Baseball fan Posted October 27, 2014 #1 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Hello - I've been to London a few times but never solo. On my upcoming TA, I want to spend a few days in London. I haven't booked my hotel yet but looking near Glouster Road or Earl's Ct (easy access from Heathrow). My question is, how safe is it to wander around London at night? I want to try for tickets to the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower but am concerned with walking around and taking the tube late in the evening. Thoughts? Thanks in advance Dena Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveH2508 Posted October 27, 2014 #2 Share Posted October 27, 2014 London is probably safer than most big cities (I've lived here for 55 years and never had a problem). The tube is safe. If you go for the Gloucester Road hotel (a better area than Earls Court BTW) then you can still get a direct tube to Tower Hill for the Tower of London. Take the usual precautions that you would in any big city (keep valuables out of sight, button pockets etc.) and you will be fine (we all speak English as well so getting around should not be an issue). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare DragonOfTheSeas Posted October 27, 2014 #3 Share Posted October 27, 2014 We stayed at the Doubletree hotel near the Tower of London. I walked down to the Tower each night to look at the poppy display and walk along the river bank. There were lots of people out and walking around. The view of the Tower bridge at night was my favorite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonTowner Posted October 28, 2014 #4 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Like any large city you need to be aware of your surroundings, but London is a safe city. Thousands of people every day use public transport at night. I'm not so sure about one of the comments that everybody speaks English, is true, but you shouldn't have any problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveH2508 Posted October 28, 2014 #5 Share Posted October 28, 2014 (edited) Like any large city you need to be aware of your surroundings, but London is a safe city. Thousands of people every day use public transport at night. I'm not so sure about one of the comments that everybody speaks English, is true, but you shouldn't have any problems. I could not find a tongue in cheek smiley... I was thinking of my sister-in-law from the US who has to met and escorted everywhere - DW tells her that people speak English here but it does not seem to get through to her! I guess that the number of tourists we get makes that statement a bit dodgy as well. Signage is in English and there are still staff on the Tube to ask for help. Edited October 28, 2014 by SteveH2508 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pet Nit Noy Posted October 28, 2014 #6 Share Posted October 28, 2014 (edited) Hello - I've been to London a few times but never solo. On my upcoming TA, I want to spend a few days in London. I haven't booked my hotel yet but looking near Glouster Road or Earl's Ct (easy access from Heathrow). My question is, how safe is it to wander around London at night? I want to try for tickets to the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower but am concerned with walking around and taking the tube late in the evening. Thoughts? Thanks in advance Dena Any place you might want to visit as a tourist will also be visited by others. You'll never be alone. The down side of that is that some places -- notably Covent Garden -- will be quite congested and if you stop paying attention to your possessions as you watch the street performers, you'll make yourself a target for pickpockets. As for the area around your hotel -- if you choose Gloucester Rd -- I don't think you need to worry about that either. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza London Kensington last summer. The hotel itself fronts on Cromwell Road at the intersection of Gloucester and Cromwell. There are dozens and dozens of hotels on Cromwell Road itself so foot traffic is active at all times of the day and night. Cromwell is also a reasonably major traffic artery and there are plenty of street lights. There is plenty of pedestrian traffic on Gloucester in the immediate vicinity of the Underground Station. (Google Map doesn't show cardinal directions on the map, but the Underground station is below Cromwell, so I'm guessing it is south.) Crossing Cromwell and walking on Gloucester in the other direction, you'll be walking towards Kensington Palace through a lovely and vibrant residential and retail area known as South Kensington. I'm not correcting your spelling to be picky, but you'll want to spell Gloucester correctly for the sake of looking up hotels and restaurants in the area. Once you hear Alan Arkin pronouncing "Gloucester" in the hysterical 1966 movie The Russians are Coming, you'll never misspell that particular word again. Edited October 28, 2014 by Pet Nit Noy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhodesgolfer Posted October 28, 2014 #7 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Dear Traveller, As a Londoner, I would suggest to you that you get a hotel in Camden Town, It's real London. You have the markets, great pubs and night life. Also your close, to Kings Cross (piccadilly line) . Oh, and it's safe, there's lots of people around at night. Rhodesgolfer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonTowner Posted October 28, 2014 #8 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Pet Nit Noy I don't know about spelling, but the places are Cromwell ROAD and Gloucester ROAD. In the UK 'street' and/or 'road' are always added if that is what it is called. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pet Nit Noy Posted October 28, 2014 #9 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Pet Nit Noy I don't know about spelling, but the places are Cromwell ROAD and Gloucester ROAD. In the UK 'street' and/or 'road' are always added if that is what it is called. I understand your point about London usage of the appendages like Road etc. but what's your point about spelling? Are you suggesting that I spelled the word "Gloucester" wrong? That the OP's spelling (Glouster) is correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveH2508 Posted October 28, 2014 #10 Share Posted October 28, 2014 I understand your point about London usage of the appendages like Road etc. but what's your point about spelling? Are you suggesting that I spelled the word "Gloucester" wrong? That the OP's spelling (Glouster) is correct? I think he was picking up on OP's spelling - your spelling is correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aquilegia Posted October 28, 2014 #11 Share Posted October 28, 2014 I don't think he was making a point about spelling at all. In the UK, if you say 'I don't know about such and such, but...' you are often just calling attention to an additional point that needs to be considered. And he's quite right to remind people about this. Because of the duplication of place names in the UK, you are likely to cause confusion if you ask how to get to Gloucester (a city in the West of England) when you mean Gloucester Road, or Buckingham (a town north of London) when you mean Buckingham Palace etc etc. We just don't abbreviate things in that way over here. ' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eboracum_d Posted October 28, 2014 #12 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Going back to the original post, I would aim for hotels in Kensington rather than Earls Court. I like a small group there called Elegant English Hotels. Do not be put off by their published rates. They will come down if you negotiate. There are similar boutique hotels in Bloomsbury which is a particularly safe area within easy walking distance of theatres. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Globaliser Posted October 28, 2014 #13 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Because of the duplication of place names in the UK, you are likely to cause confusion if you ask how to get to Gloucester (a city in the West of England) when you mean Gloucester Road, or Buckingham (a town north of London) when you mean Buckingham Palace etc etc. We just don't abbreviate things in that way over here.It's not just place names. The name of a London street is not complete unless you have the full name, not just the first half. A friend was once over half an hour later for dinner because he had the American habit of dropping the second half of the street name. Having got it into his head that the street was called "Royal Mint", he spent ages wandering around Royal Mint Court unable to locate the restaurant which was on Royal Mint Street. Another example is "Hyde Park". You might mean the park itself, but if you're referring to a street called Hyde Park, it might be any of the following:- Hyde Park Crescent Hyde Park Gardens Mews Hyde Park Gardens Hyde Park Place Hyde Park Square Mews Hyde Park Square Hyde Park Street And these are just the ones that are near the park, to its north. There are more streets elsewhere in London whose names start with "Hyde Park". So if you're looking for something at the junction of "Gloucester and Cromwell", the first question would be "Gloucester what?" Gloucester Avenue, NW1 Gloucester Circus, SE10 Gloucester Close, NW10 Gloucester Court, EC3 Gloucester Crescent, NW1 Gloucester Drive, N4 Gloucester Drive, NW11 Gloucester Gardens, NW11 Gloucester Gate, NW1 Gloucester Mews, E10 Gloucester Mews West, W2 Gloucester Mews, W2 Gloucester Place Mews, W1 Gloucester Place, NW1 Gloucester Place, W1 Gloucester Road, E10 Gloucester Road, E11 Gloucester Road, E12 Gloucester Road, E17 Gloucester Road, N17 Gloucester Road, N18 Gloucester Road, SW7 Gloucester Road, W3 Gloucester Road, W5 Gloucester Square, E2 Gloucester Square, W2 Gloucester Street, SW1 Gloucester Terrace, W2 Gloucester Walk, W8 Gloucester Way, EC1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baseball fan Posted October 29, 2014 Author #14 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Thanks to everyone for answering my question about safety when traveling alone. Sorry for the spelling error that I will correct when searching for my hotels:) On my previous trips to London I've stayed near the British Museum and V&A but this time looking for something with much easier access (plus I will need to get to the Waterloo station, I believe) for transport to Southampton. I will take any suggestions on reasonably (preferrably under $200 a night) priced hotels as I haven't booked anything yet as I am still a year out. I will check out Elegant English Hotels. Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eboracum_d Posted October 29, 2014 #15 Share Posted October 29, 2014 If you need a reasonably priced hotel near Waterloo I would go the Premier Inn at County Hall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scriv Posted October 29, 2014 #16 Share Posted October 29, 2014 If you need a reasonably priced hotel near Waterloo I would go the Premier Inn at County Hall I'd do that too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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