WNBR London rode nine routes from Clapham Junction, Croydon, Deptford, Hackney Wick, Kew Bridge, Regents Park, Tower Hill, Wellington Arch, and an accessible easy start option. It was a warm, mostly sunny day. This year’s ride counted over 1,200 riders.
As is often the case, the ride coincided with the Trooping of the Colour in the morning. WNBR rides in the afternoon after the festivities are complete. This year’s film follows the riders starting at Wellington Arch, which is also involved in the royal celebrations. Early arrivers were able to watch the flypast by the Red Arrows, followed by the King, other royalty, the horse guards and marching bands processing through the start location.
This year’s ride went well and followed a normal pattern, which was a relief after last year when Central London was in lockdown due to unrelated protests. The Tower Hill route encountered problems when it met a column of travellers on horse carts at a major junction. Fortunately the police were present to sort things out. Our professional security team were also patrolling the starts, rest points and finish as well as riding along with us to watch out for unwelcome behaviour by photographers, spectators and participants. You’ll spot them in the video – they’re the ones dressed in black.
This video is a marshal’s eye view of the 2025 World Naked Bike Ride in London held on Saturday 14th June, which was also the day of the Trooping of the Colour and King’s birthday celebrations.
1,200 bike riders departing from the rendezvous in Central London. Note the green WNBR seat covers on the hire bikes.
In 2025 WNBR London has eight starts plus an accessible option.
Good news! The Deptford start is back as the new tenants of the venue are happy to host the ride.
There will be no Hyde Park start for WNBR London in 2025 yet again! Instead, we will use the alternative start near Hyde Park Corner, in the area surrounding Wellington Arch.
Victoria Park remains off the list based on information from Tower Hamlets Council that suggested there was a possibility of violence in the park.
The replacement venue at Hackney Wick was a big success. They have agreed to host us again this year. It is just to the North-East of the park in the neighbouring borough of Hackney. As it’s a café, you can arrive from 9am, eat, drink, get body painted, make flags and use the toilet.
So, what considerations might you have?
Convenient location
Transport links (train/tube/bus)
Bike hire locations
Length of ride
Scenic / sightseeing opportunities
Where your friends are starting from
Opportunity for social time before ride
Bodypainting
Crowds vs Small Group
Public vs Private
Minimising spectators and photographers
Riders can choose from short leisurely rides or longer, harder routes into the centre before merging together into the spectacular 1,000+ rider peloton of the WNBR. Here are some comments to help you choose your start. You can find details about the starts from the Activities page. There is also an interactive map.
Croydonis the longest of the routes at 20⅓ miles (32½ Km). It has a gentle pace of about 9mph (when moving, overall average will be closer to 6mph). Following a tour of a few town centres it will be joining the other groups in Central London. The venue is in a gated, private property with no onlookers. You are welcome to arrive early, relax, eat your sandwiches, socialise and get painted.
Kew Bridge is second longest at 17¾ miles (28½ Km). The ride crosses the meandering Thames several times before joining in with the Clapham Junction start. The ride starts from the southbound roadside at the north end of the bridge. As it is a roadside start, you should not arrive early.
Deptford at 10⅓ miles (16⅔ Km) is another fairly long ride. It will meet other groups at Tower Hill and continue as part of a merged group. The start is hosted by the Piehouse Co-op, who are the new tenants. You can arrive early and socialise. It is a private location so there should be no onlookers. You might also get yourself bodypainted.
Clapham Junction is very convenient for the train connections, after all, it is the biggest junction and has the most trains passing through – over 2,000 on weekdays. It is optionally a circular route, with riders returning to the start point after completing the ride. Our start point is alongside the station (Platform 1 side) in a fairly small public square, so you should not arrive early. The route is 9 miles (14½ Km) without the optional return leg.
Hackney Wick was a new start location in 2024 and is hosting us again in 2025. It’s at the Thingy Cafe, 1 Trowbridge Rd, London E9 5LD and is close to Hackney Wick Overground Station. The start is hosted at a café so riders can arrive early, buy food, buy drinks, use the toilet and socialise. It is a good place for body painting and you have a good level of privacy as it is a private location, not open to the public. Reports from 2024 suggest it was very popular.
The other rides are relatively easy rides into the centre.
Tower Hill is arguably the most scenic ride, starting alongside the Tower of London, crossing four bridges, riding alongside the river, passing by Big Ben. It’s handy for London Bridge, Waterloo, Charing Cross, Fenchurch St and Liverpool St stations. We use a public park, so there will be onlookers and photographers. The ride from here is about 7¾ miles (12½ Km).
Regents Park is an easy ride down through the centre of town, and particularly good if you are bringing your bike in via Euston or Kings Cross stations. The Royal Parks do not give us permission to start from the Park, so we start outside on the roadside. There has not been a problem with people visiting the park before the start, but they should not get naked, do bodypainting or look like they are lining up for the start! This is a short route at just under 7½ miles (12 Km).
