hi all,
just had a bargain for this weekend to london. my friend (both women) and i are staying at the Hesperia London Victoria Hotel near Victoria train/bus station. does anyone know a good pub that will be showing the rugby game on saturday wales v england near this area or can you recommend a pub that welsh people go to - we have not got tickets for the match but want to see it on telly. can anyone help!!
want to cheer our boys on. wales, wales, wales, wales, wales, wales........
etc etc etc.....................

@ alit the Jack the ripper walk is fun
at least it was some years ago ... uhm ok well 10 years ago - on my first visit to London ...
I liked it ... - the stories and desription of the victims and all (including description of the way they died and the injuries they had ) were lots of fun

oh and thanks for the food ideas and the links ... I will be carrying a whole bag just with printouts with me - at least it looks like that right now

Think I must be the only person in the UK who was disappointed with the Eye (except my mum who kept her eyes shut the whole way round, she hates heights lol)

Yes it was a nice view, but you can get equally good views in London for a fraction of the price, and TBH I was a wee bit bored, am very glad I didn't pay for it, else I'd have been more disappointed. Even my dad, whose birthday treat it was, was distinctly underwhelmed and he'd been itching to get on it since it opened.

We went on the 27th for the weekend and booked the 'eye' on the net before hand. It cost us £12.50 each. We printed off the voucher, off the net and took it with us. When you get there you trade it in for a ticket, which gets marked at the part where you all queue up. We booked out time for 2.30pm, and got on 5 mins after that.

It was a clear sunny day and had great views, but i found it run of the mill, over priced and abit boring. I am glad i went on it, but wished i'd stayed on Oxford street shopping

Its nice but i went for the second time with my mum about a year ago and thought it was pretty averidge.
If you combine it with a river tour to greenwich then it seems alot better for some reason!

The Routemaster buses have had to be withdrawn from service as they were not easily accesible for disabled passengers and in particular those people who are wheelchair bound. I don't think it had anything to do with their safety or mechanical reliability, but I stand corrected.

I think this is a step in the right direction as the very design of the old Routemater meant they could not be easily converted to make them wheelchair accesible. The costs involved would have been astronomical even if it were possible to make such a conversion which I very much doubt it would have been.

I travelled on many Routemaster buses in my youth, and although I would agree that the ride was somewhat uncomfortable, they were not really that bad. The open platform did have the effect of making them very cold in the winter months but then most journeys undertaken on these old 'workhorses' were in the main very short ones, you just 'hopped' on and 'hopped' off.

Yes, I guess this did make them somewhat dangerous as many a time I have observed people running after them in a vain attempt to jump on board as the bus was pulling away from the stop. Or jumping off before the bus had come to a complete stop. But in those days that was all part of the 'fun' of riding the Routemaster, it also made it a lot quicker during Rush Hour to catch your connecting bus if your entire journey involved more than one bus.

Times have changed now, and we have to move on and I do think this is a step in the right direction for the disabled traveller who up until their demise was clearly discriminated against. The other probelm with the old Routemaster bus was that many passengers got away with a 'free' ride. This is because during busy peak rush hours the conductor could not get around all those on board as quicly as the passengers were boarding and disembarking. If your journey involved one or two stops, the conductor might not have got around to you to take your fare before you got off. These passngers were not fare evaders, they just made short journeys and were not apprached by the Conductor before it was time for them to get off. The Bus Companies must have lost a fortune this way.

As to conductors helping anyone with a buggy or a pushchair, sorry that one went out with the ark in my own experience

I think that depended very much on the conductor to be fair. I never had any problems with the conductors and found most of them to be very helpful and very pleasant. Many a conductor I experienced went out of their way to ensure your comfort and safety, and some conductors even sang to you. I also think a conductor is a very good idea, as it leaves the driver free to concentrate on the more important aspect of his job, navigating his vehicle around the very congested London streets. But for a multitude of reasons that is now all history.

I believe some Routemasters have been retained and kept in service for special 'Tourist' routes operating in Central London, but you will not see a Routemaster on commuter service in the suburbs anymore, at least not in the UK.

