Covent Garden Public Reading Garden: Free Churchyard Seats

The quietest public reading garden in Covent Garden is the walled churchyard behind St Paul's, the Actors' Church, and most visitors never find it because the grand portico facing the piazza is not the way in. You enter from gates on King Street, Henrietta Street or Bedford Street, and within thirty steps the buskers fade. It is free, unticketed and lined with benches, and it is the place to start before trying two other green corners nearby.

St Paul's was designed by Inigo Jones and consecrated in 1638, and its east portico is famous as the setting for the opening scene of Shaw's Pygmalion. That portico is a dead end, though. Walk round to the side streets and look for the iron gates into the churchyard garden. Inside you find a rectangle of lawn, rose beds and benches set against brick walls, with the church's plain west front ahead of you.

The garden's link to theatre is everywhere once you look. Inside the church, memorial plaques honour actors, writers and theatre people, and the congregation still includes many from the West End. A play script or a theatre memoir feels right on these benches. Keep your voice low and phone on silent, since the space is part of a working parish and people often sit here simply to be still.

Weekday mornings are the sweet spot. Before the shops open the garden belongs to parish volunteers, office workers with coffee, and a few theatre staff passing between rehearsals. By lunchtime the benches nearest the gates fill up, but the far corners usually stay free. Late afternoon light falls across the west wall and the garden turns warm and gold, which is a lovely, short window for reading.

One honest caution: do not plan a long session here on a Saturday in high summer. Tour groups discover the garden, wedding parties sometimes gather by the church door, and the calm you came for disappears. On those days, arrive early, read for an hour, and move on before midday. The church occasionally hosts services and events, so if the gates are closed, try one of the alternatives below rather than waiting.

Ten minutes north, past Seven Dials and the back of St Giles, the Phoenix Garden on Stacey Street is a completely different mood. It is a community garden looked after by volunteers and a small charity, planted with wildlife in mind, so instead of neat beds you get tangles of shrubs, climbing plants and paths that wind between them. It began in the 1980s on a patch of land that had been a car park.

Readers who like a little wildness will prefer it to the churchyard. Seats are scattered rather than lined up, so you can usually find one that feels private. The garden relies on donations and volunteer hours, which means it deserves respect: keep to the paths, take your rubbish away, and leave the planting alone. If you enjoy it, the Phoenix Garden's own website lists volunteering sessions and ways to support it.

When both of those are busy, walk south down Villiers Street towards Embankment station and into Victoria Embankment Gardens. This long riverside strip has generous lawns, flower beds and plenty of benches, along with memorials and the stone York Watergate, which once marked the river's edge before the Embankment was built. It feels spacious compared with the tight Covent Garden streets above it.

The gardens are busier and louder than the churchyard because of the traffic on the Embankment, so choose a bench deeper inside, closer to the Savoy end. They suit an afternoon read when you want a bit of air and room around you. In warmer months the gardens host outdoor events, so check what is on before you go if you want quiet. Shady spots under the trees go first on hot days.

Pick the St Paul's churchyard for poetry, plays and anything that needs concentration. Pick the Phoenix Garden if you want a corner that feels hidden and a little wild, or if you are reading nature writing. Pick Victoria Embankment Gardens for a long afternoon with a novel when you want more room, less enclosure and the option of a riverside stroll when you need to stretch your legs between chapters.

A good half-day loop links all three. Start with an early chapter in the churchyard, walk up Neal Street to Seven Dials, where seven streets meet around a sundial column, and continue to the Phoenix Garden for a second session among the shrubs. Then drift south through the market and down Villiers Street to the Embankment, finishing with a riverside bench as the light starts to fade over the Thames.

The one thing to avoid is reading in the piazza itself. The cobbles around the market building look charming, but street performers, crowds and restaurant terraces make it the noisiest square in the area. Use it as a meeting point, then lead your companion straight to the churchyard gates. The difference in noise after a two-minute walk surprises nearly everyone who tries it for the first time.

All three gardens are free to enter. Treat them as daylight spaces, because gates are locked in the evening and the churchyard may close for services or private events. There are no public toilets inside the churchyard or the Phoenix Garden, so plan around cafés nearby. Leave bikes outside the gates and keep food simple, since the gardens are small and crumbs attract pigeons quickly.

Weather changes the plan more than crowds do. The churchyard and the Phoenix Garden have little shelter from rain, so carry a compact umbrella from autumn onwards. If a downpour arrives, Covent Garden's covered market halls are the nearest dry seating, though not quiet. For a longer wet-weather session, head for a library reading room instead and save the gardens for a brighter day.

Use the Karpo app to ask for quiet free gardens near Covent Garden and compare them by mood and walking distance. Save the churchyard as your first stop and the Phoenix Garden and Embankment as backups, so you are never stuck circling the piazza looking for a seat. Next time you have an hour between a matinee and dinner, you will know exactly which gate to walk through.