Wellington Arch is a replacement for our usual popular starting point in Hyde Park. Expect large numbers of riders here. It is a short, easy route – except for the challenge of exiting towards Piccadilly as the location is in the middle of the large Hyde Park Corner roundabout! It is the shortest route at around 7¼ miles (11½Km). It moves quite slowly as there are usually hundreds of bikes to keep together!
All the routes merge for the core part of the route, from Westminster Bridge onwards, to form the 1,000+ rider peloton (which always moves at a safe, comfortable pace and gets stuck a bit).
Accessible Option
There are usually several participants with restricted ability to ride a bike. WNBR London has included an accessible option. It is a relatively short and easy route, running between two rest points. Contact us for information.
WNBR London takes place on the public streets of London. Nobody can control the actions or behaviours of the public. Participants should endeavour to avoid crowds and interactions with strangers. Remember – we are well behaved!
The World Naked Bike Ride is a peaceful protest that intends to get its messages across by generating public interest. We want other road users and spectators to be pleasantly surprised and take notice. We do not behave badly!
The ride aims to attract attention to its themes by being a fun spectacle. Riders do not block roads, or move slowly, or ride dangerously, or cause damage, or lock on to things, or climb up buildings, or leave mess behind, or confront other people. It is a non-aggressive, lawful, campaign. Extensive route and organisational details are shared with the Police, who advise on potential conflicting activities.
We also employ professional security personnel to help keep participants and spectators safe and legal.
A lot of our supporters are using email systems that eat up the newsletters you signed up for! Sometimes they put it in your junk folder. Other times they swallow it up without even telling you. If you think we never send you the newsletters you signed up for – no, it’s your email provider’s fault!
Use a better email provider?
You might find the statistics interesting. Don’t use gmail if you want your newsletters to get through. Maybe switch to IONOS? In this chart, the higher the column, the higher the percentage of people who got to read their newsletter.
Percentage of newsletters that were opened by email provider
WNBR London ride leader Ellie was invited to advise Amanda Holden live on air on 3rd October 2024 ahead of Amanda’s 250 mile charity bike ride for the Make Some Noise charity. Clips supplied by Heart Radio.
We are truly proud of the work our organisers and marshals did this year. Never before has so much effort been put into researching, planning, testing, liaising, and leading the ride. We are also grateful for the excellent liaison, advice and assistance we had from the Police.
Almost all sections of the routes had to be changed this year. Sadly, we had lost the Deptford start as the venue had to close, and Victoria Park remains too dangerous a location. We added a new start at Hackney Wick, which afforded a private location with food and drink. These changes also meant we anticipated larger crowds to handle at the other starts.
One of the professional security team clearing the exit for the crowds at Wellington Arch
We knew of several long-term road closures such as Concert Hall Approach, and, most annoyingly, the Mall at Admiralty Arch – the ceremonial route to Buckingham Palace.
The biggest challenge was the expectation of lockdown due to major demonstrations in Central London. There was a march and rally organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), their 18th time, and a counter-protest by Enough is Enough. Frustratingly, the PSC organisers left it very late to confirm their start point and even later to confirm their route and destination. Our Police contacts were able to tell us what the protesters were considering, but expected the details to change.
Our planning assumption was the likelihood of a lockdown closing off the central area around Parliament Square, Westminster Bridge, the Embankment, and Whitehall. The PSC start point at Russell Square also suggested they would be marching towards their end-point through the Kingsway, Strand and Embankment areas. It would be impossible for the bike ride to pass through these affected areas.
Anticipated no-go areas on ride day 2024
We set about planning routes that avoided the risky central areas and potential overspills such as Trafalgar Square. Right up to the day there were uncertainties and the risk of other unauthorised activities, so we had to consider multiple contingency options. Altogether we identified 13 possible variations that could be used for the combined legs of the ride.
Additionally, each start leader needed to establish new route options to get to the rendezvous point. For some this meant a shorter, more direct route. For others it was a much longer circuitous ride.
As usual, the lead marshals did a test ride. This time they split up so that they could test all the options then consider what the preferred route would be, along with validating the alternative contingencies we might need to use on the day.
We tested our assumptions and proposed route with the Police who were able to confirm it should work. Details of the chosen route and contingencies were documented and briefed for the ride marshals and our eight-strong professional security team.
Our preparations came into play at the rendezvous point. The Police advised us of a road block where a group of unauthorised protesters had gathered. We needed to wait until the protesters had been moved and the road re-opened. Lead marshals gathered in an intense debate about which contingency routes might be better. In the meantime, our communications hub was busy liaising with the Police HQ. Then came the best news – the route had been cleared and we could go.
