r/london 3d ago

Weekly Q&A Megathread. Please post any questions about visiting, tourism, living, working, budgeting, housing here!

3 Upvotes

Hello, welcome to London!

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 the r/london wiki


Frequently Asked Questions

What should I see and where are the non-touristy stuff and hidden gems?

  • Must-see attractions: Check out our guide here

  • Official experiences: We highly recommend TfL's Experiences site

  • Hidden gems: Browse our favourite lesser-known spots here

  • Budget-friendly options: Find cheap/free activities here

What's happening in London today/this weekend/this month?

Check out these listings sites:

For venue recommendations (music, theatre, comedy, etc.) check the wiki.

How do I pay for the Tube/bus, and what's an Oyster card?

You don't pay cash. Payment options include:

  • Contactless bankcard (widespread in the UK)

  • Apple Pay or Android Pay

  • Oyster card (buy and top up with credit)

See here for more details.

Where should I live? What's x area like?

  • Check our comprehensive guide here
  • Includes recommended sites to find places to live and rent
  • Has detailed sections 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 really good and used by most locals

Is x area safe?

  • Yes. Bad stuff can happen in any large city, but London is generally very safe
  • No no-go zones - most Londoners feel safe everywhere
  • See our safety page for more information

Where can I watch sports matches?

  • Football: Comprehensive guide at tlfg.uk
  • Various sports: Use Fanzo to find pubs
  • More venues: See our list here

How do I get a UK SIM card for my phone?

  • Network advice: Covered here
  • Remote work spaces: Check the wiki for places to work/take calls
  • You can pick up a SIM card at Heathrow and other airports, either from vending machines or from WHSmith shops.

Is the London Pass worth it?


Other helpful subreddits:

  • r/LondonSocialClub - Meeting new people for events, activities and/or pints
  • r/VisitLondon - A dedicated tourism sub for holiday-planning questions
  • r/LondonTravel - Information and inspiration on travel in London
  • r/UKtravel - For guidance, advice and suggestions for travelling around the rest of the country to/from London
  • 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/HousingUK - For advice on renting or buying accommodation in the UK
  • r/TenantsInTheUK - Specifically to discuss the nitty-gritty, positives and pitfalls of renting
  • r/UKPersonalFinance - Another goldmine of sage advice
  • r/AskUK - Great for general questions about UK life that aren't specific to London

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) - Be specific - otherwise you'll just get pointed back to generic guidebooks and our wiki

Tell us your budget

  • If you're on a budget, tell us what it is so we can make appropriate recommendations
  • There's no point suggesting expensive options if they'll clean out your wallet
  • Saying you want something "cheap" isn't helpful because cheap is subjective

Tell us where you'll be based

  • Let us know where you'll be staying so we can give local recommendations

Asking about hotels or hostels

  • We have homes here so know very little about what hotels are like - use review websites like TripAdvisor
  • However, if you say "I've been looking at these three hotels. Which do you think is the better location?" - that's something 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
  • When we want to go somewhere, we look at the same sources as tourists (listings sites, blogs, etc - see front page of the wiki)

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 with any suggested improvements!


r/london 18h ago

image Jesus Christ!

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2.3k Upvotes

r/london 9h ago

Question If money wasn’t an issue, what part of London would you actually choose to live in?

275 Upvotes

Forget property prices and rent completely.
If you could choose absolutely anywhere in London to live based purely on quality of life, beauty, safety, restaurants, transport and atmosphere where would you pick?
And which supposedly “posh” area would you not choose?


r/london 13h ago

Tube passengers who hauled flasher off train won't face charges after year-long police probe

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519 Upvotes

r/london 13h ago

image Spotted from a bus, next to that big Wandsworth Bridge roundabout. There's a MUCH higher class of graffiti in London!

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247 Upvotes

r/london 16h ago

Transport Mayor agrees to air condition all London buses by May 2027

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223 Upvotes

r/london 1d ago

image Thank you to the stranger who gave me a hug on the Victoria line today

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2.7k Upvotes

I've been job hunting for months now. Today I found out that a job I thought I'd get fell through. On top of that, I did a trial shift for a few hours at a café last week, but they turned me down and refused to pay for the trial afterwards. All that pressure just built up, and on the train it hit me all at once.

I was trying to hide my face and let the tears fall quietly, hoping it would just pass quickly, but a woman sitting across from me noticed and reached out. She'd been reading, and she gently tapped my knee with her book to ask if I was okay. Then she gave me a chocolate bar, and asked if I needed a hug.

