Welcome to The Regent's Park & Primrose Hill

Did you know that the park boasts London’s largest outdoor sports area? At The Hub you can hire pitches for a wide range of sports – from football and rugby to cricket and lacrosse. Maybe you’d rather get out on the water? Head over to the lake, where you can hire a boat.  

Over 120 species of bird can be seen at The Regent’s Park each year. And it’s not just birds – the park is even home to London’s only breeding population of hedgehogs. With 5,000 varieties of tree, areas of wild meadow and precious historic grasslands, wildlife thrives here. See what you can spot!

And, of course, there’s that famous view. Hike up to the top of Primrose Hill to enjoy show-stopping views over the city of London. For generations, this vista has inspired artists and poets – what will it spark for you? 

Sport and leisure in The Regent’s Park & Primrose Hill

Book a game of cricket or private tennis lessons.  Enjoy playing softball, rounders or a game of touch rugby after work. Hire a pedalo, or cycle the perimeter at sunset.  

Make the most of every minute in The Regent’s Park.

Keeping fit and active, in the fresh air

If you like to keep fit and active, you’ll find plenty to keep you that way in The Regent’s Park. Not content with being home to the world’s oldest scientific zoo, and the oldest open air theatre in the country, The Regent’s Park has an astonishing range of year-round sports facilities, including The Hub and the tennis centre managed by Park Sports. 

Over 50 bookable courts and pitches

Choose from football, rugby, lacrosse, cricket, softball, rounders, tennis, padel and netball. Or keep active in your own way, at your own pace. We welcome joggers and cyclists, but if you’re on two wheels please keep to the designated paths.

The Regent’s Park, along with Bushy Park, also offers Companion Cycling using modified bikes, so that the beautiful open spaces and surroundings are accessible to as many people as possible.

The Hub in The Regent’s Park

The Hub is central London’s largest, most popular outdoor sports facility, with grass pitches for football, rugby and lacrosse over winter and cricket, softball, rounders and touch rugby in summer. You can play as a team, or bring a school, hold a sports day here, host a works outing or a children’s birthday party. Whether you live close by or you’re just visiting, everyone’s welcome. Post-game, relax in the Hub Café, with panoramic views of London. 

Ready to play? Enquire about a pitch here.

Boating in The Regent’s Park

From April onwards, the bright blue pedalos and rowing boats for hire on the Boating Lake and the Children’s Boating Pond are a magnet for visitors, especially families. You can choose your own time – hire for half an hour, or a full hour – and there’s no need to pre-book. Boats take a maximum of four adults on the lake, and it’s strictly one child per boat in the Children’s Pond. Turn up – and take to the water! 

Keeping fit and active in beautiful natural surroundings improves our physical and mental wellbeing, and our quality of life. Make the most of your local Royal Park – it’s free to everyone and open every day of the year.

Playing tennis, netball or padel at the tennis centre in The Regent’s Park

With plenty of floodlit hard courts, a full tennis coaching programme, private lessons and summer camps, you can have a great game whatever your level of ability. It’s a great way to de-stress, keep fit and socialise at the same time.  

The courts are managed by our partners, Park Sports on a pay and play basis. Book in advance here or decide on the day.

Things to see and do in The Regent’s Park & Primrose Hill

The Regent’s Park is a record breaking Royal Park. Home to London’s largest collection of outdoor sports pitches, Britain’s oldest outdoor theatre and the world’s oldest scientific zoo.

The Regent’s Park – the park of discovery

Once a place of duels and prize fights, The Regent’s Park is famous for its stunning Regency architecture and landscaping. And it’s also loved by those who live locally for its thriving wildlife and glorious gardens, especially Queen Mary’s Gardens. If you’re visiting in June or July, don’t miss the sight – and scent – of 40,000 roses in full bloom.

This is a park with a rich history of royal ambition, scientific discovery and culture – home to London landmarks such as ZSL London Zoo with its iconic aviary, and the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, as well as the leading contemporary art fair Frieze London. 

Take a stroll through its elegant parkland, past the ornamental lake and the monuments, memorials and fountains, including the Ready Money Drinking Fountain. You can either explore yourself or join one of our nature or historical experts on a guided walk.

