London East End: Gangster Tour with Actor Vas Blackwood
Walk Where the Krays Ruled: East End Crime History with a Hollywood Face
You walk the East End for two hours with Vas Blackwood, visiting the Blind Beggar pub where Ronnie Kray killed a rival, Repton Boys' Club where the twins trained, and film locations from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Vas shares stories drawn from his research with actual ex-gangsters, moving between real crime history and the movie version of it. The tour includes a professional guide and covers Whitechapel and surrounding streets on foot.
Step-by-step itinerary
East End gangster walking tour
- Meet guide Vas Blackwood in Whitechapel
- Start 2-hour walking tour of East End
- Visit Repton Boys’ Club
- See Blind Beggar pub
- Hear tales of Kray twins and London gangsters
- Learn about Lenny McLean and Barbara Windsor
- See pub used as Samoan Jo’s in film
- Visit Hatchet Harry’s office from the movie
- East End Entry included 2h
- The Blind Beggar Public House Whitechapel 15m
What’s included
Your tour includes a professional guide (Vas Blackwood), a two-hour walking route through the East End covering real crime history sites and film locations from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and stories about the Kray twins and other figures from London's underworld.
- Saturday 14:00
Information
2-hour walking tour of London's East End with actor Vas Blackwood (Lock, Stock star). Visit Kray twins sites, Blind Beggar pub, film locations. Small groups, Whitechapel.
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The experience
The East End looks ordinary now (corner shops, residential streets, the occasional Victorian pub), but Vas Blackwood knows what happened in these corners. He played Rory Breaker in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and before that he spent time around actual ex-gangsters to get the role right. So when he points out the Blind Beggar pub on Whitechapel Road, he's not just naming a location. He's standing where Ronnie Kray shot his arch rival in 1966, a killing that turned a criminal into an East End legend, the kind of legend people were terrified of.
The tour runs two hours and covers the ground where the Kray twins operated during the 1950s and 60s. You'll see Repton Boys' Club, where Ronnie and Reggie learned to box before they learned to rule through fear. Vas walks you past the pub that stood in for Samoan Jo's in the film, and Hatchet Harry's office: the fictional porn king's workplace that was shot in a real building nearby. He tells you about Lenny McLean, who started as a bareknuckle fighter, became a gangster, then somehow ended up acting in Eastenders and The Bill. And there's Barbara Windsor, the beloved actress who married into the Krays' world by marrying Ronnie Knight, one of their feared associates. The stories pile up: Brown Bread Fred, nicknamed after cockney rhyming slang for dead, because of the murders he committed.
What makes this different from a standard crime history walk is that Vas isn't reading from a script. He spent time with people who lived this world, and it shows. He knows the texture of it, not just the headlines but the small details that make the East End gangster tour feel like something more than a true-crime checklist. The walk covers real sites linked to the Krays and film locations from Lock, Stock, so you're moving between two versions of the same story: what actually happened and how it got turned into cinema.
Top questions
How long is the tour?
Two hours, covering the East End on foot starting from Whitechapel.
Who is the guide?
Vas Blackwood, the actor who played Rory Breaker in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and appeared in Only Fools and Horses.
What sites do you visit?
The Blind Beggar pub (where Ronnie Kray killed a rival), Repton Boys' Club (where the Kray twins trained), and film locations from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels including Samoan Jo's pub and Hatchet Harry's office.
Is this tour suitable for children?
Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller. The tour covers crime history and adult themes, so older children should be comfortable with that content.
Do I need to be very fit?
You should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness, as the tour is a two-hour walk covering several streets in the East End.
Are there public transport options nearby?
Yes, public transportation options are available near the meeting point in Whitechapel.
Can I bring a service animal?
Yes, service animals are allowed on the tour.
What stories will I hear?
You'll hear about the Kray twins, Lenny McLean (a bareknuckle fighter turned actor), Barbara Windsor, and other figures from London's criminal underworld. Vas shares tales from his research with ex-gangsters.
Operated by Brit Movie Tours. Explorevia does not run this tour: we compare it with similar options, and you book it with our booking partner.
Prices and times updated yesterday
London East End: Gangster Tour with Actor Vas Blackwood
2h · EN
from £ 30 per person
≈ US$ 40 in your currency
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