It’s the 10th anniversary of my move to London, when I left the homely comforts of my little Edinburgh flat in pursuit of a certain girl, and some work. And we all know how that ended up.
So, to mark ten years working here in the big smoke (if not always living here – we’ll always have Swindon), here are ten top London tips. Feel free, of course, to add your own in the comments, for London or your locale of choice.
1. As soon as you live here, you get to be a Londoner. But remember to be a tourist in your own city. Get on the open-topped buses. Sail down the river (I really want to do this on the Waverley this autumn. Hmm. Maybe this weekend, in fact). Do the Tower, and Buckingham Palace, and the galleries and museums one wet Sunday at a time. And subscribe to my mate Andrew’s brilliant weekly email, and buy his gorgeous guidebook, to find more cool things to do.
2. The Tube’s great, sometimes for several complete days a year. But buses let you see more, if you can suss the masonic ritual that is “getting a ticket”.
3. Oyster (Transport for London’s contactless card system) makes life much easier, even on buses. Some privacy activists will tell you, as they adjust their foil helmets, that they won’t use it because Gordon/George/Boris/Ki-moon/Ken will be able to follow their movements as they touch in, and touch out. Yet they have no trouble telling their cabbie where they’re going, and are probably Twittering and blogging the minutae of their paranoid lives from the back seat as they do. Ignore these people, and remember to smile for the CCTV.
4. On the tube, or in the street, keep walking. Briskly. There’s a Facebook group dedicated to Londoners’ fantasies about dealing with those who don’t.
5. No matter how much you earn, and no matter how much more you’re earning with your new London job, you will feel poor. Even Roman Abramovich was surprised at the cost of a loaf down Borough market, and left wondering if he’d taken enough out the hole in the wall for that and an artisan sausage sandwich with organic lemonade for lunch. Really. Or maybe not*. Console yourself with the fact you’re not having to scrape by on less than the London living wage, like one in seven of your new city neighbours. Or maybe you are, in which case, condolences. The government thinks you should survive on the flat-rate UK minimum, despite major banks, other big employers and even the new Tory mayor thinking Ken Livingstone’s higher London minimum is a good idea.
6. Helpfully – because you couldn’t afford a nice car anyway – having a banger with damaged paintwork is the pragmatist’s motor of choice around London. It means you can move into traffic without fear – that BMW/Mercedes/Audi driver will let you in**. It’s not that they’re being nice – they just don’t want to get bashed. Have you seen the insurance premiums?
7. Ah, yes – insurance premiums: for the love of God, shop around. Some insurance firms, landing you with an annual bill that’s one third of your car’s total value, seem convinced London’s full of people madly driving into one another. What? Oh.
8. Don’t buy a house with a basement.
9. Pocketing the money you’ve saved by not buying a house with a basement, save up, and do a really great restaurant. You’ve got an amazing choice, but the best meal I’ve had in London was probably at Rhodes Twenty Four, up the old NatWest tower; British food done really well, with stunning views of the city.
10. But the simple pleasures are good too. Nothing makes you feel like you’re in a great city more than watching the world go by with a late-night/small hours coffee at Bar Italia in Soho, or a greasy spoon breakfast in a formica topped-table caff a few hours later.
* The Abramovich thing is a lie. A flight of fancy, for illustrative purposes only. Sorry.
** This does not apply for London buses. Really. Don’t. Try. It.
Ah, the Waverley – haven’t done that for years! Excellent idea.
Never made it on the Waverley this year – saw it come and go in the rain…
Go for it! And take some piccies …
Ah yes; I really do want to see more of London.
That’s a lovely pic of Tower Bridge Neil.
My top tip would be to cycle along the Thames from Richmond to Rotherhithe, keeping to the South Side as much as possible.
You have to criss-cross the river around Wandsworth/Putney but you get to see an amazing variety of ‘Londons’ en route.
In my experience, you don’t have much choice about (1). One of the obligations of living in London is taking friends/relations/odd foreigners on the grand tour.
Agree about the buses, but you missed out some of the best bits: the Tate galleries, the markets, and wandering round Hyde Park on a Sunday afternoon
Neil, don’t try this weekend – she isn’t due down till the end of the month!
Great stuff. Have just about made two years and miss the trees…
@Jemima Kiss – miss the trees? There’s loads of trees! In fact I heard there are more trees in London per square mile than in the country as a whole. Sounds plausible when you think about how much of farmland has had all the hedgerows ripped out in the past 50 years.
Why no basement?
London was one of those locations that I wanted to see one day;no way near the top of my list but after visiting last May I consider it the greatest city in the world. One could live there 10 years and only scratch the surface of all the options. The buses,the parks,the trees,the river,the architecture which is so under rated,the people. I really think many Londoners and many visitors have no clue to how intriguing and wonderful London can be. I cannot wait to return. Pricey is the only drawback but I can afford an apple and yougurt so I am good to go. I would love to visit at Christmas and I would love to see the fog…it does still have fog? (I hope). Pause ,appreciate,enjoy …what a city. Charles Davis
My tip is: Buy membership to the Tate. Even if you aren’t keen on art, its an amazing place to retreat to on a weekend. The Tate modern memebers bar has wonderful views over the south bank and operates as a base for your adventures along the river.
I agree on the Tate tip. Lovely place to have a cost-effective lunch (Pumpkin soup and a salad and view that should cost a lot more)
I visit family in Belsize often and I really enjoy a stroll through South End Green (Hampstead Heath) hours of trees, and ponds and dogs. (And dog owners, too)
Spaniard’s Pub is nearby for a decent ploughman’s lunch and drink.
thanks for this – I will be in London again for aweek next month and am looking for more tips like this.
ooh like it. My top tip is travel from Little Venice to Camden via the Jason Canal Boat. Did you know those boats used to be horse drawn? Yes they did.
p.s Loved the bit about privacy activists in point 3, I like the fact No2ID (grr!) is on Facebook.
Nice list – after seven years I’ve come up with my own list of top tips for London and have to say that coming up high on the list are a stroll through Portobello Market on a lovely spring morning followed by a picnic on Primrose Hill.
If you have been visiting London for years, perhaps even decades, using the tube off-peak, don’t imagine you have ANY IDEA what it is like to use the tube during the morning crush.
For sheer entertainment value, I like the Indian restaurants where a stern lady refuses to let you go to the lunch buffet until you PROVE TO HER that you know exactly what you’re entitled to have with all three, differently priced buffet options.
I’ll second the Tate – always make time for it if I have the time…
Frontline Club – http://www.frontlineclub.com – as a place to eat, work, natter and drink. I am biased, but difficult to beat as a member’s club in London.
I was recently turned on to Super Fish on the Waterloo road – an excellent and manically busy fish n chip restaurant favoured by London cabbies.
Walking – If you have the time, London is a pretty cool walking city, IMO.
And the Anchor & Hope on The Cut south of the river has to be the funnest, bestest place to eat great food in a great pub in London. Menu changes loads, but here’s an old one,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/noodlepie/137229073/
Hey Neil, sorry to hear about your basement experience…just had mine extended so I am very interested in the subject!
My tip to any visitors to London is to try and take in a stroll around Hampstead Heath…including the view from Parliament Hill.
Agree with Graham (above) about Super Fish – top quality and great value.
For long walks, head east and explore Epping Forest – it’s huge!
For sporting entertainment, avoid the big Premier League clubs (really expensive and hard to get tickets) and head for Loftus Road, Brisbane Road or Griffin Park. Or one of London’s many non-league clubs.