Alone for an evening in London

[OwlMother]

I have recently found myself travelling a lot to London for work and often have an evening to myself. To set the scene I have not been to London much before this , DH has worked there a lot and is never keen to visit so we go to Europe for city breaks.

The first couple of times I went I stuck to the airport, office, hotel and didn’t venture much further afield. I’m feeling a bit more confident now annd the evenings are lighter and was hoping there would be suggestions of places I could head to for a look round (ideally on foot so I can maintain my steps!) combined with good places to go for a solo dinner.

I’ll be based in the city, near Liverpool Street Station. Happy to walk for up to an hour if it’s a good route. I took myself in a self guided tour of the Barbican last time and had a great time. Any suggestions would be really welcome.

There's a great website called A lady in London and she publishes her walks with little google maps. So handy. I've lived here all my life and her walks have shown me things I've never seen.

Have you read the Wolf Hall books? You could walk to Austin Friars from Liverpool St. I was hugely thrilled by finding it but I might be weird.

I would wander through the City down to the river and over London Bridge to the South Bank.

Also Brick Lane, Spatilfieds up to the Angel and along upper street.

St Pauls is right there and very beautiful

Walk to st Paul's and over the river to the Tate Modern building.

Go and see The Mousetrap?

Get a single seat ticket to a show or play. Utter bliss!

These are really good suggestions thank you! I’ll have. Look at the website- that sounds great! I’m keen to walk rather than go to a show as I’ll have been at my desk or on a train all day. I’m aware I have no idea of the geography of where I stay so I think walking will help that.

Does anyone have any suggestions of places for dinner- rather than me just finding a chain place?

Near Liverpool Street I would recommend https://www.thegentleauthorstours.com/ - a local author doing walking tours of Spitalfields and nearby locations.
His books are very good, and his local history knowledge is excellent.

There is a website hopefully someone else can link where you can pick up last minute single seats to theatre. And then check some of the posh restaurants to see if they do a pre-theatre fixed price menu. Some of them do very reasonable deals. I have done this a few times although a number of years ago. Taken a chance on a show and a restaurant.

If you’re happy to head back toward Barbican try Brutto for dinner. Lovely Italian and they do a free spritz for solo diners

Ottolenghi in Spitalfields is close. There’s a bar that you can sit and eat at if you don’t want to eat at a table alone. You’d probably need to book though.

Places which are immediate walking distance from Liverpool St that are great to explore: Spitalfields, Devonshire Square, Leadenhall Market, Brick Lane (treat yourself to some delicious food!), St Katherine’s dock.

You can walk a little further, through the city, across London Bridge, then along the river past HMS Belfast and back over Tower Bridge.

Venturing further, take the tube to Westminster, cross Westminster bridge, walk along the south bank as far as you like.

You could do a guided tourist walk, for example the Jack the Ripper walk, ghosts of the old city, that sort of thing. There are loads available but I like this website https://www.walks.com/

West End theatres.

For special events, seasonal activities, etc, look on the Time Out website, and check out the social media page Ian Visits.

Ottolenghi is fabulous, regardless of location.

Crosstown Doughnuts at Spitalfields. Baraka in Broad Street Circle.

This is amazing thank you!! I’m only down for one night this time so think I’ll head to Ottolenghi- very excited!! Next time it’ll be almost a week at which point I’ll go to Brutto and try and find the doughnuts at Spitalfields. And loads of good walk ideas. Thank you all!

I get a bit apprehensive about these solo trips, having a plan makes it much better.

Ottolenghi is lovely, I’ve only been for brekkie and takeaway bits there but everything was so good :-)

Plus one for the London Walks- they really are excellent.

Walk down to the river and over to the Tower of London or else you could just meander over there through the streets, should take 25-30mins