I have only been to London once, but I received some incredible travel advice from a few friends prior to my trip... and I constantly reference the advice and send it to other people. Therefore, I thought I would transcribe a bit of it below.
First, anyone that is going to London needs to have a map of the London Underground:
(this will get you anywhere you want to go)
Second, you will need somewhere to stay:
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| Wieden+Kennedy office |
Hip/boutique style hotel on London's East side. I really enjoyed staying there. It's really close to the "Old Street" Tube stop... and the east side is definitely an "up and coming area"... lots of advertising agencies (Wieden+Kennedy) and boutiques have moved in. The financial area is a short walk and you can get to the London Tower in under 30 minutes by foot. Check out the website:
Hoxton Hotels
A few other hotel options:
All of these hotels are located in the East of the city, close to the best places to hang out – Shoreditch, Hoxton, Islington, Spitalfields. The nearest tube stations are Old Street (Northern Line) and Liverpool Street (Circle, Hammersmith & City, Central and Metropolitan Lines)
Third, you might want to do a bit of shopping:
There are several distinct shopping areas of the city.
Area #1: Spitalfields & Dray Walk (off of Brick Lane), nearest tube stations are Liverpool Street & Old Street. This is where the "sneakerhead" or "hipster" is going to want to spend most of their time. All of the best/small boutiques are in this area. There is also some amazing graffiti art located in random spots (just keep your eyes open)
Spitalfields itself is an old fruit market which is periodically renovated and updated – this is a good place for lunch as well as to check out Albam and the other stores below – all of which are within walking distance within 15 minutes
Albam, Old Spitalfields Market, 111a Commercial Street, E1 6BG, Alistaire & James are the owners – mostly own-brand clothing, a great example of trend fashion for the UK.
Folk, 11 Dray Walk (off Brick Lane), E1 6QL, Cathal & Fraser are the owners, Mike & Colin are the managers – again, mostly own-brand clothing (this brand has a good name amongst top tier stores)
Number Six (owned by whenwewerecasuals.com), 6 Dray Walk (off Brick Lane), E1 6QL, Mark and Chris are the owners, Jack is the manager and Vere and Pete also work in the store – a very good independent store run by an agency
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| Lots of cool shops in this alley (good Indian food close by as well) |
The Three Threads, 47-49 Charlotte Road, EC2A 3QT, owned by the agency for Carhartt, Edwin Jeans & Pointer Footwear, Gareth is the owner, Matt the manager and Heidi runs the women’s section – with the stores above this will give you all you need to know about the current trends for clothing in the UK
Start, 59 Rivington Street, EC2A 3QQ (right by The Three Threads) – owned by Phillip Start this is high end casualwear
Present, 140 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6JE – really quirky new store run by the former founder of Duffer of St George and his former head buyer – Eddie & Steve
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| The Liberty Department store (best in London) |
Area #2: Carnaby Street & Oxford Street, the nearest tube station is Oxford Circus (take the Argyle Street exit and turn left for Carnaby Street (it’s to the left, behind the huge black and white tudor building – Liberty ((the best department store in London in my opinion)) or turn right out if the Argyle Street Exit and you’re on Oxford Street – the busiest shopping street in the world – turn left for Schuh, Urban Outfitters and Selfridges department store…all of which will be on the other side of the road)
Size? 33-34 Carnaby Street, W1f 7DW, the best sneaker stores in the UK, owned by JD Sports
Office, 16 Carnaby Street, W1F 9PB, the largest Tier 2/3 footwear retailer
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| Carnaby Street at night |
Carnaby Street also has all of the branded stores, plus Kingly Court – a great little gallery of stores, and Adidas have their No.6 store (perfect for Tier 0) on Newburgh Street, a small side street which runs parallel with Carnaby Street.
The Hideout, 7 St James Street, W1F 9DH (a very short walk from Carnaby Street), this very cool store is definitely worth a visit though closed for refurbishment till the 27th Feb.
Schuh, 200 Oxford Street, W1D 1NU – one of the best commercial footwear chains in the UK for Tier 2/3
Offspring, Selfridges Department Store, 400 Oxford Street – high end sneaker store owned by Office
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| The stables at Camden market |
Area #3:
Camden Market. The best place in London to go if you want to haggle with a vendor for a $1 scarf! I stocked up on gifts here for my mom and sister in-law. It can be a little sketchy here at night... and the tube station closes early. Nonetheless, great for an afternoon shopping trip. It kind of has an interesting punk/grunge scene.
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| The Locks- Camden market |
If you miss the last train at Camden, take a bus map with you... or if you don't do buses, take a cab (only get in black cabs though... as those are the only safe/official ones)
Fourth, eventually you will need to eat/drink:
Some places close to the Hoxton Hotel:
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Apostrophe is good place for lunch, just turn right out of your hotel and it’s on the left just a minute or so down.
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| Pie and mash... delicious |
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The Great Eastern Dining Rooms – turn right from your hotel and it’s on the left.
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Old Blue Last, this is probably known as one of THE places to hang out for the fashion brigade, full of trendy types and worth a look in if you fancy a beer one night and don’t want to venture too far from the hotel.
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Spitalfields is great for lunch and has a buzz going on. Lots of eateries inside the market.
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The Golden Heart – definitely have a drink in here at some point! A great and very well known (in the clothing/art/media trades) pub on the far left corner. Its run by Sandra, a loony-aunty-type woman who happens to know loads of artists, plus her regulars include many from our industry as well as the local hip brigade.
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Los Parelos – great Tappas Restaurant for dinner.
Saturday morning recommendation:
Borough Market. It's an amazing food market and full of hustle n bustle.
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| Enjoying a pint at The Golden Heart pub |
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Finally, there is a lot of history and touristy stuff that you might be interested in as well:
The best way to see any city is to walk. Yes, the tube will take you everywhere you need to go (and will be much faster)... but you'll miss a lot of what makes that city special by being underground (especially a city like London). Assuming that you will be staying in East London, I've arranged a bit of a walking tour.
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| The Tower of London |
I'd recommend starting your day by walking down to the Tower of London. It is super touristy, but rightly so as it is pretty cool. You can see the crown jewels, where people were hung, the ravens, etc.
After you leave you are right by the tower bridge and the river (cool looking, worth taking pictures of). I would recommend coming back to the Tower Bridge at night as well... very beautiful. Don't go in the tower bridge though as it is not worth touring.
Next, I would then walk along the river towards the center of London. It is a nice 1 or 2 mile walk, but is scenic and will take you right past the houses of parliament (which is Big Ben). You'll also see the restored Globe Theatre across the Thames and the giant ferris wheel (or eye).
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| The Giant "Eye" |
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| Tower Bridge |
When you are by Big Ben I would head to Westminster Abby, which is where all of the kings and queens are buried. It is a big quasi church, and is the spot where the king or queen has their coronation.
At this point you are right by Trafalgar Square, 10 downing street (where the prime minister lives), and Buckingham Palace. You can check out all of them without worrying much about time, as you can just tour them from the outside and do not have to worry about getting in before they close.
The British Museum is a bit out of the way, and is not the one thing you should do if you are short on time.
The National Gallery is only good if you like paintings, but again not really worth it if you don't have a lot of time (one benefit is that it's free).
If you get a chance at night, one show worth seeing in London is Les Miserables. Probably the best musical in London. London also has the original Hard Rock cafe with an amazing assortment of memorabilia. Finally, you really cannot go wrong with finding pubs. They are everywhere. Pub crawls are a lot of fun, but they do close at like 10 or 10:30. After that, you can go to other places that are open later (many places are near leicester square).
Enjoy!!
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