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Working in the historic heart of London’s financial district, one is not far from a church. Sometimes just short of skyscrapers or blocked by office blocks, commuters might see a spire or two as they rush to and from work, hear distant service lines singing or perhaps a bell. But how many of us really appreciate this wonderful part of the City’s heritage?

“People always come in and say ‘I’ve worked on the corner for 35 years, but I’ve never been here before,'” said the Reverend Canon Alison Joyce, the rector of St Bride’s, the Fleet correspondents’ church Street.

He has made it his mission to inspire people of all faiths and no one else to come in and experience Wren’s Grade I-listed masterpiece and the 2,000 years of history that underpins it.

Entering and exploring its secrets is a profound experience at any time of the year, but especially at Christmas. There has been a church on this site since the 6th century, as a small medieval chapel in the crypt proves.

After St Bride’s and countless other churches in the City were razed to the ground in the Great Fire of London in 1666, 51 of them were rebuilt – most designed by Sir Christopher Wren – having been destroyed again in the Blitz.

Miraculously so many survived, but some doubted how long their doors would stay open.

City churches are more than places of worship. It contains a rich and unique history, valuable to all of London. You don’t have to be a regular churchgoer or even a Christian to appreciate it – but your chances of getting lost and discovering it by accident are slim.

Of the 40 or so churches in the Square Mile that survive, not all are always open to the public. Friends of the City Churches organizes volunteer church guards to enable access for well-ordered weekday visitors. But the financial challenges are enormous, given the rising costs of keeping listed monuments in good repair.

Many believe that the Church of England or the government will cover the cost, but Joyce points out that St Bride’s and other churches are self-funded and rely on donations.

Across the UK, church attendance remains lower than pre-pandemic levels. Yet the unique issue for churches in the City of London is that congregations are transient – this section of the capital’s busy working population may include some of the wealthiest people in the entire country, but it will disappear in weekend.

And while many thousands of City workers flock to carol services in the run-up to Christmas, fewer regularly attend midweek services. Some of the churches that hold Sunday services rely on traveling congregations. ear.

Nevertheless, the churches have shown great effort to adapt to the modern needs of the weekday workers and to attract them inside.

One of the favorite lunches of Financial Times journalists is Cafe Belowa restaurant in the crypt of St Mary le Bow church in Cheapside, a stone’s throw from our office. A few minutes’ walk in the other direction and you’ll find The Wren Coffee, located inside St Nicholas Cole Abbey, described as London’s most beautiful coffee shop. It’s also the only place I know of that sells London Fog – an Earl Gray latte that, when spiked with honey, has been known to help many colleagues facing looming deadlines.

Some churches in the City are famous for music, concerts and recitals. St Andrew’s in Holborn regularly hosts the City Orchestra. And if you haven’t heard the world famous choir of St Bride’s, you haven’t lived. However, the church also attracts newcomers by offering something unique in the hustle and bustle of the City – complete silence.

When Joyce became rector ten years ago, he was amazed at the number of City workers he could see through the plate glass windows still working in their offices at half past eleven at night. His answer was found a Space for Silence. Every day of the week at 4 pm, the church lights are turned off, the candles are lit and all visitors are welcome to simply sit, meditate, pray if they wish and experience an oasis of silence and calm down.

“When you can reconnect with that kind of silence, it helps you gain perspective whether you’re a person of faith or not,” he said. So if you pass a church in the City and find the door open, there’s even more reason to enter to find the treasures inside.

Claire Barrett is the FT’s consumer editor

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