Professional Documents
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DIRECTIONS
Rob Humphreys
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3
Contents
Holborn ..........................................113
Introduction 4
CONTENTS
Clerkenwell ....................................117
The City..........................................122
Hoxton and Spitalfields ..................128
Ideas 9 The Tower and Docklands ..............134
South Bank and around..................140
The big six sights ............................10
Bankside and Southwark................146
What to eat ......................................12
Hyde Park and Kensington
London outdoors ..............................14
Gardens ......................................153
Gay and lesbian London ..................16
South Kensington, Knightsbridge and
London pubs ....................................18
Chelsea........................................158
Art galleries......................................20
High Street Kensington to Notting
Royal London ..................................22
Hill ..............................................164
Gourmet London ..............................24
Regent’s Park and Camden ............169
Museums ........................................26
Hampstead and Highgate ..............174
Churches..........................................28
Greenwich......................................180
Diverse London ................................30
Kew and Richmond ........................186
Kids’ London ....................................32
Hampton Court ..............................192
Indulgent London ............................34
Club-bars ........................................36
Victorian London ..............................38
Dead London....................................40
Accommodation 195
Riverside London..............................42 Hotels, B&Bs and hostels ..............197
Free London ....................................44
London from up high........................46
Festivals and events ........................48 Essentials 207
Queasy London ................................50
London on stage ..............................52 Arrival ............................................209
Musical London................................54 Information ....................................210
Contemporary architecture ..............56 City transport ................................210
Tudor and Stuart London ..................58 Entertainment ................................212
Literary and artistic London..............60 Festivals and Events ......................214
Afternoon tea ..................................62 Directory ........................................216
London
INTRODUCTION
When to visit
Despite the temperateness of the English climate, it’s impossible to say with
any degree of certainty that the weather will be pleasant in any given
month. With average daily temperatures of around 22°C, English summers
rarely get unbearably hot, while the winters (average daily tem-
perature 6–10°C) don’t get very cold – though they’re often
wet. However, whenever you come, be prepared for all
eventualities; in 2003, summer temperatures hit almost
40°C. As far as crowds go, tourists stream into London
pretty much all year round, with peak season from
Easter to October, and the biggest crush in July and
August, when you’ll need to book your accommodation
well in advance.
Contents Introduction
5
INTRODUCTION
쑽 Piccadilly
Circus
single visit – concentrate London Eye, the city can
on one or two areas and now boast the world’s
you’ll get a lot more out of largest modern art gallery
the place. London has and Ferris wheel, as well as
always been an enthralling the Millennium Bridge,
city, and the capital’s trad- the first new Thames
itional sights – Big Ben, crossing for over a hundred
Westminster Abbey, years.
Buckingham Palace, St Monuments from the
Paul’s Cathedral and the capital’s glorious past are
Tower of London – everywhere, from medieval
continue to draw in banqueting halls and the
millions of tourists every
year.Things change fast,
쒀 “Banglatown”,
Contents Introduction
6
great churches of
Christopher Wren
to the eclectic
INTRODUCTION
Victorian architec-
ture of the tri-
쑽 Berkeley
umphalist British
Empire.There’s
also much enjoy-
Square
ment to be had
from the city’s
quiet Georgian squares, the Portobello Road, Camden
narrow alleyways of the and Greenwich. The
City of London, the river- music, clubbing and
side walks, and the assorted gay/lesbian scenes are
quirks of what is still second to none, and main-
identifiably a collection of stream arts are no less
villages. And London is exciting, with regular
offset by surprisingly large opportunities to catch
expanses of greenery, with first-rate theatre compa-
several large public parks nies, dance troupes,
right in the centre as well exhibitions and opera. The
as wilder spaces on the city’s pubs have always had
outskirts. heaps of atmosphere, but
You could spend days its restaurants are now an
just shopping in London, attraction too, with every-
too, mixing with the thing from three-star
upper classes in the “tiara Michelin establishments to
triangle” around Harrods, low-cost, high-quality
or sampling the offbeat Chinese restaurants and
weekend markets of Indian curry houses.
쑽 Sunset
over the the Thames
Contents Introduction
7
LONDON AT A GLANCE
INTRODUCTION
Soho
The headquarters of hedonistic
London, Soho is the heart of the
West End entertainment district,
with the city’s largest concen-
tration of theatres, cinemas, clubs,
bars, cafés and restaurants.
쒀 Soho
쑽 Cutty
by night
Sark, Greenwich
Greenwich
Well worth the boat or train
journey from central London,
Greenwich makes the most of its
riverside setting, with heaps of
maritime sights, a royal park, a
bustling weekend market and the
famous Greenwich Meridian.
Contents Introduction
INTRODUCTION 8
쒀 Natural
History Museum
South Kensington
A fashionably smart part of
London in its own right, South
Kensington is also home to the
city’s most impressive trio of free
museums: the Natural History,
Science, and Victoria & Albert.
Hampstead
Although buzzing with cosmopoli-
tan life, Hampstead has managed
to retain a more village-like feel
than any other London suburb
and boasts the wild open space of
the Heath as well as a clutch of
intriguing small museums.
Westminster
Home to the Houses of
쑽 Hampstead
Contents Introduction
Ideas
Contents Ideas
10
London has lots of
The big six sights
hidden corners,
obscure attractions
and esoteric shops,
but amongst the
well-known sights,
the “big six” really
do live up to their
hype. Westminster
Abbey and the
Tower of London
have justifiably been
pulling in the
crowds for centuries; the
British Museum and the
National Gallery have
grown in popularity over
the last hundred years or
so; while the elegance of Tate Modern
the London Eye and the Austere former power station that’s now an
awesome cathedral to modern art.
stunning collection housed P.147 BANKSIDE AND SOUTHWARK
in the Tate Modern have
captured the imagination of
today’s visitors like no
other sights.
London Eye
The world’s largest ferris wheel is a
graceful new addition to the London
skyline.
P.142 SOUTH BANK AND AROUND
Contents Ideas
11
National Gallery
The vast range of work here, from Giotto to
Picasso, ensures that there’s something for
everyone.
P.67 TRAFALGAR SQUARE
AND WHITEHALL
Westminster Abbey
Venue for every coronation since William
the Conqueror and resting place of
countless kings and queens, the abbey is
an essential stop on any London tour.
P.75 WESTMINSTER
Tower of London
England’s most perfectly preserved medieval
fortress, site of some of the goriest events in
the nation’s history and somewhere
everyone should visit at least once.
P.134 THE TOWER
AND DOCKLANDS
British Museum
London’s most popular museum, worth a
visit for its glazed-over Great Court and
magnificent Round Reading Room alone.
P.101 BLOOMSBURY
Contents Ideas
12
London is an
What to eat Fish and chips
The national dish – fish in batter with
exciting – though deep-fried potato chips – remains as
often expensive – popular and tasty as ever.
place in which to P.167 HIGH STREET KENSINGTON TO
NOTTING HILL
eat out. You can
sample pretty much
every kind of cuisine
here, from
traditional and
modern British food to
Georgian and Peruvian.
Indeed, London can boast
some of the best
Cantonese restaurants in
the whole of Europe, is a
noted centre for Indian and
Bangladeshi food, and has
Curry
some very good French, Attracting top-notch chefs from
Greek, Italian, Japanese, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan
as well as all the Indian regions, London is
Spanish and Thai eateries. now one of the curry capitals of the world.
P.133 HOXTON AND
SPITALFIELDS
Contents Ideas
13
Vegetarian
London has a vast range of exclusively
veggie eating places, ranging from small,
wholesome, informal cafés to smart à la
carte restaurants.
P.110 COVENT GARDEN
Contents Ideas
14
Summer can be
London outdoors
unpredictable, and
the winter a little
damp, but
Londoners get out
and enjoy the great
outdoors whatever
the weather.
Temporary outdoor
ice rinks are a
regular feature of
the winter season,
boats ply up and
down the Thames through- Hampstead Ponds
Tucked amidst woodland, the Heath’s
out the year, and in the natural ponds are extremely popular for
summer there are several alfresco summer swimming.
P.175 HAMPSTEAD AND HIGHGATE
little-known spots where
you can enjoy an alfresco
dip.
Contents Ideas
15
Contents Ideas
16
Gay and lesbian London
London’s lesbian Old Compton Street
and gay scene is Lined with upfront bars and cafés, and
some rather risqué shops, this Soho drag
so huge, diverse and is Gay London’s main street.
well established that P.97 SOHO
Contents Ideas
17
Chariots Roman Baths
London’s largest and most fabulous gay
sauna features everything you could wish
for in the way of hot and sweaty nights
indoors.
P.218 ESSENTIALS
Candy Bar
Central London’s hottest girl-bar is a
cruisey, upbeat spot that’s open until the
early hours on the weekend.
P.100 SOHO
Contents Ideas
18
London pubs
One of the country’s
most enduring
social institutions,
pubs remain the
focal point of
London’s
communities,
offering the prospect
of fringe theatre,
alternative comedy
and live music as well as a
pint. The city’s great period Dog and Duck
Victorian Soho pub with real character,
of pub building took place real ales and original tiled and mosaiced
in the Victorian era, and decor.
P.100 SOHO
though many pubs merely
pay homage to that period,
there are also plenty of
genuine, evocative late
nineteenth-century
interiors, boasting etched
glass partitions and lots of
authentic polished wood
and brass fittings.
Salisbury
Flamboyant late-Victorian pub a stone’s
throw from Trafalgar Square, replete with
bronze nymphs and etched glasswork.
P.112 COVENT GARDEN
Contents Ideas
19
The Lamb
Classic, beautifully preserved Victorian pub
serving London’s own Young’s beers.
P.105 BLOOMSBURY
Anchor
Ancient riverside inn near the Tate Modern,
where Pepys watched London burn, and Dr
Johnson worked on his dictionary.
P.152 BANKSIDE
AND SOUTHWARK
Contents Ideas
20
The astute taste and
Art galleries National Gallery
financial muscle of A comprehensive overview of the history
of Western painting, from Renaissance
London’s collectors classics in the airy Sainsbury Wing to
works from fin-de-siècle Paris.
over the centuries
P.67 TRAFALGAR SQUARE
has endowed the AND WHITEHALL
capital with some
wonderful art
galleries, many of
which offer free
entry. The National
boasts both quality and
quantity, stretching from
the Italian Renaissance to
the Impressionists, while
Tate Modern is London’s
magnificent new repository
of modern art. In addition,
there are several smaller
galleries, where the quality
is comparable but the Courtauld Institute
Quality, not quantity, is the hallmark of this
collections more gallery, best known for its superlative
collection of Impressionist masterpieces.
manageable.
P.110 COVENT GARDEN
Contents Ideas
21
Iveagh Bequest
Small but perfectly formed collection of
seventeenth- and eighteenth-century
paintings, including works by Gainsborough,
Reynolds, Rembrandt and Vermeer.
P.177 HAMPSTEAD
AND HIGHGATE
Tate Modern
A wonderful hotchpotch of wild and wacky
art, from video installations to gargantuan
pieces that fill the vastness of the turbine
hall.
P.147 BANKSIDE
AND SOUTHWARK
Tate Britain
The history of British painting from Holbein
and Hogarth to Hockney and Hirst, plus
copious pre-Raphaelites and lots of Turners.
P.77 WESTMINSTER
Wallace Collection
Exquisite miniature eighteenth-century
chateau close to Oxford Street, housing
period furniture and masterpieces by the
likes of Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Hals,
Fragonard and Watteau.
P.91 MARYLEBONE
Contents Ideas
22
Royal London
Home to the most
famous royal family
in the world, London
doesn’t disappoint
when it comes to
pomp and
circumstance. As
well as the massing
of “busbies” at the
daily Changing of
the Guard, there are
much larger displays of Changing of the Guard
The colourful daily rituals of the Queen’s
royal pageantry to take in Household Regiments, with the Horse
throughout the year. The Guards parading behind Whitehall and the
Foot Guards looking after Buckingham
crown jewels are always Palace.
on public display, guarded P.71 TRAFALGAR SQUARE
AND WHITEHALL
by ludicrously overdressed
Beefeaters at the Tower of
London; and then, of
course, there’s the city’s
numerous royal palaces,
with Hampton Court by far
the most impressive and
“Buck House” easily the
most famous.
Contents Ideas
23
Tower of London
A place of imprisonment for several
monarchs, the Tower remains the safe-
deposit box of the crown jewels, which fea-
ture some of the biggest diamonds in the
world.
P.134 THE TOWER
AND DOCKLANDS
Royal Mews
Official garage for the royal family’s fancy
fleet of Daimlers, gilded coaches and
immaculately groomed horses.
P.82 ST JAMES’S
Buckingham Palace
The gaudy London home of Her Majesty is
open to the public for just two months in
the summer, while the royals holiday in
Scotland.
P.80 ST JAMES’S
Contents Ideas
24
Londoners’
Gourmet London Harrods Food Hall
sophisticated tastes The Arts and Crafts food hall of the ultimate
Knightsbridge department store is a feast
stretch back a long for the eyes as well as the stomach.
way. At the height P.161 SOUTH KENSINGTON,
KNIGHTSBRIDGE AND CHELSEA
of the British
Empire, the capital’s
dockside
warehouses were
filled with produce
from all over the
globe; today, the
locals are more
cosmopolitan and
discerning than ever. From
champagne to chocolates,
you’ll find all the luxury
goods you’d expect;
seafood – particularly Fortnum & Mason
Piccadilly’s most famous food emporium,
oysters – remains very renowned for its picnic hampers,
popular; and there’s been sumptuous food hall and pukka tearoom.
Contents Ideas
25
Paul
Long-established Parisian café-boulangerie,
selling authentic and delicious French
breads and pastries.
P.93 MARYLEBONE
Charbonnel et Walker
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – Her Majesty’s
chocolatier sticks to its 1875 recipes.
P.88 PICCADILLY AND MAYFAIR
Borough Market
Stalls at this weekly (Fri & Sat) gourmet
food market sell the very best of British
produce.
P.149 BANKSIDE
AND SOUTHWARK
Contents Ideas
26
Museums London has a
fantastic number
and variety of
museums, but
some stand head
and shoulders above
the rest. The British
Museum and the
Victoria and Albert, for
example, are both
British Museum
world-class repositories of Roman and Greek art, Egyptian and
art treasures. For a Assyrian artefacts, fabulous treasures
from Anglo-Saxon, Roman and Medieval
balanced view of human Britain, and vast ethnographic collections
conflict, head for the from all over the world.
Contents Ideas
27
V&A
The world’s greatest applied arts museum,
with something for everyone, whether
you’re into the history of dress, musical
instruments, silver, Indian and Islamic art or
modern mass-produced design.
P.160 SOUTH KENSINGTON,
KNIGHTSBRIDGE AND CHELSEA
Contents Ideas
28
ChurchesAs medieval London Westminster Abbey
was almost entirely This former medieval monastic church
preserves both its cloisters and chapter
destroyed by the house, and boasts some of the city’s
finest late Gothic architecture and
Great Fire of 1666, funerary art from every age.
the churches that P.75 WESTMINSTER
survived the flames
are all the more
precious. The Fire
heralded the city’s greatest
era of church building,
much of it under the
supervision of Sir
Christopher Wren, architect
of St Paul’s Cathedral.
Later, the Victorians added
yet more churches to St Paul’s Cathedral
London’s burgeoning The world’s first Protestant cathedral is a
Baroque masterpiece – test the acoustics
suburbs, one or two of in the whispering gallery and climb to the
top of the dome.
which are especially worth
P.123 THE CITY
seeking out.
Contents Ideas
29
St Bartholomew-the-Great
Much altered, wonderfully ancient church
which has the finest Norman chancel in
London and some excellent pre-Fire
monuments.
P.117 CLERKENWELL
Temple Church
This early English Gothic church in the heart
of the Inns of Court boasts a circular nave
featuring battered medieval effigies of the
Knights Templar.
P.113 HOLBORN
Westminster Cathedral
Bizarre, eye-catching neo-Byzantine
Catholic cathedral with an ornate but eerily
unfinished interior.
P.76 WESTMINSTER
Contents Ideas
30
With around three
Diverse London
hundred languages
spoken in its
confines, all the
major religions
represented, and
with immigrants
making up over
thirty percent of the
population, London
is Europe’s most
ethnically diverse
city. All the immigrant
Chinatown
groups have brought with London’s most distinct and popular ethnic
them traditions and enclave, characterized by its bewildering
array of cafés and restaurants.
customs that have proved
P.95 SOHO
an invaluable and vibrant
contribution to London’s
cultural life. As well as
improving the local cuisine
immeasurably, they have
provided a vast workforce,
had a profound impact on
the arts and music scene,
and are responsible for the
Notting Hill Carnival, the
country’s biggest street
party.
Brixton market
Brixton’s upfront African-Caribbean
consciousness is especially evident
around the wonderful market, with its out-
door produce stalls and network of indoor
arcades.
P.217 ESSENTIALS
Contents Ideas
31
Bevis Marks Synagogue
Built in 1701 in the City, this Sephardi
synagogue is the country’s oldest, and a
favourite venue for candlelit Jewish
weddings.
P.126 THE CITY
Brick Lane
This East End street is the spiritual heart of
London’s Bangladeshi community, and is
best known for its inexpensive curry houses.
P.130 HOXTON
AND SPITALFIELDS
Contents Ideas
32
There’s plenty to
Kids’ London London Zoo
delight kids in Opened in 1828 as the world’s first
scientific zoo, and still a guaranteed hit
London. Top with children of all ages.
attractions such as P.171 REGENT’S PARK
AND CAMDEN
London Zoo, the
London Aquarium
and the Natural
History Museum are
more or less
guaranteed to go
down well (and the
latter has the added
advantage of being free),
while further from the
centre, Syon Park’s
child-friendly credentials
are ensured by its butterfly
house and reptile centre.
Playgrounds abound in
the city’s parks, but the
mother of them all is the
state-of-the-art Diana
Memorial Playground in London Aquarium
Kensington Gardens. Large and popular South Bank aquarium,
where kids can stroke the rays and gawp
Finally, don’t underestimate at the sharks.
the value of London’s P.143 SOUTH BANK AND AROUND
public transport as a
source of fun – the no.11
double-decker bus takes
you past some of London’s
chief landmarks.
Contents Ideas
33
Contents Ideas
34
Indulgent London
If you’ve got the
time and the money,
London is a great
place in which to
indulge yourself –
whether in the bar
of a luxury hotel, the
chair of one of the
city’s leading hair
salons or at a table
in a Michelin-starred
restaurant. Steam
baths have been The Sanctuary
Full-on women-only pamper zone, where
popular here since the you can swim naked in the pool, jump in
Restoration in 1660, and a jacuzzi or loll about in the sauna and
steam room.
there’s an abundance of
P.218 ESSENTIALS
plush places around, with
most offering treatments
and massages as an
optional extra.
Contents Ideas
35
Hairdressers
London holds the flagship salons of some
of the biggest names in hair, offering spas
as well as styling.
P.217 ESSENTIALS
Dinner at Gordon
Ramsay
Experience some of the
capital’s most sublime
cooking at this Michelin-
starred restaurant, run by
the famously bad-tempered
Glaswegian former
footballer.
P.163
SOUTH KENSINGTON,
KNIGHTSBRIDGE AND
CHELSEA
Contents Ideas
36
The last decade has
Club-bars AKA
seen the inexorable A minimalist adjunct to The End night-
club, this central venue’s regular DJ
rise of the club-bar. nights pull in a crowd of good-time
clubbers.
Catering for a
P.111 COVENT GARDEN
clubby crowd, with
resident DJs, late
opening hours and,
more often than not,
free (or very cheap) entry,
club-bars came about as
part of the backlash
against London’s
“superclubs”, where
entrance fees were
climbing ever higher and
door-policies becoming
increasingly draconian.
These days, club-bars are
ubiquitous, and are ideal if Cherry Jam
you fancy a laid-back night Great west London cocktail bar whose DJ
line-ups attract a trendy young crowd.
on the tiles. P.168 HIGH STREET KENSINGTON
TO NOTTING HILL
Contents Ideas
37
Vibe Bar
Buzzing, busy DJ venue housed in an old
East End brewery.
P.133 HOXTON
AND SPITALFIELDS
Sosho
Trendy club-bar, doling out lethally good
cocktails and best-known for its excellent
DJs.
P.133 HOXTON
AND SPITALFIELDS
Dragon
Low-key bar popular with a mixed clientele
of laid-back locals who like to party on
down to the resident DJs.
P.133 HOXTON
AND SPITALFIELDS
Contents Ideas
38
During the reign of
Victorian London St Pancras Station
Queen Victoria Victorian railway station fronted by a
gloriously over-the-top red-brick
(1837–1901), Neo-Gothic hotel.
London trebled in P.104 BLOOMSBURY
Contents Ideas
39
Leadenhall Market
Cobblestones and graceful Victorian iron-
work combine to create the City’s most
attractive market for luxury comestibles.
P.126 THE CITY
Albert Memorial
This bombastic monument to Queen
Victoria’s consort is a riot of semi-precious
stones, marbles, bronze and gilding.
P.156 HYDE PARK AND
KENSINGTON GARDENS
Contents Ideas
40
Dead London
In medieval times, Highgate Cemetery
only royalty and the London’s most convincingly Hammer
Horror cemetery is most famous as the
nobility were resting place of Karl Marx.
commemorated P.178 HAMPSTEAD
AND HIGHGATE
after their death –
and the iconoclasm
of the Reformation
and the Great Fire of
1666 mean that
very little medieval
funerary art has survived.
However, in the nineteenth
century, the emergence of
an aspirational middle
class prompted more and
more Londoners to opt for
permanent memorials and
ever more ostentatious
Kensal Green
funerals. The legacy of this This canalside cemetery boasts the
period can be seen in capital’s most flamboyant funereal
sculptures.
London’s vast suburban P.166 HIGH STREET KENSINGTON
cemeteries, established TO NOTTING HILL
Contents Ideas
4141
Westminster Abbey
When it comes to dead royalty, poets or
politicians, the abbey wins hands down.
P.75 WESTMINSTER
St Paul’s Cathedral
The nave features some ludicrously
pompous monuments to British imperialists,
while the huge crypt specializes in artists.
St Mary-at-Lambeth
P.123 THE CITY
The tiny graveyard here is home to the
beautifully carved John Tradescant
memorial and the grave of Captain Bligh of
the Bounty fame.
P.144 SOUTH BANK AND AROUND
Cenotaph
Edwin Lutyens’ understated Whitehall
memorial is a moving commemoration of
the “glorious dead” from both world wars.
P.70 TRAFALGAR SQUARE
AND WHITEHALL
Contents Ideas
42
Until the 1820s, the
Riverside London Bankside
Thames was Thanks to the Tate Modern, Millennium
Bridge and Shakespeare’s Globe, the
London’s main waterside entertainment district of Tudor
and Stuart London is pulling in the crowds
thoroughfare, and once again.
some of the city’s P.146 BANKSIDE AND
finest buildings were SOUTHWARK
Contents Ideas
43
South Bank
The traffic-free riverside path
here connects numerous
attractions, theatres and
galleries, as well as affording by
far the best views of the
Thames’s photogenic north bank.
P.140 SOUTH BANK AND
AROUND
Docklands
The transformation of London’s
moribund dock system into a
world-class business district is a
maritime miracle.
P134 THE TOWER
AND DOCKLANDS
Richmond
Elegant Thames-side
suburb where you
can have a drink
overlooking the
water, rent rowing
boats or stroll along
the bucolic towpath.
P.186 KEW AND
RICHMOND
Contents Ideas
44
London can be an
Free London
expensive place for
locals and tourists
alike, but there are
lots of things to
enjoy in the city
which are one
hundred percent
free. Aside from the
numerous museums
and galleries which don’t
charge entry, there are
plenty of slightly more
offbeat activities which
don’t cost a thing, from
musical treats and upscale Lunchtime concerts
Free lunchtime classical concerts take
auctions to political place in churches all over the City and
parts of the West End.
sparring matches.
P.70 TRAFALGAR SQUARE AND
WHITEHALL
Sotheby’s auction
Buying might make a dent in your pocket,
but viewing and attending an auction
costs nothing.
P.87 PICCADILLY AND MAYFAIR
Contents Ideas
45
Evensong at St Paul’s
Cathedral
The most moving way to experience this
great Protestant cathedral is during choral
evensong.
P.124 THE CITY
Kenwood House
An exquisite eighteenth-century interior and
top-drawer Old Masters can all be seen for
free at English Heritage’s flagship property
overlooking Hampstead Heath.
