Shopping trip to London.. best area to stay?

[thenightsky]

Can anyone help me please? DH is taking clients to Twickenham a week on Saturday. I plan to come down to London with him and spend the day browsing the shops.

But, I am a London shopping scene virgin who rarely ventures south of Nottingham!

Whereabouts in London should I book the hotel if I am to be in walking distance of the best shopping areas?

Which are the best shopping areas anyway? I'm not interested in overpriced tourist traps like Harrods particularly.

Thank you in anticipation.

You can get a train in from Twickenham - is that where dh is staying? Much cheaper than central London.

What's your budget (for hotel and shopping)?

What I'm saying is, walking distance to (for eg) Bond Street will cost you ££££££.

Is DH's work paying for accommodation? If so, book a hotel in Mayfair! If you're on a budget, you'll need to book somewhere a bit further out and plan to get bus/tube/train in.

London's so big, and the best shopping areas are so spread out, your best bet is to find a nice hotel near a good tube line (if you're staying near Twickenham for example, the District line is good but there are engineering works most weekends on it so it's closed) and get public transport in. Near a mainline station is good too (I'm thinking Richmond)

I love Regent Street, but hate Oxford street. I quite like Kensington High Street (it's not as edgy as it used to be since they closed the market) Window shopping around Bond Street and South Molton Street is fun, but actually going in to shops is a bit of a no-no for me, toooooo expensive. Marylebone High Street is nice too. If you want a big department store then either Selfridges or Harvey Nichols would be my choice.

Westfield out by Shepherds Bush is great - goes from top end designer to normal high street shops.

To be honest, Kingston has quite a decent shopping area too and is very near Twickenham - depends what type of shops you want really.

DH's work have offered to pay for a room in a London Hotel, with a budget of about £150. DH told me to have a browse, come up with a few place and he will give them to the lady that books and see if they are acceptable.

He will then get the train to Twickenham and leave me wandering around London alone. We will get time in London together on the Sunday, before getting a tea time train back up North.

Focus on shopping area, and then work out where you and DH can both travel from.

There have been some good shopping advice threads over the yars - it depends what sort of thing you like.

On a Saturday Spitalfields Market and then along Brick Lane and surrounding small streets to all the small independent shops, and Shoreditch is fun.

Or for a'smarter' route, Cos in Regent St v close to Liberty, along S Moulton St, (maybe via Fenwicks in Bond St) cross Ox St and go up St Christopher's Place and the little streets round there, then on the Marylebone High St or back into selfridges.

Or all round Covent Garden and all the little streets off Neal St.

Headfairy... I only had Oxford Street in my mind, but it's been about 20 years since I was in London. I never even thought about Regent Street. I can see I shall be google-mapping all day now!

We have Harvey Nicks in Leeds, so I'm not too worried about that, but Selfridges sounds nice.

I wouldn't go somewhere like Westfield just because you could be anywhere. If you're in Leeds you must have big shopping centres. Far nicer to actually see a bit of the city IMO.

Regent St definitely upped its game since you were last in town. Much nicer than Oxford St. Bond St lovely too but pricey.

Check out Lastminute for their "top secret hotels". You get an idea of the location (eg. Mayfair)and how many stars the hotel is but you don't know the exact hotel. You could probably get somewhere swanky in Mayfair for £150 that way.

Oxford street is grubby, overcrowded and over priced. Regent Street is only round the corner but a million times more civilised.

You might have Harvey Nicks in Leeds but have you got a fifth floor restaurant? :o Good for sleb spotting :o

Selfridges ver ver ver good. I cannot go in there any more because I come out practically bankrupt!

Look on Laterooms .com - almost any central-ish London hotel that is on the tube will be OK - you can get the tube to your shopping area, DH can get the tub to waterloo for train to Twickenham. Or you could try the PremierInn at County Hall, on the doorstep of Waterloo and a GREAT area from which to walk all along the S bank, down to the fabulous Borough Market and surrounding streets of little shops.

The Town Hall Hotel in Bethnal green is extremely cool, handy for the Spitalfields / brick Lane shopping day, the Thistle Tower Hotel often seems to offer rooms on 'laterooms', if you can get a deal here it is right opposite Liberty....

Or you could aim for something like the Novotel in Euston/Kings X. It's a bit of a long walk to the shops from there but it's possible or it's a short bus ride. I think you could get a nice room at a Novotel for that amount of money.

Oh, god, yes, avoid Oxford St, except Selfridges.

Selfridges is open on Sunday, of course...

I work opposite Westfield and agree, it's not much cop, Leeds has just as good shopping if not better (not when I was a student there though, bloody typical! It got cool as soon as I left. Maybe the two are connected!)

If you want to see some lovely parts of London, you could do worse than take a stroll around Little Venice, or Primrose Hill (not that many Kate Moss types living there any more but lovely shops and cafes)

Dulwich village is good for a stroll too, there's also an art gallery there to pop in to.

You are coming for just one weekend aren't you? :o

OOh I love all your suggestions. I wish I had more time there now!

Perhaps I will go sleb-spotting in Harvey Nics

Selfridges - I want to go there.

I am going to have to write a list I think.

Would this be a good position? here

It's a decent location, quite near the tube, but be careful about weekend engineering works. It's on the circle and district line and there's always closures (can you tell i get caught up in them all the time? :o) Lots of buses run along the Cromwell road so that's an option.

Cromwell road is a very busy through road by the way. Not one to stroll down unless you like the sound of thundering traffic.

I would go for the Southbank near Waterloo. Your DH can get the train to Twickenham from there and you can jump on the tube to the shops. There are about three different hotels in County Hall.

Nice in terms of being near musuems. Good if you want to stick to shopping in that neck of the woods. Not brilliant if you want to shop in Selfridges/Regent St area.

ooh Thaney, county hall. I'd totally forgotten about county hall. Great recommendation. Waterloo great for trains to Twickers and pretty central for your shopping trips too.

ahem, I suggested County Hall an hour ago!

Is the county hall of which you speak?

Yes - ther is also a Marriott hotel in County Hall and one other. PremierInn fairly bogstandard, obv, but it would be a great location.
Also look at Lastminute.com now - lots of good London deals for Sat night. Truly, as long as you are fairly central and close to a tube you should be fine.

Thanks Blu. I cannot book a hotel, as DH's company has to do it. I can only suggest ones I think would be in an ok place. They then decide if 'my' list includes ones they have contracts with. It's complicated really, but if I don't state an area, they will just book something miles out and hopeless