Great Tower Street is a street in the City of London

City of London

The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...

.

It forms an eastward continuation of Eastcheap

Eastcheap

Eastcheap is a street in the City of London. Its name derives from cheap, market, with the prefix "East" distinguishing it from the other former City of London market of Westcheap . In medieval times Eastcheap was the City's main meat market, with butchers' stalls lining both sides of the street...

 starting at Idol Lane, and leads towards Byward Street

Byward Street

Byward Street, classified as the A3211, is a street in the City of London.It is a short continuation of Lower Thames Street and runs north-east from the junction with Great Tower Street to Trinity Square, Tower Hill in Tower Ward....

, then Tower Hill

Tower Hill

Tower Hill is an elevated spot northwest of the Tower of London, just outside the limits of the City of London, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Formerly it was part of the Tower Liberty under the direct administrative control of Tower...

. On Byward Street, opposite Great Tower Street, is the historic church All Hallows-by-the-Tower

All Hallows-by-the-Tower

All Hallows-by-the-Tower, also previously dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, is an ancient Anglican church located in Byward Street in the City of London, overlooking the Tower of London.-History:...

.

A public house called the Czar's Head used to stand at number 48, so named because Peter the Great used to drink there when he was learning ship-building at Deptford

Deptford

Deptford is a district of south London, England, located on the south bank of the River Thames. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne, and from the mid 16th century to the late 19th was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Navy Dockyards.Deptford and the docks are...

 (Weinreb and Hibbert 1983: 331).

The street, prior to boundary changes in 2003, formed the centre of the City ward of Tower

Tower (ward)

Tower is a ward of the City of London and is named from its propinquity to the Tower of London. The ward covers the area of the City that is closest to the Tower....

. Today it lies mostly in Billingsgate

Billingsgate

Billingsgate is a small ward in the south-east of the City of London, lying on the north bank of the River Thames between London Bridge and Tower Bridge...

 ward.

It is home to a number of restaurants and offices, including the southern entrance to the London Underwriting Centre at the corner with Mincing Lane

Mincing Lane

Mincing Lane is a one-way street in the City of London linking Fenchurch Street southward to Great Tower Street.Its name is a corruption of Mynchen Lane - so-called from the tenements held there by the Benedictine 'mynchens' or nuns of St Helen's Bishopsgate .It was for some years the world's...

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The marathon

Marathon

The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...

 route of the 2012 Summer Olympics

2012 Summer Olympics

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the "London 2012 Olympic Games", are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012...

is planned to pass along Great Tower Street.