P.176 HAMPSTEAD
AND HIGHGATE
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46
London from up high
London is a huge
city, but it’s only
when you take a
bird’s-eye view
that you realize just
how vast an area it
covers. The most
far-reaching vistas
are from the pods of
the London Eye
observation wheel,
but even here you
can barely make out
the edge of the city.
What you do notice,
though, is that St Paul’s Cathedral Dome
London has only a small A head for heights and the ability to climb
500 steps are needed to enjoy a rooftop
number of very tall view over the City here.
buildings, allowing church P.122 THE CITY
spires to rise above the
rooftops, and that the city
has a wonderfully
idiosyncratic patchwork
layout, woven over several
centuries.
London Eye
The city’s giant Ferris wheel provides both
the most expensive and the most superla-
tive view over the capital.
P.142 SOUTH BANK AND AROUND
Contents Ideas
47
Westminster Cathedral
A lift inside the stripy campanile takes you
high above the rooftops of Westminster.
P.76 WESTMINSTER
Tower Bridge
The elevated walkways of this landmark
bridge provide the ultimate up- and
downriver vistas.
P.135 THE TOWER
AND DOCKLANDS
Oxo Building
The free public viewing platform on the
eighth floor of this former meat-processing
factory gives a lovely view over the South
Bank.
P.142 SOUTH BANK
AND AROUND
Parliament Hill
North London’s favourite kite-flying spot, at
the southern tip of Hampstead Heath, offers
a fabulous skyline panorama.
P.175 HAMPSTEAD
AND HIGHGATE
Contents Ideas
48
London has an
Festivals and events Proms
endless roster of The world’s most egalitarian classical
music festival, featuring daily concerts in
festivals and the Royal Albert Hall (and elsewhere), and
culminating in the flag-waving national-
special events, ism of the “Last Night”.
with something P.215 ESSENTIALS
happening some-
where almost every
day of the year. The
fortnight of
grass-court tennis
at Wimbledon is one
of the great annual
social events but,
like the Proms
festival of classical
music, it’s open to
all-comers provided you’re
prepared to queue.
Carnival, London’s
mammoth street party, is Carnival
equally democratic, but it’s Floats, costume bands, sound-systems,
legions of food stalls and a fun-loving,
also worth catching one or heaving crowd make this huge street
two of the more unusual party unmissable.
annual events, such as the P.215 ESSENTIALS
Contents Ideas
49
Dance Umbrella
One of the world’s leading contemporary
dance festivals, with innovative productions
staged all over the capital.
P.215 ESSENTIALS
Open House
Constantly expanding annual event which
sees the city’s most intriguing historic
buildings throw open their doors to the pub-
lic for free.
P.215 ESSENTIALS
Contents Ideas
50
London today is a
Queasy London
fairly salubrious,
modern metropolis,
but many of its
attractions prefer to
glory in the city’s
murkier past.
Medieval London
was undoubtedly a
muddy, unforgiving
place – there were
156 capital offences
in the eighteenth-century
city – but it was during the
Victorian era when it really
paid not to be too
squeamish. The Gothic
horror and hypocrisy of the
period is perfectly
illustrated by the cult
surrounding the Jack the
Ripper murders, which still
pulls in the punters even
today, just as pre-
anaesthetic operations did
in the past.
Madame Tussaud’s
The ghoulish human fascination with
murderers and serial killers is indulged in
this infamous waxwork museum’s
Chamber of Horrors.
P.92 MARYLEBONE
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51
London Dungeon
Ham and Gothic it may be, but the grisly
tableaux and ghost-train ride at the London
Dungeon are as popular as ever.
P.150 BANKSIDE AND
SOUTHWARK
Smithfield Market
Each weekday morning around dawn,
London’s leading market for TK (town-killed)
meat is a mass of bloody carcasses.
P.118 CLERKENWELL
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52
London on stage
London has enjoyed Shakespeare’s Globe
a reputation for This meticulous replica of an Elizabethan
playhouse puts on rabble-rousing, open-
quality theatre air performances of plays by Shakespeare
and his contemporaries.
since the time of
P.148 BANKSIDE AND
Shakespeare, and SOUTHWARK
despite the
continuing domi-
nance of block-
buster musicals and
revenue-spinning
star vehicles, the
city still provides a
platform for
innovation. The largely
pub-based fringe theatre
scene is still going strong,
National Theatre
and comedy is so big that The South Bank’s concrete carbuncle
London now boasts more houses three excellent theatre spaces,
and stages consistently good productions
dedicated venues than any of everything from classics to new works.
other city in the world. P.142 SOUTH BANK AND AROUND
Contents Ideas
53
West End musicals
Lavish blockbuster musicals dominate the
West End theatre scene.
P.212 ESSENTIALS
Donmar Warehouse
Covent Garden theatre with an outstanding
reputation for classy revivals, new writing
and star-studded casts.
P.212 ESSENTIALS
Comedy Café
London’s comedy scene is as varied as it is
huge, but the acts at this purpose-built
Hoxton venue are a cut above the rest.
P.213 ESSENTIALS
Contents Ideas
54
Musical London
For sheer range and
variety, there’s little
to beat London’s
live music. As well
as boasting two
world-class opera
houses and free
lunchtime classical
concerts held
regularly at venues
throughout the
capital, the live
music scene also
encompasses all variations Royal Opera House
Despite the money and effort involved in
of classical, rock, blues, getting a ticket, it’s definitely worth trying
roots and world music. to catch a production at one of the
world’s finest opera houses.
Most major artists include
P.213 ESSENTIALS
London in any European
tour, and there’s also a
thriving underground
scene, with lots of up-and-
coming bands working the
circuit.
Jazz Café
Camden’s Jazz Café embraces all kinds of
music, attracting top names from world
music, roots, folk, R&B and hip-hop, as
well as the jazz crowd.
P.214 ESSENTIALS
Contents Ideas
55
Wigmore Hall
Long-established chamber music venue
with wonderful acoustics, just off Oxford
Street.
P.214 ESSENTIALS
Astoria
Smack in the centre of London, this
cavernous former theatre hosts regular
gigs, often with a rock/indie slant.
P.213 ESSENTIALS
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56
Contemporary architecture
The economic boom
of the 1980s
witnessed London’s
first wave of
contemporary
architecture.
Reflecting the
nature of the times,
the buildings were
generally private
office blocks, the Lloyds Building
Lloyds’ high-tech City offices, designed
most famous of by Richard Rogers in the mid-1980s, are
which are the then- still strikingly contemporary and more
successful than many younger upstarts.
groundbreaking
P.126 THE CITY
Lloyds Building and
Canary Wharf. New
offices continue to
spring up city-wide,
and since the turn of
the millennium
there’s been a new wave of
lottery-funded structures
such as the Millennium
Bridge, and public
buildings like the new City
Hall.
Swiss Re
The latest lofty addition to the City skyline,
Norman Foster’s unusual cone-shaped
affair is popularly known as the “erotic
gherkin”.
P.126 THE CITY
Contents Ideas
57
Canary Wharf
Loved and hated in equal measure, Cesar
Pelli’s stainless steel skyscraper is the
centrepiece of the Canary Wharf Docklands
development.
P.137 THE TOWER
AND DOCKLANDS
Millennium Bridge
After a wobbly start, Norman Foster’s flashy
millennial footbridge, connecting St Paul’s
Cathedral with the Tate Modern, has proved
a hit with locals and tourists alike.
P.146 BANKSIDE
AND SOUTHWARK
Contents Ideas
58
Much of Tudor and
Tudor and Stuart London Golden Hinde
Stuart London Seaworthy replica of the dinky timber
ship in which Sir Francis Drake circum-
went up in smoke navigated the globe.
during the 1666 P.149 BANKSIDE
AND SOUTHWARK
Great Fire of
London, but some
gems from the
period do survive
today. Exuding the
flamboyance and
exuberance of the
period, the grand
residences of
Hampton Court
Palace and Ham
House lie well
outside the city
centre and so were
never in peril, but the
hammerbeamed Middle
Temple Hall and wood-
panelled Prince Henry’s
Room, on the edge of the
City, were saved by a
matter of a few feet. The
Golden Hinde and the
Globe Theatre, meanwhile,
are meticulous
timber-framed
reconstructions from
London’s glorious Globe Theatre
Relocated and reconstructed in the 1990s,
Elizabethan Renaissance. the Globe gives a fascinating insight into
the theatre of Shakespeare’s day.
P.148 BANKSIDE
AND SOUTHWARK
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59
Middle Temple Hall
This sixteenth-century lawyers’ dining hall
boasts a fine hammerbeam roof, wood
panelling and a richly carved Elizabethan
screen.
P.113 HOLBORN
Ham House
Seventeenth-century stately home, just up
Prince Henry’s Room
the towpath from Richmond, with one of Hidden gem at the top of Fleet Street, with
the finest Stuart interiors in the country. Jacobean plasterwork and linenfold
panelling that miraculously survived the
P.189 KEW AND RICHMOND
Great Fire.
P.115 HOLBORN
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60
London’s streets
Literary and artistic London Keats House
are full of literary Former home – now shrine – to the
ultimate Romantic poet, who fell in love
and artistic with the girl next door, became consump-
tive and died in Rome at the age of just 25.
associations –
P.175 HAMPSTEAD
from Shakespeare, AND HIGHGATE
Dickens and Marx to
Orwell, Woolf and
Freud. Everywhere
you look there’s a
blue plaque, a
statue or a
memorial
celebrating the city’s
writers, painters and
thinkers. Some have
left only memories,
others first editions
and works of art,
and a few have
been paid the Freud Museum
ultimate homage via Fleeing Nazi persecution, the father of
psychoanalysis lived out his last months
the transformation of their in this well-to-do Hampstead residence.
former homes into P.174 HAMPSTEAD
AND HIGHGATE
museums.
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61
British Library
Home of artistic literary masterpieces such
as the Lindisfarne Gospels, as well as
original manuscripts by the likes of James
Joyce.
P.103 BLOOMSBURY
Leighton House
Purpose-built studio and living space of the
successful Victorian painter Lord Leighton,
chum of the pre-Raphaelites and lover of
the exotic.
P.164 HIGH STREET KENSINGTON
TO NOTTING HILL
2 Willow Road
The Hampstead abode of Hungarian
modernist architect Ernö Goldfinger is filled
with avant-garde artworks by such greats
as Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray
and Henry Moore.
P.175 HAMPSTEAD
AND HIGHGATE
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62
One of London’s
Afternoon tea
most accessible
indulgent rituals is
taking afternoon
tea in a luxury
hotel. At a cost of
around £25 a head,
this is no quick
cuppa, but a high-
cholesterol feast
that kicks off with
sandwiches, moves on to
scones slathered with
clotted cream and jam, and Ritz
The Palm Court here has been a favourite
finishes up with assorted spot to take tea since the hotel first
wowed Edwardian society in 1906.
cakes, all washed down
P.72 TRAFALGAR SQUARE
with innumerable pots of AND WHITEHALL
tea.
Savoy
Superb Art Deco hotel, originally managed
by César Ritz, and where Guccio Gucci
started out as a dishwasher.
P.72 TRAFALGAR SQUARE
AND WHITEHALL
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63
Dorchester
Wildly over-the-top gilded and mirrored
Hollywood decor is the Dorchester’s
hallmark.
P.72 TRAFALGAR SQUARE
AND WHITEHALL
Claridge’s
Tasteful and terribly English Art Deco hotel
that’s perfect for a champagne tea.
P.72 TRAFALGAR SQUARE
AND WHITEHALL
Lanesborough
Exclusive and very plush venue in a
converted hospital on Hyde Park Corner,
where tea is served in the glass-roofed
conservatory.
P.72 TRAFALGAR SQUARE
AND WHITEHALL
Contents Ideas
Contents Ideas
Places
Contents Places
Places
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67
National Gallery
Trafalgar Square t 020/7747 2885,
w www.nationalgallery.org.uk. Daily
10am–6pm, Wed till 9pm. Free. FOUNTAINS, TRAFALGAR SQUARE
Contents Places
68
Leicester Square Covent Garden
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© Crown copyright
Contents Places
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there are dazzling pieces by El of the information desks.There’s
Greco,Velázquez and Goya; from also a Gallery Guide
the Low Countries, van Eyck, Soundtrack, with a brief audio
Memlinc and Rubens, and an commentary on a large selection
array of Rembrandt paintings of the paintings on display; it’s
Contents Places
70
the barrel vaulting is exceptionally
rich; it’s best appreciated while
listening to one of the church’s
free lunchtime concerts or
ticketed, candle-lit evening
Trafalgar Square and Whitehall PLACES
Whitehall
During the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries Whitehall
was synonymous with royalty,
serving as the permanent
residence of England’s kings and
queens.The original Whitehall
Palace was confiscated and
BRUNEL PORTRAIT, NPG greatly extended by Henry VIII
after a fire at Westminster forced
poets in the 1930s and 1940s, him to find alternative
and latterly, retired footballers, accommodation, and it was here
politicians and film and pop stars. that he celebrated his marriage
If you want some biographical to Anne Boleyn in 1533 – and
background on many of the where he died fourteen years
pictures, avail yourself of the later. From the sixteenth century
NPG’s Soundguide; it’s free of onwards, nearly all the key
charge, though you’re strongly governmental ministries and
invited to give a “voluntary offices migrated here, rehousing
contribution” of £3. themselves on an ever-increasing
The gallery’s special scale.The royalty, meanwhile,
exhibitions (for which there’s moved out to St James’s after a
often an entrance charge) are fire destroyed most of Whitehall
well worth seeing – the Palace in 1698.
photography shows, in The statues dotted about
particular, are usually excellent. Whitehall today recall the days
when this street stood at the
St Martin-in-the-Fields centre of an empire on which
Duncannon St w www.stmartin-in-the the sun never set, while just
-fields.org. Mon–Sat 10am–8pm, Sun beyond the Downing Street
noon–8pm. Something of a gates, in the middle of the road,
blueprint for eighteenth-century stands Edwin Lutyens’
churches across the Empire, St Cenotaph, commemorating the
Martin-in-the-Fields is fronted by dead of both world wars.
a magnificent Corinthian portico Eschewing any kind of
and topped by an elaborate, and Christian imagery, the plain
distinctly unclassical, tower and monument is inscribed simply
steeple. Completed in 1726, the with the words “The Glorious
interior is purposefully simple, Dead” and remains the focus of
though the Italian plasterwork on the country’s Remembrance
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71
Sunday ceremony, held here in 10 Downing Street
early November. w www.number-10.gov.uk. Since the
days of Margaret Thatcher,
Banqueting House London’s most famous address
Whitehall w www.hrp.org.uk. Mon–Sat has been hidden behind
Contents Places
72
commentary helps bring the
place to life, and includes
various eyewitness accounts by
folk who worked there.
Trafalgar Square and Whitehall PLACES
Cafés
Café in the Crypt
St Martin-in-the-Fields, Duncannon St.
Mon–Wed 10am–8pm, Thurs–Sat
10am–11pm, Sun noon–8pm.
Offering self-service comfort
food (including plenty of veggie
choices), and with a handy
location, this is an ideal spot to
fill up before hitting the West
End.
Afternoon tea
The classic English afternoon tea – assorted sandwiches, scones and cream,
cakes and tarts and, of course, lashings of tea – is available all over London, but
is best sampled at one of the capital’s top hotels; a selection of the best venues
are picked out below. Book ahead, and leave your jeans and trainers at home –
most hotels will expect men to wear a jacket of some sort, though only The Ritz
insists on jacket and tie. Expect to pay around £25 per person.
Contents Places
73
Westminster
Political, religious and regal power has emanated from
Westminster for almost a millennium. It was King
PLACES Westminster
Edward the Confessor who first established this spot
as London’s royal and ecclesiastical power base, build-
ing his palace and abbey some three miles upstream
from the City of London in the eleventh century, and the
embryonic English parliament met in the abbey from
the fourteenth century onwards.
Westminster remains home to the Houses of
Parliament today, and as such it’s a popular tourist
spot, with visitors drawn here by Big Ben, one of the
city’s most familiar landmarks, and Westminster Abbey,
London’s most spectacular church. A short walk upriv-
er, Tate Britain houses the most comprehensive collec-
tion of British art in the country.
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War Rooms
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summer, you can also see Aragon (depicted in the bottom
Parliament by way of a guided left- and right-hand corners).
tour (Aug & Sept Mon,Tues,
Fri & Sat 9.15am–4.30pm,Wed Westminster Abbey
& Thurs 1.15–4.30pm; £7; Parliament Square w www
PLACES Westminster
booking line t 0870/906 3773), .westminster-abbey.org. Mon, Tues,
in which visitors get to walk Thurs & Fri 9.30am–3.45pm, Wed
through the two chambers, see 9.30am–7pm, Sat 9.30am–1.45pm.
some of the state rooms reserved £7.50. The venue for every
for the Queen, and admire coronation since William the
Westminster Hall. It’s a good Conqueror, and the site of just
idea to book in advance, or you about all royal burials in the five
can simply head for the ticket hundred years from Henry III
office on Abingdon Green, to George II, Westminster
opposite Victoria Tower and its Abbey embodies much of
adjacent gardens. England’s history.There are
scores of memorials to the
Jewel Tower nation’s most famous citizens,
Abingdon St. Daily: April–Sept too, and the interior is crammed
10am–6pm; Oct 10am–5pm; with reliefs and statues.
Nov–March 10am–4pm. £1.60. The The abbey’s most dazzling
Jewel Tower is another remnant architectural set-piece, however,
of the medieval palace. It formed is the Lady Chapel, added by
the southwestern corner of the Henry VII in 1503 as his future
original exterior fortifications resting place.With its intricately
(there’s a bit of moat left, too), carved vaulting and fan-shaped
and was constructed in around gilded pendants, the chapel
1365 by Edward III as a giant represents the final spectacular
strongbox for the crown jewels. gasp of the English
These days, it houses an Perpendicular style.The sacred
excellent exhibition on the heart of the building, though, is
history of parliament – worth the Shrine of Edward the
checking out before you visit Confessor, which you can enter
the Houses of Parliament. only as part of a guided tour
of the abbey (April–Oct
St Margaret’s Church Mon–Fri 10am, 10.30am, 11am,
Parliament Square w westminster-abbey 2pm, 2.30pm & 3pm, Sat 10am,
.org/stmargarets. Mon–Fri 10.30am & 11am; Nov–March
9.30am–3.45pm, Sat 9.30am–1.45pm, Mon–Fri 10am, 11am, 2pm, &
Sun 2–5pm. Free. Sitting in the 3pm, Sat 10am, 10.30am &
shadow of Westminster Abbey, St 11am), for which you have to
Margaret’s has been the unofficial stump up an extra £3.The
parliamentary church since the general entry fee does, however,
entire Commons tipped up here allow you to inspect Edward I’s
in 1614 to unmask religious Coronation Chair, a decrepit oak
Dissenters among the MPs.The throne dating from around 1300
present building dates back to that’s still used for coronations, as
1523, and its most noteworthy well as the Poets’ Corner in the
furnishing is the colourful south transept.The first
Flemish stained-glass window occupant, Geoffrey Chaucer, was
above the altar, which buried here in 1400 merely
commemorates the marriage of because he lived nearby, but from
Henry VIII and Catherine of the eighteenth century onwards,
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76
this area became an artistic generations of bald royal death
Pantheon, with memorials to, masks and wax effigies. If you
among others, John Dryden, visit the Cloisters from Tuesday
Samuel Johnson, Robert to Thursday, make your way to
Browning, Lord Tennyson, the little-known College
Westminster PLACES
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77
PLACES Westminster
STATIONS OF THE CROSS, WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL
Tate Britain
Millbank t020/7887 8008,
Shops
wwww.tate.org.uk. Daily 10am–5.50pm.
Free. A purpose-built gallery Blewcoats School Gift Shop
founded in 1897 with money 23 Caxton St t 020/7222 2877,
from Henry Tate, inventor of the w www.nationaltrust.org.uk/giftshop.
sugar cube,Tate Britain is now Closed Sat & Sun. National Trust
devoted exclusively to British art. gift shop in a pretty little
As well as displaying works from Georgian schoolhouse, selling
1500 to the present, the gallery toiletries, tapestries, waterproof
also showcases contemporary hats, preserves and books
British artists and continues to ranging from gardening to
sponsor the Turner Prize, the architecture.
country’s most prestigious
modern-art award. Parliamentary Bookshop
The paintings are rehung 12 Bridge St t 020/7219 3890. Closed
more or less annually, but always Sat & Sun. Pick up copies of
include a fair selection of works Hansard (the word-for-word
by British artists such as account of parliament), plus the
Hogarth, Constable, government’s white and green
Gainsborough, Reynolds and papers.
Blake, plus foreign painters like
van Dyck who spent much of Tate Britain Gift Shop
their career over here.The ever- Millbank t 020/7887 8876,
popular Pre-Raphaelites are w www.tate.org.uk. Lots of art
always well represented, as are posters, from Constable to
established twentieth-century Turner Prize nonsense, plus
greats including Stanley Spencer loads of funky, arty accessories.
and Francis Bacon alongside
living artists such as David
Hockney and Lucien Freud.
Lastly, don’t miss the Tate’s
outstanding collection of works
by J.M.W.Turner, displayed in
the Clore Gallery.
Contents Places
Westminster PLACES 78
Restaurants Pubs
Cinnamon Club Albert
Great Smith St t 020/7222 2555, 52 Victoria St. Roomy High
w www.cinnamonclub.com. Closed Sat Victorian pub, with big bay
lunch & Sun eve. Very smart – and windows, glass partitions and a
expensive – Indian restaurant beautiful original ceiling and
housed in a former library; the carved wooden bar.
power breakfasts are particularly
popular with politicians. Westminster Arms
9 Storey’s Gate. A real
Quilon parliamentary pub, wall-to-wall
41 Buckingham Gate t 020/7821 with MPs, and with a division
1899. Closed Sun. Another very bell in the bar.
swish, elegant and expensive
Indian restaurant specializing in
Keralan cuisine – lots of fish,
seafood, fresh peppercorns and
coconut.
Contents Places
79
St James’s
An exclusive little enclave sandwiched between St
James’s Park and Piccadilly, St James’s was laid out in
PLACES St James’s
the 1670s close to the royal seat of St James’s Palace.
Regal and aristocratic residences overlook nearby
Green Park and the stately avenue of The Mall,
gentlemen’s clubs cluster along Pall Mall and St
James’s Street, while jacket-and-tie restaurants and
expense-account gentlemen’s outfitters line Jermyn
Street. Hardly surprising, then, that most Londoners
rarely stray into this area. Plenty of folk, however, fre-
quent St James’s Park, with large numbers heading for
the Queen’s chief residence, Buckingham Palace, and
the adjacent Queen’s Gallery and Royal Mews.
The Mall daily at 3pm), and there are
The tree-lined sweep of The exotic ducks, swans and geese
Mall – London’s nearest aplenty. From the bridge across
equivalent of a Parisian the lake there’s also a fine view
boulevard – was laid out in the over to Westminster and the
first decade of the twentieth jumble of domes and pinnacles
century as a memorial to along Whitehall, with the
Queen Victoria.These days, it’s London Eye observation wheel
best to try and visit on a peeking over it all.
Sunday, when it’s closed to
traffic.The bombastic Admiralty
Arch was erected to mark the
eastern entrance to The Mall,
just off Trafalgar Square, while at
the other end, in front of
Buckingham Palace, stands the
ludicrously overblown Victoria
Memorial, Edward VII’s
overblown tribute to his
mother.