A park for nature lovers and gardeners

Whatever style of garden – or gardening – you prefer, you may find it here. The world famous rose garden is a must see, and if you want to encourage biodiversity in your own back garden, explore the Wildlife Garden, or discover more about growing your own food at our Allotment Garden. Like all the Royal Parks, we take our responsibility to look after the wildlife of the park very seriously – and our hedgehog conservation programme has been working with London’s only breeding colony of hedgehogs.

Playgrounds in The Regent’s Park

Children and parks were just made for each other – and we have four playgrounds in The Regent’s Park. If you just need to take time out from sightseeing on your trip to London or want the kids to burn off some energy and have a mini adventure, then hire a pedalo at the Boating Lake or dare to fly the 50m zipwire at Gloucester Gate Playground. This playground has a wheelchair-accessible roundabout and raised sandpits so everyone can join in and play together.

Relax on Primrose Hill

Our advice is – do nothing! Primrose Hill is one of the highest spots in London; a beautiful, wide open space to relax and take in the panoramic (and protected) view of the whole London skyline. It’s a great place for a run, too. You can pick up a coffee or light snack at The Primrose Hill Café, or bring your own picnic and just enjoy being closer to nature.

Eating and drinking in The Regent's Park

A lakeside lunch, an ice cold drink overlooking the whole of London, or a steaming hot chocolate – we’ve got eight fantastic venues in The Regent’s Park.

Baguette by the boating lake, or afternoon tea before the matinee

Because The Regent’s Park is a big place, with an incredible variety of things to see and do, we’ve located our eight cafés and kiosks at some of the most popular areas in the park.

Wake up and smell the barista coffee – and the roses – at The Regent’s Bar & Kitchen, right next to the popular Queen Mary’s Garden and the Open Air Theatre. Or if you fancy a deli-style salad alfresco, head for the terrace at The Broad Walk Café on the northwest side of the park, close to ZSL London Zoo.

If you’ve just time for a coffee and pastry after a walk, try the stylish Espresso Bar, close to Chester Road. And if you’ve just come off the tennis courts close to York Gate, you can refuel at the Park Sports Café.

Watch the world go by, and admire the views

Located right beside the boating lake, The Waterside Café is a great vantage point to sit in the sunshine, watch the boats and the wildlife, as you enjoy a snack or a lunch with friends.

The Hub Café is literally the high point of The Regent’s Park. From here you’ll have 360 panoramic views of the city as you sip your cappuccino.

We also have four refreshment kiosks spread around the park, including one at the Gloucester Gate Playground, and The Primrose Hill Café beside the children’s playground.

Check out the park information boards or the park map here for your most convenient one.

Picnicking in The Regent's Park

The park is a great place for a picnic! A selection of freshly cut sandwiches, artisan baguettes and drinks are available in our cafés and kiosks.

Feel free to bring your own food and drink to enjoy in the park but barbecues and any sort of fire lighting is absolutely forbidden.

Please take your litter home with you or place it in one of our bins on the way out – wildlife and litter don’t mix.

Every purchase helps us care for The Regent's Park

A proportion of anything you spend at our cafés or kiosks goes straight back to help look after the Royal Parks, and the wealth of wildlife and natural habitats they contain.

The Regent’s Park gardens – where life flourishes

Avenues of cherry blossom in spring. 40,000 roses in full bloom in summer. Copper beeches in autumn. Brilliant scarlet berries in the depths of winter. 

In The Regent’s Park, you’ll find gardens for all seasons.

Six stunning gardens within one Royal Park

A new variety of rose in one of the 85 rose beds in Queen Mary’s Gardens, a visiting winter redwing in St. John’s Lodge Garden or a marbled white butterfly in the Community Wildlife Garden.

Whatever time of year you visit, you’ll see something in one of our gardens that you didn’t spot before. And wherever you are, look up! There are some stunning and unusual trees to spot in the park too – download our Music for Trees app that puts sound to some of the canopies here.

Queen Mary’s Gardens are the mecca for rose lovers. But it doesn’t stop at roses. There are showstopping seasonal set piece borders, a Mediterranean border, hidden benches and hideaways amid the shrubbery, and an ornamental lake.

