London, UK

Visiting us? Moving to study or work? Brief layover? Moving to a new part of London? Any small questions about life here, if you're new or been here your whole life, this is the place!

We get a lot of posts asking very similar questions so this post aims to address some of our most Frequently Asked Questions, and give you a place to ask for assistance.

Your first port of call should be

It includes sections on:

What should I see and where are the non-touristy stuff and hidden gems?
We've written about the big must-sees here and we highly recommend TfL's Experiences site.
We've listed some of our favourite lesser-known stuff here And the cheap/free stuff here

How do I pay for the Tube/bus, and what's an Oyster card?
You don't pay cash. You can use a number of contactless payments systems such as your Contactless bankcard (which is widespread in the UK, but maybe not so much elsewhere), Apple Pay, Android Pay, or you can buy an Oyster card and top it up with credit. See here for more.

Where should I live? What's x area like?
Have a look here
It includes recommended sites to find places to live and rent, and has a section on what particular areas are like.

How do I get from this place to that place?
Use Citymapper. Honestly, we're not shills for them; it's just a really good app and is used by most of the locals on this sub.

Is x area safe?
Yes. Bad stuff can happen in any large city, but London is generally very safe. There aren't any no-go zones. Even under the shadow of terrorist attacks, most Londoners feel safe. See our safety page here for more.

Where can I watch the baseball/basketball/football/handegg match?
A comprehensive guide to all London football matches in all leagues can be found at tlfg.uk. Use Fanzo to find pubs showing a variety of sports and see our list of other places here

How do I get a UK SIM card for my phone?
Advice on networks and how to get a SIM card is covered here.
It also includes suggestions of cafés and other places where you can get free wifi and do a bit of work.

Is the London Pass worth it?
Probably not

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Other subs that you may find helpful:

• /r/LondonSocialClub - Meeting new people for events, activities and/or pints.
  
• /r/IWantOut & /r/UKvisa - Check if you need a visa and how to get one if you want to work here.
  
• /r/LegalAdviceUK - Good for all sorts, especially for questions about landlords and contracts.
  
• /r/UKPersonalFinance - Another goldmine of sage advice.
  
• /r/AskUK - Great for general questions about UK life that aren't specific to London.

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Tips for posting:

Tell us about you - If you want us to suggest things for you to do then you need to give us a good idea of what you enjoy. Don't just say "I like music", say what type of music. Don't just say you want "somewhere nice to eat", say what type of cuisine you like (or don't like). The more specific you are the better, otherwise you'll just get pointed back to the generic guidebooks, blogs and our wiki.

Tell us your budget - If you're on a budget then tell us what it is and we can bear that in mind when making recommendations. There's no point in us coming up with ideas for things to do and places to eat if they'll clean out your wallet within the first 5 minutes. Saying you want something "cheap" isn't really helpful because what's cheap is entirely subjective.

Tell us where you'll be based - Let us know where you'll be staying so that we can give local recommendations.

Asking about hotels or hostels - We have homes here so know very little about what the hotels are like. Look on review websites such as TripAdvisor. However, if you say "I've been looking at these three hotels. Which do you think is the better location?" then that's the sort of thing we can answer.

Non-touristy stuff - There are no secret corners where we hide the good stuff from outsiders! This is one of the most written about cities in the world, so when we want to go to a museum, or gallery, go window shopping, or whatever, we look at the same sources as tourists (listings sites, blogs, etc - see front page of the wiki).

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^{These weekly posts are scheduled to post each Monday at 00:01. If it's late in the week you may want to wait for a new post to appear. Please send us [ModMail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Flondon} with any suggested improvements!)

Hello folks,

Just a follow up and some clarification on how we'll handle Rule 1 during the General Election.

In general (hurr hurr), election-related stories are national news, so go on UK national subs. Good places for election stories are:

• r/UKPolitics
• r/UnitedKingdom
• r/AskUK for your election questions
• r/GreatBritishMemes for your memes

If you can find a London-specific angle to the election, though, please do post by all means. Posts that meet our guidance for Rule 1 would be things like the following:

• How possible policies affect London uniquely and specifically, e.g. housing, transport, etc.
• News about key London battleground seats and how the parties are engaging with them.
• News about candidates in particular seats (although we'l need balance here).
• News about any notable election-related events happening in London, such as rallies, protests, or community meetings.
• Information about hustings, debates, townhalls, and community meetings.
• Information about organising and campaign in London (again, ideally with balance)
• AMAs with London candidates (please contact da mods!)