I believe its possible to buy an old Routemaster Bus for something like a £1.000?

Got back from London today after going to see a show yesterday and staying overnight in the Hilton London Metropole. The show was Mamma Mia - absolutely fantastic, I'd go again tomorrow if I could. It's funny, colourful, exhilarating,occasionally raunchy and LOUD in places - well worth the money (didn't have to pay for the tickets, they were a 60th birthday present).

One attaction that I found very interesting the last time I went to London was the Tower Bridge Exhibition. You get to go up inside the towers, see all the winding wheels etc. and other exhibits then walk across the high part of the bridge. It costs £5.50 for adults and is well worth it just for the views.

We had a fab Time on the London Eye and are going back with some friends on the 17th march, and i will definetely be taken them on the Eye

michaela

Any estimates of queueing time in easter Holidays (midweekday?)

check this website to have an ideea of the size of the boarding queue for London Eye.
http://www.holidayphotos.org/d/london-eye.html

But usually it moves pretty quickly, and it is essentially to book your tickets online, so you queue only once , for boarding ( the tickets queue was as long as the boarding queue, when I was in London)

We were down London at the beginning of last week you could walk straight on as there was no queue

Not saying it will be like this in season but for now you don't need to book

BUT we would not pay £26 (£13 each) to ride a Ferris wheel even that one

Hi,

Would like to travel to London in Easter half term.

Anyone recommend a good hotel where we can all stay in the 1 room?
Would like something fairly central, and reasonably priced !!!

Thanks !

Hi we are a family of four and always stay at the premier travel inn at the old county hall .It,s about £90.00 per night for all of you, the rooms are spotless and you can get a breakfast were the kids eat free.The hotel is next to the london eye so you could not be more central, handy for both westminster and waterloo tube stations,ho and theres a nice bar for when the kids are tucked up in bed. hope this helps .

Regards Steve

For bigger groups of friends there is also the wake up hotel, not a lot of comfort or silence at nigth I think, but reasonable prices and 6 bed rooms

I've just booked the City Inn in Bethnal Green for three nights next week (Fri-Mon 21st-24th April) has anybody stayed here before?.

Does anybody know what the big Sports bar on Tottenham Court Road is called, supposed to be okay for watching footy etc.

All help appreciated!!

Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced hotel near London Victoria? We are not due to arrive in London till late evening and will be departing from Victoria again early morning so basically want a bed for the night and access to an en-suite bathroom. I have checked out some hotels on websites but the cheaper ones have terrible reviews - filthy etc and others seem really expensive for what is really just a few hours. However, I would rather pay a bit more and get a clean room.

Can anyone help?

In reference to THIS story, can anyone offer any update on whether or not the 'EYE' has been granted a repreive and is staying, or is it still going to be removed?

If the rent is not paid they say the Eye will have to be removed in a month

I mean if that is still the case, then the EYE only has about fifteen days of its life left.

I'd be totally astonished if it is as when I lived in London it was a very popular attraction. Intially, when it was first constructed, and I watched its erection from my Hospital Bed....I was in St Thomas' at the time following my Heart Bypass Operation.....I thought what a daft place to put a ferris wheel, but then when you could see it all lit up at night, I thought it was amazing.

I never got around to taking a 'flight' on the EYE though as the queues put me off. So has anyone actually been on the EYE and if so what did you think of your 'flight'? Was it worth it? Were the views as stunning as is claimed? And most of all, how can you get around the long queues? Is there a 'best' time to book a 'flight'? Assuming of course the EYE is still there and operational

Hi we went on about 3 years ago and we loved every minute dont be put off by the q's as these are people who have already got a ticket you q in order of time boarding so there is a limited number of people the flight lasts half an hour and you get into your relevant q for boarding

As that report says Gary, "I think we all know this won't actually happen".

There are some comments up above from members who have already been on the London Eye. You will find lots of information on the official London Eye website, including how to beat the queues by booking online .... please click here.

David