What is london like right now?

[jamieintercity]

Mods - feel free move this elsewhere if its not in the correct section

Does anyone know what london is like right now. I'm due down there on holiday with my family in 2 weeks time for some sightseeing. Are the likes for public transport/restaurants/tourist attractions/open top buses etc busy or still quiet? Just hoping the government don't impose more restrictions by then. Also, what is face covering usage like, are many people still wearing them or not?

 

[bramling]

Mods - feel free move this elsewhere if its not in the correct section

Does anyone know what london is like right now. I'm due down there on holiday with my family in 2 weeks time for some sightseeing. Are the likes for public transport/restaurants/tourist attractions/open top buses etc busy or still quiet? Just hoping the government don't impose more restrictions by then.

I’d say there’s a fairly normal atmosphere. Apart from some of the 9-5 commuters being absent (and even this is declining) you possibly won’t notice too much difference.

I suspect any figures will point to a reduction, but it isn’t really conspicuous.

The high peak on the Underground is still missing though.

 

[yorkie]

Like most places in England, it feels normal (apart from some people wearing face coverings in some settings).

Some people wear face coverings; on the tube it is perhaps on average about 50% which is far higher than you would see outside of London; this is because it is a theoretical condition of travel that people should wear face coverings "except if exempt". There is no legal requirement though. The actual observed percentage is likely to be much higher than 50% in the AM peak and almost zero late evening.

If you go into a pub or restaurant it will feel 100% normal with no-one wearing face coverings.

 

[MikeWM]

Yes - I'm in London, at least briefly, most weekends and it has felt almost entirely 'normal' for some months now. If not for people wearing masks (and the endless announcements/notices on the underground about wearing masks) it would be entirely normal - and the number of people doing that is continuing to drop, or at least it feels that way.

I'd say it is about as busy as usual at weekends. Certainly it is vastly buisier now from when I went there back early in April - at that point I think I counted less than 10 people in the whole of Leicester Square in the early evening!

 

[Eyersey468]

I drive coaches in and out of London most days and I would say traffic levels are near normal plus the amount of passengers we are carrying is about normal.

 

[Hadders]

From a tourist point of view it's getting back towards normality. Public transport is busy, but generally not crush loaded. On the Underground if there's an empty seat next to you someone will sit in it. More mask wearers in the mornings but it declines later in the day and fewer at weekends.

Pubs and restaurants as good as normal.

 

[RailExplorer]

I live in London, work in London and generally spend my time in London. London is alive. Apart from a handful of people still wearing masks on the tube / bus / train, you could hardly tell there was a plandemic happening across the world. The only thing I can't say is whether the touristy things are demanding anything restrictive, because when you live here, you don't really use the touristy things at all. But in my opinion, London is busy / open enough that you couldn't tell the difference pre March 2020 unless you really started studying the changes (e.g. tourism from certain countries is severely lacking, made up by more locals).

 

[dk1]

Driving trains in/out of Liverpool Street I have noticed it really pick up in the peaks since the end of August and had steadily been increasing up until then. Off peak had been healthy for a good few month before that.

Friday 12th November I stayed in a hotel near the South Bank. The evening was spent around Battersea Power Stn, Embankment & London Bridge. The tubes & bars where as busy as they ever where. Quietest thing was the Clipper at 20:22 but having not used it in many years I couldn’t comment on whether that was normal or not.

 

[MikeWM]

The only thing I can't say is whether the touristy things are demanding anything restrictive, because when you live here, you don't really use the touristy things at all.

Maybe they don't really count as 'touristy things' but a couple of my favourite cinemas - or at least they used to be my favourite cinemas - are unfortunately still being annoying with respect to masks, so I've been avoiding them.

The Prince Charles (just off Leicester Square) is still requiring masks, and indeed currently at the top of their website has a banner saying 'Don't forget to wear your mask'

And the BFI Southbank still has the truly bizarre instruction that 'face coverings are expected - if this is not possible for you for medical or other reasons, please contact us in advance so we can take additional safety measures' (!!!). (You can see this here if you think that's just too silly to be true...)

Given there are plenty of other cinemas that don't care less whether you wear a mask or not, my business now goes to them instead.

 

[Bungle73]

The biggest thing for me that is still different, for museums etc., is that they all appear to be still wanting booking in advance, which is a pain. Fortunately, being a member of the British Museum, I can just wave my membership card and be let in; but I was looking at rejoining the Tate (was a member up until a year or two ago), but they still want even members to book!

For cinemas, I went to the Odeon Leicester Square (to see Bond) a few weeks ago, and it was situation normal. No masks required at all.

All the pubs I've been in (both in and outside of London) have been normal too, with back to ordering at the bar and no masks. You do see the odd person come in wearing one, but most people are mask free.

Edit: I've also noticed a substantial drop in mask wearing on the Tube. When I travelled in early September almost everyone was wearing one. I was up in London last weekend and there were tons of maskless people. Maybe only about 50% (probably even less than that) or fewer people wearing masks.

Edit 2: In fact I saw so many people maskless on the Tube it made me wonder why I was bothering. Having travelled up to London and back on the train maskless.........

 

[davews]

Just back from a day in town. A visit to the Horniman museum near Forest Hill, required pre-booking in 15 minute slots, arrived 10 minutes early and went straight in, fairly quiet. When I left a huge group of people was about to enter, not sure if they had pre-booked. Most staff wore masks but many visitors did not. Jubilee line train coming back was jammed packed, and the 'leave four steps' on the escalators seems to have been forgotten. Mask use on the tube seemed surprisingly high today. But by and large and based on my trips in the past month or so it is more or less normal.

