Cunningham Clock Tower and Chowk Yadgar

The Cunningham Clock Tower in Peshawar, known to everyone in the city as Ghanta Ghar, is a 26 metre tower at a road junction in the old walled city. It was opened in 1900 to mark Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee. Chowk Yadgar, the old city's main square, is a short walk to its west, and the restored heritage trail to Sethi House and Gor Khatri starts at its foot. There is no ticket and nothing to go inside. You see it from the street in ten minutes, and its value is as the pivot of a walk.

This guide covers the tower's history, what to look at, the square beside it, the trail that starts here, and the security advice for Peshawar.

Who built Ghanta Ghar, and why?

The tower was put up, in the words of its dedication, in commemoration of Her Majesty the Queen Empress Victoria. The foundation stone was laid in 1898 and the tower opened to the public in 1900, three years after the diamond jubilee it marked. Clock towers of this kind went up across British India around the same date. Faisalabad and Multan each have one, and each is also called Ghanta Ghar, which simply means clock tower.

Three names are attached to it. The design was by James Strachan, the municipal engineer of Peshawar. The money came from Balmukand Ahooja, a banker and contractor of the city. And the name is that of Sir Alexander Frederick Douglas Cunningham, the commissioner of Peshawar who laid the foundation stone.

He is easily confused with two other men. His father, Sir Alexander Cunningham, was the archaeologist who founded the Archaeological Survey of India. Sir George Cunningham, a later governor of the North-West Frontier Province, was a different man again and has no connection with the tower.

What to look at

The tower stands 26 metres high on a base recorded as about 13 by 4 metres. It sits in the middle of the junction now called Ghanta Ghar Chowk, with traffic and handcarts passing round it, so the best views are from the mouths of the bazaars that meet here.

You cannot climb it, and there is no plaque worth a long look. Spend your time on the setting instead. The street running east from the tower is Bazaar-e-Kalan, where the restored fronts begin.

Chowk Yadgar, the square next door

Chowk Yadgar lies just west of the tower, where several of the old city's main roads meet. A domed monument was first put up here in 1883 in memory of Colonel C. Hastings, and the square was long known as Hastings Memorial.

Sources differ on what the present monument commemorates. Wikipedia describes it as dedicated to the victims of the 1930 Qissa Khwani Bazaar shooting, while other accounts say it was rebuilt in the 1960s to honour the dead of the 1965 war. We could not settle the point. What is clear is that the square has been Peshawar's gathering place for rallies and public meetings since the colonial period, and it still is.

Around the square, Andar Shehr, the jewellers' street, runs off its western end. To the south is the shawl market, and to the north is Ashraf Road, a busy trading street. The square is also the centre of the city's money-changing trade. Our Chowk Yadgar guide covers it in more detail.

The heritage trail from the tower

Ghanta Ghar is the starting point of Peshawar's Cultural Heritage Trail. The provincial government restored a route of about 500 metres from the tower through Bazaar-e-Kalan and Mohallah Sethian to Gor Khatri. The Aga Khan Trust for Culture gives the length as 450 metres. The fronts of 85 buildings of the Mughal, Sikh and British periods were repaired, at a cost reported by APP in 2020 as about Rs 301.5 million.

What you pass, in order:

1. Bazaar-e-Kalan. The street of restored timber-fronted houses. Look up, since the best carved balconies are on the upper floors.
2. Mohallah Sethian. The quarter of merchant houses built by the Sethi family in the 1880s. One is open as a museum. See our Sethi House guide.
3. Gor Khatri. The walled compound at the top of the old city, with a Mughal caravanserai and an excavation trench. See our Gor Khatri guide.

Later reports say the trail has suffered from poor maintenance, so expect some broken paving and shop signs creeping back over the restored fronts. It is still the most rewarding short walk in Peshawar.

How to fit it into a day

Most visitors see the tower and the square as one stop on a loop through the old city. A natural order is:

1. Qissa Khwani Bazaar, for a pot of qehwa to start.
2. Chowk Yadgar and Andar Shehr, the central square and the gold and silver lane.
3. Mahabat Khan Mosque, off Andar Shehr, avoiding prayer times.
4. Ghanta Ghar and the heritage trail, ending at Sethi House and Gor Khatri.

Allow three hours for the loop at an easy pace. Our old Peshawar walking tour sets it out stop by stop, and our guide to places to visit in Peshawar puts it beside the museum and Namak Mandi for a full day.

Getting there

The tower is roughly 4 km by road from Peshawar Saddar and roughly 10 km from the airport. The lanes are too narrow and crowded for a car, so take a rickshaw or ride-hailing car to Chowk Yadgar or Ghanta Ghar and walk from there. If you drive, park outside the old city and take a rickshaw in. The city's BRT runs along the edge of the old city, and our Peshawar BRT guide explains which stations serve it.

Go between about 9 am and noon. Shops are open and the lanes are not yet at their most crowded. Summer afternoons are very hot, with little shade in the street.

Is it safe to visit?

As of September 2026 the UK government advises against all travel to Peshawar, and the city has suffered serious attacks in recent years. Pakistani visitors and residents use these bazaars every day, but you should check the news before you go and read our guide on whether Peshawar is safe.

Two points are specific to this spot. Chowk Yadgar is where rallies and demonstrations are held, so leave if a crowd is gathering or a stage is being set up. And the bazaars are tightly packed, so keep your phone and wallet in a front pocket. If you hold a foreign passport, check your own government's advice, since travelling against it can void insurance.

Is it worth stopping?

Yes, if you are walking the old city anyway, since the main sights of the old city lie within about half a kilometre of the tower. The tower alone does not justify a trip across Peshawar. Its interest is in what it says about the city in 1900, when a local banker paid for a British memorial that the city has kept as its landmark ever since.

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