Pocket Rough Guide London (Rough Guide Pocket Guides)

210 Pages·2011·13.04 MB·English

by  Rob Humphreys

POCKET ROUGH GUIDE
LONDON
• LONDON’S BEST RESTAURANTS, PUBS, SHOPS AND HOTELS

Pocket Rough Guide
LONDON
written and researched by
ROB HUMPHREYS
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Contents
INTRODUCTION 4
London at a glance .....................7 Itineraries .................................8
BEST OF LONDON 12
Royal London ...........................14 London art ...............................24
Outdoor London .......................16 Pubs .......................................26
London for kids ........................18 Victorian London ......................28
Museums ................................20 Nightlife ..................................30
Food ........................................22 Modern London ........................32
PPLLAACCEESS 3344
1 Whitehall and Westminster ...36 9 South Bank and around ......114
2 St James’s .........................46 10 Bankside and Southwark ...120
3 Mayfair and Marylebone .....52 11 Kensington and Chelsea ....128
4 Soho and Covent Garden .....64 12 Regent’s Park and Camden..144
5 Bloomsbury .......................78 13 Hampstead and Highgate ...150
6 The City .............................84 14 Greenwich ........................156
7 Hoxton and Spitalfields .....100 15 Kew and Richmond ............162
8 The Tower and Docklands...108 16 Hampton Court ..................168
ACCOMMODAAATION 172
ESSENTIALS 182
Arrival ....................................184 Festivals and events ................194
Getting around ........................186 Chronology .............................196
Directory A–Z ..........................190 Index ......................................200
<< THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT
< ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL 3
INTRODUCTION TO
LONDON
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O London is a very big city. In fact, it’s the largest
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U capital in the European Union, stretching for more
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T than thirty miles from east to west, and with a
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N population of just under eight million. Ethnically
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O and linguistically, it’s also Europe’s most diverse
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O metropolis, offering cultural and culinary delights
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O from right across the globe. The city dominates
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the national horizon, too: this is where most of the
country’s news and money are made, it’s where
central government resides and, as far as its
inhabitants are concerned, provincial life begins
beyond the circuit of the city’s orbital motorway.
TOW
ER OF LONDON
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Best place for an alfresco drink N
D
If you’re lucky enough to be in London when the weather’s fine, there’s ON
nothing like an alfresco drink, whether in a leafy outdoor beer garden, or
by the banks of the Thames. For a great riverside view of the Dome, head
to The Gun in Docklands (see p.113), or if you're wandering along the south
bank of the Thames, The Anchor in Bankside (see p.127) is hard to beat. After
an invigorating stroll on nearby Hampstead Heath, The Flask in Highgate (see
p.155) is the perfect place to sink a pint.
For the visitor, it’s a thrilling fast, though, and the regular
destination. The biggest emergence of new attractions
problem for newcomers is that ensures that there’s plenty
the city can seem bewilderingly to do even for those who’ve
amorphous, with no single visited before. In the last
predominant focus of interest. decade or so, all of London’s
Londoners tend to cope with world-class museums, galleries
all this by compartmentalizing and institutions have been
their city, identifying strongly reinvented, from the Royal
with the neighbourhoods in Opera House to the British
which they work or live, just Museum, and the tourist and
making occasional forays transport infrastructure has
into the West End, London’s had a major overhaul too,
shopping and entertainment ready for the 2012 Olympics.
heartland. As a visitor, the key Monuments from the capital’s
to enjoying the London, then, glorious past are everywhere,
is not to try and do everything from medieval banqueting
in a single visit – concentrate halls and the great churches
on one or two areas and you’ll of Christopher Wren to the
get a lot more out of the place. eclectic Victorian architecture
The capital’s traditional of the triumphalist British
sights – Big Ben, Westminster Empire. There’s also much
Abbey, Buckingham Palace, enjoyment to be had from the
St Paul’s Cathedral and the city’s quiet Georgian squares,
Tower of London – continue the narrow alleyways of the
to draw in millions of tourists City of London, the riverside
every year. Things change walks, and the assorted quirks
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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,
I English summers rarely get unbearably hot, while the winters (average
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T daily temperature 6–10°C) don’t get very cold – though they’re often wet.
R However, whenever you come, be prepared for all eventualities: it has been
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D known to snow at Easter and rain all day on August Bank Holiday weekend.
U As far as crowds go, tourists stream into London pretty much all year round,
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T with peak season from Easter to October, and the biggest crush in July and