 

[ChrisC]

I was visiting for 4 days last week and generally found things very normal. The streets were busy with shops, pubs and restaurants very much back to normal. Tube and buses were quite busy but not quite as busy as normal. Disappointing that booking was still required for museum visits. The hotel I stayed in some ways felt like back to normal except all staff were wearing masks and rooms were still not being serviced. I wonder whether the non servicing of rooms is really covid related or as a result of staff shortages or are they just using it as an excuse to save a bit of money. From the noise that I could hear from my hotel room at 4am Saturday morning it certainly sounded like the night life was back to normal.

 

[52290]

If everything is back to normal I assume beer still costs a small fortune.

 

[dk1]

If everything is back to normal I assume beer still costs a small fortune.

I was paying up to £7.50 a pint. You don’t know these days until you look at your online account a few days after haha.

 

[greyman42]

If everything is back to normal I assume beer still costs a small fortune.

£4-50 to £5-10 a pint is about the norm in the City.

 

[52290]

£4-50 to £5-10 a pint is about the norm in the City.

I'm glad I don't live there!

 

[deltic]

It depends on what you want to do. There are certainly far fewer foreign tourists but possibly more domestic ones which means that it is easier to get tickets for theatres/musicals and the tour buses seem quieter. Central London pubs are quieter except on Thursdays which is generally the busiest weekday. Weekends are as busy as pre-Covid. Service may be slow in some busy restaurants as there are staff shortages, also menus may be shorter than usual and some have increased prices.

 

[kristiang85]

I had to laugh at Sadiq Khant's tweet earlier:

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan
@MayorofLondon
· 9h
This unnecessary strike action by RMT is causing widespread disruption for millions of Londoners and will also hit London’s retail, culture and hospitality at the worst possible time.

Yet his unflailing support of restrictions and measures over the past 20 mnoths has done far more damage (a lot of it permanent) to London's retail, culture and hospitality than a day of strikes ever will.


But I was in London last night, and the place was buzzing. It's taken a while, but it was good to see.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Back to normal tube are on strike.

Cynicism to one side was in the city of London area yesterday and substantially busier than its been since early March 19

 

[scrapy]

£4-50 to £5-10 a pint is about the norm in the City.

Cheaper than central Manchester then.

 

[bramling]

I had to laugh at Sadiq Khant's tweet earlier:
Yet his unflailing support of restrictions and measures over the past 20 mnoths has done far more damage (a lot of it permanent) to London's retail, culture and hospitality than a day of strikes ever will.

A bitter irony there, for sure!

 

[Bald Rick]

£4-50 to £5-10 a pint is about the norm in the City.

That’s cheap! I was paying £6+ yesterday. Regular pub.

 

[telstarbox]

I was out in Brixton tonight and it was generally busy - like before times except for people wearing masks on the bus.

 

[kristiang85]

That’s cheap! I was paying £6+ yesterday. Regular pub.

Yes I find it hard to get a pint for under £5.50 in normal places.

 

[Jimini]

Yes I find it hard to get a pint for under £5.50 in normal places.

Aye same here. Probabaly £6 or so in most places these days, certainly around the office (London Bridge).

 

[nw1]

I was paying up to £7.50 a pint. You don’t know these days until you look at your online account a few days after haha.

!!! I obviously haven't been to London recently, that sounds outrageous.

I had to laugh at Sadiq Khant's tweet earlier:



Yet his unflailing support of restrictions and measures over the past 20 mnoths has done far more damage (a lot of it permanent) to London's retail, culture and hospitality than a day of strikes ever will.

Sadiq Khan is supposed to be a socialist. Condemning strikes is not where his party should be at. He should be working with the strikers to resolve the issue, not trying to be a Tory.

This is not supposed to be a pro- or anti-strike comment, but, the whole point of Labour is to stand up for certain ideals and listen to strikers rather than condemn them. It's the Tories' job to push the anti-strike agenda, not Labour's. Likewise, the Tories are supposed to be the party of business, something they also are failing at through their promotion of Brexit and, earlier this year, overly-prolonged and overly-severe lockdown.

Is it any wonder people are so disillusioned with politics and politicians?

 

[dk1]

!!! I obviously haven't been to London recently, that sounds outrageous.


Sadiq Khan is supposed to be a socialist. Condemning strikes is not where his party should be at.

This is not supposed to be a pro- or anti-strike comment, but, the whole point of Labour is to stand up for certain ideals. It's the Tories' job to push the anti-strike agenda, not Labour's.

It is. They even wanted to add a service charge because they where brought to us but we where not allowed to go to the bar Most places where £5-£6 which is fair enough for certain areas of central London which I expected.

 

[nw1]

It is. They even wanted to add a service charge because they where brought to us but we where not allowed to go to the bar Most places where £5-£6 which is fair enough for certain areas of central London which I expected.

Yes, I would expect something between £5 and £5.50 in London, about £1 more expensive than other, not-especially-wealthy parts of the south.

 

[kristiang85]

I was in a pub yesterday and they charged £8.25 for a mulled wine!!

Not so long ago £3-4 was the accepted price of such things...

I can see pubs need to make up for the lost trade in COVID, but I'm not sure putting prices up so much is going to help. People are already conditioned to staying at home from the lockdown periods, and I know a fair few people who said they definitely go out less as the costs don't justify it.

I love a good pub though, so I do my best to go to them as much as possible, but I vow to swerve the ones where lager is £6+ a pint, especially as you say where they add service charge. Fullers is particularly bad at this.

 

[greyman42]

I love a good pub though, so I do my best to go to them as much as possible, but I vow to swerve the ones where lager is £6+ a pint, especially as you say where they add service charge. Fullers is particularly bad at this.

If they add a service charge then ask them to remove it. I have done this and had no problem.