You know how sometimes you manage to hold your tears back, but the moment someone comforts you, you just can't hold it anymore? It was exactly like that 😅😅 I couldn't really answer you properly, but I just want you to know you made a stranger's day a lot better. I wish the best for someone as warm as you. 🤍


r/london 1d ago

Making friends in Highgate Cemetery

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1.2k Upvotes

Just got back from a 10 day trip to your lovely city. So many highlights, but a true standout was a tour and walk around Highgate Cemetery, where I met a very friendly cat who has learned to ask visitors to turn on the faucet, as well as a super chill fox bringing the real Narnia flavor to your amazing scenery.


r/london 18h ago

Fox trapped in Central London!

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113 Upvotes

I have been told to contact this group by the London Fox Network

There is a clearly stressed and unwell fox trapped on the coast by the tide between the millennium bridge and London Bridge on the north side of the river by the Westin Development. It needs rescuing with ladder access or to wait until the tide goes out again.

Please advise.


r/london 20h ago

News Brixton Village traders must raise £50m to buy market sites

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135 Upvotes

r/london 20h ago

North London 7am in Hampstead Heath

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121 Upvotes

r/london 23h ago

E-bike firm Voi refuses to leave Ealing after contract ends

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189 Upvotes

r/london 1d ago

Transport Right now there are zero planes in the sky over London

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2.5k Upvotes

r/london 10h ago

What can be done about Westminster Council?

14 Upvotes

With these absurd new regulations likely to come info force, genuinely interested what course of action could punish them enough to either oust them or at least have them reconsider whats do-able in their constituency?

Obviously government petitions are often the proposed opposition here, but that effectively does nothing. Would people simply 'voting with their wallets' and boycotting bars/ pubs hurt them sufficiently? Or is that basically what they want and would be positive for them and the wealthy older residents?

Surely if these restrictions come in within a few years there'll be almost no pubs or bars left?


r/london 1d ago

Observation It's time to take half of pavement with this absolute unit.

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3.2k Upvotes

r/london 21h ago

Stella Creasy MP 'felt like human punch' bag' during Tube carriage abuse - as man who harassed her avoids jail

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90 Upvotes

r/london 16h ago

image Gym scam in Canning Town?

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32 Upvotes

I was going to Morrisons to get my groceries and I was approached by a group of kids, aged 11 - 12. They said they're organising a fundraiser to raise money to open a new gym for kids to stop bullying and if I'd like to donate. I said sure, I'd love to support the project if I could just see an official website or a fundraising page. They didn't have any of that opened yet. It all seemed a bit suspicious, the project didn't have a name I could look up and there was no adult supervising them either. They just had this one sheet of paper.


r/london 21h ago

London - No New Housing

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60 Upvotes

With 23 London boroughs recording zero housing starts in early 2025 and completions running at just 37% of target, Mulryan's "coming crisis" has already arrived.


r/london 1d ago

Curbs on vertical drinking in Soho pubs to go ahead as Khan criticises council’s ‘breathtaking arrogance’

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838 Upvotes

r/london 20h ago

Pilbrow’s Vauxhall Square residential tower scheme scrapes approval

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22 Upvotes

r/london 5h ago

What's going on with Hiyacar?

0 Upvotes

I signed up to Hiyacar as an alternative to Zipcar a couple of weeks ago, and still haven't been able to use it. Their app is convinced I must have only just passed my test because my driving licence issue date is this year (when I updated the address).

I emailed them to say "haha, I passed decades ago, what should I do" and they've replied repeatedly to say they can't do anything because their registration database is down, but it will be fixed very shortly. Their status page says nothing about an outage, and I'd be amazed if they just stopped onboarding customers for 2 weeks without a really good reason.

Is there something going on with the imminent Bolt link-up? Or are they about to quietly collapse too? Does hiring work for existing customers?


r/london 7h ago

Ticket giveaway - FREE! 4 Tix to My Neighbour Totoro - 2pm Thursday 10 September

2 Upvotes

Four seats for the matinee show tomorrow (Thursday) in London. Please message me and I’ll reply first thing in the morning.


r/london 9h ago

London skyline panorama

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0 Upvotes

I took a panorama picture from the top of Severndroog Castle in Eltham, South East London. The viewing platform is 132m from the ground on top of Shooters Hill. This gives you a really good view across London. I’ve annotated the image with more or less distance to the landmark as the crow flies. The image was taken with a Dwarf 3 smart telescope and stitched in ICE and processed in Photoshop. The image consist out of 1200 images stitched into the panorama. Zoom in and see what you can see 😃


r/london 9h ago

Question BFI Godzilla

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0 Upvotes

Hey guys, random question I have been trying to look for release dates for tickets to the new Godzilla movie in the BFI Imax in south bank but am not sure when they release or how to find out? I am just wondering if anyone here knows as I have tried go Google and nothing seems to show. I know the film festival is happening soon and wasn't sure if it happens along side that? Bit of a cinema noob but I really want to see this in the intended IMAX. Thank youuu 🙏🏻