BUSINESS CONTACTS
Mobile phones can be hired from Cellhire (Tel: 7490 7799, Email: london@cellhire. com).
Car hire Try Avis car rentals (Tel: 8268 5822, Email: customer.service@avis. co.uk).
Office rental Easy Offices (Tel: 0800 085 5050, Email: info@easyoffices.com) or Regus (Tel: 0870 880 8484).
Secretarial services Way With Words Secretarial Services (Tel: 8445 7911, Email: waywithwords@btclick.com). Business hours While the City of London continues to work a very traditional Monday-Friday 9am-5pm routine (the Square Mile is deserted at weekends), business hours elsewhere in the city are extremely flexible. Larger shops and chain stores are usually open until 7pm Monday-Friday, as well as until at least 5pm on Saturday and Sunday. Thursday is late-night shopping in the West End. Post offices vary in their opening times, but most are open from 9am-5.30pm Monday-Saturday.
Pubs and bars open from midday-11pm, shortly after which customers will have to leave unless the premises has a late licence. Restaurants are usually open for lunch from noon-2.30pm, and for dinner from 7pm-10pm. These hours are for 'food served’ rather than 'restaurant open’.
LOCAL PRESS
Time Out magazine, published every Thursday, features pretty much everything you could ever want to know about the city as it is that week. Entertainment listings, feature articles, wining, dining and reviews—it’s essential reading and available everywhere. The Evening Standard is a daily newspaper that covers all city issues and features a free and comprehensive entertainment magazine called Metro Life every Thursday. If you’re in town for any length of time, it’s a must-buy. Metro, the daily newspaper owned by the same group as Metro Life magazine, is a poor version of both of the above, but it’s free and available from most Underground stations each morning. It covers essential national headlines.
INTERNET
Logging on to the internet shouldn’t be a problem. If you have your own laptop you can go online with ease from your hotel room, and if you don’t you can drop into any internet café throughout the capital. The most important thing if you’re travelling with your own laptop is to buy an adaptor that converts your standard telephone cord to fit to the wider, thinner UK phone line. These are available in many hardware and electrical shops for about £4.
Some of the better-known and centrally located internet cafés are listed below, but these are a fraction of what’s available. Cyberg@te (Tel: 7387 3810, www.c-gate. com) 3 Leigh Street WC1. Nearest Tube: Russell Square; charges £1 for 20/30 minutes; open 9am-11pm Monday-Saturday, noon-8pm Sunday. Cyberg@te has another branch at STA Travel (Tel: 7383 2282) 117 Euston Road NW1. Open 10am-5pm Monday-Friday, 11am-5pm Saturday. easyEverything (Tel: 7938 1841, www. easyeverything.com) 12-14 Wilton Road SW1. Nearest Tube: Victoria; charges £1 for 20 minutes-1hr depending on time of day; open 24 hours. This chain of cybercafés is a division of the no-frills airline easyJet. Other branches are at: 9-16 Tottenham Court Road W1, Tube: Tottenham Court Road; 60-166 Kensington High Street W8, Tube: Kensington High Street; 358 Oxford Street W1, Tube: Oxford Circus; Trafalgar Square, 7 Strand WC2, Tube: Charing Cross; 122 Baker Street, inside McDonald’s, Tube: Baker Street; 46 Regent Street, inside Burger King, Tube: Piccadilly Circus; Unit G1, King’s Walk, 120 King’s Road, Tube: Sloane Square.
MONEY
Despite being a member of the EU, the UK hasn’t signed up to the Euro and has retained the pound sterling as its currency. One pound is made up of 100 pence. Notes come in denominations of £5, £10, £20 and £50, while coins are 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1 and £2. The pound is a stable and generally strong currency. ATMs are a way of life in London, as the huge queues next to them on Saturday nights in the West End attest. There is no area in central London that isn’t served by them, and they accept cards from any bank in the world that is tied into the Visa, MasterCard, Cirrus or Maestro systems, and sometimes other, more obscure, ones. After a national campaign, most banks now allow their cardholders to withdraw money from other banks’ ATMs without charge, and vice versa. However, those without UK high-street bank cards should be warned that there is nearly always a transaction surcharge for cash withdrawals. You should contact your bank to find out how much this is before using ATMs too freely.
