The Metropolis

First week on the job for London’s homeless tour guides

Tom Jenkins | Tuesday 12 October, 2010 14:30

Who better to show visitors to the capital around than those who call its streets home?

‘Unseen tours’ is a scheme run by grassroots volunteer organization The Sock Mob. Launched on the 10th October, the aim is to provide homeless people with sustainable work as tour guides.

Sock Mob Events, the social enterprise arm of the organization, operates walks five days a week. According to the website, they offer a ‘historical but also unexplored perspective on the city’. Trained homeless guides attempt to ‘interweave’ personal stories and experiences.

There’s a choice of two routes – London Bridge and Borough or Shoreditch. Each walk costs £5/8 and concludes with a trip to a local pub. The majority of the money goes to the guides themselves.

The idea for Unseen Tours was borne out of The Sock Mob’s regular walks around London. Members of the 400-strong group can often be seen engaging the city’s rough sleepers. They’re propensity for handing out socks as an icebreaker led to the name.

Sock Mob Events was set up ‘to harness the energy and the knowledge’ of homeless people. According to the blurb, it ‘exists today so that one day our homeless guides can take over the enterprise’. They feel bringing people from different walks of life together helps to de-stigmatize marginalized groups.

The scheme was first piloted for the London Fringe Festival in July and received a wealth of publicity. A similar scheme exists in Holland.

www.sockmobevents.org.uk
www.meetup.com/thesockmob
www.londonfestivalfringe.com

---