London- warm, dry place to go

[ColdNovemberDay]

Posting here for traffic. I have a valid reason to travel to central London tomorrow and am looking for somewhere warm, nice with coffee preferably to go to pass the time between my two appointments I have at opposite ends of the day.

Any ideas what might be still open and fit the bill?

Are churches open? You could maybe pop in for a spell of quiet reflection and private prayer.

Quite a few hotel chains were doing deals on day rates aimed at home workers - I’m not sure if they are continuing during lockdown (don’t see why not) or if you have the budget for this but it might be worth looking into.

Are any museums open?

Where are your appointments? Then we might be able to suggest some more specific options.

@eddiemairswife

Are any museums open?

No , they won’t be open until lock down is over and even then it depends which tier they’ll be in .

The hotel idea is good also - I just looked at dayuse.co.uk Some available centrally from £49 from 10am-6pm, you could chill, have a coffee, read, Netflix etc.

Kingly Court off Carnaby Street - it’s not indoors but it is covered, with lots of picnic tables / benches and lots of options for takeaway food and drink

Liverpool Street station is covered, not exactly warm. Alternate benches are marked off and there’s plenty of places to get a coffe/snack. I imagine all the large stations will be open in a similar manner.
I’d take plenty of layers with you, get a travel card and try the buses and DLR for a change of scenery.

I think the bus idea was a good one, you could ride around on a bus for ages!

In normal times I would have said go to the Royal Festival Hall, people take their laptops and just hang out all day.

Are the 1st class lounges on stations open? You could buy a 1st class ticket for one stop! Churches might be open if only for an a hour; it won't be warm but you could have a peaceful hour in St James's, Piccadilly, there's a coffee stand outside in the garden and then a browse in Fortnum's? If you do try Borough Market for lunch, Southwark cathedral is open and quite interesting to browse the memorials, then you could head to Hay's galleria for a coffee.

In the middle of the day, the stopping train from Victoria to Orpington and back would kill a couple of hours, is warm and comfy (and deserted) and has free WiFi.

If your appointment is at one of the hospitals there are likely to be lots of places in the hospital to sit for ages. I work in a big London hospital and the cafes and restaurants are open; once you are through the door with an appointment letter nobody is going to kick you out so you’d be fine at where I work OP.

Another one saying Hays Galleria here - next to London Bridge and Borough Market too.

Thanks everyone- some great ideas here! I'll report back after tomorrow.

I'm still confused about the clippers though. Perhaps the website is wrong and they allow you just to turn up and buy a ticket there and then.

@ColdNovemberDay

Some nice ideas- thanks. I really like the river bus idea but it looks like they aren't running unfortunately (the Uber/ Thames Clippers ones anyway). I'll investigate Westfield and the normal red buses.

Any other ideas gratefully received!

Yes they are! We got an Uber boat two weeks ago

Where are your appointments - if you gave some idea we could probably come up with an idea in between the two?

I personally think a bus or Westfield are the only viable options as all the outdoor places - even covered - are too cold to be sitting around. It was so much easier in the spring and summer months.

St Pancras Station? St Paul’s Cathedral and the Wren churches nearby?

You could try and call the second clinic and ask if they can move you forward a bit. I work for a trust with a few hospitals and all our food outlet seating is closed even to staff.