You can change money in most high-street banks, larger post offices and some travel-agent chains, as well as at the numerous bureaux de change. Compare rates and watch for the commission that isn’t always obvious. The trick is to ask how many pounds you’ll receive in all before committing—you’ll lose nothing by shopping around. Credit and debit cards are accepted almost universally in London, from restaurants and bars to shops and even some taxis. American Express and Diner’s Club are less widely used than Visa and MasterCard, while most Londoners simply live off their Maestro or Switch debit cards, which they can also use to get 'cash back’ from supermarkets.
TIPPING ETIQUETTE
Standard rules apply. Tip 10% for taxis and restaurants if the service is not included (but be sure to check on restaurant bills). Note that it’s not usual in Britain to tip bar staff in pubs—if they’re particularly genteel, offer instead to buy them a drink. This isn’t the case, however, in the smarter cocktail bars. Hotel bellboys and porters will appreciate a couple of pounds for helping with your luggage. It should be noted that the recent introduction of chip-and-pin machines has drastically reduced tips for restaurant staff.
PUBLIC HOLIDAYS
Britons don’t get a lot of holidays compared with other developed countries, although things are definitely a lot better than they were before the Bank Holidays Act was passed in 1871. Until then, employers only allowed their workers to take off Christmas Day and Good Friday.
Most attractions and businesses close for a couple of days over Christmas, and those that normally shut on Sunday will probably do so on Bank Holiday Mondays.
1st January—New Year’s Day
Late March/early April—Good Friday and Easter Monday
First Monday in May—May Day Holiday
Last Monday in May—Spring Bank Holiday
Last Monday in August—Summer Bank Holiday
25th and 26th December—Christmas Day and Boxing Day
WEATHER AND CLIMATE
The old adage that “London doesn’t have a climate, it has weather” refers to the fickleness of the atmospheric conditions in the region. Plan a picnic in a park in the morning and it will be raining by noon; go to a film to escape a wet and dreary afternoon and you’ll emerge to bright sunshine in a blue, cloudless sky. You just never know.
But London does have a climate (in fact, among the mildest in England) known as temperate maritime, with mild and damp winters and moderate summers. It’s wise to expect cloudy weather and rain even in the height of summer—take an umbrella. In July and August temperatures average around 18C but can occasionally soar to 30C or more. During most summers, however, you’ll be lucky if the mercury tops the mid-20s. In spring and autumn, temperatures drop to between 11C and 15C. In winter they hover just below 6C. It
very rarely freezes in London these days and snow is an infrequent visitor. It may seem mild, but the dampness can often make it feel much colder.
The website www.visitlondon.com provides a five-day forecast or, for more detailed long-range information, visit the Met Office www.met-office.gov.uk.
SUGGESTED READING
London Blue Guide by Ylva French. Outsmart the locals with this high-brow tome which highlights the capital’s history, focusing on London’s architecture, art, museums and monuments. With extensive (and exhaustively researched) neighbourhood guides and walking tours, you need never wander again.
Style City London by Phyllis Richardson. From chic boutiques to up-and-coming restaurants, this colourful guide lists London’s most hipster-friendly hangouts. Up-to-date information, combined with a chatty tone and over 400 photographs, make this a must for the trendy.
London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd. Writing in the most intimate of genres, Ackoyd tells the story of a city of seven million. A daunting task perhaps, but with engaging prose and a flair for detail, the biographer captures the essence of this sprawling, centuries-old metropolis. London by Gerald Hoberman. An esteemed photographer takes London in his sights. With 161 colour images and plenty of informative text, this is an invaluable introduction to the city. From Hyde Park to the Square Mile, see London’s landmarks as never before.
GETTING INTO TOWN
Airports Although London has five airports in total, Heathrow is the main international gateway to the city. Its approximately 15 miles from the centre of London.
Black cab Follow the signs in each terminal’s Arrivals area for the licensed taxi ranks. The journey will cost £50-65. Minicab There are several licensed minicab firms at Heathrow, which will cost significantly less than a black cab. However, very few minicab drivers know the streets of London as well as the black cab drivers.
Car Follow signs to the M4 motorway, which will eventually bring you into the city. The journey takes 30-50 minutes, depending on traffic.
Bus National Express coaches leave frequently for Victoria, Hammersmith and Earl’s Court. The journey takes from 55 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes. A oneway ticket costs £10, return £15. More information at www.nationalexpress.com. Underground All Heathrow terminals are on the Piccadilly line (deep blue on the London Underground map), and will take you into the centre of town in about 50 minutes. A single ticket costs £3.80.
Train The Heathrow Express takes you straight into Paddington station in 15 minutes. A single fare is £13, an open return £25 (valid for one month). Tel: 0845 600 1515, www.heathrowexpress.co.uk.