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Country code
44
City code
020
Population
7.5 million
Time difference to GMT
0 (+1 British Summertime) |
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by Richard Bence and Tobi Cohen
KEY AREAS
The City The financial and trading heart of London, it contains the headquarters of all major UK banking and stockbrokering institutions. Busy during the day, it’s largely deserted by night.
Soho Behind Leicester Square, this is London entertainment’s throbbing heart. With its dive bars, cool pubs, fashionable restaurants and a large gay community, Soho is where Londoners go when they want to let off steam.
Covent Garden is a haven for individual fashion and accessory shops, funky bars, cafés and small independent theatres. In summer, the cobbled square of the reconstructed Covent Garden Market becomes more Florence or Seville than central London.
Mayfair is the opulent centre of Old London, home to the grandest hotels and Bond St, where all the fashion houses congregate.
Shoreditch Brick Lane and the environs of Old Street are where London’s creative types hang out in vintage clothing shops, art studios and fashionably run-down pubs and bars. Glamorous anomalies crop up in the form of Les Trois Garçons restaurant, its sibling bar Loungelover and the Great Eastern Hotel, where suity types rub shoulders with fashion kids.
Kensington and Chelsea Popular with ladies who lunch, Chelsea has the designer boutiques and restaurants they crave. It revolves around King’s Road, Fulham Road and Sloane Square.
Knightsbridge One of the smartest areas in London, it has world-famous department stores Harrods and Harvey Nichols and designer boutiques. Come armed with a fully charged credit card.
South Bank The south side of the Thames houses institutions of Britain’s contemporary arts community such as the National Theatre, National Film Theatre and the Tate Modern art gallery.