St James’s Park
w www.royalparks.gov.uk. The south
side of The Mall gives on to St
James’s Park, the oldest of
London’s royal parks, having
been drained and enclosed for
hunting purposes by Henry
VIII. It was landscaped by Nash
in the 1820s, and today its tree-
lined lake is a favourite picnic
spot for Whitehall’s civil
servants. Pelicans chill out at the
eastern end (feeding takes place CARLTON HOUSE TERRACE
Contents Places
80
Guards’ Museum are the guards’ glorious scarlet
Birdcage Walk w www.armymuseums and blue uniforms, a lock of
.org.uk. Daily 10am–4pm. £2. The Wellington’s hair and a whole
Neoclassical facade of the load of war booty, from Dervish
Wellington Barracks, built in prayer mats plundered from
St James’s PLACES
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D O WN ST
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R EE
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IT
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Buckingham L
Palace
Gardens Victoria
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Palace
SPU R ROA D
Queen’s
Gallery
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LA
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RE
AM
Wellington
P LA
ND
ET
EN
Barracks
S TA G
GA
Guards’
PLAC
TE
WILFRED ST RE E T Museum
E
Contents Places
81
Buckingham Palace, popularly For two months of the year,
known as “Buck House”, has the hallowed portals are
served as the monarch’s grudgingly nudged open to the
permanent London residence public; timed tickets are sold
only since the accession of from the marquee-like box
PLACES St James’s
Victoria (if the Queen is at office in Green Park at the
home, the Royal Standard flies western end of The Mall.The
from the roof of the palace). interior, however, is a bit of an
Bought by George III in 1762, anticlimax: of the palace’s 660
the building was overhauled by rooms, you’re permitted to see
Nash in the late 1820s, and again around twenty, and there’s little
by Aston Webb in time for sign of life as the Queen
George V’s coronation in 1913, decamps to Scotland every
producing a Neoclassical summer. For the other ten
monolith that’s about as bland as months of the year there’s little
it’s possible to be. to do here, as the palace is closed
TR
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EATING & DRINKING
Al Duca 2
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Miso 3
Red Lion (Duke of York St) 1
Red Lion (Crown Passage) 4
© Crown copyright
Contents Places
82
to visitors – not that this deters of equine accoutrements, but it’s
the crowds who mill around the the royal carriages that are the
railings and gather in some force main attraction.The most
to watch the Changing of the ornate is the Gold State Coach
Guard (see p.71). made for George III in 1762,
St James’s PLACES
Clarence House
Stable Yard Rd w www.royal.gov.uk.
Aug to mid-Oct daily 9.30am–6pm.
£5.50. Built by John Nash for the
future William IV, Clarence
House is best known as the
former home of the late Queen
Mum. It now serves as Prince
QUEEN ALEXANDRA MEMORIAL,
Charles’s chief London
MARLBOROUGH ROAD residence, and a handful of
Contents Places
83
Neoclassicism, decorated with
murals in the “Pompeian
manner”.The most outrageous
decor, though, is to be found in
Lord Spencer’s Room, with its
PLACES St James’s
astonishing gilded palm-tree
columns.
Shops
Berry Bros & Rudd
3 St James’s St t 020/7396 9600,
w www.bbr.com. Closed Sun. This
well-stocked, 300-year-old
establishment houses a huge
range of fine wines, and the
friendly and helpful staff know
pretty much everything there is
to know on the subject.
ST JAMES’S PARK
Dunhill
rooms were opened to the 48 Jermyn St t 020/7499 9566,
public for the first time in the w www.whitespot.co.uk. Closed Sun.
summer of 2003.Visits are by An enormous range of pipes
guided tour only, and, apart and cigars on the first floor, and
from a peek behind the scenes a small museum of old Dunhill
in a royal palace, the main draw gadgets and accessories on the
is the selection of paintings by ground floor.
the likes of Walter Sickert and
Augustus John. Geo F. Trumper
20 Jermyn St t 020/7734 1370,
Spencer House w www.trumpers.com. Closed Sun.
St James’s Place w www Founded in 1875, this
.spencerhouse.co.uk. Feb–July & impeccably discreet
Sept–Dec Sun 10.30am–5.45pm. £6. “Gentlemen’s Perfumer” is the
Most of St James’s palatial barber of choice, with a shaving
residences are closed to the school that will teach you how
public, but one happy exception to execute the perfect wet
is Spencer House, a superb shave.
Palladian mansion erected in the
1750s.The ancestral home of the Paxton & Whitfield
late Princess Diana, it was last 93 Jermyn St t 020/7930 0259,
lived in by the family in 1927, w www.paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk.
and is currently leased to the Closed Sun. Quintessentially
Rothschilds. Inside, guides take English, 200-year-old cheese
you on an hour-long tour shop offering a very traditional
through nine of the state rooms. range of British and European
The Great Room features a varieties, plus a good range of
stunning coved and coffered wine and port.
ceiling in green, white and gold,
while the adjacent Painted
Room is a feast of
Contents Places
St James’s PLACES 84
Red Lion
Pubs and bars 2 Duke of York St. Closed Sun.
Genuine old Victorian gin
ICA palace run by the Nicholson’s
94 The Mall w www.ica.org.uk. You chain, with elegant etched
have to be a member to drink at mirrors, polished wood and a
the ICA Bar – but anyone can great ceiling.
Contents Places
85
Regent Street
w www.regent-street.co.uk. Drawn
up by John Nash in 1812 as
both a luxury shopping street
Contents Places
86
arcaded, curved section which with traffic careering up and
swerves westwards from down it nose to tail day and
Piccadilly Circus. In the night. Infinitely more pleasant
nineteenth century, however, the places to window-shop are the
increased purchasing power of various nineteenth-century
Piccadilly and Mayfair PLACES
MAN
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ST
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TA P
ST
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LANG
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SOU
STRE SE E ET S
ET ST E TR
Browns
TH M
T EET
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AT
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CARNABY ST
ET
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SAVILE ROW
BERKELEY BRUTON ST
ST
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6
HILL
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R E G E N T
TO N
BROADWICK ST
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SQUARE
SOU
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HAYS MEWS
WA
BEA K S TR E E T
CORK ST
Hyde Park Corner
ALBEMARLE ST
N
WS
C H A R L E S S T R E ET
WARWICK ST
DOVER ST
HEDDON
BER KEL EY
CU
ST 7 GOLDEN
RZ SQUARE
ON BURLINGTON G. VIG
STREET OS
T
S T R
S TR E ET
W IND M IL L ST
ROYAL ARCADE
S HERWOOD
BR EW ER
CLARGE
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BOLTON ST
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9 10 SH A F
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P I C C
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Claridge’s
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Guinea Lancaster 4 Sotheby’s 5 T
DorchesterPalace 6 I LKiku
L House 9 Truc Vert 1
St James's SQ
Palace
Contents Places
87
its exhibitions tend to be
crowd-pleasers, interspersed
with the occasional controversial
show guaranteed to grab the
headlines. However, the
Contents Places
88
million fine, business is still the world’s busiest streets. East of
booming.The viewing galleries Oxford Circus, it forms the
(free) are open to the public, as northern border of Soho; to the
are the auctions themselves. west, the one great landmark is
Bond Street’s art galleries are Selfridges, a huge Edwardian pile
Piccadilly and Mayfair PLACES
Contents Places
89
Liberty
Cafés
210–220 Regent St t 020/7734 1234, Mô
w www.liberty.co.uk. A fabulous, 25 Heddon St. Closed Sun. Serving
partly mock-Tudor emporium reasonably priced and delicious
of luxury. Best known for its snacks, this is London’s ultimate
fabrics, though it is, in fact, a Arabic pastiche café, with tables
full-blown department store. and hookahs spilling out onto
the pavement of a quiet little
Marks & Spencer Mayfair alleyway.
458 Oxford St t 020/7935 7954,
w www.marksandspencer.co.uk. The Sotheby’s
largest London branch of this 34–35 New Bond St
British institution offers a huge w www.sothebys.com. Closed Sat &
range of own-brand clothes, Sun. Sotheby’s café is by no
food, homeware and furnishings. means cheap, but the lunches
are exquisitely prepared, and the
Selfridges excellent afternoon teas are a
400 Oxford St t 0870/837 7377, fraction of the price of the
w www.selfridges.com. London’s first nearby hotels.
great department store, and still
Contents Places
90
Restaurants The bar here has a tasteful Art
Deco feel, with terribly English
Kiku waiters and splendid cocktails
17 Half Moon St t 020/7499 4208. from £8 each.
“Kiku” translates as pricey, but for
Piccadilly and Mayfair PLACES
Audley Ye Grapes
41 Mount St. A grand Mayfair 16 Shepherd Market. Busy Victorian
pub, with its original Victorian free house, with a good
burgundy lincrusta ceiling, selection of real ales and an
chandeliers and clocks. open fire – a great local in the
heart of Mayfair.
Claridge’s
49 Brook St w www.savoy-group.com.
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91
Marylebone
Marylebone may not have quite the pedigree and snob
value of Mayfair, but it’s still a wealthy and aspirational
PLACES Marylebone
area. Built in the eighteenth century, its mesh of smart
Georgian streets and squares survives more or less
intact today, and compared to the brashness of nearby
Oxford Street, the backstreets of Marylebone are a
pleasure to wander, especially the chi-chi, village-like
quarter around the High Street. In fact, the area only
really gets busy and touristy around the north end of
Baker Street, home of the fictional detective Sherlock
Holmes, and one of London’s biggest visitor attrac-
tions, Madame Tussaud’s waxworks’ extravaganza.
Museum
BOST ON PL.
GLENTWORTH ST
G L O U C E S T E R
AL
ST
LS
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DEVONSHIRE STREET
O N E HI
PADDINGTON ST
PORTLAND PLA
STREET
P L A C E
CRAWFORD REET
SEYMO UR PLACE
BEAUMONT
2 Chinese
G R E AT P O R T L A N D
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ST
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MARYLEB
S T R E E T
DORSET STREET
MANCHESTER ST
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STREET
CRAMER ST
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S T R E E T
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BRYANSTON MONTAGU
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SQUARE SQUARE
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STREET
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SQUARE
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Golden Hind 9
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SQUARE
Match 10 WIGM OR E S T R EET Wigmore
CAVENDISH
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SEYMOUR Hall
R E G E NT S T
MAR
JAMES STREET
PORTMAN ST
ORCH ARD ST
SQUARE
DUKE STREET
Patisserie
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The Providores 4 CIRCUS
BOND STREET
EY ST
GREEN
N EW
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ET
RE
UT
STREET Philli
H
Contents Places
92
affectionate portrait of his and to its café, or if you visit for
teenage son,Titus. one of the Tuesday-evening
The inner courtyard is now a lectures (£6–10) held here.The
modern, rather formal, glass- excellent ground-floor
roofed café, but at heart, the bookshop is also worth a
Marylebone PLACES
Contents Places
93
Cafés
Golden Hind
73 Marylebone Lane. Closed Sun.
Founded in 1914, Marylebone’s
PLACES Marylebone
heritage fish and chip restaurant
serves classic cod and chips
alongside fancier fare. Eat here
or take away.
Contents Places
94
Restaurants
Fairuz
3 Blandford St t 020/7486 8182. One
of London’s more accessible
Marylebone PLACES
La Galette
56 Paddington St t 020/7935 1554,
w www.lagalette.com. Bright,
modern pancake place, where
the hors d’oeuvres are very
simple and very French, and the
savoury and sweet buckwheat
galettes generous; be sure to
sample the range of Breton
ciders, too. Breakfast is available O’CONOR DON
between 10am and 4pm.
Contents Places
95
Soho
One of London’s most diverse, busy and characterful
areas, Soho is very much the heart of the West End. It’s
PLACES Soho
been the city’s premier red-light district for centuries,
and retains an unorthodox and slightly raffish air that’s
unique for central London. Conventional sights are few
and far between, yet it’s a great area to wander
through, even if you just take in the lively fruit and veg-
etable market on Berwick Street; whatever the hour,
however, there’s always something going on. Most folk
head here to visit one of the many cinemas or theatres,
or to grab a bite to eat or a drink at the incredible vari-
ety of cafés, restaurants and bars. Soho is also a very
upfront gay mecca, with bars and cafés concentrated
around the Old Compton Street area.
Leicester Square It wasn’t until the mid-
By night, when the big cinemas nineteenth century that the
and nightclubs are doing brisk square began to emerge as an
business and the buskers are entertainment zone, with
entertaining passers-by, Leicester accommodation houses (for
Square is one of the most prostitutes and their clients) and
crowded places in London; on a music halls such as the grandiose
Friday or Saturday night, it can Empire and the Hippodrome
seem as if half the youth of the (just off the square), edifices
city’s suburbs have congregated which survive today as cinemas
here, supplemented by a vast and discos. Cinema moved in
number of tourists. By day, during the 1930s – a golden age
queues form for theatre and evoked by the sleek black lines
concert deals at the square’s of the Odeon on the east side –
half-price ticket booth, while and maintains its grip on the
clubbers hand out flyers to area.The Empire is the favourite
likely looking punters. for big red-carpet premieres
and, in a rather half-
hearted imitation of the
Hollywood tradition,
there are even
handprints-of-the-stars
indented into the
pavement of the square’s
southwestern corner.
Chinatown
A self-contained jumble
of shops, cafés and
restaurants, Chinatown is
one of London’s most
distinct and popular
ODEON CINEMA, LEICESTER SQUARE ethnic enclaves. Centred
Contents Places
96 I SC
ET
RID
NASSAU
RIDING HOUSE S T R E ET EET
STR
CHAR
DGE 0 150
E T yds
W H IT
GOO TRE
ST
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Soho PLACES
AM C
MARGARET STREET
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NE P
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STREET
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RATH BO
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CASTLE ST EASTCASTLE
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STREET
B E D FO
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SOHO ST
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Candy Bar 7 Freedom A16L Pizza Express 5
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Centrale 18 Kopi-Tiam E 22 Rasa Samudra 2
T H
Contents Places
97
predominates, and you’re
unlikely to be disappointed
wherever you go.
PLACES Soho
Charing Cross Road, which
marks Soho’s eastern border,
boasts the highest concentration
of bookshops anywhere in
London. One of the first to
open here, in 1906, was Foyles
at no. 119 – De Valera, George
Bernard Shaw,Walt Disney and
Conan Doyle were all once
regular customers.You’ll find
more of Charing Cross Road’s CHINATOWN
original character at the string
of specialist and secondhand scene for much of the
bookshops south of Cambridge twentieth century, but
Circus. One of the nicest places nowadays, it’s not just gay bars,
for specialist and antiquarian clubs and cafés jostling for
book-browsing is Cecil Court, position on Old Compton
the southernmost Street: there’s a gay-run
pedestrianized alleyway houseshare agency, a financial
between Charing Cross Road advice outfit and, even more
and St Martin’s Lane. convenient, a gay taxi service.
Photographers’ Gallery
5 & 8 Great Newport St
w www.photonet.org.uk. Mon–Sat
Shops
11am–6pm, Sun noon–6pm. Free. Agent Provocateur
Established in 1971 as the first 6 Broadwick St t 020/7439 0229,
of its kind in London, the w www.agentprovocateur.com.
Photographers’ Gallery hosts Upmarket lingerie store for
excellent temporary those with an interest in the
photographic exhibitions, often kitsch, sexy and glamorous.
featuring leading contemporary
photographers, that are Daddy Kool
invariably worth a browse. Note 12 Berwick St t 020/7437 3535,
that the gallery has exhibition w www.daddykoolrecords.com. Lots
spaces at two separate addresses, of collectable reggae vinyl, most
with a peaceful café at no. 5 and of it classic roots and Studio
a good bookshop at no. 8. One, but with some up-to-the-
minute ragga, too.
Old Compton Street
If Soho has a main drag, it has Foyles
to be Old Compton Street.The 113–119 Charing Cross Rd
corner shops, peep shows, t 020/7437 5660, w www.foyles
boutiques and trendy cafés here .co.uk. Long-established
are typical of the area and a bookstore with a big Silver
good barometer of the latest Moon feminist section, and
Soho fads. Soho has been a Ray’s Jazz Shop and café on the
permanent fixture on the gay first floor.
Contents Places
Soho PLACES 98
SOHO BY NIGHT
Mr Bongo
44 Poland St t 020/7287 1887,
Cafés
w www.mrbongo.com. Good for Bar Italia
12’’ singles, and for hip-hop, 22 Frith St. This tiny café is a
Latin American and Brazilian Soho institution, serving coffee,
CDs. croissants and sandwiches more
or less around the clock – as it
Prowler Soho has been doing since 1949.
3–7 Brewer St t 020/7734 4031,
w www.prowlerstores.co.uk. A gay Beatroot
and lesbian household name, 92 Berwick St. Great little veggie
stocking lots of fetish gear and café by the market, doling out
erotica, plus a great range of delicious cakes plus hot savoury
literature, art, postcards and bakes, stews and salads in boxes
gifts. of varying sizes – all for under a
fiver.
Sister Ray
94 Berwick St t 020/7287 8385, Centrale
w www.sisterray.co.uk. Up-to-the 16 Moor St. Tiny, friendly Italian
minute indie sounds, plus lots of café specializing in huge plates
electronica and some forays into of steaming, garlicky pasta as
the current dance scene. Most well as omelettes, chicken and
releases available on vinyl as well chops for around £5. Bring
as CD. your own booze; there’s a 50p
corkage charge, but don’t drink
The Vintage House too much as there are no toilets.
42 Old Compton St t 020/7437 2592,
w www.vintagehouse.co.uk. Wines, Kopi-Tiam
brandies and more than seven 9 Wardour St. Bright, cheap
hundred whiskies line the Malaysian café serving up
shelves of this family-run curries, coconut rice, juices and
drinker’s paradise. “herbal soups”, all around the
£5 mark.
Contents Places
99
Patisserie Valerie Mildred’s
44 Old Compton St w www 45 Lexington St t 020/7494 1634.
.patisserie-valerie.co.uk. Popular Long-established, buzzy veggie
coffee, croissant and cake restaurant hidden down a
emporium dating from the backstreet, offering stir-fries,
PLACES Soho
1950s, and attracting a loud- pasta dishes and burgers that are
talking, arty, people-watching as wholesome, delicious and
crowd. inexpensive as ever.
Pizza Express
Restaurants 10 Dean St t 020/7439 8722. Enjoy
a good pizza, then listen to the
Busaba Eathai resident band or highly skilled
106–110 Wardour St t 020/7255 guest players.There’s also a late
8686, w www.busaba.com. Dark, night session on Saturdays, from
designery and implacably 9pm until the early hours of
trendy Thai eatery which Sunday morning.
serves pretty decent food at
low prices. The menu veers Rasa Samudra
towards one-pot dishes, and 5 Charlotte St t 020/7637 0222.
vegetarians are particularly well Smart, pricey, fishy south Indian
catered for. restaurant which produces classy
dishes that would be more at
China City home in Mumbai than London.
White Bear Yard, 25 Lisle St
t 020/7734 3388. Large,
reasonably priced restaurant
tucked into a little courtyard;
fresh and bright decor, dim sum
that’s up there with the best
and service that is typically
“Chinatown brusque”.
Chowki
2–3 Denman St t 020/7439 1330.
Large, inexpensive Indian
restaurant serving authentic
homestyle food in stylish
surroundings.The menu changes
every month in order to feature
three different regions of India –
the set “regional feast” for
around £10 is great value. CHARLES II STATUE, SOHO SQUARE
Contents Places
100
Spiga
84–86 Wardour St t 020/7734 3444.
A pleasantly casual but
upmarket Italian affair, with a
lively atmosphere, a serious
Soho PLACES
Contents Places
101
Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury was built over in grid-plan style from the
1660s onwards, and the formal, bourgeois Georgian
PLACES Bloomsbury
squares laid out then remain the area’s main distin-
guishing feature. In the twentieth century, Bloomsbury
acquired a reputation as the city’s most learned quar-
ter, dominated by the dual institutions of the British
Museum and London University, and home to many of
London’s chief book publishers, but perhaps best
known for its literary inhabitants, among them T.S. Eliot
and Virginia Woolf. Only in its northern fringes does the
character of the area change dramatically, becoming
steadily more seedy as you near the two big main-line
train stations of Euston and King’s Cross.
British Museum Foster. At the Court’s centre
Great Russell St w www.british- stands the copper-domed former
museum.ac.uk. Mon–Wed, Sat & Sun Round Reading Room of the
10am–5.30pm, Thurs & Fri British Library, where Karl Marx
10am–8.30pm. Free. One of the penned Das Kapital.
great museums of the world, the The BM’s collection of
British Museum contains an Roman and Greek
incredible collection of antiquities is unparalleled, and
antiquities, prints, drawings and is most famous for the
books, all housed under one Parthenon sculptures, better
roof. Begun in 1823, the known as the Elgin Marbles
building itself is the grandest of after the British aristocrat who
London’s Greek Revival edifices, walked off with the reliefs in
and its central Great Court 1801. Elsewhere, the Egyptian
(Mon–Wed, Sat & Sun collection is easily the most
9am–6pm,Thurs & Fri significant outside Egypt,
9am–11pm) now features a ranging from monumental
remarkable curving glass-and- sculptures to the ever-popular
steel roof designed by Norman mummies and their ornate
outer caskets. Also on display is
the Rosetta Stone, which finally
unlocked the secret of Egyptian
hieroglyphs. Other highlights
include a splendid series of
Assyrian reliefs from Nineveh,
and several extraordinary
artefacts from Mesopotamia
such as the enigmatic Ram in
the Thicket (a goat statuette in
lapis lazuli and shell) and the
remarkable hoard of goldwork
known as the Oxus Treasure.
BLOOMSBURY GROUP PLAQUE, GORDON
The leathery half-corpse of
SQUARE the 2000-year-old Lindow Man,
Contents Places
102
D R U M MO ND S TREE T
EVERSHOLT ST
WAY
CHALTON ST
OSSULSTON ST
ROAD
PAN CRAS R D
Euston Station
British King’s
0 200 yds
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Library St Pancras Cross
EUSTON Station
ND
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Station
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EUSTON SQUARE GRAFTON PL.
MIDL
WARREN Stern’s African
STREET EUSTON KING'S CROSS-
SQUARE Record Centre
E U S T O N R O A D ST PANCRAS
COU RT RD
New St Pancras
DUKE'S RD
GOW ER PLAC E ENDSLEI GH GDNS BI DBOR OUG H ST
U P. WOBURN PL.
Bloomsbury PLACES
AN EATING &
GOWER STREET
ENDSLEIGH ST
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Strang XM R.
TOTTENHA M
CARTWRIGHT GDNS
Print Room
SANDWICH ST
AbenoE 7
THAN ET ST
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SQUARE
Petrie SQUARE
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MALET PL.
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TORRING TON PLACE REGENT SQ.
University WOBURN PLACE the Word
B E D F O R D WAY
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University Church O U TH
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B ER N Skoob Books
Brunei ARD S
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ADELINE PLACE
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RED
SH AV
Holborn © Crown copyright
Contents Places
103
This piecemeal development
means that departments are
spread over a wide area, though
the main focus is between the
1930s Senate House skyscraper
PLACES Bloomsbury
on Malet Street, behind the
British Museum, and the
Neoclassical University College
(UCL; w www.ucl.ac.uk), near
the top of Gower Street. UCL is
home to London’s most famous
art school, the Slade, which puts
on temporary exhibitions from its
collection at the Strang Print
Room, in the south cloister of
the main quadrangle (term-time
Wed–Fri 1–5pm; free); call
t 020/7679 2540 to check hours
or what’s on.Also on display in
the south cloisters is the fully-
clothed skeleton of philosopher
Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832), LONDON UNIVERSITY’S SENATE HOUSE
Contents Places
104
are open to all.These are hands-on exhibition of more
situated to the left as you enter; universal appeal, where you can
straight ahead is the spiritual design your own literary
heart of the BL, a multistorey publication, while the Pearson
glass-walled tower housing the Gallery of Living Words puts on
Bloomsbury PLACES
Shops
Atlantis Bookshop
49a Museum St t 020/7405 2120,
w www.theatlantisbookshop
.com. Splendid occult-oriented
place, with the perfect
ambience for browsing through
books and magazines covering
spirituality, psychic phenomena,
witchcraft and the like.
Contents Places
105
weekly lesbian discussion groups in open kitchen okonomi-yaki,
and readings. which is something like a sloppy
pizza crossed with a solid
Gosh! omelette, then layered with all
39 Great Russell St t 020/7636 1011, manner of odds and ends – all
PLACES Bloomsbury
w www.goshlondon.com. All kinds for around £10.
of comics for all kinds of
readers, whether you’re casually Cigala
curious or a serious collector. 54 Lamb’s Conduit St t 020/7405
1717, w www.cigala.co.uk. Simple
Playin’ Games dishes, strong flavours, fresh
33 Museum St t 020/7323 3080, ingredients and real passion are
w www.playingames.co.uk. Two evident at this Iberian
floors of traditional board games restaurant, where a paella will
(Scrabble, Cluedo etc), plus set you back around £15.
backgammon, war games,
fantasy games and more. Wagamama
4 Streatham St t 020/7836 3330,
Skoob Books w www.wagamama.com. Much
10 Brunswick Centre, off Bernard St copied since, this was the
t 020/7278 8760, w www.skoob.com. pioneer of austere, minimalist,
Cut-price current and recent canteen-style noodle bars, which
secondhand academic titles, as serves filling main meals for
well as modern fiction, poetry, under £10.
travel and more. Students get a
ten-percent discount.
