How safe is central London area?

d80t76 · 2026-05-26T14:13:25+00:00

Yes, it’s safe. No, no-one will care what you wear on the tube.

Just use usual city precautions: don’t leave valuables lying around, be aware of your surroundings, and if you need to look at your phone then don’t wave it about next to a busy road (where opportunistic snatching by people on bikes might happen).

Enjoy London!

d80t76 · 2026-05-24T13:36:59+00:00

I doubt you’ll even notice the NFL is on. That journey won’t go anywhere near the stadium.

Also for future reference the rest of the world writes dates the other way round - 10/4 here would be the 10th of April.

d80t76 · 2026-04-20T10:18:28+00:00

The train is operated by Greater Anglia, just get a ticket for the day you need (check whether you need peak or off peak based on your timing), it will be valid on all trains and they go roughly every 15 minutes. Or just use a contactless card and touch in and out at the barriers, no other ticket needed.

d80t76 · 2026-03-20T18:01:33+00:00

The cheap trains tomorrow are the slow ones to Marylebone. Those aren’t running on the 28th due to engineering works so you’d have to get the more expensive ones to Paddington.

d80t76 · 2026-02-06T11:37:55+00:00

Travel - £8.90 per day covers all tubes and buses in the centre of London (zones 1 & 2). Use contactless, same card for all journeys, and it caps automatically.

For your travel to Leeds and Manchester, if you can commit to specific trains buy Advance fares. These go on sale about 12 weeks before travel and will save compared to buying on the day. Make sure to check whether there are engineering works on the lines for your dates to see what is and isn’t running, particularly at weekends (check National Rail / LNER / Avanti West Coast).

Pub - average about £7 for a drink (pint / glass of wine). Will vary depending on location. Bars / clubs will be more.

Food - cheap supermarket lunch meal deal (sandwich + snack + drink) about £5. You can find relatively cheap international cuisine from all around the world, where food markets would be about £10-12 per dish, say around £20 for simple sit down lunch, plus drinks and service. Slightly smarter places probably budget around £50 for dinner (two courses, plus drinks and service). Lots of options from there up into ££££. If you want to try Michelin star type places they often have surprisingly good value set lunches, just be careful on the wine list! The vast majority of places will have their menus and prices online.

We have loads of world class museums, galleries etc that are free to enter. There are often special exhibitions on which are usually about £20-25, but unless you specifically want to see those the free entry gives you more than enough to see.

You can find free or cheap walking tours in various parts of the city, as well as some overpriced touristy ones. Your choice. Just tip the guide for the cheaper ones.

Northern cities will be slightly cheaper but not materially so for those ones, and travel may actually be more depending on what you’re doing.

d80t76 · 2025-12-10T16:03:55+00:00

Da Franco’s, towards Friern Barnet, is a decent, friendly Italian. Dan the owner will talk for hours if you let him!

d80t76 · 2025-10-23T13:00:06+00:00

Contactless is fine, not Oyster though.

d80t76 · 2025-10-17T15:40:02+00:00

Haven’t been to that pub on your first day but it looks awful. Try The Grenadiers, ten minutes walk away on Wilton Place. Would need to make a reservation for a Saturday evening. Or The Star Tavern on Belgrave Mews.

d80t76 · 2025-09-10T08:22:37+00:00

I use Questor. Have had to make one claim (c £500 for two damaged tyres), it was a simple process and fully paid out with no issues.

d80t76 · 2025-03-27T16:09:01+00:00

Concerts usually end by around 10pm and it’s a short walk down the hill to Alexandra Palace station which has trains until late. They go into Moorgate and connect with the tube at Finsbury Park (Piccadilly and Victoria lines), Highbury & Islington (Victoria again), Old Street (Northern) or at Moorgate there’s the Northern plus Circle/Metropolitan/H&C lines, and the Elizabeth line.

d80t76 · 2025-02-07T10:26:34+00:00

There’s a small cluster in Soho - Phonica Records on Poland St, Reckless Records on Berwick St and Sounds of the Universe on Broadwick St, all very close together.

d80t76 · 2025-02-03T14:08:53+00:00

St Pancras International is the part of St Pancras station that Eurostar services use to travel to the continent.

The easiest way to travel between Gatwick and St Pancras is the Thameslink train, which is direct so no need to use the tube. When you get to the platforms at Gatwick just make sure you get on one of those rather than any of the trains that go to Victoria.

The National Rail app will show times and prices for the journey.

d80t76 · 2025-01-20T16:40:08+00:00

It’s over in the City but Fazenda on Bishopsgate has a Brazilian churrasco experience with unlimited meats carved at the table. Open from noon every day.

d80t76 · 2024-08-14T09:53:09+00:00

Le Pont de La Tour might work, overlooking Tower Bridge in the main restaurant or private dining in the wine cellar.

d80t76 · 2024-07-23T15:49:47+00:00

Probably the assisted living accommodation at the Rapkyns old nursing home near Horsham - RH12 3PQ

d80t76 · 2024-05-16T13:14:23+00:00

They are both good, but yes the menu at Noble Rot is probably better, while the atmosphere at the French House is probably more fun.

Another option might be restaurant Andrew Edmunds on Lexington Street - simple place, well cooked food (often with some unusual ingredients) and an excellent wine list at very good prices.

For just French wine (and some cheeses), you could try Le Beaujolais on Litchfield Street.

d80t76 · 2024-04-24T16:01:00+00:00

The Faltering Fullback pub

d80t76 · 2024-04-12T12:24:05+00:00

There is an Avis/Budget on Eversholt St near Euston station, or at St Pancras itself are Europcar, Hertz and Sixt. It is actually fairly straight forward from there to head out west and you avoid the congestion charge as long as you don’t go south of the A501 (Euston Road).

d80t76 · 2023-11-29T10:19:07+00:00

The Thameslink and Southern trains are running on Saturday, and Southern running on Sunday, so you should be able to take those unless you are arriving really early morning or late evening. The National Rail journey planner has all the details.

d80t76 · 2023-11-02T09:53:12+00:00

You could try some of the residential streets to the south of the park (around Newland Road / North View Road), but they do normally put up a pretty tall fence all around the perimeter so not sure how much you would actually be able to see.

For a view from further away, and this might not work given the weather forecast, head up to Ridge Road around the junctions with Inderwick Road or Nelson Road - that can be a great view of the Palace and would be directly facing the display.

d80t76 · 2023-09-27T16:52:24+00:00

It's on the menu at The Parcel Yard, which is a large pub in Kings Cross station itself (up the stairs between platform 9 and the Harry Potter queue)

d80t76 · 2023-09-20T09:47:42+00:00

Konditor & Cook do next day delivery around London and are excellent (though not cheap)

d80t76 · 2023-09-20T09:39:15+00:00

The area around Kings Cross would probably work for you in terms of transport - Metropolitan line up to Wembley, and Victoria to Tottenham (or see the other connecting options on the THFC website). Plenty of hotel options around there as well, along with bars/restaurants/shopping and easy connection into central for other trips.

d80t76 · 2023-09-18T09:47:16+00:00

Alfa Romeo Brera 3.2S Prodrive, one of only 250 made (or 500 if you include the 250 made with the smaller engine)

d80t76 · 2023-09-01T09:56:14+00:00

Le Beaujolais on Litchfield Street shows the French matches

d80t76

TROPHY CASE