The Safest and Strangest Way to Tour London: In an Armored Tank

Billie Cohen
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British company Tanks a Lot is offering tours of London in a decommissioned military tank. (Photo: Tony Kershaw / SWNS.com)

Here’s a way to battle the tourist hordes: in a tank. That’s how one unusual British company is offering a new tour of London. Through Tanks a Lot, visitors can now sign up to see the sights of the city in the Abbot, a 17-ton armored vehicle used by the military during the 1960s.

The tour visits all the usual suspects — Big Ben, Parliament, and Trafalgar Square — but the view from the top of the tank makes the whole experience quite a bit different, with plenty of stares no doubt. Though on the bright side, every car, bus, bicyclist, and pedestrian is going to get out of your way when you come rolling down the street in a giant, self-propelled shooting machine.

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When it was in service, the Abbot’s gun could fire across a distance of nine miles. These days, Tanks a Lot owner Nick Mead keeps the bulletproof behemoth parked at a nightclub in central London. He’s had the thing for 20 years, and though his company offers corporate tank-driving events (and even has a note on its website about possible funeral uses for the vehicles), it has only just began using the Abbot for city tours this past weekend.

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The Abbot is 17 tons of bulletproof tank. (Photo: Tony Kershaw / SWNS.com)

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Inaugural guests Natasha Black and Megan Gibson were quoted in the Daily Mail as saying the wartime digs were “surprisingly comfortable.” They’re also surprisingly expensive. Three-hour tours are about U.S. $2266 (£1,500). Book them through Tanks a Lot’s website.

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