Contents Places
106
Covent Garden
Covent Garden’s transformation from a fruit, vegetable
and flower market into a fashion-conscious shopping
Covent Garden PLACES
St Paul’s Church
Covent Garden Piazza
w www.actorschurch.org. The only
remaining parts of the original
piazza are the two rebuilt
sections of arcading on the
north side, and St Paul’s Church
on the west side.The proximity
of so many theatres has earned
it the nickname of the “Actors’
Church”, and it’s filled with
memorials to international
thespians from Boris Karloff to
Gracie Fields.The space in front
COVENT GARDEN BICYCLE TAXIS of the church’s Tuscan portico –
Contents Places
107
BL FISH
NE W
EARNSHAW
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London’s Transport Museum exciting, but the special
Covent Garden Piazza exhibitions and long-term
w www.ltmuseum.co.uk. Mon–Thurs, “temporary” shows tend to be a
Sat & Sun 10am–6pm, Fri 11am–6pm. lot more fun, and usually have a
£5.95. Covent Garden’s former performance, workshop or
Covent Garden PLACES
Strand
Once famous for its riverside
mansions, and later its music
halls, the Strand is a shadow of
its former self today,
characterized more by the
young homeless who shelter in
the shop doorways at night. On
the south side of the Strand, a
blind side street – where the
traffic drives on the right – leads
to the Savoy, built in 1889 and
still London’s grandest hotel.
César Ritz was the original
TRAMS, LONDON’S TRANSPORT MUSEUM manager, Guccio Gucci started
Contents Places
109
out as a dishwasher here, and the
list of illustrious guests is endless.
Bush House
Strand w www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice.
Contents Places
110
In the north wing are the Duffer of St George
Courtauld Institute galleries 29 Shorts Gardens t 020/7379 4660,
(£5, free Mon 10am–2pm; w www.thedufferofstgeorge.com.
w www.courtauld.ac.uk), chiefly Covetable own-label boys’ casuals
known for their dazzling and streetwear, plus range of
Covent Garden PLACES
Contents Places
111
exhibition spaces, this is a
wonderfully inexpensive and
peaceful haven serving soups,
sandwiches, salads and cakes.
Contents Places
112
the main floor, and a well-
stocked bar which dispenses
good food.
American Bar
Covent Garden PLACES
Detroit
35 Earlham St w www.detroit-bar.com.
Cavernous underground venue
with an open-plan bar area,
secluded Gaudíesque booths, a
huge range of spirits and
excellent cocktails. DJs take over
at the weekends.
SEVEN DIALS SUNDIALS
First Out
52 St Giles High St Porterhouse
w www.firstoutcafebar.com. The 21–22 Maiden Lane
West End’s original gay w www.porterhousebrewco.com.
café/bar: upstairs is airy and Loud, buzzing micro-brewery
non-smoking, downstairs dark which has eschewed Victoriana
and foggy. On Friday’s there’s a for lots of exposed wood and
busy pre-club warm-up session copper pipes. Plenty of own-
for women; gay men are brewed stouts, ales and lagers to
welcome as guests. choose from, and lots of suits to
rub shoulders with.
Bünker Bier Hall
41 Earlham St w www.bunkerbar.com. Punch & Judy
Busy, brick-vaulted basement 40 The Market. Horribly mobbed
bar with wrought-iron pillars, and loud, but boasting an
lots of brushed steel and pricey, unbeatable location with a very
strong brews, most made on the popular balcony overlooking
premises. Covent Garden Piazza.
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113
Holborn
Holborn (pronounced “Hoe-bun”) is a fascinating area
to explore. Strategically placed between the royal and
PLACES Holborn
political centre of Westminster and the financial might
of the City, this wedge of land became the hub of the
English legal system in the early thirteenth century.
Hostels, known as Inns of Court, were established
where lawyers could eat, sleep and study English
Common Law; even today, in order to qualify, every
aspiring barrister must study at one of the Inns, whose
archaic, cobbled precincts dominate the area and
exude the rarefied atmosphere of an Oxbridge college.
Contents Places
114
Y
ST
ER
NG TO N
E
NO RT HI
AV
EATING & DRINKING 0 100 yds
EB
G R
GT JAMES ST
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Blackfriar 4 R
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Holborn PLACES
BEDF
WELL
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B A Gardens
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RED
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ST
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N
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FIELD
C
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Gray’s
SOU
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WATERLOO
BRIDGE River Thames
© Crown copyright
Contents Places
115
Prince Henry’s Room Times and which then claimed
17 Fleet St w www.cityoflondon to be “the faithful recorder of
.gov.uk/phr. Mon–Sat 11am–2pm. Free. every species of intelligence . . .
The first floor of this fine circulated for a particular set of
Jacobean house, with its readers only”.
PLACES Holborn
distinctive timber-framed bay
windows, now contains material Dr Johnson’s House
relating to the diarist Samuel 17 Gough Square w www.drjh.dircon
Pepys (1633–1703), who was .co.uk. May–Sept Mon–Sat
born in nearby Salisbury Court 11am–5.30pm; Oct–April Mon–Sat
and baptized at St Bride’s. Even 11am–5pm. £4. Despite
if you’ve no interest in Pepys, the appearances, Dr Johnson’s House
wooden-panelled room itself is is the only authentic seventeenth-
worth a look – it contains one of century building on Gough
the finest Jacobean plasterwork Square. It was here the great
ceilings in London, and a lot of savant, writer and lexicographer
original stained glass. lived from 1747 to 1759 whilst
compiling the 41,000 entries for
St Bride’s the first dictionary of the English
Fleet St w www.stbrides.com. Mon–Sat language.The grey-panelled
9am–5pm. Free. To get a sense of rooms of the house are peppered
old-style Fleet Street, head for with period furniture and lined
the so-called “journalists’ and with portraits and etchings,
printers’ cathedral”, the church including one of Johnson’s black
of St Bride’s, which boasts servant Francis Barber.Two first-
Christopher Wren’s tallest and edition copies of the great
most exquisite spire (said to be Dictionary are on display, while
the inspiration for the tiered the open-plan attic, in which
wedding cake).The crypt Johnson and his six helpers put
contains a little museum of the tome together, is now lined
Fleet Street history, with with explanatory panels on
information on the Daily lexicography.
Courant and the Universal Daily
Register, which later became The Lincoln’s Inn
Lincoln’s Inn Fields/Chancery Lane
t 020/7405 1393, w www.lincolnsinn
.org.uk. Mon–Fri 9am–6pm. Free.
Lincoln’s Inn was the first –
and in many ways is the
prettiest – of the Inns of Court,
having miraculously escaped
the ravages of the Blitz; famous
alumni include Thomas More,
Oliver Cromwell and Margaret
Thatcher. The main entrance is
the diamond-patterned, red-
brick Tudor gateway on
Chancery Lane, adjacent to
which is the early seventeenth-
century chapel (Mon–Fri
noon–2pm), with its unusual
fan-vaulted open undercroft
ST BRIDE’S SPIRE and, on the first floor, a late
Contents Places
116
Gothic nave, hit by a Zeppelin are Hogarth’s satirical Election
in World War I and much series and his merciless morality
restored since. The Inn’s tale The Rake’s Progress, as well as
fifteenth-century Old Hall the alabaster sarcophagus of Seti
(open by appointment), where I. At 2.30pm every Saturday, a
Holborn PLACES
Contents Places
117
Clerkenwell
A typical London mix of Georgian and Victorian town-
houses, housing estates, loft conversions and art stu-
PLACES Clerkenwell
dios, Clerkenwell has been transformed over the last
decade or so. On the edge of London’s financial sector,
this formerly workaday district – famous for lockmak-
ing, clockmaking, printing and jewellery – is now a
fashionable, residential enclave for portfolio-carrying
designers and media types. Well off the conventional
tourist trail, there’s only a smattering of minor sights
here, but the area’s main highlight is its abundance of
trendy restaurants, bars and clubs.
Contents Places
118 OR D OWEN A REET
ALK
O V JA
NNIA
CHA EET
E T
OW
ET
NE
ST
WAK
BER ST
ET
H O LF ST
DEN
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Contents Places
119
licensing laws, which mean you skeleton of a wealthy Roman
can get a hearty breakfast and woman found in Spitalfields;
an early morning pint from the and the Lord Mayor’s heavily
local pubs. gilded coach (still used for state
occasions).The real strength of
PLACES Clerkenwell
Museum of London the museum, though, lies in the
London Wall, Barbican t 020/7600 excellent temporary
3699, w www.museumoflondon.org.uk. exhibitions, lectures, walks and
Mon–Sat 10am–5.50pm, Sun videos it organizes throughout
noon–5.50pm. Free. Despite the year.
London’s long pedigree, very
few of its ancient structures are Barbican
still standing. However, The City’s only large residential
numerous Roman, Saxon and complex is the Barbican, a
Elizabethan remains have been monumental concrete ghetto
discovered during the City’s built over the heavily bombed
various rebuildings, and many Cripplegate area.The zone’s
of these finds are now displayed solitary prewar building is the
at the Museum of London.The heavily restored sixteenth-
permanent exhibition provides century church of St Giles
an educational trot through Cripplegate (Mon–Fri
London’s past from prehistory 11am–4pm), situated across from
to the present day, hence the the infamously user-repellent
large number of school groups Barbican Arts Centre
who pass through. Displays are (t 020/7638 8891,
imaginatively set out, though w www.barbican.org.uk) on Silk
only the new prehistory gallery Street, London’s supposed
has much in the way of hands- answer to Paris’s Pompidou
on stuff. Specific exhibits to Centre which was formally
look out for include the opened in 1982.The complex,
Bucklersbury Roman mosaic; which is traffic-free, serves as
the sarcophagus, coffin and home to the London Symphony
Orchestra and the capital’s
chapter of the Royal
Shakespeare Company, and
stages regular free gigs in the
foyer area.
Contents Places
120
maintained as it was then, as a grandfather clocks to second-
kind of shrine – even the hand wristwatches.
original lino survives.You’re
free to view the Lenin Room, Inflate
where there’s an original copy 28 Exmouth Market t 020/7713 9096,
Clerkenwell PLACES
Frosts of Clerkenwell
60–62 Clerkenwell Rd t 020/7253
0315, w www.frostsofclerkenwell
Restaurants
.co.uk. Closed Sat & Sun. One of the Cicada
few clock and watch places left 132 St John St t 020/7608 1550,
in an area once famous for w www.cicada.nu. Closed Sun. Part
them: choose from antique bar, part restaurant, Cicada offers
Contents Places
121
PLACES Clerkenwell
VIADUCT TAVERN BAR
Contents Places
122
The City
The City is where London began, and its boundaries
today are only slightly larger than those in Roman and
The City PLACES
M
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ST MARTIN’S LE-GR A N D
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NEW S T Museum
T
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F O ST E R L ANE
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Guildhall
WA R W I C K L A N E
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St Vedast St Lawrence
ST
Jewry
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Contents Places
123
majority of Londoners lived and worked in or around the
City up until the eighteenth century – nowadays, howev-
er, over a million commuters spend the best part of
Monday to Friday here, but only a few thousand actually
live here. It’s best to try and visit during the week, since
Liverpool St
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ON BR
© Crown copyright
Contents Places
124
size only to St Peter’s in Rome, architects as Westminster Abbey
its showpiece west facade is has poets, including Christopher
particularly magnificent, and is Wren himself.The star tombs,
most impressive at night when though, are those of Nelson and
bathed in sea-green arc lights. Wellington, both occupying
The City PLACES
However compared to its great centre stage and both with more
rival,Westminster Abbey, St fanciful monuments upstairs.
Paul’s is a soulless but perfectly It’s well worth attending one
calculated architectural set piece, of the cathedral’s services, if
a burial place for captains rather only to hear the ethereal choir,
than kings. who perform during most
The best place to appreciate evensongs (Mon–Sat 5pm), and
the building’s glory is from on Sundays at 10am, 11.30am
beneath the dome, adorned and 3.15pm.
(against Wren’s wishes) by
trompe l’oeil frescoes.The most Guildhall
richly decorated section of the Aldermanbury Street w www
cathedral is the chancel, where .cityoflondon.gov.uk. May–Sept daily
the late Victorian mosaics of 10am–5pm; Oct–April Mon–Sat
birds, fish, animals and greenery 10am–5pm. Free. Situated at the
are particularly spectacular.The geographical centre of the City,
intricately carved oak and lime- Guildhall has been the area’s
wood choir stalls, and the administrative seat for over eight
imposing organ case, are the hundred years. It remains the
work of Wren’s master carver, headquarters of the Corporation
Grinling Gibbons. of London, the City’s governing
Beginning in the south aisle, a body, which still uses it for
series of stairs lead to the dome’s many formal civic occasions.
three galleries, the first of which Architecturally, however, it’s not
is the internal Whispering
Gallery, so called because of its
acoustic properties – words
whispered to the wall on one
side are distinctly audible over
one hundred feet away on the
other, though you often can’t
hear much above the hubbub.
Of the two exterior galleries,
the best views are from the tiny
Golden Gallery, below the
golden ball and cross which top
the cathedral.
Although the nave is crammed
full of overblown monuments to
military types, burials in St
Paul’s are confined to the crypt,
reputedly the largest in Europe.
The whitewashed walls and
bright lighting, however, make
this one of London’s least
atmospheric mausoleums, but
Artists’ Corner here does
boast as many painters and MAGOG STATUE, GUILDHALL
Contents Places
125
quite the beauty it once was, you can view a reconstruction
having been badly damaged in of Soane’s Bank Stock Office,
both the Great Fire and the with its characteristic domed
skylight, in the museum, which
Blitz, and scarred by the
has its entrance on
addition of a grotesque 1970s
Bartholomew Lane.The
Contents Places
126
Lloyd’s Building and Swiss Re away in a little courtyard behind
East of Bank, and beyond a modern red-brick office
Bishopsgate, on Lime Street, block, the Bevis Marks
stands Richard Rogers’ glitzy Synagogue was built in 1701 by
Lloyd’s Building, completed in Sephardic Jews who had fled the
The City PLACES
Cafés
De Gustibus
53–55 Carter Lane w www.degustibus
.co.uk. Closed Sat & Sun. Award-
winning bakery that constructs
a wide variety of sandwiches,
bruschetta, croque monsieur and
quiche to eat in (perched on
LLOYD’S BUILDING ORIGINAL PORTICO stools) or take away.
Contents Places
127
K10
20 Copthall Ave. Closed Sat & Sun.
Remarkably good, inexpensive
sushi outlet, with a busy
takeaway section upstairs, and a
Contents Places
128
roaring traffic. But over the last ten years, the area has
been colonized by artists, designers and architects and
transformed itself into the city’s most vibrant artistic
enclave, peppered with contemporary art galleries and a
whole host of very cool bars and clubs. Spitalfields, to
the south, lies at the heart of the old East End, once the
first port of call for thousands of immigrants over the
centuries, and now best known for its Sunday markets
and its cheap Bangladeshi curry houses.
Contents Places
129
M IN T
QUEENSBRIDGE
WE YM OU
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RE NTER
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LO
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Station ALL PORTSOKE PRE ER S
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K. W
E
S
T
CH
HIN
H
RC
HUR
LU
WIT
EATING &GRACECH
IL
DRINKING
ABC
ST S
Contents Places
130
spot for local workers.The Brick Lane
cemetery’s three most famous Brick Lane lies at the heart of
incumbents are commemorated London’s Bengali community,
in the central paved area: whose inexpensive curry houses
William Blake’s simple dominate the “Banglatown”
Hoxton and Spitalfields PLACES
Contents Places
131
and beyond, folk flog what looks Dennis Severs’ House
like the contents of their 18 Folgate St t 020/7247 4013,
cupboards straight off the w www.dennissevershouse.co.uk.
pavement. All in all, it’s a mad “Silent Night” Mon: April–Sept 8–11pm;
and manic affair that’s worth a Oct–March 6–9pm; £12. “The
Contents Places
Hoxton and Spitalfields PLACES 132
GEFFRYE MUSEUM
Contents Places
133
café with just four stools,
serving delicious, freshly
Pubs and bars
prepared upmarket lunch Dragon
options: big soups, grilled tuna, 5 Leonard St. This discreetly signed,
rare-roast beef, exotic salads and clubby pub with bare-brick walls
Contents Places
134
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135
mint, menagerie, observatory and
– a function it still serves – a
safe-deposit box for the Crown
Jewels. Before you set off to
explore the complex, you should
Contents Places
136
RD
BROMLEY
ALDGATE EAST SAL M ON
BARNES
A RBOUR
WHITE
C O M M E
ST
HORSE
ST
R C I A
RO K S .
ST SQ.
HENRIQUES
W
L
CANN
GOWER’S WK
CHR ISTI AN ST
AM
OR
R O A D Y
AH LIMEHOUSE
LUKIN ST
LE
BR
SUTTON ST
DEVONPOR
Central London
ALDGATE
MA
OW
T TARLING ST
ST
S BURSLEM
ON ST
A LI E
ST
MANSELL BI GLAND ST
.
MINO
BUTCHER R
ST
PP
NS
MARTHA A Limehouse
ELLEN ST
ST RY
STREET L
NNE
ST
PER
T
Basin
T
CHAPMA N ST T TU
JEW
E
RI E S
HOO ST
REE
E
ST Light Railway R
TOWER PRESC
OT Docklands E S T
T RO
B L SHADWELL
G L AMIS ROAD
GATEWAY C A
St Paul N ARROW
T ST
St George Y
MIN A
A
DOCK
W
The Tower and Docklands PLACES
YAL in-the-East I G H
D
RO H
ST
T H E
TOWER HILL Shadwell
O N ST
EA D PEN N I N G T
PP.
FI E L
WA P P IN
Tower Basin
GAR N E
ST
WAL L
TOWER BR. A
HE TU NNEL
of S M I TH
VA U
MILK YD
TH
AS HE R
WAY
St Peter G EE
T
N
OM
TS
ST 1 TR
REARDON
WA
GH
Docks KENNE T ST
SM
S
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ER
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Tower AY
SAMSON
NK
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ST
Bridge AP A R
TOW
TH RO TE
PI
NG St John G R E E N B TU AM L
HIG
H
NN ES
EL SA
STR E ET
Wapping Pier Head Wapping Police Station
TOWER BRIDGE
Contents Places
137
TOWN
BURDE RD
L
LEAM
D PL.
KE RB EY
CHR
AN
R T H ST
D
OUTH
E
ORCHAR
IS P
O A
TT
CANTO
N ST G R U ND Y ST R
ST
CO M M E R C IAL ROAD
ST
K
RD
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D O C NA
BLA NEL A P P.
NO
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TUN
FRO
NEWEL
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LI St Anne S T
ST
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IN
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T
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EAST
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ST . AD
WESTFERRY D POPLAR
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W
A LL
Museum in A S P E N W A Y KW
LI
NK C
Docklands BLA
WEST INDIA QUAY W AY
West India Poplar
Dock
AR
Four WESTFERRY Dock
ALG
AD
Seasons CIRCUS W. INDIA CABOT N. COLONNADE BLACKWALL
AF
AVENUE SQ. TUNNEL
Hotel
ROT H E
S. COLONNA CANADA
TR
Blackwall
RO
DE SQ. Millennium
Canary CANARY WHARF Basin
Wharf Pier Canary Wharf Dome
P R E ST O N S
HERON QUAY
Tower
RH
HERON
IT
QUAYS 3
H
South Dock
E STREET
WESTFERRY ROAD
M
A
River Thames
RS NORTH
H
WA
LL SOUTH QUAY GREENWICH
M I LL E N
BYNG STREET MARSH
WALL
T U NN
4
T U N N E L UE
ENTERPRISE
H AR B O U R
MILLHARBOUR
N IU
STE WA R
AD
MANCHES
EL A
S A L T
ZONE
RO
M
W
AY
V EN
Y
RR
APP
FE
L IM E
TS
RO A
ST
T
E R
EA
CH
TILLER ROAD G LENG
5
T ER
6 ALL G STE
R O A D
R. AM
RD D
E A S T
AM
R
I S L E O F D O G S O
R
AD
Millwall Docks
F E R R Y
BARNSDALE
Park
OA D
Baradero 6
AV.
DA LE ST
7
W
UE
T
S
R O A
The Gun 3
ST
FE
Millwall
ST EB ON
R
NESS
HI
Hubbub 7 R
CA
RY Park
ES
HO U SE
D
Mem Saheb RO ST R E ET CH
PEL
M
A AN
CHA
on Thames 5 QU RITI
AY M E
AD ISLAND M DE
R
Contents Places
138
The Millennium Dome
Clearly visible from Greenwich’s riverside and park, the Dome is the archetypal
millennial cock-up. Architecturally, it’s eye-catching enough: over half a mile in
circumference and 160ft in height, it’s the world’s largest dome, held up by a
dozen, 300ft-tall yellow steel masts. But it’s best known for the £800 million of
The Tower and Docklands PLACES
taxpayers’ money that was poured into it, much of it to pay for the millennium
exhibition and show, which cost £20 a head, was panned by the critics and dis-
mantled after one year. Apart from a few one-off events, the Dome has remained
(expensively) empty since then, and its future is as yet undecided.
Cafés
Hubbub
269 Westferry Rd. Within an arts
centre in a converted former
church, this is a real oasis in the
desert of Westferry Road,
offering decent fry-ups,
sandwiches and a few fancier
MUSEUM IN DOCKLANDS dishes.
Contents Places
139
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140
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141
Blackfriars
e s
WA
N a m
T h
TER
RIVERSIDE WALK
Oxo Tower
LO
Bankside
Book BARGE THOUS
OB
S
D
E
r Market N
RENNIE STREET
RID
U
R O
e
BROA
GE
National Film Theatre G
BLACK FR IARS
i v
D WA
DU
R
CH
H
1
PA R I S G A R
LL
R
Y
Elizabeth National ET
A T
P
CO
Hall Theatre U RE
IN
ST
ST
RE
R D2
F
S OUT H B ANK C E NT R E REE
T
ET
FO ST ST
DEN
T
I
NS AS BO
STR
Royal
Festival Hayward Gallery D
OO AM UIN M
E
AQ
LO
ST
HUN
EET
CO
G
BRIDERFORD
L
Hall
R OAD
GE
Embankment
C O
D S
BFI IMAX T MEYMO
TT ST
S TREE
CON Cinema THEED
T E NIS O N
R N
CE ST ST
APP RT H
St John TLESEY ELL
ROA ALL
CH WHIT OUP
W A
Waterloo R STREET JOAN ST
London WAY R A D
East B
N ST 3
L L
AD
GRE
MEP
M IL
HAM ST STRE
ET
RO
KA SOUTHWARK
ET
ST
R O
ALA S TTON
LW
WOO
STR
Jubilee T
A D
ERE
EET
D
ST U 4
Gardens
LK
OA
i CON
S C
D
WATERLOO
Young Vic Theatre 5
T R
A
VED
B LAC K FR IAR S
H
O
WES
SHO
CHIC
Waterloo Station 6 T
R
HE
BEL
ST LEY
RT
Old Vic REE T
D ST
W
OA
ST
County Hall
BO
Theatre ER D U
AD
N D ARY ROW
R K
TR
A
(London Aquarium, MI
R
RO
LE
.
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CL
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Saatchi Gallery, AK
FF
CH
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UPP
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ACE
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TRE RR A D
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ANE
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Elephant & Castle
Hospital CEN
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WALK
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NB
G T
RC
Park
COL
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Imperial
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Lambeth War
Palace Museum
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RO 0 100 yds
BR
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& DRINKING WA
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WI
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Contents Places
South Bank and around PLACES 142
Contents Places
143
weekend, so book in advance Saatchi Gallery
over the phone or online. t 020/7823 2363, w www
.saatchi-gallery.co.uk. Mon–Thurs &
County Hall Sun 10am–6pm, Fri & Sat
The colonnaded crescent of 10am–10pm. £8.50. The Saatchi
Contents Places
144
sequence in Hitchcock’s movie Imperial War Museum
Spellbound. Lambeth Rd w www.iwm.org.uk. Daily
10am–6pm. Free. Housed in a
Museum of Garden History domed building that was once
Lambeth Palace Rd w www.cix.co.uk the infamous “Bedlam” lunatic
South Bank and around PLACES
Shops
Book Market
South Bank, beneath Waterloo Bridge.
Sat & Sun only. Secondhand book
market by the Thames, offering
everything from current and
recent fiction to obscure
psychology textbooks, film
theory, modern European
poetry and pulp science
fiction.
Radio Days
87 Lower Marsh. Fantastic
collection of memorabilia and
accessories from the 1930s to
the 1970s, including shoes, shot-
glass collections, cosmetics and
vintage magazines. A huge stock
of well-kept womens’ and mens’
clothing from the same period
DALÍ SCULPTURE, SOUTH BANK fills the back room.