The Avenue Gardens, designed by architect John Nash, has a stately English feel, with tiered fountains, spectacular seasonal displays and formal avenues of lime, juniper and tulip trees. A walk here will transport you back to the 18th century when The Regent’s Park was the place to see and be seen.

Best time to see Queen Mary’s Gardens

In early June, with 40,000 roses in full bloom, Queen Mary’s Gardens rivals opening night at the nearby Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. Stunning – and running all summer long.

Best time to see The Avenue Garden

What could be lovelier than the explosion of pink cherry blossom and thousands of brilliant scarlet and yellow tulips in springtime? The timing of the blossom varies so it's worth checking ahead if you want to catch the cherry trees.

Gardens that give back – The Community Wildlife Garden and the Allotment Garden

In a world of garden grand designs, and landscaping for looks, it’s inspiring to visit a wildlife garden that puts biodiversity first. The Regent’s Park Community Wildlife Garden, near the Tennis Centre, is packed with wild and ornamental flowers grown to attract as much wildlife as possible. And the Allotment Garden, run entirely by volunteers, will give you masses of ideas and tips for your own garden too. 

The Winter Garden

The original Winter Garden in The Regent’s Park was the first of Europe's great glasshouses, filled with non-native palms and orchids. Today’s Winter Garden, at the Charlbert Gate entrance, is the complete opposite – embracing the cold British climate, with planting specifically designed to be at its best in winter and early spring. 

St. John’s Lodge Garden – the best kept ‘secret garden’ in London

The brief for this magical, hidden gem was to create a garden ‘fit for meditation.’ Robert Weir Schultz’s beautifully intimate layout, with its mixed borders, muted tones, and ornamental sculpture, is one of London’s finest surviving Arts and Crafts gardens. Enter St. John’s Lodge Garden through the Arbour, covered with clematis and honeysuckle, and relax in one of the hidden recesses in the yew hedges.  

Best time to see St. John’s Lodge Garden? 

 Late spring, or whenever you crave some time to yourself.

Can I bring my dog?

Dogs are very welcome in The Regent’s Park, but there are some parts of the gardens that they can’t go. You can’t bring them into Queen Mary’s Gardens, The Avenue Garden or St. John’s Lodge Garden, but they’re welcome on a lead in The Winter Garden and the Community Wildlife Garden.

The history and architecture of The Regent’s Park

Home of Regency architecture, scientific endeavour – and 40,000 glorious roses.

The jewel in the crown – The Regent’s Park

The Regent’s Park that we know today is the high water mark of Regency elegance. Designed by John Nash in the early 1800s, the park is a masterpiece of landscape design and town planning, as well as an enduringly beautiful green space.

The early days of The Regent’s Park

Originally, the parkland was part of the vast forest of Middlesex and known as Marylebone Park, after the nearby village and manor. Marylebone Park was thickly wooded, and full of deer. 

This caught the eye of King Henry Vlll. Not content with hunting at Richmond Park, Hyde Park and St. James’s Park, King Henry seized the 554 acres of Marylebone Park to add to his royal collection of hunting grounds. A ditch and rampart kept the deer in, the poachers out – and Henry happy. 

And so Marylebone Park remained. Between 1649 and 1660, as many as 16,000 trees were chopped down and land sold off to pay for the Civil War. For the next 150 years the park was leased to tenant farmers. 

But it was destined to become one of the most sought-after neighbourhoods in London.

Grand designs in the 1800s – The Prince Regent and John Nash

By 1811, London and its population were growing – and there was more money to be made by building on Marylebone Park than by farming it. At the same time, the new Prince Regent set his heart on a new summer palace with its own exclusive grounds. He turned to celebrated architect, John Nash.
 
Nash’s bold landscaping design featured a vast, rounded park surrounded by highly desirable Regency residential villas, plus a stunning summer palace for the Prince Regent and a processional road linking this new palace with the prince’s other home, St. James’s Palace. 

Nash was a brilliant architect, but no businessman. The plans didn’t make a small fortune – they cost one. And the Prince Regent simply lost interest. Only 8 villas were built and the Prince’s summer Palace never materialised, but the processional route survives as Regent Street today.

The 1800s – becoming a Royal Park

At first, the only people allowed in the park were the exclusive residents themselves, and the fashionable 'carriage set' who took part in  weekly carriage rides. But in 1835, the east side the park opened to the public.