We'll be posting our typical megathreads with reminders to register to vote, how to vote, candidates in each London seat, and so on.

In fact, DO IT NOW. GO REGISTER TO VOTE (if you haven't already - doesn't matter if you do it twice!)

Stories that would not be ok under Rule 1:

• Prime Minister who lives in London calls election
• Party leader makes national policy speech from location in London
• TV debate tonight coming from Broadcasting House in London
• How this party's policies will increase/decrease the cost of living which is a problem in London

These are better left to the UK subs.

If we get completely swamped with election threads we may put a rate limit on them and try and achieve some kind of balance. While the election is certainly very important, not everyone wants every sub full of just election posts.

I hope this makes sense, leaving this open for comment for a bit.

Seriously, is it a call for attention? Is it to punish the world for something that happened to them?

I find it appalling that this is acceptable, vehicles often carrying one person being louder than aeroplanes and emergency vehicles.

I know, living in a city means accepting a certain level of noise, but most of these are stupidly loud, to the point where even double glazing can't do much.

We have speed limits, why isn't there a decibel limit?

Walking across a pedestrian crossing on the Caledonian Road with our dog. Made sure there were no cars nearby when we did. A white car comes speeding down and doesn't stop. I'm ahead and even walk slower to try and make sure we're visible. He keeps speeding directly at my partner and dog. My partner pushes our dog out the way and jumps across the road hurting her wrist (we are going to A&E to get it checked). The guy stops completely across the crosswalk and says he didn't see us. I shout at him and he tells me to fuck off and drives off.

Totally shaken over the incident. Just wondering if there's anything to might be helpful in terms of reporting to police. Don't want to miss anything due to shock.

A nice cab driver passed on his registration and a picture of his car completely over the crossing.

Ugh.

My friend and I were stood talking outside Highbury & Islington station when we saw a guy on a mountain bike in all black and wearing a black Covid / medical style mask attempt to grab someone’s phone. The victim held onto their phone and received a torrent of verbal abuse from the thief who also proceeded to tell the victim “you’re lucky” 🙃

What I found the most shocking was that the thief continued to stay outside the station just circling on his bike waiting for someone else to steal from? 0 shame; 0 fear of consequences.

People were warning others to put their phones away and the victim was confronting the thief and I reported the incident to station staff and BTP. Station staff advised me to proceed with my journey and avoid the confrontation taking place so I’m not sure what happened next.

I just hate these people so much and this whole situation has made me so infuriated because the thief didn’t even leave the scene; because he knows there will be no repercussions. And I felt so useless when all I could do was report to the various authorities and couldn’t really intervene in any other way; it made me feel so powerless!

Anyway sorry to add to the millions of posts about phone thefts in this sub. Just so upsetting to witness. Remain vigilant out there everyone!

Feels like everyone is bailing! It's gotten harder but is it worth it to stay?

Passing through. Staying near Covent Garden and looking for things to do. Very food motivated, would love some good coffee, thinking about checking out one maybe a few markets, and maybe a chill pub. What you got reddit?

However Lord George Gordon head of the Protestant Association, argued that such a law would enable Catholics to join the army and indulge in treason. The protests lead to widespread rioting and looting over a course of one week, that included attacks on Newgate Prison and Bank of England, as well as burning and looting of Catholic chapels. Around 300-700 were estimated to have been killed.

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Hey guys

Any idea where (coffee or pub) i can sit outside and enjoy the sun and work with a laptop and connect it to the plug? My laptop has a shitty battery.. Central london ideally :)

Thanks all

Coming from the states and gonna check out MoS for a show 6/14. Debating if VIP standing is worth it, mostly how is the viewing of the main room? Most I could find for images on viewing was little windows

I’m moving to Italy from NYC soon and already feeling homesick. I know there’s a small population of Guyanese in London so would love to know where the Guyanese places are in London since it’s a cheap flight from Italy. Thanks.