Contents Places
145
Cafés this a good spot for a meal
before or after an evening at a
Konditor & Cook South Bank theatre or concert
22 Cornwall Rd. Closed Sun. Quality hall. Set meals for around £16.
bakery, with a few tables,
Contents Places
146
Bankside and
Southwark
Bankside and Southwark PLACES
MILLENNIUM
Shakespeare’s
BRID
BRIDGE
Globe Theatre
ID G E
ARK
B AN K S I D E
THW
ON BR
ENS
NEW GLOBE
WALK
RE E T 1
GARD
ST
SOU
Y
ALLE
Golden Southwark
N
LO N D
BEAR
Tate Modern
H O P TO
B
Hinde Cathedral
ROSE
HO
ANK EN D
PA R
K
LL
C L I NK S T
RSON
AN
STREET
ST
MONTA
D
E ME
G
ST
CL. UE
ST
R O A D
STONE Y ST
CA
SUMNER STREET
PORTER
T OOLEY ST
THE
PARK S
DRAL S T
WINCHESTE D UK E
R ST HILL
ZOAR ST WK
S O
GRE
B EA R
T H W
R
EE
R
Operating DON
AT G
EE
A R T
LA N
K THR
T
ALE Theatre BR
L AV I N G T IDG
O N S T RE ET
UI
S T R ST Borough KIN ES
G R E A T
E
E E T HEA G’S T
LDF
BRIDGE
AS
ORD
ITE
EW ER ST
AR
GAMBIA ST
HA
D
3 RT
D G E
EAR
ST MAR YD
E
TA
WA
GARET’S
O’M
LBO
STR
CT
E
MAID TY
UNIO N STO D
D
BUILD
R
INGSNE
E ET
STR
PON
T
U N I O N STRE E
T
ET
B R I
EET
SS
STRE
G R E AT MA Z E
S
RO
S U F F
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WC
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NELSON ME OM
SQUARE K RM EN
SA W Y E R
A R
RE
LOMAN ST A ID ST
MA
RE
ST
ET
H I
CO
HW
RO W UR
IS
SU RR EY
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STRE ET T
TENN
CK
HA
POCO
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ST LS
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B Y RO
K I P L I NG ST RE E T
EA
H
KIN ST
L
GL
K ROA
RU
G’ REE R T
AS
LAN St George
T ST 5
SB T
D
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SH
CROS
ST
SH
PORLOCK ST
EN
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L O N G
IL
CH
GE
T
W
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S
ST
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BOROUGH L A
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LMIN
TAB
S R
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N
DOV
WEBBER STREET T O
TOU
E
AR D
R B
ER S
E
SIL
E
ST
ST
EX
T
T
S
T
Contents Places
147
busy enjoying the spectacular Tate to Tate
views across to St Paul’s
Tate to Tate boats (specially
Cathedral and Tate Modern to
designed by Damien Hirst) shuttle
notice.
between Tate Modern and Tate
Britain via the London Eye every
LOW EA
0 ST
S M200 yds
EATING & DRINKING ER
TH A
ME S I T H F I ELD
Anchor 1 George Inn 3 Royal S T Oak 6 Tower of
Delfina 7 Monmouth Tentazioni 8 London
ARINE’S
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Gastrodome
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© Crown copyright
Contents Places
Bankside and Southwark PLACES 148
TATE MODERN
Contents Places
149
it’s the imaginative hands-on retrochoir now remain,
exhibits that really hit the spot. separated by a tall and beautiful
You can have a virtual “play” on stone Tudor screen; they’re
medieval instruments such as thought to be the oldest Gothic
the crumhorn or sackbut, structures left in London.The
Contents Places
150
London Dungeon (see below). ever-popular London Dungeon.
Visitors climb up to the attic of The life-sized waxwork tableaux
a former church tower, which inside include a man being hung,
houses an old hospital drawn and quartered and one
apothecary with displays being boiled alive, while the
Bankside and Southwark PLACES
HMS Belfast
Morgan’s Lane, Tooley St w www.iwm
.org.uk. Daily: March–Oct 10am–6pm;
Nov–Feb 10am–5pm. £6. An
SHAKESPEARE WINDOW, SOUTHWARK
11,550-ton Royal Navy cruiser,
CATHEDRAL armed with six torpedoes and
Contents Places
151
six-inch guns with a range of
over fourteen miles, HMS
Belfast saw action both in the
Barents Sea during World War II
and in the Korean War, and has
Design Museum
Butler’s Wharf, 28 Shad Thames
w www.designmuseum.org. Daily
Cafés
10am–5.45pm. £6. A Bauhaus-like El Vergel
conversion of an old 1950s 8 Lant St w elvergel.serversure.net.
riverside warehouse, the stylish Closed Sat & Sun. Small, very busy
Contents Places
152
Fina Estampa
150 Tooley St t 020/7403 1342.
Closed Sat lunch & Sun. London’s
only Peruvian restaurant, and
very good it is too.The
Bankside and Southwark PLACES
Tentazioni
2 Mill St t 020/7237 1100,
w www.tentazioni.co.uk. Closed Mon &
Sat lunch, & Sun. Small, busy
Italian restaurant serving high-
quality peasant fare with strong,
DESIGN MUSEUM rich flavours. Starters (£8–10)
can be turned into main courses
weekday café which does all the (£12–20), or you can try the
usual lunchtime takeaways, as splendid five-course regional
well as Latin American menu (£36).
specialities: empanadas, tacos,
tostadas and tortillas.
Contents Places
153
Contents Places
Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens PLACES
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Corner
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Contents Places
156
renowned architects to design a
temporary pavilion for its
summer-only tea-house
extension.The results have been
adventurous and exciting,
Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens PLACES
Albert Memorial
Kensington Gardens. Erected in
1876, the richly decorated, High
Gothic Albert Memorial is as
much a hymn to the glorious
achievements of Britain as to its
subject, Queen Victoria’s
husband (who died of typhoid
PETER PAN STATUE
in 1861). Recently restored to
his former gilded glory, Albert
character who enters London occupies the central canopy,
along the Serpentine in the clutching a catalogue for the
eponymous tale.The book’s Great Exhibition that he helped
author, J.M. Barrie, used to walk to organize. If you want to learn
his dog in Kensington Gardens, more about the 169 life-sized
and it was here that he met the depictions of long-gone artists
five pretty, upper-class Llewellyn (all men) around the pediment,
Davies boys, who wore “blue and the various other allegorical
blouses and bright red tam sculptures dotted about the
o’shanters”, were the inspiration memorial, join one of the
for the book’s “Lost Boys”, and weekly guided tours (Sun 2 &
whose guardian he eventually 3pm; £3.50).
became. Paid for by Barrie
himself and erected in secret Royal Albert Hall
during the night in 1912, the Kensington Gore t 020/7589 8212,
statue depicts Peter presiding w www.royalalberthall.com. The
over a pedestal crowded with profits of the Great Exhibition
fairies, squirrels, rabbits, birds were used to buy a large tract of
and mice. land south of the park, and to
build the vast Royal Albert Hall,
Serpentine Gallery a splendid iron-and-glass-domed
Kensington Gardens concert hall, with an exterior of
w www.serpentinegallery.org. Daily red brick, terracotta and marble
10am–6pm. Free. The Serpentine that became the hallmark of
Gallery was built as a tearoom South Kensington architecture.
in 1908 because the park As well as hosting a variety of
authorities thought “poorer events throughout the year, from
visitors” might cause trouble if pop concerts to sumo wrestling,
left without refreshments.The the hall is the venue for Europe’s
building has served as an art most democratic music festival,
gallery since the 1960s,with a the Henry Wood Promenade
reputation for lively, Concerts or Proms (see p.215),
controversial exhibitions; it also which take place every night
annually commissions world- from July to September.The
Contents Places
157
classical concerts are top-class memory of the Princess of
and standing-room tickets go for Wales, this is no ordinary
as little as £3, but the Proms are playground, and gets so
best known for the flag-waving, popular that entry numbers
patriotic last night. have to be limited in the
Contents Places
158
South Kensington,
Knightsbridge and
South Kensington, Knightsbridge and Chelsea PLACES
Chelsea
London’s wealthiest district, the Royal Borough of
Kensington and Chelsea is particularly well-to-do in the
area south of Hyde Park. Known popularly as the “Tiara
Triangle”, the moneyed feel here is evident in the flash
shops and swanky bars as well as the plush houses
and apartments. Aside from the shops around Harrods
in Knightsbridge, however, the popular tourist attrac-
tions lie in South Kensington, where three of London’s
top museums stand side by side.
From the Swinging Sixties and even up to the Punk
era, Chelsea had a slightly bohemian pedigree; these
days, it’s just another wealthy west London suburb,
famous only as the spiritual home of Sloanes, the sons
and daughters of the wealthy, whose most famous
specimen was Princess Diana herself.
Natural History Museum handsome museum.The
Cromwell Rd t 020/7942 5000, contents, though, are a bit of a
w www.nhm.ac.uk. Mon–Sat mishmash, with truly
10am–5.50pm, Sun 11am–5.50pm. imaginative exhibits peppered
Free. With its 675-foot terracotta amongst others little changed
facade, Alfred Waterhouse’s since the building opened in
purpose-built mock- 1881.This disparity is the result
Romanesque colossus ensures of a genuine conundrum,
the Natural History Museum’s though – the collections are as
status as London’s most much an important resource for
serious zoologists as they are a
popular attraction.
The main entrance leads to the
Life Galleries, whose vast
Central Hall is dominated by an
85ft-long plaster cast of a
Diplodocus skeleton.To one
side, you’ll find the Dinosaur
gallery, where a team of
animatronic deinonychi feast on
a half-dead tenontosaurus. Other
child-friendly sections include
the Creepy-Crawlies Room,
which features a live colony of
NATURAL HISTORY MUSUEM leaf-cutter ants, the Mammals
Contents Places
SOUTH CARRIAG
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Contents Places
160
museums as boring and full of as do the Garden and Things
dusty glass cabinets, the Science galleries.
Museum has been busy
updating its galleries with Victoria & Albert Museum
interactive displays, and puts on Cromwell Rd t 020 7942 2000,
South Kensington, Knightsbridge and Chelsea PLACES
Contents Places
161
Lloyd Wright, a
collection of
sixteenth-century
portrait miniatures,
more Constable
Contents Places
162
probably the finest Arts and
Crafts church in London.The
Shops
east window is the most glorious Harvey Nichols
of the furnishings, a vast, 48- 109–125 Knightsbridge t 020/7235
panel extravaganza designed by 5000, w www.harveynichols.co.uk. The
South Kensington, Knightsbridge and Chelsea PLACES
Contents Places
163
cooked meals or simple coffee, Racine
tea and cakes, depending on the 239 Brompton Rd t 020/7584 4477.
time of day. Familiar, delicious, nostalgic
dishes from the glory days of
Vingt-Quatre French cooking, and friendly
Restaurants
Bibendum Oyster House
Pubs
Michelin House, 81 Fulham Rd Blenheim
t 020/7589 1480, w www.bibendum 27 Cale St. Large Georgian pub,
.co.uk. This glorious tiled former with lots of lovely wood, an
garage, built in 1911, is one of unusual, inexpensive menu and
the best places to eat shellfish in excellent Badger beers.
London. Half a dozen oysters
start at £7.50, while an entire Bunch of Grapes
plateau de fruits de mer will set 207 Brompton Rd. This popular
you back nearly £30. High Victorian pub, complete
with snob screens, is the perfect
Gordon Ramsay place for a post-museum pint.
68–69 Royal Hospital Rd t 020/7352
4441, w www.gordonramsay.com. Cross Keys
Closed Sat & Sun. Gordon 1 Lawrence St. Tucked away in the
Ramsay’s Chelsea restaurant is a centre of wealthy, villagey
class act through and through, Chelsea, this is a friendly, snug
though you have to book ahead and popular pub.
to eat here. Set lunches start at
£35; fixed-price à la carte Star Tavern
menus start at £65. 6 Belgrave Mews West. Smart, quiet
and convivial two-storey mews
Hunan pub, with fine Fuller’s beers and
51 Pimlico Rd t 020/7730 5712. classy food.
Closed Sun. Probably England’s
only restaurant serving Hunan
food, a relative of Sichuan
cuisine. Most people opt for the
£30 “leave-it-to-us feast” which
lets the chef, Mr Peng, show
what he can do.
O Fado
45–50 Beauchamp Place t 020/7589
3002. This long-established
Portuguese restaurant can get
rowdy, what with the live fado
ballads and the family parties,
but that’s half the enjoyment.
Book in advance. BIBENDUM OYSTER HOUSE
Contents Places
164
Holland Park
The leafy former grounds of the
Jacobean Holland House, now
replete with woodland and
playing fields, Holland Park also
boasts several formal areas, such
HOLLAND HOUSE, HOLLAND PARK as the Japanese-style Kyoto
Contents Places
165
AD
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Contents Places
166
saturated parts of town, buried here under some of the
Portobello Road Market is most extravagant Gothic tombs
probably London’s trendiest, yet in the whole of London.
it’s always a great spot for a Hemmed in by railway,
browse and a bargain.Things gasworks and canal, the
High Street Kensington to Notting Hill PLACES
Shops
Flow Gallery
1–5 Needham St t 020/7243 0782,
w www.flowgallery.co.uk. Showing
the work of mainly British
artists, this new enterprise excels
in well-crafted goods, such as
jewellery, fabrics and sculpture.
Rough Trade
130 Talbot Rd t 020/7229 8541,
w www.roughtrade.com. Indie
specialist with knowledgeable,
WROUGHT-IRON PORCH NEAR HOLLAND PARK friendly staff and a dizzying
Contents Places
167
array of wares, from electronica
to hardcore and beyond.
Cafés
Contents Places
High Street Kensington to Notting Hill PLACES 168
Ion
Pubs and bars 161–165 Ladbroke Grove
w www.meanfiddler.com. Cool
Bed Bar contemporary feel to this Mean
310 Portobello Rd. Moroccan- Fiddler-run bar situated under
themed DJ bar, crammed with the Westway.There’s food
hedonistic locals standing on the available on the mezzanine, plus
sofas, arms aloft while the DJs R&B/soul DJs (and queues
spin funky house and Latin- outside) most nights.
tinged beats.
Market Bar
Cherry Jam 240a Portobello Rd. Self-consciously
52 Porchester Rd w www.cherryjam bohemian pub with gilded
.net. Co-owned by Ben Watt mirrors and weird objets – all
(house DJ and half of pop group very Notting Hill.
Everything But The Girl), this
smart, intimate basement place Prince Bonaparte
mixes a decadent cocktail bar 80 Chepstow Rd. Very popular
with top-end West London DJs pared-down, trendy, minimalist
from the broken beat and deep pub, with acres of space for
house scenes. sitting and supping while
enjoying the bar snacks or the
The Cow excellent Brit or Med food in
89 Westbourne Park Rd. Owned by the restaurant area.
Tom Conran, son of gastro-
magnate Terence, this pub pulls The Westbourne
in the beautiful W11 types, 101 Westbourne Park Villas. One of a
thanks to its spectacular food, trio of popular bare-boards
which includes a daily supply of Notting Hill gastropubs, serving
fresh oysters. top-notch Brit-Med food.
Contents Places
169
Contents Places
170
ADEL
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Contents Places
171
Zoo in two, and passing straight
through the heart of Camden
Market. It’s also the one section
that’s served year-round by
narrowboats offering pleasure
London Zoo
Outer Circle, Regent’s Park
w www.londonzoo.co.uk. Daily:
March–Oct 10am–5.30pm; Nov–Feb
10am–4pm. £13. Over the last
decade or so, London Zoo has
sought to redefine itself as an
eco-conscious place whose
prime purpose is to save species
under threat of extinction. It’s
still not the most uplifting spot
LONDON CENTRAL MOSQUE
for animal-lovers, though the
enclosures are as humane as any
inner-city zoo could make Snowdon Aviary, and the eco-
them, and kids usually love the conscious, invertebrate-filled
place. Smaller ones are Web of Life.
particularly taken with the
children’s enclosure, where they Camden Market
can handle the animals, and the w www.camdenlock.net. For all its
regular “Animals in Action” live tourist popularity, Camden
shows where the keepers bring Market remains a genuinely
some of their charges out into offbeat place.The tiny crafts
the open – owls swoop over the market which began in the
audience’s heads and lemurs cobbled courtyard by the lock
climb up the furniture, but has since mushroomed out of all
there’s no demeaning proportion, with everyone
“performing” involved.The zoo trying to grab a piece of the
boasts some striking action on both sides of Camden
architectural features, too, most High Street and Chalk Farm
notably the modernist, spiral- Road. More than 150,000
ramped 1930s concrete penguin shoppers turn up here each
pool. Other zoo landmarks weekend, and some stalls now
include the colossal tetrahedral stay open all week long,
aluminium-framed tent of the alongside a crop of shops, cafés
Contents Places
172
and bistros.The overabundance Offstage Theatre and Cinema
of cheap leather, hippy chic, naff Bookshop
jewellery and out-and-out 37 Chalk Farm Rd t 020/7485 4996.
kitsch is compensated for by the Excellent, well-stocked shop
sheer variety of what’s on offer: covering all aspects of stage and
Regent’s Park and Camden PLACES
Viet-Anh Cafe
41 Parkway t 020/7284 4082.
Authentic, bright, cheerful café
run by a friendly and
welcoming young Vietnamese
couple.Try the prawn sugar-
cane sticks, the slurpy noodle
soups or the hot lemongrass
REGENT’S CANAL, LITTLE VENICE chicken, all for around a fiver.
Contents Places
173
Contents Places
174
Freud Museum
20 Maresfield Gardens w www.freud
.org.uk. Wed–Sun noon–5pm. £5.
Hidden away in the leafy streets
of south Hampstead, the Freud
Museum is one of the most
poignant of London’s museums.
FENTON HOUSE GATES Having lived in Vienna for his
Contents Places
175
entire adult life, Sigmund Freud Fleming lived close by and had
was forced to flee the Nazis, and a deep personal dislike of both
arrived in London during the Goldfinger and his modernist
summer of 1938 as a semi- abode.
invalid (he died within a year).
Contents Places
176
Hampstead Garden Suburb
WINN
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Contents Places
177
STO
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Chalk Farm © Crown copyright
Contents Places
178
The East Cemetery’s lack of
atmosphere is in part
compensated for by the fact
that you can wander at will
through its maze of circuitous
Hampstead and Highgate PLACES
Contents Places
179
Louis Patisserie retained much of its original
32 Heath St. Popular and Victorian interior.
engagingly old-fashioned
Hungarian tearooms serving Flask
fantastic sticky cakes to a mix of 77 Highgate West Hill. Ideally
Pubs
Flask
14 Flask Walk. Located on one of
Hampstead’s more atmospheric
lanes, this convivial local has FLASK PUB, FLASK WALK
Contents Places
180
Greenwich
Greenwich is one of London’s most beguiling spots. Its
nautical associations are trumpeted by the likes of the
Greenwich PLACES
Getting to Greenwich
Greenwich is most quickly reached from central London by train from Charing
Cross, Waterloo East or London Bridge (every 30min), although taking a boat from
one of the piers between Westminster and Tower Bridge is more scenic and
leisurely (and more expensive). Another possibility is to take the Docklands Light
Railway (DLR; see p.134) from Bank or Tower Gateway direct to Cutty Sark. For
the best view of the Wren buildings, get out at Island Gardens, and then take the
Greenwich Foot Tunnel under the Thames.
Contents Places
181
Isle of Dogs
Greenwich
Foot Tunnel
Greenwich Pier River Thames
Deptford
TH
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Old ST Q
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ST BALLA UAY
Royal Naval 1
Cutty Sark
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Contents Places
182
magnificent Painted Hall
features trompe l’oeil fluted
pilasters, and James Thornhill’s
gargantuan allegorical ceiling
painting depicting William and
Greenwich PLACES
Contents Places
183
you can navigate a catamaran, a royal deer enclosure in “The
paddle steamer and a rowing Wilderness” and its
boat to shore; and “All Hands”, semicircular rose garden.
where children can have a go at
radio transmission, loading Royal Observatory
PLACES Greenwich
miniature cargo, firing a cannon Greenwich Park w www.rog.nmm.ac
and so forth. Finally, you reach .uk. Daily: April–Sept 10am–6pm;
the Nelson Gallery, which con- Oct–March 10am–5pm. Free.
tains the museum’s vast collec- Perched on the crest of
tion of Nelson-related memora- Greenwich Park’s highest hill,
bilia, including Turner’s Battle of the Royal Observatory is
Trafalgar, 21st October, 1805, his housed in a rather dinky Wren-
largest work and only royal built red-brick building, whose
commission. northeastern turret sports a
The Queen’s House is the bright-red time-ball that climbs
focal point of Greenwich’s the mast at 12.58pm and drops
riverside architectural ensemble at 1pm GMT precisely; it was
and an integral part of the added in 1833 to allow ships
Maritime Museum. A bright on the Thames to set their
white Palladian villa flanked by clocks.
colonnades, it’s modest for a Greenwich’s greatest claim to
royal residence, but as the first fame, of course, is as the home
Neoclassical building in the of Greenwich Mean Time
country it has enormous (GMT) and the Prime
significance. Inside, one or two Meridian. Since 1884,
features survive (or have been Greenwich has occupied zero
reinstated) from Stuart times, longitude – hence the world
most notably the cuboid Great sets its clocks by GMT.The
Hall, with its Gentileschi fresco, observatory itself was established
and the beautiful Tulip Staircase, in 1675 by Charles II to house
Britain’s earliest cantilevered the first Astronomer Royal, John
spiral staircase – its name Flamsteed, whose chief task was
derives from the floral to study the night sky in order
patterning in the wrought-iron to discover an astronomical
balustrade. method of finding the longitude
of a ship at sea, the lack of
Greenwich Park which was causing enormous
w www.royalparks.co.uk. Daily
dawn–dusk. A welcome escape
from the traffic and crowds,
Greenwich Park is a great
place to have a picnic or
collapse under the shade of
one of the giant plane trees.
The chief delight, though, is
the superb view from the steep
hill crowned by the Royal
Observatory (see opposite),
from which Canary Wharf
looms large over Docklands
and the Millennium Dome.
The park is also celebrated for
its rare and ancient trees, its TULIP STAIRCASE, QUEEN’S HOUSE
Contents Places
184
problems for the emerging
British Empire. Astronomers
continued to work here until
the postwar smog forced them
to decamp; the old observatory,
Greenwich PLACES
precise measurement of
longitude, and displays four of taste was eclectic, ranging from
the marine clocks designed by medieval ivory miniatures to
John Harrison, including “H4”, Iznik pottery, though he was
which helped win the definitely a man who placed
Longitude Prize in 1763. technical virtuosity above
In the Meridian Building, you artistic merit. Upstairs, the high
get to see several meridians, points of the collection are
including the present-day Memlinc’s Virgin and Child, a
Greenwich Meridian fixed by pair of sixteenth-century
the cross hairs in Airy’s “Transit majolica dishes decorated with
Circle”, the astronomical mythological scenes for Isabella
instrument that dominates the d’Este; downstairs, take note of
last room.Things end on a the Reynolds portraits and de
soothing note in the Telescope Hooch interior.
Dome of the octagonal Great
Equatorial Building, home to
Britain’s largest telescope. In
addition, there are regular
Shops
presentations in the Planetarium Compendia
(daily 2.30 & 3.30pm; £4), 10 Greenwich Market t 020/8293
housed in the adjoining South 6616, w www.compendia.co.uk. Old-
Building. fashioned games shop, selling
traditional board games from all
Ranger’s House over the globe, as well as pub
Chesterfield Walk w www favourites like bagatelle, shove
.english-heritage.org.uk. Wed–Sun: ha’penny and skittles.
April–Sept 10am–6pm; Oct
10am–5pm; Nov, Dec & March Marcet Books
10am–4pm. £4.50. An imposing 23 Nelson Rd t 020/8853 5408,
red-brick Georgian villa, the w www.marcetbooks.co.uk. As befits
Ranger’s House shelters an art Greenwich, this is one of a
collection amassed by Julius number of bookshops
Wernher, the German-born specializing in nautical titles.
millionaire who made his Good selection of old prints and
money by exploiting South maps, too, as well as crime
Africa’s diamond deposits. His novels.
Contents Places
185
Cafés £17 for two courses, £20 for
three, with lunches a couple of
Gambardella pounds cheaper.
48 Vanbrugh Park. Closed Sun. Old-
style caff serving filling, comfort Zero Degrees
PLACES Greenwich
food in a beautiful Art Deco 29–31 Montpelier Vale t 020/8852
interior. 5619, w www
.zerodegrees-microbrewery.co.uk.
