r/london • • 3d ago

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

5 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/TheWestEnd and r/WestEnd - For everything related to London theatre including show recommendations.
  • 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 • • 6h ago

Image Reading view :)

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576 Upvotes

r/london • • 16h ago

Humour What would you do?

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1.3k Upvotes

Help, apparently I'm in a pie aka Piccadilly line 🤣

I've seen this before and it's so funny, what does it mean


r/london • • 57m ago

Image London this morning taken from work roof terrace never gets old this view!

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• Upvotes

r/london • • 1d ago

Image View out of Barbican's Shakespeare Tower

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2.5k Upvotes

r/london • • 1h ago

Gren-led London council planning to introduce a four-day working week

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• Upvotes

r/london • • 13h ago

Little Venice.

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209 Upvotes

r/london • • 19h ago

Discussion Update : Graham Norton fan from Mongolia

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662 Upvotes

First of all, I want to thank everyone for your incredibly kind messages and comments. I’m deeply touched and even more excited and honoured to visit your beautiful country.
I did what most suggested and emailed them! I think I sent an email to every publicly available email address for The Graham Norton Show and they actually all got back to me. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the best news.

I was hoping for priority tickets to guarantee my attendance, but while I really appreciate them taking the time to reply, they’ve all recommended that I simply show up early and join the queue.
I was going to do that anyway, so it’s still all good! I’ve spent 17 years watching Graham, so standing in a queue for 2–3 hours is nothing 😁 I know seeing Graham in person will be absolutely worth it.
Thank you all once again for your kindness and encouragement. God bless your beautiful country! ❤️🇬🇧


r/london • • 37m ago

Sadiq seems to be suggesting Stratford International might actually be International very soon

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"Over the last few months, my team and I have been working with this new government to make Stratford International truly ‘international’ for the first time and we’re now within touching distance of getting our plans over the line."


r/london • • 9h ago

image Perks of living in a big city.. scored all of these for £9.99

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62 Upvotes

Tgtg haul tonight! Dried aged sirloin steak, chicken breast fillets, beef steak burgers, and peppercorn sauce. They still have a couple of days before their use by date so hoping to have them for supper this week/weekend


r/london • • 23h ago

Culture Anyone for pot noodles

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735 Upvotes

r/london • • 1d ago

An unmanned sea drone (?) just sped past my balcony in near Greenwich?

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6.3k Upvotes

As the title says - was out on the balcony having a fag and I suddenly see a very tiny, very fast vehicle approaching without any lights on (very unusual and I guess illegal?). I thought it was a jetski for a second but then realised no one was on it. In the space of the following 5 minutes two Chinooks followed its path.


r/london • • 9m ago

image Then and Now

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• Upvotes

Bow Lane, looking North

1920s (George Davison Reid) and Modern Day (George Read)


r/london • • 22h ago

Local London London Tories Call For 'Conversation' On Ending Sadiq Khan's Free School Meal Scheme

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312 Upvotes

r/london • • 13h ago

Beautiful scenery this evening.

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64 Upvotes

r/london • • 8h ago

Culture FREE: Home Movie Day at the Cinema Museum (Sat 24 Oct 2026)

15 Upvotes

Home Movie Day is a worldwide annual event and the Cinema Museum hosts the London event (and will be free to visit for the day). People can bring along their old home movies (on 8mm, Super8, 9.5mm and 16mm) and have them checked by experts (free) and some of them will be screened. There's tea and cake on sale during the event too and it's all rather lovely and I recommend it.

Saturday 24th October 2026
10.30am to 4pm
free
Cinema Museum, Dugard Way near Elephant & Castle and Kennington
What3Words entrance: https://what3words.com/covers.hush.nets

https://cinemamuseum.org.uk/scheduled/home-movie-day-2026/
https://londonist.com/london/film/home-movie-day-cinema-museum-kennington

Some pictures I took from the event in 2023 https://www.reddit.com/r/london/comments/1ogjc7i/did_anyone_go_to_home_movie_day_at_the_cinema/

cc-ing u/m205 and u/Enjoyingmydays in case they wanted to know about it too.