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O August, when you’ll need to book your accommodation well in advance.
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L of what is still identifiably a offbeat weekend markets of
O collection of villages. And Portobello Road, Camden
N urban London is offset by and Spitalfields. The music,
D surprisingly large expanses of clubbing and gay/lesbian
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N greenery: Hyde Park, Green scenes are second to none,
Park and St James’s Park are and mainstream arts are no
all within a few minutes’ less exciting, with regular
walk of the West End, while, opportunities to catch first-rate
further afield, you can enjoy theatre companies, dance
the more expansive parklands troupes, exhibitions and opera.
of Hampstead Heath and The city’s pubs have always
Richmond Park. had heaps of atmosphere, but
You could spend days just food is a major attraction too,
shopping in London, too, with over fifty Michelin-starred
mixing with the upper classes restaurants and the widest
in the “tiara triangle” around choice of cuisines on the
Harrods, or sampling the planet.
TRAFALGAR SQUARE
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LONDON
AT A GLANCE
>>EATING >>SHOPPING
With thousands of cafés, From the folie de grandeur IN
pubs and restaurants, you’re of Harrods to the street T
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never far from a good place markets of Camden and O
to fill your stomach. For the Spitalfields, London is a D
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widest choice, make for Soho shopper’s playground. In the
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or nearby Covent Garden, West End, Oxford Street is T
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where you’ll find everything Europe’s busiest shopping O
from triple-starred restaurants street, followed closely by N
to cheap Chinese and Indian. Regent Street – here you’ll find T
O
Head out of the centre, though, pretty much every mainstream L
to sample the best of the city’s shop you could wish for. O
diverse cuisines, whether Charing Cross Road remains N
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Portuguese in Ladbroke Grove the centre of the city’s book O
or Bangladeshi in Tower trade, while Covent Garden N
Hamlets. London’s also a great has become a fashion and
place for snacking, whether designer wear hotspot. St
from the take-away stalls at James’s equips the English
Camden Market during the gentleman, Bond Street deals
week, or from Borough Market with the ladies, but for haute
or around Spitalfields and Brick couture – and Harrods – head
Lane over the weekend. for Knightsbridge and Sloane
Street. For something more
>>DRINKING
offbeat, or vintage, head out to
Found on just about every Camden Market or Spitalfields
street corner, the pub remains and Brick Lane.
one of the nation’s most >>NIGHTLIFE
enduring social institutions
and its popularity in London As well as two top-class
sees no sign of waning. The opera houses, London has an
City has probably the best enormous number of theatres,
choice of long-established most of them centrally located
drinking holes – though with in the West End districts of
the average pint costing over Soho and Covent Garden, and
£3, it’s worth knowing that you boasts more comedy venues
can pay half that at Sam Smith’s than any other city in the
pubs. Soho and Hoxton attract world. Although you’ll find
a clubbier crowd, so you’ll find clubs and live music venues
a wide choice of bars and clubs all across the capital, Hoxton
alongside good-old fashioned and Spitalfields remain
pubs. For a riverside drink, the epicentre of the city’s
head for the South Bank or clubland. London is also the
Docklands, and for a lazy gay capital of Europe, with
Sunday afternoon mosey on Old Compton Street in Soho
up to Hampstead or down to still, so to speak, the city’s
Greenwich. main drag.
OUR RECOMMENDATIONS FOR WHERE TO EAT, DRINK AND
SHOP ARE LISTED AT THE END OF EACH PLACES CHAPTER.
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Day One in London
1 Parliament Square > p.42.
Gaze at two of the capital’s most
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T remarkable buildings: the Houses of
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N Parliament and Westminster Abbey.
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A 2 Whitehall > p.39. This wide avenue
R is lined with grandiose governmental
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E ministries and dotted with statues
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recalling the days of the British Empire.
3 Churchill Museum > p.41.
Explore the subterranean rooms used
by Churchill and his War Cabinet
during World War II.
4 St James’s Park > p.46. One of
London’s smartest royal parks, with
views across to Buckingham Palace,
exotic ducks and even pelicans.
(cid:2) 
Lunch > p.51. Picnic in
the park or tuck into some
excellent British food on the lovely
terrace at Inn the Park.
5 Trafalgar Square > p.36.
London’s finest set-piece square,
overlooked by the National Gallery and
famous for its fountains and pigeons.
6 Covent Garden Piazza > p.68.
One of the city’s few pedestrianized
public spaces, Covent Garden’s
cobbled piazza is the place to see
London’s best buskers.
7 British Museum > p.78. One of
the world’s most amazing (and largest)
museums, with everything from
Egyptian mummies to Constructivist
ceramics from the Russian Revolution.
(cid:2) 
Dinner > p.74. Experience
the bustle of Wong Kei in the
heart of Chinatown, before heading
into the heart of Soho for a night of
drinking and (maybe) dancing.
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