Goddard’s Micro-brewery beers and
45 Greenwich Church St. Traditional gourmet pizzas cooked in a
pies (including veggie ones), eels wood-fired oven are the rewards
and mash, served in an emerald- at this modern pizzeria.
green tiled interior.
Pistachio’s Café
15 Nelson Rd. Just about the only
Pubs
good sandwich place in the Cutty Sark
centre of Greenwich; the coffee Ballast Quay, off Lassell St. The best
is excellent, and there are tables riverside pub in Greenwich,
in a small garden out back. with friendly staff, an
appropriately nautical flavour, a
Tai Won Mein good range of real ales and pub
39 Greenwich Church St. Good- grub served all day.
quality noodle bar that gets very
busy at weekends. Choose Richard I
between rice, soup or various 52–54 Royal Hill. Popular local
fried noodles all for under a tucked away off the main drag.
fiver. Good beer and a garden make it
an ideal post-market retreat –
and if it’s too crowded, the Fox
Restaurants & Hounds next door is good, too.
Contents Places
186
Butterfly House
Syon Park, Twickenham Rd
w www.butterflies.org.uk. Daily:
May–Sept 10am–5pm; Oct–April
10am–4pm. £4.95. Another of
Syon’s plus-points for kids is its
Butterfly House, a small, mesh-
covered hothouse where you
can walk amid hundreds of
exotic butterflies from all over
the world, as they flit about the
foliage – the giant swallowtails
are particularly spectacular. An
adjoining room houses a
collection of iguanas, millipedes,
tarantulas and giant hissing
SYON PARK GATES Tanzanian cockroaches.
Contents Places
187
Chiswick
EA
EATING & DRINKING KEW BRIDGE
A
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AR
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h H A M King Henry Park
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D
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Contents Places
188
London Aquatic Experience
Syon Park, Twickenham Rd
w www.aquatic-experience.org. Daily:
April–Sept 10am–6pm; Oct–March
10am–5pm. £4. The purpose-built
Kew and Richmond PLACES
Kew Gardens
w www.kew.org. Daily 9.30am–7.30pm
or dusk. £6.50. Established in
1759, Kew’s Royal Botanic
Gardens have grown from their
original eight acres into a 300-
acre site in which more than
PAGODA, KEW GARDENS
33,000 species are grown in
plantations and glasshouses, a known palm species, while
display that attracts over a there’s a small but excellent
million visitors every year, who tropical aquarium in the
come simply to enjoy the basement. South of here is the
beautiful landscaped parkland largest of the glasshouses, the
and steamy palmhouses.There’s Temperate House, which
always something to see, contains plants from every
whatever the season, but to get continent, including the sixty-
the most out of the place, come foot Chilean Wine Palm, one of
sometime between spring and the largest indoor palms in the
autumn, bring a picnic and stay world.
for the day. Elsewhere in the park, Kew’s
There are four entry points to origins as an eighteenth-century
the gardens, but the majority of royal pleasure garden are evident
people arrive at Kew Gardens in the numerous follies dotted
tube and train station, a few about the gardens, the most
minutes’ walk east of the conspicuous of which is the
Victoria Gate. Immediately ten-storey, 163-foot-high
opposite the Victoria Gate, the Pagoda, visible to the south of
Palm House is by far the most the Temperate House. A sure
celebrated of the gardens’ way to lose the crowds is to
glasshouses, a curvaceous mound head for the thickly wooded,
of glass and wrought-iron southwestern section of the park
designed by Decimus Burton in around Queen Charlotte’s
the 1840s. Its drippingly humid Cottage (April–Sept Sat & Sun
atmosphere nurtures most of the 10.30am–4pm; free), a tiny
Contents Places
189
thatched summerhouse built in rhododendrons; the Isabella
the 1770s as a royal picnic spot Plantation is particularly
for George III’s queen. attractive. For refreshment, head
for Pembroke Lodge, a teahouse
Richmond Riverside near King Henry VIII’s Mount;
Contents Places
Kew and Richmond PLACES 190
Contents Places
191
organizes visits by popular main courses, including lots of
children’s writers on Saturdays. fresh fish and shellfish, and wash
it all down with Breton cider.
Cafés Kozachok
Maison Blanc
Pubs
27b The Quadrant, Richmond. White Cross Hotel
French patisserie ideal for Water Lane, Richmond. With a
picking up a picnic of bread longer pedigree and more
and pastries before heading on character than its rivals, the
to the park. White Cross has a very popular,
large garden overlooking the
river.
Restaurants White Swan
Chez Lindsay Riverside, Twickenham. Filling pub
11 Hill Rise, Richmond t 020/8948 food, draught beer and a quiet
7473. Small, bright and authentic riverside location (except on
Breton creperie with a loyal rugby match days) make this a
local following, offering fixed- good halt on any towpath
price lunchtime menus for just ramble.There’s a beer pontoon
£6. Choose between galettes, if you want to get closer to the
crepes or more formal French water.
Contents Places
192
Hampton Court
Hampton Court Palace is the finest of England’s royal
abodes and well worth the trip out from central
Hampton Court PLACES
Contents Places
193
Bushy Park
HAMP
TON C
OUR T ROA
D
AD
Lion RO AD
H A M PTO N C O U R T
T RO
Gates Flower Pot
Gates
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Maze
NC
W A L K
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B R O A
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PT
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Office Garden
Trophy Gates & Shop
Royal
Tennis
Hampton Court Palace Court
GE
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N
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Court Fountain
HAM
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Lower Fountain
Court Water
Orangery
Great Vine Pond Garden Garden
House
D
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B R O A
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AY
0 100 yds
© Crown copyright
Last, but not least, are the earthy been restored and embellished
and evocative Tudor Kitchens, with historical reconstructions.
large sections of which have To make the most of this route,
survived to this day and have you really do need to use the
Contents Places
194
audioguide, which helps to Capability Brown and averaging
evoke the scene with about seven hundred bunches of
contemporary accounts. Black Hamburg grapes per year.
Close by stands the Wren-built
The Gardens and the Maze Lower Orangery, now a dimly
Hampton Court PLACES
Pubs
King’s Arms
Lion Gates, Hampton Court Road. Bare
bricks, wood panelling and
mosaic floor tiles combine to
recreate the feel of a Georgian
coaching inn. Popular pub food
SWANS IN BUSHY PARK and Badger beers.
Contents Places
Accommodation
Contents Accommodation
Accommodation
Contents Accommodation
197
Booking a room
London doesn’t really have a low season, though things do slacken off a little in
the months just after Christmas. It’s wise, therefore, to try and book your accom-
modation in advance, particularly if you want to stay in one of the more popular
places. If you book by phone, many places will ask for a credit card number, oth-
ers for written or faxed confirmation, while a few may even ask for a deposit.
If you’re stuck, all London tourist offices (see p.210) operate a room-booking
service, for which around £5 is levied. You can also book online for free at
wwww.visitlondon.com; payment is made directly to the hotel on checking out,
and discounts can be excellent. Other useful websites include wwww.lastminute
.com, which almost always offers discounts, and wwww.hotelsengland.com.
In addition, Thomas Cook has accommodation desks at Gatwick Airport
(t01293/529372) and will book anything from youth hostels through to five-
star hotels for a £5 fee. There are also British Hotel Reservation Centre (BHRC;
wwww.bhrc.co.uk) desks at Heathrow (t020/8564 8808), and Gatwick
(t01293/502433) airports, and several in and around Victoria train station
(t020/7828 2425). Most offices are open daily from 6am till midnight, and
there’s no booking fee.
Contents Accommodation
198
ST GH S
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ACCOMMODATION 0 500 yds
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Hotels, B&Bs and hostels ACCOMMODATION
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Contents Accommodation
1
199
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© Crown copyright
Contents Accommodation
200
Topham’s Hotel 26 Ebury St t020/7730 period-piece nostalgia, with doormen, lots
8147, wwww.tophams.co.uk. Charming of wood panelling and old prints. Doubles
family-owned hotel in the English country- from £140.
Hotels, B&Bs and hostels ACCOMMODATION
house style. Sumptuously furnished en-suite Edward Lear Hotel 28–30 Seymour St
twins or doubles, and full English breakfast t020/7402 5401, wwww.edlear.com.
included. Doubles from £130. Great location, lovely flower boxes and a
Windermere Hotel 142–144 Warwick plush foyer. Though the rooms themselves
Way t020/7834 5163, wwww need a bit of a makeover, the low prices
.windermere-hotel.co.uk. Tastefully deco- reflect both this and the fact that most have
rated, quietly stylish place, with mostly en- shared facilities. Doubles from £70.
suite rooms and a tasty restaurant down- Hotel La Place 17 Nottingham Place
stairs. Doubles from £90. t020/7486 2323,
Woodville House & Morgan House 107 & wwww.hotellaplace.com. Small, good-
120 Ebury St t020/7730 1048 & 7730 value place; the en-suite rooms are
2384, wwww.woodvillehouse.co.uk & equipped with lots of gadgets and comfort-
wwww.morganhouse.co.uk. Two above- ably furnished. Doubles from £120.
average B&Bs, run by the same vivacious Lincoln House Hotel 33 Gloucester
couple. Great breakfasts, patio garden and Place t020/7486 7630, wwww
an iron and a fridge for guests to use. .lincoln-house-hotel.co.uk. Wood pan-
Doubles from £65. elling gives this Georgian B&B a ship’s
cabin feel; rooms are en suite and well
equipped. Doubles from £80.
Piccadilly and Wigmore Court Hotel 23 Gloucester
Place t020/7935 0928, wwww
Mayfair .wigmore-court-hotel.co.uk. Better than
The Metropolitan Old Park Lane average Georgian B&B, boasting comfort-
t020/7447 1000, wwww.metropolitan able rooms en suite, as well as a laundry
.co.uk. This terrifyingly trendy hotel adheres and a basic kitchen for guests’ use.
to the fad for pared-down minimalism. Its Doubles from £75.
Japanese restaurant is outstanding, and the
bar is very fashionable. Doubles from
around £250. Soho
No. 5 Maddox Street 5 Maddox St The Fielding Hotel 4 Broad Court, Bow
t020/7647 0200, wwww Street t020/7836 8305, wwww
.5maddoxstreet.com. With a very discreet .the-fielding-hotel.co.uk. Quiet, traffic-free
entrance, this complex of suites is all location that’s a firm favourite with visiting
bamboo flooring and trendy minimalist performers, since it’s just a few yards from
decor. Each has an open fireplace, the Royal Opera House. Breakfast is extra.
workstation, TV, kitchen and decked Doubles from £100.
balcony, and muji foldaway bikes are Hazlitt’s 6 Frith St t020/7434 1771,
available. Suites from £230. wwww.hazlittshotel.com. Early eigh-
The Ritz 150 Piccadilly t020/7300 teenth-century hotel of real character and
2308, wwww.theritzhotel.co.uk. In a charm, offering en-suite rooms decorated
class of its own, with extravagant Louis XVI as close to period style as convenience
interiors and air of decadent luxury. Rooms and comfort allow. Continental breakfast
maintain the opulent French theme. Doubles (served in the rooms) is extra. Doubles
from around £350. from £230.
Manzi’s 1–2 Leicester St t020/7734
0224, wwww.manzis.co.uk. Above a
Marylebone restaurant of the same name, this is one of
Durrants Hotel George St t020/7935 very few easily affordable West End hotels,
8131, wwww.durrantshotel.co.uk. This although noise might prove to be a nui-
Georgian terrace hotel is a great exercise in sance. Continental breakfast is included.
Contents Accommodation
201
Doubles from £70. wwww.astorhostels.com. Quiet Astor
Oxford Street YHA 14 Noel St hostel (for under 30s), set in a lovely
t020/7734 1618, Georgian house. No bar, though still a
Contents Accommodation
202
King’s Cross R O A D
E
CH
OS
KING'S CROSS- Station N V I L L
P E N T O
CLAREMONT
SU
AL
SQ.
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LS
TO
EV
KI
E
NT
ST
TO
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Hotels, B&Bs and hostels ACCOMMODATION
ER
BIR
PE
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D
EN
N
SQ.
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St Pancras
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Station HS ON S
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PIMLICO
WB
KENNINGTON
NE
VA
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Contents Accommodation
203
WH
SH EP HE
GR
PROV
CENTRAL LONDON – EAST
ARF
E
AH AY GROV
AM MURR
ROA
OST S
RDES S
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8
ST
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Barbican
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Centre St Station B RUS H F I E LD S T
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Smithfield E LD
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Ashlee House 1 Hazlitt’s A 17
O The Rookery 10
P
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Cavendish H AM S T 7 Jenkins M A N D 3 WRussell U T HWARK PK6RD
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City Inn
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LW
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N
AN
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DU
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Travel Inn 28 CountyR E Hall D 27 Sanctuary House 29
TS
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WN ST
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Fielding S T 20 myhotel 14 Thanet 12
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AC S T
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AD
© Crown copyright
Contents Accommodation
204
of modern art, and TVs in the bathrooms. mer Midland Bank building, now converted
Rooms from around £225. into a boutique hotel, with every mod con
St Martin’s Lane 45 St Martin’s Lane from plasma TV screens to cordless digital
Hotels, B&Bs and hostels ACCOMMODATION
Smithfield and
Docklands
Clerkenwell Four Seasons Hotel Canary Wharf 46
Malmaison Charterhouse Square Westferry Circus t020/7510 1999,
t020/7012 3700, wwww.malmaison wwww.fourseasons.com. A spectacular
.com. The Victorian red-brick facade gives
riverfront setting, ultra-modern interiors,
way to modern, understated decor in muted
pool, fitness centre, spa, tennis courts and
tones; well-equipped rooms have enormous
the option of taking the boat into town.
beds and the restaurant is very good.
Doubles from £175. See map on p.136.
Doubles from £165.
The Rookery 12 Peter’s Lane, Cowcross
Street t020/7336 0931, wwww South Bank
.rookeryhotel.com. Rambling Georgian
London County Hall Travel Inn
town house that makes a fantastically dis-
Belvedere Rd t020/7902 1619,
creet little hideaway. Decor is a deliciously
wwww.travelinn.co.uk. No river views at
camp, modern take on the Baroque period.
these prices, but the County Hall location is
Doubles from £265.
pretty good. Decor and ambience are func-
tional, but the flat-rate rooms are a bargain.
The City Rooms from £80.
City of London YHA 36 Carter Lane Mad Hatter 3–7 Stamford St t020/7401
t020/7236 4965, 9222, wwww.fullershotels.co.uk.
ecity@yha.org.uk. Crowded, 200-bed Situated above a pub on the corner of
hostel opposite St Paul’s Cathedral. Dorms Blackfriars Road. Breakfast is extra, week-
from £25; twins from £50. end deals are good and the location is
Great Eastern Hotel Liverpool St great. Doubles from £85.
t020/7618 5010, wwww.great Marriott London County Hall Hotel
-eastern-hotel.co.uk. This venerable County Hall t020/7928 5200,
late-nineteenth-century station hotel has wwww.marriott.com. Expensive and
had a minimalist makeover, yet manages plush County Hall hotel, with the majority of
to retain much of its clubby flavour. rooms offering river views (many have
Doubles from around £150 at the week- small balconies too). Full-size indoor pool
end. and well-equipped gym. Doubles from
Threadneedles 5 Threadneedle St around £200.
t020/7657 8080, wwww
.theetoncollection.com. Magnificent for-
Contents Accommodation
205
Bankside and also a fab roof terrace for breakfast (which
costs extra). Doubles from £230.
Southwark
Contents Accommodation
206
with spacious rooms, resident dog and a stead@yha.org.uk. Large and well-
real homely feel. Doubles from around appointed hostel, with its own garden
£100. and the wilds of Hampstead Heath
Hotels, B&Bs and hostels ACCOMMODATION
International Students House 229 Great nearby. Dorms from £20; twins from
Portland St t020/7631 8300, £45.
wwww.ish.org.uk. Hundreds of beds in a Hampstead Village Guesthouse 2
vast complex at the southern end of Kemplay Rd t020/7435 8679,
Regent’s Park. Beds from around £15. wwww.hampsteadguesthouse.com.
Lovely B&B in an old house set in a quiet
backstreet near the Heath. Rooms (not all
Hampstead and en suite) have “lived-in” clutter. Doubles
from £75.
Highgate Langorf Hotel 20 Frognal t020/7794
The places listed below appear on the map 4483, wwww.langorfhotel.com. Pristinely
on pp.176–7. maintained, tastefully decorated hotel in a
Hampstead Heath YHA 4 Wellgarth trio of red-brick Victorian mansions, with a
Rd t 020/8458 9054, ehamp- walled garden. Doubles from £100.
Contents Accommodation
Essentials
Contents Essentials
Essentials
Contents Essentials
209
Arrival
London’s international airports are all and is served by the Stansted Express to
less than an hour from the city centre, Liverpool Street (every 15–30min; 45min),
ESSENTIALS
and the city’s train and bus terminals are which costs £13 single, £23 return. Air-
all pretty central, and have tube stations bus #6 also runs 24 hours a day to
close at hand. Victoria Coach Station (every 30min; 1hr
30min), and costs £10 single, £15 return.
By plane A taxi into central London will cost around
Heathrow Airport (t 0870/000 0123; £75, and take at least an hour.
Luton airport ( t 01582/405100;
Arrival
w www.baa.co.uk), 15 miles west of central
London, has four terminals and is served by w www.london-luton.com) is roughly 30
two train/tube stations: one for terminals 1, miles north of London, and mostly handles
2 and 3, and another for terminal 4. The charter flights. A free shuttle-bus takes
Heathrow Express (t 0845/600 1515, five minutes to transport passengers to
w www.heathrowexpress.co.uk) travels Luton Airport Parkway station, connected
non-stop to Paddington Station (every by Thameslink trains to King’s Cross and
15min; 15–20min) for £13 each way or other stations (every 15min; 30–40min)
£25 return (£2 more if you buy your ticket for £10 single, £20 return. Alternatively,
on board). Cheaper but slower is the Pic- Green Line buses (t 0870/608 7261,
cadilly Underground line into central w www.greenline.co.uk) run from Luton to
London (every 5–9min; 50min) for £3.70 Victoria Station (every 30min; 1hr 15min),
one-way. If you plan to make several jour- costing £8 single, £11.50 return. A taxi
neys on your arrival day, buy a Travelcard will cost around £70 and take at least an
(see p.210) rather than a single-destination hour to reach central London.
ticket. National Express (t 0870/580 City airport ( t 020/7646 0000,
8080, w www.go-by-coach.com) run buses w www.londoncityairport.com), the capi-
from Heathrow’s central bus station direct tal’s smallest, is situated nine miles east
to central London’s Victoria Coach Station of central London in the Docklands area.
(every 30min; 1hr), while Airbus #2 It handles European flights only, and is
(t 0870/574 7777) runs from outside all connected by shuttle-bus with Canning
four Heathrow terminals to several destina- Town tube (every 5min; 5min; £2.50),
tions in the city (every 30min; 1hr); tickets Canary Wharf (every 10min; 10min; £3),
for either cost £10 single, £15 return. After and Liverpool Street (every 10min; 30min;
midnight, you’ll have to take night bus #N9 £6). A taxi into the city’s financial sector
to Trafalgar Square (every 30min; 1hr) for a will cost around £20 and take half an
bargain fare of £1. A taxi will cost £45 to hour or so.
central London, and take an hour (longer in
the rush hour). By train and coach
Gatwick (t 0870/000 2468; w www Eurostar ( t 0870/160 6600,
.baa.co.uk), 30 miles to the south, has two w www.eurostar.com) trains arrive at
terminals, North and South, connected by a Waterloo International station in central
monorail. The Gatwick Express (t 0870/ London. Trains from the Channel ports
530 1530, w www.gatwickexpress.co.uk) arrive at the equally central Charing Cross
train runs non-stop between the South Ter- or Victoria, while boat trains from Harwich
minal and Victoria Station (every 15–30min; arrive at Liverpool Street, just east of the
30min) for £11 single, £21.50 return. A taxi centre and linked to the tube network.
ride into central London will set you back Arriving by train ( t 0845/748 4950,
£90 or more, and take at least an hour. w www.nationalrail.co.uk) from elsewhere
Stansted ( t 0870/000 0303; in Britain, you’ll come into one of Lon-
w www.baa.co.uk) lies 35 miles northeast, don’s numerous main-line stations, all of
Contents Essentials
210
which have adjacent Underground sta- .com), you’re most likely to arrive at Vic-
tions linking into the city centre’s tube toria Coach Station, a couple of hundred
network. Coming into London by coach yards south down Buckingham Palace
(t 0870/580 8080, w www.go-by-coach Road from Victoria train station and tube.
Information • City transport ESSENTIALS
Information
The main tourist office is the Britain and noon. In it you’ll find details of all the lat-
London Visitor Centre, near Piccadilly est exhibitions, shows, films, music,
Circus at 1 Regent Street (Mon–Fri sport, guided walks and events in and
9am–6.30pm, Sat & Sun 10am–4pm; around the capital.
t 020/7808 3864, w www.visitbritain
.com). The London Visitor Centre, run Websites
by the capital’s own tourist board, Visit
London, is in Waterloo International train w www.24hourmuseum.co.uk Up-to-
station (Mon–Sat 8.30am–10.30pm, Sun date information on virtually every single
9.30am–10.30pm; w www.visitlondon museum, large or small, in London.
.com). w www.londonnet.co.uk A virtual guide
Individual London boroughs also run to London with useful up-to-date listings on
tourist offices, the most useful of which eating, drinking and nightlife.
are: on the south side of St Paul’s Cathe- w www.myvillage.com Huge site that
dral (May–Sept daily 9.30am–5pm; covers every district/borough in London,
Oct–April Mon–Fri 9.30am–5pm; giving club, music, cinema and theatre
t 020/7332 1456); in Greenwich’s old listings, restaurant reviews, plus local
Royal Naval College (daily 10am–5pm; gossip and messageboards.
t 0870/608 2000); and inside Rich- w www.streetmap.co.uk Type in the
mond’s Old Town Hall (Mon–Fri London address you want and this site will
10am–5pm; Easter–Sept also Sat & Sun locate it for you in seconds.
10.30am–1.30pm; t 020/8940 9125). w www.thisislondon.com Website of The
For “what’s on” information, buy the Evening Standard, London’s only daily
weekly listings magazine Time Out newspaper, with constantly updated news
(£2.20), published every Tuesday after- and listings.
City transport
London’s transport network is among the transport information (t 020/7222 1234;
most complex and expensive in the world. w www.tfl.gov.uk). If you can, avoid travel-
You can get a free transport map from ling during the rush hour (Mon–Fri
any tube station, or from one of the more 8–9.30am & 5–7pm) when tubes
comprehensive Transport for London (TfL) become unbearably crowded, and some
travel information offices, at Piccadilly buses get so full they won’t let you on.
Circus tube station (daily 8.45am–6pm);
there are other desks at the arrivals at Travelcards
Heathrow (terminals 1, 2, & 4), Oxford Cir- To get the best value out of the public
cus and St James’s Park (Mon–Fri only) transport system, buy a Travelcard. Avail-
tubes, Victoria Coach Station, and Euston, able from machines and booths at all tube
King’s Cross, Liverpool Street, Paddington and train stations (and at some
and Victoria train stations. There’s also a newsagents as well), a Travelcard is valid
24-hour phone line and a website for for the bus, tube, Docklands Light Rail-
Contents Essentials
211
way, Tramlink and suburban rail networks. conductor and with an open rear platform.
Day Travelcards come in two varieties: Note that at request stops (easily recog-
Off-Peak – which are valid after 9.30am nizable by their red sign) you must stick
on weekdays and all day during the week- your arm out to hail the bus you want (or
end – and Peak, valid at all times. An ring the bell if you want to get off). In
ESSENTIALS
Off-Peak Day Travelcard costs £4.30 for addition to the Travelcards mentioned
the central zones 1 and 2, rising to £5.40 opposite, a One-Day Bus Pass (zones
for zones 1–6 (including Heathrow); the 1–4) is also available for £2.50 and can
Peak Day Travelcard starts at £5.30 for be used before 9.30am.
zones 1 and 2. Weekend Travelcards, Regular buses run between about 6am
for unlimited travel on Saturdays and Sun- and midnight; night buses (prefixed with
days, start at £6.40 for zone 1 and 2. the letter “N”) operate outside this period.
City transport
Weekly Travelcards begin at £20.20 for Night bus routes radiate out from Trafalgar
zones 1 and 2. Travelcards also give you Square at approximately twenty to thirty-
discounts on boat services (see p.210). minute intervals, more frequently on some
routes and on Friday and Saturday nights.