There were two alarming examples of dangerous behaviour by professional drivers. One start group, along with other traffic, had been held at the Police roadblock due to unauthorised protesters ahead, who were nothing to do with WNBR. The driver of a Royal Mail van thought he could get on with his job by driving straight through the riders. Our marshals tried to persuade him to stop but it took the Police to intervene.
At our rest point we avoided a “crane operation” closure but were taken by surprise to encounter a giant crane-transporter lorry trying to get there. The driver announced he’d been driving for 12 hours and would drive straight through the resting riders if they didn’t get out of his way. We hurriedly moved the ride on, but then discovered that the rear section had held back, leading to a long hold to wait for the ride to join up.
Crane transporter driver announces he’s going to drive through the cyclists at the rest area
On reflection, it was a day of success. All start groups joined up. We avoided the other protests, lockdowns, road closures, and other blockages. We reached the planned rest point / toilet break. We managed to route the ride past Buckingham Palace (always a favourite moment for riders), and we got to the planned end point as one group at the planned time.
Ceremonial flypast at Buckingham Palace
So, what was the route? If you ask our marshals they could tell you – it was …
Our annual #WNBRLondon A Marshal’s View of WNBR London 2024 video is here! WNBR London rode eight routes from Clapham Junction, Croydon, Hackney Wick, Kew Bridge, Regents Park, Tower Hill, Wellington Arch, plus an accessible easy start option. It was a cool, partially sunny day. Almost all elements of the route were changed this year to avoid the centre of London that was locked down with massive protests on foot. This year’s ride counted 1,069 riders, but we probably missed quite a few.
In 2024 WNBR London has 7 starts plus an accessible option.
There will be no Hyde Park start for WNBR London in 2024 as the areas we are able to use will be closed to the public and used to park vehicles – for the third time in a row! Instead, we will again use an alternative start near Hyde Park Corner, in the area surrounding Wellington Arch.
We have also lost the Deptford start as the wonderful theatre and pie shop we used to use had to close. They were unable to recover from pandemic closure losses and could not pay the rent arrears.
Last year we made a last-minute decision to cancel the Victoria Park start based on information from Tower Hamlets Council that suggested there was a possibility of violence in the park. Instead of using the park, we have relocated to Hackney Wick, which is just to the North-East of the park in the neighbouring borough of Hackney.
So, what considerations might you have?
Convenient location
Transport links (train/tube/bus)
Bike hire locations
Length of ride
Scenic / sightseeing opportunities
Where your friends are starting from
Opportunity for social time before ride
Bodypainting
Crowds vs Small Group
Public vs Private
Minimising spectators and photographers
Riders can choose from short leisurely rides or longer, harder routes into the centre before merging together into the spectacular 1,000+ rider peloton of the WNBR. Here are some comments to help you choose your start. You can find details about the starts from the Activities page.
Croydonis the longest of the routes at 20⅓ miles (32½ Km). It has a gentle pace of about 9mph (when moving, overall average will be closer to 6mph). Following a tour of a few town centres it will be joining the other groups in Central London. The venue is in a gated, private property with no onlookers. You are welcome to arrive early, relax, eat your sandwiches, socialise and get painted.
Kew Bridge is second longest at 17¾ miles (28½ Km). The ride crosses the meandering Thames several times before joining in with the Clapham Junction start. The ride starts from the southbound roadside at the north end of the bridge. As it is a roadside start, you should not arrive early.
Clapham Junction is very convenient for the train connections, after all, it is the biggest junction and has the most trains passing through – over 2,000 on weekdays. It is optionally a circular route, with riders returning to the start point after completing the ride. Our start point is alongside the station (Platform 1 side) in a fairly small public square, so you should not arrive early. The route is 9 miles (14½ Km) without the optional return leg.
Hackney Wick is a new start location for 2024. It’s at the Thingy Cafe, 1 Trowbridge Rd, London E9 5LD and is close to Hackney Wick Overground Station. The start is hosted at a café so riders can arrive early, buy food, buy drinks, use the toilet and socialise. It should also be a good place for body painting.
The other rides are relatively easy rides into the centre.
Tower Hill is arguably the most scenic ride, starting alongside the Tower of London, crossing four bridges, riding alongside the river, passing by Big Ben. It’s handy for London Bridge, Waterloo, Charing Cross, Fenchurch St and Liverpool St stations. We use a public park, so there will be onlookers and photographers. The ride from here is about 7¾ miles (12½ Km).
Regents Park is an easy ride down through the centre of town, and particularly good if you are bringing your bike in via Euston or Kings Cross stations. The Royal Parks do not give us permission to start from the Park, so we start outside on the roadside. There has not been a problem with people visiting the park before the start, but they should not get naked, do bodypainting or look like they are lining up for the start! This is the shortest route at just under 7½ miles (12 Km).
