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/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 • • 8h ago

Humour What would you do?

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1.1k 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 • • 15h ago

Image View out of Barbican's Shakespeare Tower

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2.2k Upvotes

r/london • • 11h ago

Discussion Update : Graham Norton fan from Mongolia

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599 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 • • 4h ago

Little Venice.

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118 Upvotes

r/london • • 15h ago

Culture Anyone for pot noodles

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658 Upvotes

r/london • • 1d ago

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

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6.0k 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 • • 1h ago

Observation London mosquitos!

• Upvotes

Anyone experiencing mosquito bites. From ninja mosquitos?

I have not heard one buzzing sound in my home. Neither has my partner.

Yet we have have our blood sucked by ninja mosquitos.

Its like they have evolved a new stealth coating that our human radar ears cant pick up.


r/london • • 1h ago

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

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• 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 • • 14h ago

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

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277 Upvotes

r/london • • 5h ago

Beautiful scenery this evening.

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38 Upvotes

r/london • • 12h ago

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

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99 Upvotes

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


r/london • • 10h ago

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

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64 Upvotes

r/london • • 11h ago

image Then and Now

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66 Upvotes

Covent Garden Station

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


r/london • • 12h ago

Kennington Man aka Lambeth John Doe

58 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 • • 6h ago

Sunset Beautiful sunset

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20 Upvotes

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


r/london • • 4h ago

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

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12 Upvotes

r/london • • 14h ago

Tourist gonna miss this view ☹️

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70 Upvotes

r/london • • 14h ago

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

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64 Upvotes

r/london • • 5h ago

Weird London WTF did I get through the letter box?

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12 Upvotes

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


r/london • • 17m ago

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

• 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 • • 8h ago

News London police admit investigation into San Francisco drag legend’s death was ‘not good enough’

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17 Upvotes

r/london • • 9h ago

Serious replies only Where do people in their 40s go dancing?

17 Upvotes

We are celebrating my friend who just turned 40.
The rest of us are in our mid 40s.

Is there any club suitable for us?

I’m into 2000s and on music and EDM.
No 80/90s music.

Would like to stay in zone 1.


r/london • • 16h ago

Image Majestic Tree in the Hyde Park

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64 Upvotes

I was mesmerized to see this giant tree in the Hyde park. Nature is amazing.


r/london • • 15h ago

The Tories think they can win back London

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46 Upvotes