Hi,

I am looking for a central and clean serviced apartment or a short let flat for a wek in january. Does anybody have a recommendations?

Thanx.

I have found this website very useful as it holds alot of info on the UK, right down to city level including London and other cities and gives you info on clubbing and eating out as well.

The site is http://www.britain.tv

Hope this helps.

Hi, saw Billy Elliot in the Victoria palace last weekend. We really enjoyed the show. We stayed one night at the Tria hotel near Notting Hill and caught the tube over to Victoria. We also stayed 2 nights at the Royal Norfolk in Paddington which was central to most places.

A word of warning for anyone staying in Paddington - I do not reccommend eating in the Steak-house next door to the Royal Norfolk as they slap on a cover charge plus a separate 10% service charge on the bill. Lots of people were complaining about this (including us ) as the service was terrible and the food not that special.

Can anyone enlighten me as to the difference in a cover charge and a service charge please? Always thought they were the same thing?

Often if restaurants bring bread or olives and such to your table (that you probably didn't ask for anyway) they add this to the bill as cover charge. The service charge is normally 'discretionary' if you read the small print - so if you don't think you got good service ask for it to be removed from the bill.

I must admit i think it's a cheek adding a service charge, it should be my choice whether i wish to tip or not! It's also pretty unfair as i presume this way it's shared - if a waiter takes a pride in their job and delivers more on customer service then they 'personally' should get the tips this earns them.

PS. Glad you enjoyed the show - we're taking my Aunt to see it for her 70th in Jan

Hi Marcuschap. Yes the show was great. With regards to the restaurant I was talking about we didn't get anything extra for the cover charge. As you said it normally covers things like bread etc which we get every time we go to Greece, so it was a bit of a cheek to charge us when nothing was provided. We did tell them that we weren't paying the service charge as we hadn't had any service to speak of. They then very impolitely snatched the bill out of my hand and deducted this charge.

Hi.

We are looking to book London for New Year. We have pretty much decided on a hotel, a show and some places to visit, but also want to hit the shops.
I'm just looking for some tips on where to go for the best shopping. Last time we were there we only went to the really obvious places (Oxford street etc) and would like to find some nice boutiques and places where we could find a bargain this time.

Any help would be much appreciated

Sunaholic.

Other good places for shopping that i know of are Covent Garden, Carnaby Street and Kensington High St.

If you're there over new year then i'm guessing some of the sales will have started so plenty of bargains to be had. Selfridges always have a great sale - last time i picked up a £130 shirt for a tenner!!

last time i picked up a £130 shirt for a tenner!!

Really!! I'll definately be going there then!

Thanks for the other tips too, I will have to find all of these places on my very touristy map.

Sunaholic.

We want to book a 2 night stay in London next March for my 40th - there's my husband & 2 teenage sons and we want to see a show and maybe go to the science museum as well.
Not 100% sure what show to see (considering We will Rock You - would have preferred the Sound of Music but can't persuade the boys this is a good idea!)
Would also like to visit the science museum.
Have travelled quite a bit round the world but not to London so I feel very naive and don't really know where to start.
Tried to get some packages over the internet but was coming out at about £800 which seems a bit excessive!
Please can I have recommendations for shows suitable for our family and where to stay - would like somewhere nice but not overpriced - many thanks

We always stay at the County Hall Travel Inn. You would need 2 rooms, they're about £90 each, so that's £360.

Don't bother with breakfast there, as it's quite expensive, either go to a cafe or there's a little shop opposite open all hours.

London is suprisingly easy to walk round.....County Hall is right by the London Eye and near Waterloo, but you can walk over the river to Westminster, or Trafalgar Square, and up to Chinatown or the West End/Leicester Square. Or walk the other way to the Tate Modern or Globe Theatre and over the river to St Pauls. Best to buy a map, even if you do look like a tourist!

The science Museum is fiurther out, but you can get travel cards for the Tube.

For a show I guess tickets would be £30 + each. Best book direct with the theatre. Wicked is one of the newest musicals in town, but I'm not so sure it's for boys? Have they grown out of Lion King?

There are loads of other travel Inns or travelodges around, there might be some special offers, but not usually for London! ...we choose County hall as we arrive at Waterloo and like going to the Festival Hall (when it's open!). You don't really need a posher hotel as how much time are you going to spend in the room?

Hope this gives you some ideas.

Hi

Does anyone know of any cheap b&b's near to heathrow airport??
Even a hostel would do as were only going to be there a night 2 at the most before our flight to Mumbai.

Thanks
Keira x

Thanks Briar.

Have found one on there which looks pretty good. St Giles Hotel.

Cheers Keira x

any marathon runners out there? We are looking for a reasonably priced hotel(ie cheap ) which would be easy enough to get to the race start from(Greenwich Park). Have heard the journey to the start can be traumatic, so anything that reduces stress would be great! (not me running by the way- the OH!)

Try the Ibis Hotel, Stockwell Street, Greenwich.

It's not far from the park, although I gather it's up a steep hill

(my son used to live in Greenwich when he was a student).

thanks acorncup.

A question for anyone who lives in London!
Do you know how much a taxi would cost from HERE to Wembley stadium? Or roughly how long it would take? It would be at about midday Sat 16th June if that helps.

Thank you!

Pippy

If thats the Hotel I am thinking of, then you are not all that far away from the Stadium. You could possibly walk it....IF its the Hotel I think it is, then it is only about 2 miles away from the Stadium itself.

As for Taxi fares, well maybe THIS website may be of some assistance in answering that part of your enquiry.

Thanks BHIC

That's a great help. Yes, it says the hotel is two miles from the stadium and normally I'd be happy to walk.
We're going to a gig which will last from when the first support act comes on stage at 16.30 until Muse leave the stage shortly before 23.00 so we will be absolutely shattered after all that moshing!

May walk to the stadium in the afternoon and get a taxi back that night.
This also depends on what time we can use the Travelodge car park from. Although we can't check-in until 16.00 (which means we'll have to wait until after the gig), I'm hoping we may be able to park the car in their car park before then.

If we can't do that then we'll have to drive straight to the stadium, park there, then drive to the Travelodge after the gig, in which case we won't be needing a taxi.

I really ought to ring the hotel to sort out these details! It's all down to the parking!

Pippy

Pippy

I noticed you said you were going to check in after the concert.

Dont want to worry you but TravelLodge were on watchdog couple of weeks back about allocating rooms on a First Come First Served basis (Even when booked and paid for!)

See the link for details.

CLICK HERE