Area Code
The country code for the United Kingdom is 44.The city code for most of Greater London is 020.Many busineses instead use the new, non-geographical code of 0870.When dialing either from abroad, drop the initial zero. To call London from the United States, dial 011-44-20, and then the local number. See also “Telephones,”
later in this section.
American Express
London has several offices, including 30–31 Haymarket, SW1 (
%
020-7484-9600; Tube:Charing Cross), near Trafalgar Square.
Hours are Monday through Saturday 9 a.m.
to 6 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Currency
Britain has so far opted out of adopting the euro. The basic unit of currency is the pound sterling (£), divided into 100 pence (p). There are 1p, 2p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1, and
£2 coins; banknotes are issued in £5, £10,
£20, and £50.
The rate of exchange used to calculate the dollar values given in this chapter is
$1 = 56p (or £1 = $1.80). Amounts over $5 have been rounded to the nearest dollar.
Doctors and Dentists
Ask the concierge if your hotel keeps a doctor or dentist on call. Otherwise, for 24-hour emergency care, go to the Royal Free Hospital, 11 Pond St., NW3 (
%
020-7352-8121) or the University College Hospital, 25 Grafton Way, WC1 (
%
020-7380-9964).
Embassy
The U.S. Embassy and Consulate is at 24 Grosvenor Square, W1A 1AE (
%
020-7499-9000; www.usembassy.org.uk).
For passport and visa information, visit the Special Consular Services Monday to Friday from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 2 to 5 p.m.
Emergency
Dial
%
999or 112 to call the police, report a fire, or call for an ambulance.Hospitals
See “Doctors and Dentists,” earlier in this section.
Information
The Tourist Information Centre in Victoria Station is always busy, but the folks who work there are amazingly helpful. Much better is the British Visitor’s Centre, at 1 Lower Regent St., 3 blocks down from Piccadilly Circus (
%
020-7808-3838). It has plenty of information on all of Britain, plus a convenient travel bookshop, BritRail ticket window, and both travel and theatre ticket agencies. It is open Monday from 9:30 a.m.to 6:30 p.m.; Tuesday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (late June to late Sept, Saturday hours are from 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m.).
Heathrow Airport and Liverpool Street station also have information desks, but unfortunately no office answers phone inquiries.
The London Information Centre in Leicester Square is open late seven days a week.
See “Finding information after you arrive,”
earlier in this chapter.
Online you can get information at the national Visit Britain site (www.
visitbritain.org), London’s www.visitlondon.com, and the private but officially sanctioned www.londontown.com. Internet Access and Cybercafes The best cybercafes in London are the easyInternetCafe shops (www.easy internetcafe.com), open daily from 8 or 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. or midnight. They offer hundreds of terminals and charge the lowest rates in town — £1 ($1.80) per hour. Branches include 456–459 The Strand, just off Trafalgar Square across from Charing Cross Station (Tube: Charing Cross); 9–13 Wilton Rd., opposite Victoria Station (Tube: Victoria); 9–16 Tottenham Court Rd. (Tube: Tottenham Court Road or Goodge); and 43 Regent St., in the Burger King on Picadilly Circus (Tube: Picadilly Circus).
Maps
The London A to Z (pronounced ay-to-zed) is a widely available booklet that maps every teensy alleyway, mews, close, and street in all of London. Makes a great sou-venir, too.
Newspapers/Magazines
The best way to find out what’s going on around town, from shows to restaurants to events, is to buy a copy of the Time Out Londonmagazine, published every Tuesday and available at newsstands. You can also get listings from Time Out London maga-zine’s competitor, What’s On,as well as from the Evening Standard.
Pharmacies
Boots (www.boots.com) is the largest chain of London chemists (drugstores). You find them located all over London — with some 156 branches in London alone, there are far too many to list. They are generally open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m.
to 10 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.
Police
In an emergency, dial
%
999 from any phone; no money is needed. At other times, dial the operator at%
100and ask to be connected with the police.Post Office
The most central post office is the Trafalgar Square branch at 24–28 William IV St. (
%
020-7930-9580), open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.Safety
London is a friendly city to its visitors;
areas where you may be a bit uneasy — Tottenham, South London, and Hackney — lie far beyond central London. Even so, London is a very large city, so you’re wise to take general precautions to prevent being targeted by thieves or pickpockets.
Another borough to be wary of is Soho; it has a few borderline areas.
Taxes
In England, a 17.5 percent value-added tax (VAT) is figured into the price of most items. Foreign visitors can reclaim a per-centage of the VAT on major purchases of consumer goods (see Chapter 9 for more on this).
Taxis
See the “Getting Around” section, earlier in this chapter.
Telephone
London has three kinds of pay phones — one that accepts only coins; the
Cardphone, which takes only phone cards;
and one that accepts both phonecards and credit cards. The minimum charge for a local call is 10p (18¢) for 55 seconds. Stick to small coins at coin-operated phones because they don’t make change. Phone cards are sold at newsstands and post offices for £1 ($1.80), £2 ($3.60), £4 ($7), £10 ($18), or £20 ($36). Credit-card pay phones accept the usual credit cards — Visa, MasterCard, American Express — but the minimum charge is 50p (90¢); insert the card and dial 144. For directory assistance, dial 192 for the United Kingdom or 153 for international; for operator-assisted calls, dial 100 for the United Kingdom or 155 for international.
To call the United States direct from London, dial 001 followed by the area code and phone number. To charge a call to your calling card or make a collect call home, dial AT&T (
%
0800-890-011 or 0500-890-011), MCI (%
0800-279-5088), or Sprint (%
0800-890-877 or 0500-890-877). See also “Area Code,” earlier in this section.Transit Info
See “Getting Around London,” earlier in this chapter.