The tube Fares are the same as for daytime buses
and Travelcards are valid. Useful bus
Except for very small journeys, the
routes appear on the front-cover flap map.
Underground – or tube – is by far the
quickest way to get about. Each line has
its own colour and name – all you need
Taxis
to know is which direction you’re travel- Compared to most capital cities, London’s
ling in: northbound, eastbound, metered black cabs are an expensive
southbound or westbound. Services option – a ride from Euston to Victoria, for
operate from around 5.30am Monday to example, costs around £10, more at
Saturday, and from 7.30am on Sundays, weekends and after 8pm on weekdays.
and end around 12.30am every day; you The meter will show two amounts: one
rarely have to wait more than five min- calculates distance and time, while the
utes for a train between central stations. other is the fixed charge for passengers,
Tickets must be bought in advance from luggage and any off-peak extras – after
the machines or booths in station entrance these are totalled, a small tip is customary.
halls; if you cannot produce a valid ticket, A yellow light over the windscreen tells you
you will be charged an on-the-spot Penalty if the cab is available – just stick your arm
Fare of £10. A single journey in the central out to hail it. To order a black cab in
zone costs an unbelievable £2, but if you’re advance, phone t 020/7272 0272.
intending to travel about a lot, a Travelcard Minicabs are considerably cheaper,
is a better bet. but can only be phoned for in advance
The driverless Docklands Light Rail- and are something of a law unto them-
selves. Avoid taxi touts as they are illegal,
way (see p.134), which connects the City
and always establish the fare beforehand
with Docklands, Greenwich and parts of
as minicabs are not metered.
the East End, is an integral part of the
tube system. Travelcards are valid on the
DLR, which also has its own selection of Sightseeing tours
tickets and passes. and guided walks
Standard sightseeing bus tours in open-
Buses top double-deckers with live commentary
Tickets for bus journeys within London are run by several rival companies. The
cost £1; unless you have a Travelcard, Original Tour ( t 020/8877 1722,
you must buy your ticket beforehand from w www.theoriginaltour.com) and the Big
one of the machines by the bus stop. The Bus Company ( t 0800/169 1365,
only exception is on those routes covered w www.bigbus.co.uk) run several buses
by older Routemaster buses, staffed by a on various routes (daily 9am–5pm; every
Contents Essentials
212
15–20min; around £17) and you can get mixing solid historical facts with juicy anec-
on and off as often as you like. Pick-up dotes in the company of a local specialist.
points include Victoria station, Marble They cost £5 and take around two hours;
Arch, Trafalgar Square and other conspic- normally you can simply show up at the
uous tourist spots. starting point and join. Details of walks
Entertainment ESSENTIALS
Walking tours are infinitely more appear in Time Out magazine (see p.210);
appealing and Informative, covering a rela- alternatively, contact Original London Walks
tively small area in much greater detail, (t020/7624 3978, wwww.walks.com).
Entertainment
On any night of the week London offers a Barbican Centre Silk St t 020/7638
bewildering range of things to do after 8891, w www.barbican.org.uk. The two
dark, ranging from top-flight opera and venues here see everything from
theatre to clubs. puppetry and musicals to new drama
works and, of course, Shakespeare,
Theatre courtesy of the Royal Shakespeare
Company. See p.119.
The West End is the heart of London’s
Donmar Warehouse Thomas Neal’s,
“Theatreland”, with Shaftesbury Avenue
Earlham St t020/7369 1732,
its most congested drag. All of the shows
w www.donmar-warehouse.com. Noted for
are listed in the weekly Time Out and at
new plays and top-quality reappraisals of
w www.albemarle-london.com.
the classics.
Tickets under £10 are restricted to the
Drill Hall 16 Chenies St t020/7307
Fringe; the box-office average is closer to
5060, w www.drillhall.co.uk. This studio-
£15–25, with £30–40 the usual top-
style venue specializing in gay, lesbian,
whack. Agencies such as Ticketmaster feminist and politically correct new work.
(t020/7344 4444, wwww.ticketmaster ICA Nash House, The Mall t020/7930
.co.uk) or First Call (t 020/7497 9977, 3647, w www.ica.org.uk. The ICA attracts
w www.firstcalltickets.com), can get the most innovative practitioners in all
seats for most West End shows, but add areas of performance; the hits outweigh
up to ten percent on the ticket price. The the misses.
Society of London Theatre (w www.offi- King’s Head 115 Upper St t020/7226
ciallondontheatre.co.uk) runs the tkts 1916. The oldest and probably most
ticket booth in Leicester Square famous of London’s thriving pub-theatres,
(Mon–Sat 10am–7pm, Sun noon–3pm), staging adventurous performances in a
which sells on-the-day tickets for all the pint-sized room.
West End shows at discounts of up to National Theatre South Bank Centre,
fifty percent, though they tend to be in South Bank t020/7452 3000,
the top end of the price range, are limited wwww.nationaltheatre.org.uk. Three
to four per person, and carry a service performance spaces, each attracting the
charge of £2.50 per ticket. What follows country’s top actors and directors in
is a list of those West End theatres that programmes ranging from Greek tragedies
offer a changing roster of good plays, to Broadway musicals. See p.142.
along with the most consistent of the Off Open Air Theatre Regent’s Park, Inner
West End and Fringe venues. Circle t 020/7486 2431,
w openairtheatre.org. Summer programme
Theatres of Shakespeare, musicals, plays and
Almeida Almeida St t 020/7359 4404, concerts.
w www.almeida.co.uk. Excellent new plays Royal Court Sloane Square t020/7565
and excitingly reworked classics. 5000, w www.royalcourttheatre.com. Best
Contents Essentials
213
place in London to catch radical new Royal Ballet Royal Opera House, Bow St
writing. t020/7304 4000,
Shakespeare’s Globe New Globe Walk wwww.royaloperahouse.org. Recent
t020/7902 1400, wwww.shakespeares- refurbishment of the ROH has added two
globe.org. Solid, fun Shakespearean small performing spaces, where
ESSENTIALS
shows from mid-May to mid-September, experimental ballets are staged. You should
with “groundling” tickets (standing-room be able to get decent seats for around £25
only) for around £5. See p.148. if you buy early, though sell-outs are
frequent (see Royal Opera House, above,
Opera for details of day tickets and standbys).
English National Opera Coliseum, St Sadler’s Wells Rosebery Ave t020/7863
Martin’s Lane t020/7632 8300, 8000, wwww.sadlers-wells.com. Home of
Entertainment
w www.eno.org. The cheaper and more Britain’s best contemporary dance
experimental of London’s two opera companies, and visited by many of the
houses, with all operas sung in English. finest international companies. As well as
Ticket prices start from as little as £3, the main auditorium, the Lilian Baylis
rising to just over £60; day seats are also space, tucked around the back, puts on
available to personal callers after 10am smaller-scale shows.
on the day of the performance, with
balcony seats going for just £3. Three Comedy
hours before the performance, standbys Comedy Café 66 Rivington St
(all tickets that are unsold) go on sale at t020/7739 5706,
£12.50 to students and £18.00 to senior w www.comedycafe.co.uk. Long-
citizens and the unemployed. established, purpose-built club in Hoxton,
Royal Opera House Bow St t020/7304 often with impressive lineups. Free
4000, wwww.royaloperahouse.org. The admission for the new-acts slot on
Floral Hall hosts regular free lunchtime Wednesday. Wed–Sat.
recitals, and there are modestly priced, Comedy Store Haymarket House, 1a
small-scale productions in the studio-sized Oxendon St t020/7344 0234,
Linbury Theatre. The ROH main auditorium w www.thecomedystore.co.uk. Closed
remains over-priced (over £120 for the Mon. Improvisation on Wednesdays and
best seats). A small number of day seats Sundays, in addition to a stand-up bill;
(for £30 or under) are put on sale from Friday and Saturday are the busiest
10am on the day of a performance – nights, with two shows, at 8pm and
these are restricted to one per person, and midnight – book ahead.
you need to get there by 8am for popular Jongleurs Camden Lock Dingwalls
shows. Four hours before performances, Building, 36 Camden Lock Place, Chalk
low-price standbys (subject to availability) Farm Road; box office t 020/7564 2500,
can be bought for around £15 by students, information t0870/7870707,
senior citizens etc. See p.108. w www.jongleurs.com. The chain store of
comedy, doling out high quality stand-up
Dance and post-revelry disco-dancing on
London Coliseum St Martin’s Lane Fridays. Book well in advance.
t020/7632 8300, w www.eno.org.
Performances here by the touring Live music and clubs
company of the English National Ballet Astoria 157 Charing Cross Rd
(ENB; w www.ballet.org.uk) include a t020/7454 9592,
regular Christmas slot. w www.meanfiddler.com. One of London’s
The Place 17 Duke’s Rd t 020/7387 best and most central medium-sized
0031, w www.theplace.org.uk. New venues, generally hosting slightly
choreographers and student performers, alternative bands (from underground US
and some fine small-scale contemporary hip-hop to thrashing rock). Club nights on
dance from across the globe. Friday and Saturday.
Contents Essentials
214
Bagley’s King’s Cross Goods Yard, off York sound system and the pick of visiting US
Way t020/7278 2777. Vast warehouse- and Italian DJs. Corporate clubbing and
style venue in a post-apocalyptic industrial full of tourists, but it still draws the top
estate. Perfect for enormous raves. talent, especially on Saturdays.
Bar Rumba 36 Shaftesbury Ave Ronnie Scott’s 47 Frith St t 020/7439
t020/7287 2715, 0747, w www.ronniescotts.co.uk. London’s
Festivals and events ESSENTIALS
w www.barrumba.co.uk. Fun, smallish most famous jazz club: small, smoky and
venue with an adventurous mix of nights still going strong. The place for top-line
ranging from future-jazz on Mondays to names, – book a table, or you’ll have to
glamorous house sessions at weekends. stand.
Cargo 83 Rivington St t 020/7739 5446, Scala 278 Pentonville Rd t020/7833
w www.cargo-london.com. Club and live 2022, w www.scala-london.co.uk. Unusual
music venue offering modern-genre and multi-faceted nights that take in film,
mixups that blend jazz with Brazilian, live bands and music ranging from quirky
Latin and African music, often hip-hop to drum’n’bass and deep house.
complemented by DJs. Shepherds Bush Empire Shepherds
The End 18 West Central St t 020/7419 Bush Green t 020/8771 2000. Grand old
9199, w www.the-end.co.uk. Large and theatre that now plays host to the finest
spacious, with chrome minimalist decor cross-section of mid-league UK and US
and a devastating sound system. Best for bands in the capital.
tech-house at weekends, or anything- 12 Bar Club 22–23 Denmark Place
goes bacchanalia on Mondays. t020/7916 6989,
Fabric 77a Charterhouse St t 020/7336 w www.12barclub.com. A combination of
8898, w www.fabriclondon.com. live blues and contemporary country
Cavernous three-room underground seven nights a week.
space holding 2500 people. Fridays are Turnmills 63 Clerkenwell Rd t020/7250
Fabric Live, a mix of drum’n’bass and 3409, w www.turnmills.com. Famed for
hip-hop that features lives acts, while the glorious gay extravaganza, Trade,
Saturdays see cutting-edge house from which begins on Sunday morning at 4am,
big-name DJs. this is the place to come if you want to
Jazz Café 5 Parkway t 020/7916 6060, sweat from dusk till dawn.
w www.jazzcafe.co.uk. Futuristic venue Wigmore Hall 36 Wigmore St t020/7935
with an adventurous booking policy 2141, wwww.wigmore-hall
exploring Latin, rap, funk, hip-hop and .org.uk. Popular classical music venue,
musical fusions. boasting near-perfect accoustics, that’s
Ministry of Sound 103 Gaunt St best-known for performances of chamber
t020/7378 6528, music, and for recitals from some of the
w www.ministryofsound.co.uk. Vast, state- world’s greatest singers. Mid-morning
of-the-art enterprise with an exceptional Sunday performances are especially busy.
Contents Essentials
215
Putney to Mortlake. sporting and social calendar. t020/8946
w www.theboatrace.org. 2244, w www.wimbledon.org.
ESSENTIALS
runners sweating the 26.2 miles from through the city streets followed by a
Greenwich Park to Westminster Bridge. huge, ticketed party in a London park.
t 020/7620 4117, w www.london- w www.londonmardigras.com.
marathon.co.uk.
Mid-July to Mid-September
May Bank Holiday Weekend BBC Henry Wood Promenade Concerts
IWA Canal Cavalcade Lively celebration of The Proms are a series of outstanding
Contents Essentials
216
Early November Guildhall to the Strand and back. Later,
London Jazz Festival Ten-day there’s a big fireworks display on the
international jazz fest held in all London’s Thames. t0207606 3030,
jazz venues, large and small, in wwww.cityoflondon.gov.uk.
association with BBC Radio 3. t020/7405
Christmas (6–24 December)
Directory ESSENTIALS
9900, wwww.bbc.co.uk/radio3.
Trafalgar Square carols In gratitude for
November 5 British help in liberating the country from
Bonfire Night In memory of Guy Fawkes the Nazis, Norway supplies a mighty
– who tried to blow up King James I and spruce tree for Trafalgar Square. Decorated
the Houses of Parliament in 1605 – with lights, it becomes the focus for carol
effigies are burned on bonfires all over singing versus traffic noise each evening
London, and numerous council-run fires (from 5pm) until Christmas Eve.
and fireworks displays are staged.
t020/8365 2121.
New Year’s Eve
The New Year is welcomed en masse in
Second Saturday in November Trafalgar Square as thousands of
Lord Mayor’s Show The newly appointed inebriated revellers stagger about and
Lord Mayor sets off at 11.10am, in the slur to Auld Lang Syne at midnight.
1756-built State Coach at the head of a London Transport runs free public
vast ceremonial procession from the transport all night.
Directory
AIRLINES Aer Lingus t0845/084 4444, 30–40min; 1hr); typical fares are around
wwww.aerlingus.com; Air France £6.50 single, £8 return. From April to
t0845/084 5111, wwww.airfrance.com October, you can also take a boat from
/uk; Alitalia t0870/608 6001, wwww Westminster via Kew and Richmond to
.alitalia.co.uk; American Airlines Hampton Court (3hr 30min; £12 single,
t020/7365 0777, wwww.aa.com; British £18 return); shorter trips to the Tower of
Airways t0845/773 3377, wwww London (around £3 single) are also
.britishairways.com; Buzz t0870/240 available. For a full list of operators, pick
7070, wwww.buzzaway.com; Canadian up the Thames River Services booklet
Airlines t0870/524 7226, wwww from a TfL travel information office,
.aircanada.ca; Delta t0800/414767, phone t020/7222 1234, or visit
wwww.delta.com; easyJet t0870/600 w www.londontransport.co.uk.
0000, wwww.easyjet.com; KLM t0870/ CAR RENTAL Avis t0870/606 0100,
575 0900, wwww.klm.com; Lufthansa w www.avis.com; easyCar t0906/333
t0845/606 0310, wwww.lufthansa 3333, w www.easycar.com; Global
.co.uk; Qantas t0845/774 7767, Leisure Cars t0870/241 1986,
wwww.qantas.com.au; Ryanair t0871/ w www.globalleisurecars.com; Hertz
246 0000, wwww.bookryanair.com; Virgin t0870/599 6699, w www.hertz.com.
t01293/450150, wwww.virgin-atlantic CINEMAS
.com. Electric 191 Portobello Rd t020/7299
AMERICAN EXPRESS 30–31 Haymarket 8688, w www.the-electric.co.uk; ICA
t020/7484 9600 (and other branches); Cinema Nash House, The Mall, SW1
w www.americanexpress.com. Mon–Sat t020/7930 3647, w www.ica.org.uk;
9am–6pm, Sun 10am–5pm. BFI London IMAX Centre South Bank,
BOAT TRIPS The most central departure t020/7902 1234, w www.bfi.org.uk
point for pleasure cruises along the /imax; National Film Theatre South
Thames is Westminster Pier. The most Bank t 020/7928 3232, w www.bfi
popular trip is to Greenwich (every .org.uk/nft; Prince Charles 2–7 Leicester
Contents Essentials
217
Place t 020/7494 3654, w www ICE SKATING Leisurebox, 17 Queensway
.princecharlescinema.com. (t020/7229 0172), is a centrally located
CONSULATES AND EMBASSIES year-round ice rink. From October to
Australia, Australia House, Strand March, there’s the Broadgate outdoor ice
t 020/7379 4334, w www.australia.org rink (t 020/7505 4068,
ESSENTIALS
.uk; Canada, Canada House, Trafalgar w www.broadgateestates.co.uk/ice/frame
Square t020/7528 6533, set.htm); in the Christmas and New Year
w www.canada.org.uk; Ireland, 17 period there are outdoor rinks at
Grosvenor Place t 020/7235 2171, Somerset House (w www.somerset-
w ireland.embassyhomepage.com; New house.org.uk) and Marble Arch
Zealand, New Zealand House, 80 (w www.marblearchicerink.com).
Haymarket t 020/7930 8422, INTERNET Most hotels, B&Bs hostels and
Directory
w www.nzembassy.com; USA, 24 libraries will have Internet access; there
Grosvenor Square t020/7499 9000, are also Internet cafés (£2–5 per hour)
w www.usembassy.org.uk. dotted around the city;
DENTISTS Emergency treatment: Guy’s w www.easyEverything.com is the
Hospital, St Thomas St t 020/7955 4317 biggest chain, with eight branches.
(Mon–Fri 9am–3pm). LEFT LUGGAGE Charing Cross (daily
DOCTORS Walk-in consultations are 7am–11pm); Euston (Mon–Sat
available at Great Chapel Street Medical 6.45am–11.15pm, Sun 7.15am–11pm);
Centre, Great Chapel St t020/7437 Victoria (daily 7am–10.15pm); Waterloo
9360 (phone for surgery times). International (daily 7am–10pm).
ELECTRICITY Electricity supply in London LOST PROPERTY Airports Gatwick
conforms to the EU standard of t01293/503162 (Mon–Sat 8am–7pm,
approximately 230V. Sun 8am–4pm); Heathrow t020/8745
EMERGENCIES For police, fire and 7727 (daily 8am–4pm); London City
ambulance services, call t 999. t020/7646 0000 (Mon–Fri
HAIRDRESSERS Basecuts 252 5.30am–10pm, Sat 5.30am–1am, Sun
Portobello Rd t020/7727 7068; Charles 10am–10pm); Stansted t01279/680500
Worthington 7 Percy St, London and (daily 6am–midnight). Buses t020/7222
other branches t020/7631 1370, 1234, wwww.londontransport.co.uk
w www.charlesworthington.co.uk; Fish (24hr). Heathrow Express t020/8745
30 D’Arblay St t 020/7494 2398, 7727, wwww.heathrowexpress.co.uk
w www.fishweb.co.uk; Terry Jacks 2 (daily 8am–4pm). Taxis (black cabs only)
Bathurst St t 020/7706 7030; Toni & t0791/82000 (Mon–Fri 9am–4pm). Train
Guy 8 Marylebone High St and many stations Euston t020/7387 8699
other branches t 020/7240 6635, (Mon–Fri 9am–5.30pm); King’s Cross
w www.toniandguy.co.uk; Trevor Sorbie t020/7278 3310 (Mon–Fri 9am–5.30pm);
27 Floral St t 020/7379 6901, Liverpool Street t020/7247 4297
w www.trevorsorbie.com; Windle 41 (Mon–Fri 9am–5.30pm); Paddington
Shorts Gardens t 020/7497 2393, t020/7313 1514 (Mon–Fri 9am–5.30pm);
w www.windle-hair.com. Victoria t020/7922 9887 (daily
HOSPITALS For 24hr accident and 7am–midnight); Waterloo t020/7401
emergency: Charing Cross, Fulham 7861 (Mon–Fri 7.30am–8pm). Tube trains
Palace Rd t020/8846 1234; Chelsea & London Regional Transport t020/7486
Westminster, 369 Fulham Rd t 020/8746 2496, wwww.londontransport.co.uk.
8000; Royal Free, Pond St t 020/7794 MARKETS Brick Lane Brick Lane,
0500; Royal London, Whitechapel Rd Cygnet St, Sclater St; Bacon St, Cheshire
t020/7377 7000; St Mary’s, Praed St St, Chilton St. Sun 8am–1pm. Fruit and
t 020/7886 6666; University College, veg, cheap goods, bric-a-brac.
Grafton Way t 020/7387 9300; Brixton Electric Avenue, Pope’s Rd, Brixton
Whittington, Highgate Hill t 020/7272 Station Rd, Atlantic Rd. Mon, Tues &
3070. Thurs–Sat 8am–6pm; Wed 8am–3pm.
Contents Essentials
218
African and Caribbean foods, hair and March/early April); Spring Bank Holiday
beauty products, records, clothes. Camden (first Monday in May); May Bank Holiday
Camden High St to Chalk Farm Rd. Daily (last Monday in May); August Bank
10am–6pm. A conglomeration of markets, Holiday (last Monday in August);
selling food, clothes, jewellery, gifts, Christmas Day (December 25); Boxing
Directory ESSENTIALS
records, arts and crafts. Columbia Road Day (December 26). Note that if January
Columbia Rd. Sun 8am–1pm. Flowers and 1, December 25 or December 26 falls on
plants. Covent Garden The Piazza, and a Saturday or Sunday, the holiday falls on
Jubilee Market, off Southampton St. Daily the following weekday.
9am–5pm. Crafts, gifts, clothes and (on SAUNAS Turkish baths: Ironmonger Row
Mon only) antiques. Greenwich Greenwich Baths, Ironmonger Row (t020/7253 4011)
High Rd, Stockwell St, and College and Porchester Spa, 226 Queensway
Approach. Thurs–Sun 10am–5pm. t020/7792 3980. Women-only: The
Antiques (Thurs, Sat & Sun), crafts, clothes, Sanctuary, 12 Floral St t0870/770 3350,
food (Sat), bric-a-brac, books and furniture. wwww.thesanctuary.co.uk. Gay: Chariots
Petticoat Lane Middlesex St and around. 1, 201–207 Shoreditch High St;
Mon–Fri 10am–2pm, Sun 9am–2pm. t020/7247 5333, wwww.gaysauna.co.uk.
Cheap clothes. Portobello Portobello Rd SWIMMING Outdoor and indoor pools at
and Golborne Rd. Mon–Wed, Fri & Sat Covent Garden’s Oasis Sports Centre, 32
8.30am–6pm, Thurs 8.30am–1pm. Endell St t020/7831 1804. Outdoor
Antiques (Sat), fruit and veg, clothes, swimming at the Serpentine Lido in Hyde
furniture and bric-a-brac. Old Spitalfields Park (June–Aug daily 10am–6pm; £3), or
Commercial St, between Brushfield St and the open-air pools on Hampstead Heath
Lamb Streets. Organic food, crafts and (daily 7am–9pm or dusk).
clothes. TELEPHONES There should be a public
MONEY The basic unit of currency is the payphone within five minutes’ walk of
pound sterling (£), divided into 100 pence wherever you’re standing. Most take all
(p). Coins come in denominations of 1p, coins from 10p upwards, though some
2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1 and £2; notes take only phonecards (available from post
come in denominations of £5, £10, £20 offices and newsagents).
and £50. For exchange, you’’ll find a TIME Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is
branch of at least one of the big four used from October to March; for the rest
high-street banks (NatWest, Barclays, of the year the country switches to British
Lloyds TSB and HSBC) in every area; Summer Time (BST), one hour ahead of
opening hours are generally Mon–Fri GMT.
9.30am–4.30pm. Outside banking hours TIPPING Porters, bellboys and table
go to a bureau de change; these can be waiters rely on being tipped to bump up
found at train stations and airports in their often dismal wages. It’s not normal,
most areas of the city centre. however, to leave tips in pubs, although
POLICE Central police stations include: bar staff are sometimes offered drinks,
Charing Cross, Agar St, WC2 t 020/7240 which they may accept in the form of
1212; Holborn, 70 Theobalds Rd, WC1 money. Taxi drivers expect tips on long
t020/7404 1212; King’s Cross, 76 journeys – add about ten percent to the
King’s Cross Rd, WC1 t 020/7704 1212; fare – as will traditional barbers.
West End Central, 10 Vine St, W1 TRAIN ENQUIRIES For national rail
t020/7437 1212; City of London Police, enquiries, call t 0845/748 4950 or visit
Bishopsgate, EC2 t 020/7601 2222. w www.nationrail.co.uk.