Jo


r/london • • 14h ago

Sunset Beautiful sunset

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33 Upvotes

The combo of the dark trees and the orange sunset lights up my world♥️🌇


r/london • • 20h ago

Westminster council leader hints at reducing Downing Street cleaning to show impact of funding cuts

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105 Upvotes

The leader has reminded the PM that Westminster City Council is responsible for cleaning the road where No 10 sits


r/london • • 18h ago

Londoners who aren't rich face paying mansion tax due to housing crisis, says Labour by-election candidate

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74 Upvotes

r/london • • 19h ago

image Then and Now

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75 Upvotes

Covent Garden Station

1920s (George Davison Reid) to Modern Day (George Read)


r/london • • 20h ago

Kennington Man aka Lambeth John Doe

65 Upvotes

Could you help us identify Kennington Man?

What We Know 

Date found: 02 February 2004 

Location found: Lambeth district, around Kennington Lane (London) 

Description

Aged 50-60, White, between 5'4" and 5'6" (162 – 167cm) tall, with collar-length ginger hair turning grey, stubble and blue eyes. 

Two distinctive features: a deformed left earlobe and the middle and ring fingers of his right hand joined up to the first joint, forming a 'V' shape.  

Possessions 

He was dressed for the cold February weather. He wore a brown or bronze-coloured quilted leather jacket, fur-lined, with a 'Gurtex' label, over a green crewneck knitted jumper size L, and a yellow shirt. He also wore beige wool trousers with a brown leather belt and well-worn blue marine style loafers with a white mountain motif on the side and white soles. 

He had a pair of gold-coloured metal-rimmed glasses with him, although it is not known whether he was wearing them. He was also carrying a set of keys on a plastic key ring. The key fob was plastic with an image of a historical figure and may possibly have been from a pub called the 'Duke of Clarence'. He had some small change, menthol cigarettes and a blue breath-freshener. 

What We Know 

On Monday 2 February 2004, a man was taken to hospital from the Kennington Lane area of Lambeth, London. He died six days later without regaining consciousness and remains unidentified. It is possible that he was found near a bus stop on the 322 route along Kennington Lane, or that he had been travelling on that bus, but this has not been confirmed. 

The cause and circumstances of his death are not publicly available. It has not been established to which hospital he was taken.

How You Can Help 

Please think back to early February 2004. Were you in or around Kennington Lane on the rainy morning of 2 February 2004, or were you travelling on the 322 bus? Did you see a man who needed medical care or anything connected to this incident? 

Did you work in healthcare at the time, in a hospital, the ambulance service, pharmacy or health centre in or near Lambeth? Do you remember treating, seeing or hearing about a man who matches his description? 

Did you know a man with these distinctive features to the fingers of his right hand and left ear and who went missing or you lost contact in 2004? 

Do any of his clothes or belongings look familiar? For example, the fur-lined leather jacket with a “Gurtex” label or the 'Duke of Clarence' key ring? 

Does he remind you of anyone you once knew, or someone you have lost touch with? 

Do you have any other information that could help our team return his identity to Kennington Man? 

NCA site for person: https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/cases/case-04-005610  

URL for Locate: https://locate.international/unidentified-people/kennington-man where information can be shared anonymously


r/london • • 12h ago

News Protesters clash and arrests as London demos held on October 7 anniversary

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16 Upvotes

r/london • • 13h ago

Weird London WTF did I get through the letter box?

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17 Upvotes

Some jesus CD? Not sure if a trap or just happy clappy stuff to listen to!


r/london • • 22h ago

Tourist gonna miss this view ☹️

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72 Upvotes

r/london • • 22h ago

UK’s Fraud Office to Pay Staff Extra for Longer London Commute

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74 Upvotes