The Time a Lion Roamed the Streets of London (Yes, Really)
And no — this isn’t a metaphor. A real lion once took a stroll through the city.
London has seen its fair share of strange sights over the centuries — from elephants crossing Westminster Bridge to polar bears in the Thames (we’ll get to that another day). But perhaps one of the most surreal stories of all involves a lion casually roaming the streets of central London.
Yes, an actual lion.
Here’s the wild (and totally true) tale of how it happened — and why Londoners didn’t even blink.
Let’s Go Back to 1857…
On a rainy day in October 1857, a lion escaped from a travelling menagerie (a kind of Victorian pop-up zoo) parked near the Strand. Back then, exotic animal shows were a huge deal in London. Traders would tour the country with lions, tigers, bears — and sadly, the enclosures weren’t always secure.
One such lion — a young male — managed to break free from his cage after its wooden door was left unlatched. Before anyone could stop him, the animal leapt out and made his way toward Trafalgar Square.
Chaos? Not Quite.
You’d think London would’ve gone into a full panic. A lion loose in the capital? Surely there would be mayhem. But Victorians were… a different breed.
Eyewitnesses said the lion walked calmly, sniffing at cobblestones, pausing near lampposts, and ignoring most people. In fact, many Londoners didn’t even realise it was a real lion at first — assuming it was part of a publicity stunt or theatre show. A few curious onlookers even tried to approach it before being warned off.
Enter the Hero of the Day
The situation was finally brought under control thanks to an off-duty zookeeper named Edward Cross — a man who’d worked at the Royal Menagerie in Exeter Exchange (another story for another time). Cross just happened to be nearby, recognised the lion’s behaviour as non-aggressive, and approached carefully.
With incredible calm, he reportedly used a piece of raw meat from a local butcher to coax the lion into a nearby alley — where he shut the gate behind it and waited for handlers to retrieve the animal.
No one was hurt. The lion was returned safely. And within a few days, the whole story faded into a sort of urban legend.
London and Lions: A Surprisingly Long Relationship
This wasn’t London’s first lion, nor its last.
The Tower of London had lions in its Royal Menagerie from the 1200s to the 1800s. Some were gifts from foreign rulers, and they were kept in small stone enclosures.
Trafalgar Square’s lion statues, sculpted by Edwin Landseer, were modelled partly from real lion corpses and partly from sketches at the London Zoo.
And of course, London Zoo itself, opened in 1828, once allowed visitors to ride elephants and feed the lions raw meat through bars.
In short, London has always had a strange, layered history with wild animals — both contained and (occasionally) not.
Why You Probably Haven’t Heard This Story
The lion’s 1857 escape made a few short mentions in Victorian newspapers, but it didn’t cause mass hysteria — mostly because it was handled so quickly and, well… Britishly.
Over time, the tale blended into a category of odd London trivia, often mentioned in obscure books or passed around in storytelling circles. It’s the kind of story that feels fake — until you dig into the old records and see it really did happen.
Final Thoughts
London is full of unbelievable stories — but some, like this one, are both absurd and entirely true. A lion really did walk down the Strand. And for a brief moment, the city just… carried on.
So next time someone says London has lost its edge, remind them: once, a lion went sightseeing here. And nobody screamed.
Want more weird stories from London’s history? Follow @Londonyaar for daily legends, forgotten moments, and bizarre facts from the city that never runs out of surprises.