PUBLIC HOLIDAYS On the following days, TRAVEL AGENTS STA Travel, 33 Bedford
all banks and offices are closed, while St t020/7240 9821,
everyone else pretty much runs to a w www.statravel.co.uk; Trailfinders,
Sunday schedule: New Year’s Day Lower Ground Floor, Waterstone’s,
(January 1); Good Friday (late 203–205 Piccadilly t020/7292 1888,
March/early April); Easter Monday (late w www.trailfinders.co.uk.
Contents Essentials
Index and small print
that rapidly covered dozens of destinations. Rough Guides had a ready market among low-
budget backpackers, but soon also acquired a much broader and older readership that relished
Rough Guides’ wit and inquisitiveness as much as their enthusiastic, critical approach. Everyone
wants value for money, but not at any price. Rough Guides soon began supplementing the
“rougher” information about hostels and low-budget listings with the kind of detail on restau-
rants and quality hotels that independent-minded visitors on any budget might expect, whether
on business in New York or trekking in Thailand. These days the guides offer recommendations
from shoestring to luxury and a large number of destinations around the globe, including almost
every country in the Americas and Europe, more than half of Africa and most of Asia and Aus-
tralasia. Rough Guides now publish:
• Travel guides to more than 200 worldwide destinations
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• World Music CDs in association with World Music Network
Visit www.roughguides.com to see our latest publications.
Publishing Information
This 1st edition published May 2004 by © Rob Humphreys, May 2004
Rough Guides Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL. No part of this book may be reproduced in any
345 Hudson St, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10014, form without permission from the publisher except
USA. for the quotation of brief passages in reviews.
Distributed by the Penguin Group 240pp includes index
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL A catalogue record for this book is available from
Penguin Group (USA), 375 Hudson Street, NY the British Library
10014, USA
Penguin Group (Australia), 487 Maroondah ISBN 1-84353-316-2
Highway, PO Box 257, Ringwood, Victoria 3134,
Australia The publishers and authors have done their best to
Penguin Group (Canada), 10 Alcorn Avenue, ensure the accuracy and currency of all the infor-
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 1E4 mation in London DIRECTIONS, however, they
Penguin Group (NZ), 182–190 Wairau Road, can accept no responsibility for any loss, injury, or
Auckland 10, New Zealand inconvenience sustained by any traveller as a result
Typeset in Bembo and Helvetica to an original of information or advice contained in the guide.
design by Henry Iles. 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed and bound in Italy by Graphicom
Help us update
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SMALL PRINT
Cartography: Ed Wright Design: Henry Iles
The author
Rob Humphreys has lived in London since the late capsizing in the city’s reservoirs, spotting bitterns
1980s and has written several Rough Guides. or steering a Norfolk reed cutter up and down the
When not working, he can usually be found Thames.
Acknowledgements
Rob Humphreys would like to thank editor Polly against the grain; Sharon for focus; Ed for
Thomas; Sharon Martins and Joe Mee for photo painstaking attention to detail; Katie for her
research beyond the call of duty; and Ed Wright for patience and luscious layouts; Helena for all her
all his hard toil on the maps. pertinent suggestions; Kate for overall guidance;
Polly Thomas would like to thank Rob for good Karoline for proofing under pressure; and the
humour, spiritual counsel and captions that went couriers of London for their initiative and panache.
Photo credits
All images © Rough Guides except the following:
p.1 Old Bond Street sign © Dave Bartruff/CORBIS p.21 Tate Britain © Alamy
p.2 Face sculpture, British Museum © Robert p.22 Trooping the Colour © Sean Dempsey/PA
Harding Photos
p.4 Taxi light © Mark Thomas p.23 Imperial Crown of India, Tower of London ©
p.5 Neon Piccadilly © Mark Thomas Tim Graham/CORBIS
p.5 Brick Lane with Bollywood posters © Timothy p.23 Royal Mews © Matthew Fearn/PA Photos
Allen/AXIOM p.24 Harrods Food Hall © Harrods
p.6 Berkeley Square © Tim Allen/AXIOM p.25 Paul exterior © Paul
p.6 Thames at sunset © Mark Thomas p.26 Lewis chessmen, British Museum © British
p.7 Soho at night © Inge Yspeert/CORBIS Museum
p.7 Cutty Sark © Adam Woolfitt/CORBIS p.26 Imperial War Museum guns © Barclay
p.7 Covent Garden Piazza © Alamy Graham/CORBIS
p.8 Diplodocus skeleton, Natural History Museum p.27 Cast Courts, V&A Museum © Sandro
© Bill Varie/CORBIS Vannini/CORBIS
p.10 Tate Modern exterior © Biniam Ghezai/Travel p.27 Sir John Soane’s Museum © Massimo
Ink Listri/CORBIS
p.11 Chapel of Henry VII, Westminster Abbey © p.27 Science Museum © PNS/REX
www.britainonview.com p.27 National Maritime Museum © National
p.11 Van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait © National Maritime Museum
Gallery/CORBIS p.29 Temple Church © Alamy
p.12 New Tayyab dining room © New Tayyab p.31 London Central Mosque © Chris
p.14 Somerset House ice rink © Mark Thomas Capstick/REX
p.16 Old Compton Street © Alex Segre/REX p.32 London Aquarium © Tony Kyriacou/REX
p.17 Mardi Gras © Paul Brown/REX p.33 Syon Park © Syon Park
p.19 Cheshire Cheese sign © Rupert p.33 No. 11 bus © Mark Thomas
Horrox/CORBIS p.33 Child with monkey © Natural History
p.20 Manet’s Bar at the Folies-Bergère © Museum
Courtauld Institute p.33 Diana Memorial Playground © Graham
p.20 Courbet’s Young Ladies on the Bank of the Tim/CORBIS
Seine © National Gallery/CORBIS p.34 Koi Carp Lounge © The Sanctuary
p.21 Tate Modern exterior © Alamy p.35 Charles Worthington salon © Charles
p.21 Iveagh Bequest, Kenwood House © Bill Worthington
Batten/English Heritage p.35 Cocktails at the Savoy © Savoy
p.21 Wallace Collection gallery © Michael St Maur p.40 Karl Marx tomb, Highgate Cemetery © Nils
Sheil/Collections Jorgensen/REX
Index
A Bush House 109
Bushy Park 194
Butlers Wharf Gastrodome 151
Konditor & Cook 145
Kopi-Tiam 98
Ktchn 132
Butterfly House 186 Lauderdale House 178
accommodation 197 Lisboa Patisserie 167
accommodation maps 198, Louis Patisserie 179
202 Maison Blanc 191
C
INDEX
afternoon tea 62, 72 Maison Sagne 93
airlines 216 Marine Ices 172
airports 209 Masters Super Fish 145
Cabinet War Rooms 71 Mô 89
Al Fayed, Mohamed 161
cafés (by area) Monmouth Coffee Company
Albert Memorial 39, 156
Bankside and Southwark 151 111, 152
American Express 216 Bloomsbury 105 The Orangery 157
Apsley House 153 The City 126 Patisserie Valerie (Soho) 99
arrival 209 Clerkenwell 120 Patisserie Valerie at Sagne 93
Covent Garden 110 Paul 93
Greenwich 185 Pistacchio’s Café 185
B Hampstead and Highgate 178
High Street Kensington to
Notting Hill 167
The Place Below 127
Primrose Patisserie 172
Red Veg 99
B&Bs 197 Holborn 116 Rock and Sole Place 111
ballet 213 Hoxton and Spitalfields 132 Sotherby’s 89
Bank of England 125 Hyde Park and Kensington Tai Won Mein 185
Bankside and Southwark 42, Gardens 157 Viet-Anh Café 172
146 Kew and Richmond 191 Vingt-Quatre 163
Marylebone 93 World Food Café 111
Bankside and Southwark
Piccadilly and Mayfair 89 Yokoso Sushi 116
map 146 Regent’s Park and Camden Zoomslide Café 111
Banqueting House 71 172 Camden 170
Barbican 119, 212 Soho 98 Camden map 170
BBC World Service 109 South Bank 145 Camden Market 171
Beating Retreat 215 South Kensington, Canary Wharf 57, 137
bed-and-breakfasts 197 Knightsbridge and Chelsea car rental 216
Bedlam 144 162 Carnival 48, 215
Beefeaters 135 The Tower and Docklands 138
Cenotaph 41, 70
Bevis Marks Synagogue 31, Trafalgar Square and
Changing of the Guard 22
126 Whitehall 72
Chapel of St John 135
Big Ben 73 cafés
Bar Italia 98 Charing Cross Road 97
Blake, William 130 Chariots Roman Baths 17
Bligh, Captain 144 Beatroot 98
Brew House 178 Chelsea 158
Bloody Tower 135 Chelsea map 159
Brick Lane Beigel Bake 132
Bloomsbury 101 Chelsea Flower Show 215
Café 1001 132
Bloomsbury map 102 Café Delancey 172 Chelsea Physic Garden 162
Boat Race 214 Café in the Crypt 72 children 32
boat trips 15, 216 Café Mozart 178 Chinatown 30, 95
Boleyn, Anne 135 Cashbar 167 Chinese New Year 214
Bond Street 87 Centrale 98 Christ Church, Spitalfields 131
Bonfire Night 216 Chelsea Kitchen 162 churches 28
Borough Market 25, 149 Clark & Sons 120 cinemas 216
Brick Lane 31, 130 Coffee Gallery 105 City airport 209
Britain at War Experience 150 Costas Fish Restaurant 167 City churches 125
British Library 61, 103 Daquise 162
City Hall 57, 150
British Museum 11, 26, 101 De Gustibus 126
City, The 122
Brixton market 30 Deli Bar 120
dim T café 178
City, The map 122
Brompton Oratory 38, 161 Clarence House 82
Feast 120
Brunei Gallery 103 Food for Thought 110 Cleopatra’s Needle 109
Buckingham Palace 23, 80 Gambardella 185 Clerkenwell 117
Bunhill Fields 129 Goddard’s 185 Clerkenwell map 118
Bunyan, John 130 Golden Hind 93 Clockmakers’ Museum 125
Burlington Arcade 86 Hothouse Café 191 club-bars 36
bus tours 211 Hubbub 138 clubs 213
buses 211 K10 127 Bagley’s 214
E Hampstead Ponds 14
Hampton Court Palace 23, 59,
192
Jenkins Hotel 201
Hampstead Village
Guesthouse 206
Hampton Court Palace map Hazlitt’s 200
electricity 217
Hotel 167 205
Elgin Marbles 101 193
Hotel La Place 200
Eliot, George 178 Handel House Museum 61, 88
Lanesborough 63
embassies 217 Harrison, John 184 Langorf Hotel 206
emergencies 217 Harrods 161 Lincoln House Hotel 200
English National Opera 213 Harry Potter 104 London County Hall Travel Inn
Eros 85 Harvey Nichols 162 204
Eurostar 209 haute cuisine 13 Mad Hatter 204
events 214 Hayward Gallery 141 Malmaison 204
Exmouth Market 120 Heathrow Airport 209 Manzi’s 200
INDEX
The Pavillion Hotel 205 Kensington Palace 157 Marx Memorial Library 119
Portobello Hotel 205 Kenwood House 45 Marx, Karl 178
Ridgemount Hotel 201 Kew and Richmond 186 Marylebone 91
Ritz 62 Kew and Richmond map Marylebone map 91
The Rookery 204 187 Mayfair 85
Hotel Russell 201 Kew Gardens 188 Mayfair map 86
St Martin’s Lane 204 King’s Cross Station 104 Maze, Hampton Court 194
Sanctuary House Hotel 197 King’s Library 104 Middle Temple Hall 59, 113
Savoy 62 King’s Road 162 Millennium Bridge 57, 146
Seven Dials Hotel 204 Knightsbridge 158 Millennium Dome 138
Sloane Hotel 205 Koh-i-Noor 135 Millennium Wheel 142
Thanet Hotel 201 minicabs 211
Threadneedles 204 money 218
Topham’s Hotel 200
Vicarage Hotel 205
White Cross Hotel 191
L Monument 126
Morris dancing 215
Museum in Docklands 138
Wigmore Court Hotel 200 Leadenhall Market 39, 126
Windermere Hotel 200
Museum of Garden History
left luggage 217 144
Woodville House 200
Leicester Square 95 Museum of London 119
Houses of Parliament 39, 64 Leighton House 61, 164
Howard, Catherine 135 museums 26
Lenin 119 music venues 213
Hoxton and Spitalfields 128 Liberty 89 musicals 53
Hoxton and Spitalfields map Lincoln’s Inn 115
129 Lindisfarne Gospels 104
Hoxton Square 128
Hungerford Bridge 140
Hunterian Museum 116
live music venues
Astoria 55, 213
Coliseum 213
N
Hyde Park and Kensington Jazz Café 54, 214
National Film Theatre 141
Gardens 153 Royal Opera House 54, 108,
213
National Gallery 11, 20, 67
Hyde Park and Kensington National Maritime Museum
Gardens map 154 Shepherd’s Bush empire 55,
214 27, 183
12 Bar 214 National Portrait Gallery 69
Wigmore Hall 55, 214 national rail enquiries 218
I Lloyd’s Building 56, 126
London Aquarium 32, 143
National Theatre 52, 142, 212
Natural History Museum 33
London Aquatic Experience 188 Nelson, tomb of 125
ICA 84, 212 London Butterfly House 186 Nelson’s Column 67
ice skating 217 London Central Mosque 31, New Year’s Eve 216
Imperial War Museum 26, 169 nightclubs 213
144 London Dungeon 51, 150 No. 11 bus 33
information 210 London Eye 10, 46, 142 Notting Hill 165
Inns of Court 113 London Film Festival 215 Notting Hill map 165
Internet 217 London Jazz Festival 216 Notting Hill Carnival 48, 215
Ironmonger Row Baths 34 London Marathon 215 Notting Hill Farmers’ Market
Island Gardens 138 London Parade 214 166
Iveagh Bequest 21, 177 London Planetarium 92
IWA Canal Cavalcade 49, 215 London University 103
London Zoo 32, 171
London’s Transport Museum O
J 108
Lord Mayor’s Show 216
lost property 217
Old Bailey 117
Old Compton Street 16, 97
Jazz Festival 215 lunchtime concerts 44 Old Operating Theatre and
Jewel Tower 75 Luton Airport 209 Herb Garret 51, 149
P Audley 90
Baltic 145
Bar Vinyl 173
Red Lion, Parliament St 72
Richard I 185
Royal Oak 152
Pagoda, Kew Gardens 188 Barley Mow 95 Salisbury 18, 112
Palm House, Kew Gardens 39, Bartok 173 The Social 100
188 Bed Bar 168 Sosho 37, 133
Parliament Hill 47, 175 Blackfriar 116 Spaniard’s Inn 179
Parliament, state opening of 215 Blenheim 163 Star Tavern 163
Percival David Foundation of Bunch of Grapes 163 Tollesbury Thames Barge 139
Bünker Bier Bar 112 The Toucan 100
Chinese Art 103
Café Kick 121 Trafalgar Tavern 185
Peter Pan statue 155
Camden Brewing Company Viaduct Tavern 121
Petticoat Lane market 130 173 Vibe Bar 37, 133
Philatelic Collections 104 Candy Bar 17, 100 The Westbourne 168
Photographers’ Gallery 97 Cherry Jam 36, 168 Westminster Arms 78
Piazza, The 106 Cittie of Yorke 116 White Cross Hotel 191
Piccadilly 85 Claridge’s 63, 90 White Swan 191
Piccadilly and Mayfair map The Counting House 127 Windsor Castle 168
86 The Cow 168 WKD 173
Piccadilly Circus 85 Cross Keys 163 Ye Grapes 90
pie and mash 13 Cutty Sark 185 Zero Degrees 185
Planetarium 92 Detroit 112 Pygmalion 107
Poets’ Corner 75 Dickens Inn 139
police 218 Dog and Duck 100
Portobello Road Market 15, 165
Potter, Harry 104
Pride in the Park 215
Dorchester 63, 90
Dover Street wine bar 90
Dragon 37, 133
Q
The Edge 100
Prince Henry’s Room 59, 114 Elbow Room 168 Queen Charlotte’s Cottage 188
Proms 48, 215 The Engineer 173 Queen’s Gallery 82
public holidays 218 Film Café-bar 145 Queen’s House 183
public transport 210 Fire Station 145 queer London 15
pubs and bars (by area) First Out 16, 112
Bankside and Southwark 152 Flask 179
Bloomsbury 105
The City 127
Clerkenwell 121
Fox and Anchor 121
Freedom 100
Freemason’s Arms 179
R
Covent Garden 111 George Inn 152 Ralegh, Walter 135
Greenwich 185 Grenadier 157 Ranger’s House 184
Hampstead and Highgate 179 The Gun 139 ravens 135
Hampton Court 194 Hamilton Hall 127
Regent Street 85
High Street Kensington to Holly Bush 179
Notting Hill 168 Home 133
Regent’s Canal 170
Holborn 116 Hoxton Square Bar and Regent’s Park and Camden
Hoxton and Spitalfields 133 Kitchen 133 169
Hyde Park and Kensington ICA 84 Regent’s Park and Camden
Gardens 157 Ion 168 map 170
Kew and Richmond 191 Jamaica Wine House 127 restaurants (by area)
Marylebone 94 King’s Arms 194 Bankside and Southwark 152
Piccadilly and Mayfair 90 King’s Bar 105 Bloomsbury 105
Regent’s Park and Camden Lab 100 Clerkenwell 120
173 The Lamb 19, 105 The City 127
Soho 100 Lamb and Flag 112 Covent Garden 111
South Bank 145 Lansdowne 173 Greenwich 185
South Kensington, Lifthouse 121 Hampstead and Highgate 179
INDEX
South Kensington, Wagamama 105
Knightsbridge and Chelsea Zero Degrees 185 213
163 RIBA 92 Sherlock Holmes Museum 93
St James’s 84 Richmond 43 shops (by area)
The Tower and Docklands 139 Richmond map 187 Bankside and Southwark 151
Westminster 78 Richmond Park 189 Bloomsbury 104
restaurants Richmond Riverside 189 Clerkenwell 120
1 Lombard Street 127 Covent Garden 110
Ritz Hotel 62
Abeno 105 Greenwich 184
Ronnie Scott’s 214
Al Duca 84 High Street Kensington to
rooms 197 Notting Hill 166
Al Waha 167
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel 178 Hoxton and Spitalfields 132
Baradero 139
Belgo Centraal 111
Round Reading Room 101 Kew and Richmond 190
Bevis Marks (restaurant) 127 Royal Academy 87 Piccadilly and Mayfair 88
Bibendum Oyster House 163 Royal Armouries 135 Regent’s Park and Camden
Busaba Eathai 99 Royal Ballet 213 172
Café des Amis 111 Royal Botanic Gardens 188 Soho 97
Café Naz 133 Royal College of Surgeons South Bank 144
Chapter Two 185 116 South Kensington,
Chez Linsay 191 Royal Court Theatre 212 Knightsbridge and Chelsea
China City 99 Royal Courts of Justice 113 162
Chowki 99 Royal Festival Hall 45 St James’s 83
Cicada 120 royal London 22 Westminster 77
Cigala 105 Royal Mews 23, 82 shops
Cinnamon Club 78 Royal National Theatre 142 Agent Provocateur 97
Cucina 179 Atlantis Bookshop 104
Royal Naval College, Old 182
Delfina Studio Café 152 Backhaus 190
Royal Observatory 183
Fairuz 94 Benjamin Pollocks’ Toyshop
Fine Estampa 152
Royal Opera House 54, 108, 110
Galicia 167 213 Berry Bros & Rudd 83
The Gate 2 179 RSJ 145 Birkenstock 110
Gordon Ramsay 35, 163 rush hour 210 Blewcoats School Gift Shop
Hunan 163 77
The Ivy 111 Book Market 144
Jin Kichi 179
Kiku 90
S Browns 88
Charbonnel et Walker 88
Kozachok 191 Compendia 184
La Galette 94 Saatchi Gallery 143 Daddy Kool 97
Little Saigon 145 Sadler’s Wells 213 Davenport’s Magic Shop 110
Mandarin Kitchen 167 St Bartholomew-the-Great 29, Duffer of St George 110
The Mandola 167 117 Dunhill 83
Mango Rooms 173 St Bride’s 114 ec one 120
Manna 173 St James’s 79 Flow Gallery 166
Mem Saheb on Thames 139 St James’s map 80 Fortnum & Mason 88
Mildred’s 99 St James’s Palace 82 Foyles 97
Miso 84 St James’s Park 79 Freedom Press 132
Moro 121 St John 121 Frosts of Clerkenwell 120
Mr Kong 99 St Katharine’s Docks 136 Gay’s the Word 104
New Tayyab 133 Geo F Trumper 83
St Margaret’s Church 75
O Fado Gosh! 105
St Martin-in-the-Fields 70
Odette’s 173 Hamleys 88
Oxo Restaurant 145 St Mary Abchurch 125 Harvey Nichols 162
Phoenix Palace 94 St Mary Woolnoth 125 Hatchards 89
Pizza Express 99 St Mary-at-Lambeth 41, 144 Inflate 120
Prism 127 St Pancras Station 38, 104 Koh Samui 110
The Providores 94 St Paul’s Cathedral 28, 41, Laurence Corner 172
Quilon 78 45, 46, 123 Liberty 89
Racine 163 St Paul’s Church 106 The Lion and Unicorn 190
Parliamentary Bookshop 77
Paxton and Whitfield 83 tea, afternoon 62, 72
Playin’ Games 105 telephones 218 walking tours 212
Prowler Soho 97 Temple 113 Wallace Collection 21, 91
Queens 132 Temple Church 29, 113 Wanamaker, Sam 148
R. Holt & Co 120 theatre 212 Wapping High Street 137
Radio Days 144 theatres Waterloo International 209
Ray’s Jazz Shop 97 Almeida 212 websites 210
Rhythm Records 172 Barbican Centre 119, 212 Wellington Arch 153
Rigby and Peller 162 Donmar Warehouse 53, 512 Wellington Museum 153
Rough Trade 166 Drill Hall 212 Wellington, tomb of 125
Selfridges 89 ICA 84, 212 Wesley’s Chapel and Museum
Silver Moon 97 King’s Head 53, 212
Sister Ray 98
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National Theatre 52, 142, 212
Skoob Books 105 West End musicals 53
Open Air Theatre 212
Stanford’s Map and Travel Royal Court 212
Westminster 73
Bookshop 110 Shakespeare’s Globe 52, 148, Westminster Abbey 11, 28,
Steinberg and Tolkein 162 213 41, 75
Stern’s African Record Centre Theatre Museum 108 Westminster Abbey College
105 time 218 Gardens 15, 76
Tatty Devine 132 tipping 218 Westminster Cathedral 29,
The Vintage House 98 tourist offices 210 47, 76
Vivienne Westwood 162 Westminster map 74
The Tower and Docklands 134
Waterstone’s 89 Whispering Gallery 123
The Tower and Docklands
sightseeing tours 211 White Cube gallery 128
map 136
Sir John Soane’s Museum 27, Whitechapel Art Gallery 130
Tower Bridge 47, 135
116 Whitehall 67
Tower Green 135
Slade 103 Whitehall map 68
Tower of London 11, 23, 134
Smithfield 51, 118 Wigmore Hall 55, 214
Tradescant, John 144
Soane’s Museum, Sir John 116 Willow Road, 2 61, 175
Trafalgar Square and Whitehall
Soho 95 Wimbledon Lawn Tennis
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Soho map 96 Championship 49, 215
Trafalgar Square and
Somerset House 109 Winston Churchill’s Britain at
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Somerset House ice rink 14, War 150
train enquiries 218
217 World Service (BBC) 109
trains 209
Sotheby’s auction house 44, 87
Traitors’ Gate 135
South Bank 43, 140
transport 210
South Bank map 141
South Kensington,
Knightsbridge and Chelsea
travel agents 218
travelcards 210 Y
Trooping the Colour 22, 215
158 youth hostels 197
tube 211
South Kensington, Ashlee House 201
Tudor and Stuart London 58
Knightsbridge and City of London YHA 204
2 Willow Road 61, 175
Chelsea map 159 Generator 201
Tyburn 155
Southwark 146 Hampstead Heath YHA 206
Southwark map 146 Holland House YHA 205
Southwark Cathedral 149
Speakers’ Corner 155
Spencer House 83
U International Students House
206
Leinster Inn 205
Spencer, Lady Diana 157, 161 Museum Inn 201
University of London 103
Oxford Street YHA 201
Spitalfields 128
St Christopher’s Village 205
Spitalfields map 129
St Pancras YHA 201
Stansted Airport 209
Strand 108
Strang Print Room 103
V
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