Science and the arts in The Regent’s Park

The Regent’s Park has a flourishing cultural life. In 1838, The Royal Botanic Society laid out the Inner Circle with lawns and a lake, now the site of the world-famous rose collection in Queen Mary's Gardens. The Regent’s Park is also home to the world’s oldest scientific zoo, London Zoo, and the oldest outdoor theatre in the world.

The history of Primrose Hill

One of the best views in London can be enjoyed from the top of Primrose Hill. In Roman times, the hillside was a wolf-infested forest, but by the 1400s, the forest had given way to meadows and open fields. Its name changed to Primrose Hill in Elizabethan times, due to the glorious spring flowers on its slopes. Primrose Hill became Crown property in 1841, and eventually linked to The Regent’s Park below it.

Horticulture, vistas and landscapes

The Regent’s Park is known for its fine horticulture, vistas and landscapes.  Nearby Primrose Hill is celebrated for the stunning views of London from its summit. 

Both parks are also home to unique memorials. In Regent’s Park the Ready Money drinking fountain – one of the largest in London – can be seen to the north of the Boardwalk. This striking landmark was a gift from a wealthy Indian industrialist – ‘Ready Money’ was his nickname! 

Sticking with the theme of water, make sure you take a look at the famous Triton Fountain. A group of bronze sculptures crown the picturesque Queen Mary’s Gardens. 

The Griffin Tazza – often called the ‘Lion Vase’ – sits in the Avenue Gardens. Four winged lions hold a large stone bowl, filled with plants. This is one of about 30 ornate planters in this pretty part of the park. 

Next time you’re admiring the view from Primrose Hill, don’t forget to look down – you might spot a plaque commemorating Iolo Morganwg – a Welsh Bard who died in 1826. 

To find out more about these landmarks and discover other things to see, explore the links below. 

Habitats, havens and hideouts in The Regent’s Park

The Regent’s Park is perhaps best known for its famous rose garden and elegant, treelined avenues. But its 400 acres are a mix of wildlife habitats, from grassland to woodland, wetland and reedbeds to thriving wildflower meadows. Our role is to protect and conserve these historic natural environments, and to create new, biodiverse ones, such as the naturalised grasslands.

Although they don’t sound as romantic as a wildflower meadow, hedgerows and scrub are equally important wildlife habitats. Our goldfinches, robins and wrens can nest and roost safely – and timid mammals like hedgehogs love the safety of dense scrub for foraging. The Regent’s Park has the only breeding population of hedgehogs in Central London.

Primrose Hill itself includes an area of one of Britain’s rarer habitats – acid grassland. These areas are home to specialist native wild plants, including sheep's sorrel, common cat’s ear and red fescue.

The birds of The Regent’s Park

The Regent’s Park lake is an inner-city haven for bird life – home to the most diverse population of water birds in any of the Royal Parks. Look out for mallards, great crested grebes, grey herons, teal, and shyer birds such as widgeons and pintails. Around 50 cormorants regularly fly in at dusk to roost on the islands.

Keep your eyes and ears open for chiff chaffs, cetti’s warblers and reed warblers around lakeside scrub and reedbeds. Large carp cruise the surface of the lake, but you might also get lucky and see smooth newts or frogs in the more sheltered shallows and ponds.

A great way to birdwatch in The Regent’s Park is with our short, self-guided bird walk.

Letting the grass grow long – putting biodiversity first

Around the sports pitches, you’ll see we’re cutting the grass less , and naturalising the grassland with native wildflowers in order to boost biodiversity and attract more pollinators. In spring and summer, meadows are humming with bees and butterflies, from meadow browns and small tortoiseshells to the rarer marbled white.

We’ve now planted 10’s of thousands of native wildflowers, including lady’s bedstraw, red campion and devil’s bit scabious. If it’s quiet, you might spot a green woodpecker hunting for ants, or kestrels hovering overhead, on the lookout for wood mice and voles.

Wildlife and parklife – a delicate balancing act

The Royal Parks are unique urban parklands, where people and wildlife can come together. We have a responsibility to protect both, and to balance the best interests of the people, animals, birds, plants and planet for future generations.