qualification so that their second practical exam stretches their skills development further than the exams on other guiding courses do.

Getting involved

If you feel that the Westminster Tour Guiding course is calling you and you would like to join us on this exciting journey, then go to the Prospective Students page without delay to learn about the nitty-gritty.