London at night - Safe for a solo traveler?

Hello - I've been to London a few times but never solo. On my upcoming TA, I want to spend a few days in London. I haven't booked my hotel yet but looking near Glouster Road or Earl's Ct (easy access from Heathrow).

My question is, how safe is it to wander around London at night? I want to try for tickets to the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower but am concerned with walking around and taking the tube late in the evening.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance

Dena

London is probably safer than most big cities (I've lived here for 55 years and never had a problem). The tube is safe. If you go for the Gloucester Road hotel (a better area than Earls Court BTW) then you can still get a direct tube to Tower Hill for the Tower of London.

Take the usual precautions that you would in any big city (keep valuables out of sight, button pockets etc.) and you will be fine (we all speak English as well so getting around should not be an issue).

We stayed at the Doubletree hotel near the Tower of London. I walked down to the Tower each night to look at the poppy display and walk along the river bank. There were lots of people out and walking around. The view of the Tower bridge at night was my favorite.

Like any large city you need to be aware of your surroundings, but London is a safe city. Thousands of people every day use public transport at night.

I'm not so sure about one of the comments that everybody speaks English, is true, but you shouldn't have any problems.

Like any large city you need to be aware of your surroundings, but London is a safe city. Thousands of people every day use public transport at night.

 

I'm not so sure about one of the comments that everybody speaks English, is true, but you shouldn't have any problems.

I could not find a tongue in cheek smiley...

I was thinking of my sister-in-law from the US who has to met and escorted everywhere - DW tells her that people speak English here but it does not seem to get through to her!

I guess that the number of tourists we get makes that statement a bit dodgy as well.

Signage is in English and there are still staff on the Tube to ask for help.

Hello - I've been to London a few times but never solo. On my upcoming TA, I want to spend a few days in London. I haven't booked my hotel yet but looking near Glouster Road or Earl's Ct (easy access from Heathrow).

 

My question is, how safe is it to wander around London at night? I want to try for tickets to the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower but am concerned with walking around and taking the tube late in the evening.

 

Thoughts?

 

Thanks in advance

Dena

Any place you might want to visit as a tourist will also be visited by others. You'll never be alone. The down side of that is that some places -- notably Covent Garden -- will be quite congested and if you stop paying attention to your possessions as you watch the street performers, you'll make yourself a target for pickpockets.

As for the area around your hotel -- if you choose Gloucester Rd -- I don't think you need to worry about that either. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza London Kensington last summer. The hotel itself fronts on Cromwell Road at the intersection of Gloucester and Cromwell. There are dozens and dozens of hotels on Cromwell Road itself so foot traffic is active at all times of the day and night.

Cromwell is also a reasonably major traffic artery and there are plenty of street lights. There is plenty of pedestrian traffic on Gloucester in the immediate vicinity of the Underground Station.

(Google Map doesn't show cardinal directions on the map, but the Underground station is below Cromwell, so I'm guessing it is south.) Crossing Cromwell and walking on Gloucester in the other direction, you'll be walking towards Kensington Palace through a lovely and vibrant residential and retail area known as South Kensington.

I'm not correcting your spelling to be picky, but you'll want to spell Gloucester correctly for the sake of looking up hotels and restaurants in the area. Once you hear Alan Arkin pronouncing "Gloucester" in the hysterical 1966 movie The Russians are Coming, you'll never misspell that particular word again.

Dear Traveller,

As a Londoner, I would suggest to you that you get a hotel in Camden Town, It's real London.

You have the markets, great pubs and night life.

Also your close, to Kings Cross (piccadilly line) .

Oh, and it's safe, there's lots of people around at night.

Rhodesgolfer.

Pet Nit Noy

I don't know about spelling, but the places are Cromwell ROAD and Gloucester ROAD. In the UK 'street' and/or 'road' are always added if that is what it is called.

Pet Nit Noy

 

I don't know about spelling, but the places are Cromwell ROAD and Gloucester ROAD. In the UK 'street' and/or 'road' are always added if that is what it is called.