Wellington Arch is a replacement for our usual popular starting point in Hyde Park. Expect large numbers of riders here. It is a short, easy route – except for the challenge of exiting towards Piccadilly as the location is in the middle of the large Hyde Park Corner roundabout!
All the routes merge for the core part of the route, from Westminster Bridge onwards, to form the 1,000+ rider peloton (which always moves at a safe, comfortable pace and gets stuck a bit).
Accessible Option
There are usually several participants with restricted ability to ride a bike. WNBR London has included an accessible option. It is a relatively short and easy route, running between two rest points.
WNBR London takes place on the public streets of London. Nobody can control the actions or behaviours of the public. Participants should endeavour to avoid crowds and interactions with strangers. Remember – we are well behaved!
The World Naked Bike Ride is a peaceful protest that intends to get its messages across by generating public interest. We want other road users and spectators to be pleasantly surprised and take notice. We do not behave badly!
The ride aims to attract attention to its themes by being a fun spectacle. Riders do not block roads, or move slowly, or ride dangerously, or cause damage, or lock on to things, or climb up buildings, or leave mess behind, or confront other people. It is a non-aggressive, lawful, campaign. Extensive route and organisational details are shared with the Police, who advise on potential conflicting activities.
We also employ professional security personnel to help keep participants and spectators safe and legal.
We get asked this question a lot of times. And the answer is – we don’t publish details about the route
We don’t know what the route and timing will be
We don’t fix our plans until we test all of the routes a week before the ride. We often find unexpected problems such as road closures.
Even then it’s usual for us to encounter problems on the day – like closures, congestion, accidents and other protests or events that were unknown to the police.
We have alternative plans and contingencies. Ride leaders confer on the day to decide which options to take when there is a problem.
The police have all our detailed plans including contingencies, but we do not share them elsewhere!
The Tower Hill group encounter a crane completely blocking the road…
… and make an unplanned visit to the Tate Modern to get past the crane
We want participants to be safe and avoid harassment
Riders don’t need to know the route – they only need to know where and when to meet.
It’s often people who only want to watch or photograph riders who want to know about the detailed routes and timings.
As a protest we welcome positive publicity; we do co-operate with the media and responsible photographers.
We also welcome genuine, supportive spectators sharing their photos and video.
But we don’t want to make it any easier than it is for unwelcome photographers or troublemakers to find us en route.
You can read more about good vs bad photography in our Photography Policy.
Often it’s people with bad motives who make the biggest fuss about not knowing the detailed routes and timing!
This year’s video is available on Vimeo and YouTube.
This is a marshal’s eye view of the 2023 World Naked Bike Ride in London.
WNBR London rode seven routes from Clapham Junction, Croydon, Deptford, Kew Bridge, Regents Park, Tower Hill and Wellington Arch. It was a hot, sunny day and the turnout was massive. We can’t give an accurate number as we had to divert from the point at which we take the clicker count. But it was much bigger than last year when we counted 1,003 riders.
Contains some NON-SEXUAL NUDITY
WNBR is a world-wide campaign, with a number of linked themes. Its objectives are:
Protest against the global dependency on oil
Curb car culture
Obtain real rights for cyclists
Demonstrate the vulnerability of cyclists on city streets
Now the 2023 WNBR season is over, we want to get your hive minds thinking. It would be great to find some new start points that provide good privacy and facilities. Think deep! Talk to people! Find out whether they would be interested.
We don’t want untested lists of ideas; we don’t have time to investigate and cold call. We want you to introduce us to people who are interested in talking to us.
A start should be easy to get to and a comfortable ride from Central London – 2 to 10 miles would be good. Obviously, there needs to be space for riders and their bicycles. If it also has some covered space, toilets and maybe refreshment that would be great. It would need to be available from say 1pm to 3pm on a Saturday. (We currently expect the next ride to be 8th June 2024.)
We’re not rich but we could pay a modest fee for use of a good place.
Here’s the kind of thing we are looking for:
Local sports grounds (eg football, athletics, golf, etc)
Clubs (naturist, spas, social, etc)
Churches and other religious centres
Community Centres
Local entertainment venues (eg local theatres, music venues, clubs)
Academia (Universities, Colleges, Students’ Unions)
Garden centres
Farms
Businesses with indoor or outdoor space for bikes
Private car parks that are not used on Saturdays
Local authority spaces that are not open to the general public
Friendly institutions (eg museums, art galleries, hospitals)
Pubs and restaurants with big spaces
Private parks (eg gardens in the centre of residential squares)
Private houses with large gardens
If you have found a someone or somewhere and they are willing to help, please send us the details!
Composite Image of London by NASA
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This site provides information about the World Naked Bike Ride in London. If you continue you will see some non-sexual images of naked bike riders.
