The London Bridge Experience is a popular tourist attraction located on Tooley Street, in vaults below the southern abutment of London Bridge, immediately outside London Bridge Station and rival attraction London Dungeon. It is also opposite The Shard a london skyscraper currently under construction. The attraction opened on February 22, 2008 and cost in the region of £2,000,000 to develop.
On October 31, 2007, before it opened, the BBC reported that a collection of skeletons unearthed in the crypt had scared builders so much that they refused to work alone.[1]
Guests are led by actors on a tour through the 'dark' moments of London's history, which include Queen Boudiccia's battles with the Romans, The Great Fire of London and a medieval run in with the Vikings. It explains the history of all the bridges that have been on the site: the first military style pontoon bridge built by the Romans, the first stone bridge built by Peter de Colechurch, the John Rennie Victorian bridge (which has now been relocated to Lake Havasu in Arizona), ending with the current modern bridge built opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1971
It has a sister attraction, The London Tombs which is included in the admission price. This is a scare attraction built in the remains of a former plague pit. This part of the attraction is optional and only suitable for children over 11 years old. Other parts of the attraction cover the Great Fire of London and the buying of the wrong bridge in the 1960s.
The London Tombs have won the Screamie Award for being The UK's Best Year Round Scare Attraction[2] for the last three years. The London Bridge Experience has recently been nominated by Group Travel Organiser as a finalist for "Best Attraction for Group Visits". Other finalists including: Buckingham Palace, London Eye, St Paul's Cathedral and the Houses Parliament.
The attraction is located very close to London Dungeon, in Tooley Street. Although the two attractions feature some similar themes, the London Bridge Experience is not affiliated with the Dungeons. It has been criticized for touting outside the London Dungeon and attempting to sway people over from their queues. It is also home to Phobophobia, a special Halloween show, that runs throughout October every year [3]