I understand your point about London usage of the appendages like Road etc. but what's your point about spelling? Are you suggesting that I spelled the word "Gloucester" wrong? That the OP's spelling (Glouster) is correct?

I understand your point about London usage of the appendages like Road etc. but what's your point about spelling? Are you suggesting that I spelled the word "Gloucester" wrong? That the OP's spelling (Glouster) is correct?

I think he was picking up on OP's spelling - your spelling is correct.

I don't think he was making a point about spelling at all. In the UK, if you say 'I don't know about such and such, but...' you are often just calling attention to an additional point that needs to be considered. And he's quite right to remind people about this. Because of the duplication of place names in the UK, you are likely to cause confusion if you ask how to get to Gloucester (a city in the West of England) when you mean Gloucester Road, or Buckingham (a town north of London) when you mean Buckingham Palace etc etc. We just don't abbreviate things in that way over here.

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Going back to the original post, I would aim for hotels in Kensington rather than Earls Court. I like a small group there called Elegant English Hotels. Do not be put off by their published rates. They will come down if you negotiate. There are similar boutique hotels in Bloomsbury which is a particularly safe area within easy walking distance of theatres.

Because of the duplication of place names in the UK, you are likely to cause confusion if you ask how to get to Gloucester (a city in the West of England) when you mean Gloucester Road, or Buckingham (a town north of London) when you mean Buckingham Palace etc etc. We just don't abbreviate things in that way over here.

A friend was once over half an hour later for dinner because he had the American habit of dropping the second half of the street name. Having got it into his head that the street was called "Royal Mint", he spent ages wandering around Royal Mint Court unable to locate the restaurant which was on Royal Mint Street.

Another example is "Hyde Park". You might mean the park itself, but if you're referring to a street called Hyde Park, it might be any of the following:-

• Hyde Park Crescent
  
• Hyde Park Gardens Mews
  
• Hyde Park Gardens
  
• Hyde Park Place
  
• Hyde Park Square Mews
  
• Hyde Park Square
  
• Hyde Park Street
  

And these are just the ones that are near the park, to its north. There are more streets elsewhere in London whose names start with "Hyde Park".

So if you're looking for something at the junction of "Gloucester and Cromwell", the first question would be "Gloucester what?"

• Gloucester Avenue, NW1
  
• Gloucester Circus, SE10
  
• Gloucester Close, NW10
  
• Gloucester Court, EC3
  
• Gloucester Crescent, NW1
  
• Gloucester Drive, N4
  
• Gloucester Drive, NW11
  
• Gloucester Gardens, NW11
  
• Gloucester Gate, NW1
  
• Gloucester Mews, E10
  
• Gloucester Mews West, W2
  
• Gloucester Mews, W2
  
• Gloucester Place Mews, W1
  
• Gloucester Place, NW1
  
• Gloucester Place, W1
  
• Gloucester Road, E10
  
• Gloucester Road, E11
  
• Gloucester Road, E12
  
• Gloucester Road, E17
  
• Gloucester Road, N17
  
• Gloucester Road, N18
  
• Gloucester Road, SW7
  
• Gloucester Road, W3
  
• Gloucester Road, W5
  
• Gloucester Square, E2
  
• Gloucester Square, W2
  
• Gloucester Street, SW1
  
• Gloucester Terrace, W2
  
• Gloucester Walk, W8
  
• Gloucester Way, EC1
  

Thanks to everyone for answering my question about safety when traveling alone.

Sorry for the spelling error that I will correct when searching for my hotels:)

On my previous trips to London I've stayed near the British Museum and V&A but this time looking for something with much easier access (plus I will need to get to the Waterloo station, I believe) for transport to Southampton.

I will take any suggestions on reasonably (preferrably under $200 a night) priced hotels as I haven't booked anything yet as I am still a year out. I will check out Elegant English Hotels.

Thanks again

If you need a reasonably priced hotel near Waterloo I would go the Premier Inn at County Hall

If you need a reasonably priced hotel near Waterloo I would go the Premier Inn at County Hall

I'd do that too.