Me again with a question about gants hill ilford.

[pinkdolly]

Hi all,

Thanx for your recent advice on the areas of london.

I spoke to dh and he says to look at travel lodge slightly further out of London. Tho not too far,

So what Gant's Hill like?

I know there is parking and a fairly close tube station. But thats about it.

Also if you know of any more alternatives on the outskirts of London please let me know.

Thank you

Pink

[fruitbeard]

Gants Hill is a 5 min bus ride from us (we're in Ilford proper).

Haven't seen your original post so not sure what you're after... would it be the Beehive Lane travel lodge? That's about 5-10 min walk from the tube station.

It's in zone 4 on the Central line but is only about 25 mins to central London so is good for transport. There's no real 'centre' to the place, the tube is underneath a big roundabout with 5 roads branching off it, but on them are some nice restaurants - a lovely Greek and a gorgeous (if pricey) Chinese, as well as a very child-friendly Pizza Express and a few cafes/takeaways (Serene's do fab kebabs but their chips leave a lot to be desired). And a Tesco Express.

It is also home to Faces, the nightclub that all the Premier League footballers seem to get into trouble at.... not sure if that's a recommendation or not!

Since the cinema closed down (they're building flats there ) it's quite quiet at night although there are a few banqueting halls there .

You also have Valentines Park on your doorstep, which is huge and fab - big playground, huge boating lake with swans and ducks, mansion/gardens they're in the process of renovating and a great cafe at weekends in the Winter.

Historically it's quite a Jewish area - lots of bagel bakeries which are closed on Friday nights/Saturday during daylight hours. No pubs except the Valentine (avoid like the plague) and the Harvester at the Beehive itself, which is a Harvester pub... but not bad for a family drink.

Loads of buses go through too so it's easy to get about. There's Redbridge's one remaining swimming pool a 5 min drive away in Barkingside... can't think of anything else!

If you have any specific questions let me know

[fruitbeard]

Sorry, didn't finish that sentence properly - a few banqueting halls so at the weekend it can get a bit mobbed with wedding parties

[pinkdolly]

Thank you so much, that all sounds good. Basically, we are looking to take our 3 girls 6,5 and 2 up to London for a few days. The older dd's want to see the science and natural history museum. So would need to get into London on 2 seperate days I think (as someone told me u need a day for each museum)

Dh wants to drive but not into London itself, so we needed good transport links. And we wanted some where family friendly. We also needed parking whch apprently this travel lodge does have.

It all sounds good from what your'e telling me, you have been a great help.

Thank you

[lisalisa]

I used to live in gants hill. Not sure I'd recommend it as a base for travelling into london though and not sure whether beehive travel lodge wil be cheaper ( presume you're going in Jan when prices should be as low as they can go) than a low priceish hotel in central london. I'd ditch the car - go to central london to stay in a hotel and walk all around. Seems a bit pointless to commute each day from gants hill and the central line can be a pitta. Also gants hill is quite uninspriing and drab. If you really want to stay outside ceontral london go for somewhere like hampstead or wimbledone which is at least a nice village type atmosphere with cafes and a heath etc.

[PurpleOne]

fruitbeard - are you in any way related to MG school in Barkingside? I am certain I recognise you, but not sure where!