Suggestions for a girls (40ish) weekend in London, no kids.

[StrawberryYogs]

Hi, I'm staying in a hotel at Warren Street London with some friends who are travelling in for a couple of nights. We'll be local for the West end, Soho and Central Ldn generally. Looking for a couple of nice places to get some lovely lunches and a couple of places to eat out in the evenings: 1 inexpensive (like a buffet) and 1 more upmarket and interesting. Plus some silly, unusual, interesting things to make us laugh. Thanks!

The Wellcome Trust is just round the corner from Warren Street on the Euston Road and is worth a visit if you want to do museums - I really enjoy it there. They have random old medical stuff, odd things like Napoleon's toothbrush and more modern stuff like a study of faces where you can have your pic taken for their display. It's quite small so is done in less than 2 hours and has a lovely cake shop for afterwards.

Where you are staying is great for the delights of Goodge Street for food. If you like tapas I can heartily recommend The Salt Yard there - it's not cheap but I have always had superb food there and their pink prosecco is to die for.

If you want inexpensive food they do a Real Food market at Waterloo behind the Southbank Centre. It's all very smart but cheap and fun, and can be a stop off if you fancy a bimble along the south bank. The other place to do something like this is Borough Market, which is great for a meander round but gets very busy on Saturdays!

Will pop my thinking cap on and come back with more stuff for silly/unusual/interesting.

Hi CEB, your name is making me hungry! Thanks for all your tips. The Wellcome Trust may not be their kind of thing but it sounds interesting and I love the sound of the Salt Yard and I think they will, will definitely check that out, had a quick look at their menu and looks great. They are definitely girls who want to have fun and a laugh so I'm thinking about a karaoke if it's not too expensive, but we'll be in there for about 2 hours so I expect it to be about £20 a head plus cocktails so it's not going to be cheap.

If you or anyone knows a reasonable Karaoke please let me know or anything laugh a minute (not comedy shows, could be hit and miss) please let me know.

Thanks a lot!

Bloomsbury Bowl for karaoke?

Villandry on Great Portland St for yummy brunch.

Bar called Potion has a happy hour all day Sat.

Charlotte St hotel lovely for glam drinks.

Lantana Cafe does fab coffee and brunchy stuff too.

LAB in soho for cocktails, Kettners for champagne, I like Balans and Prix Fixe for reasonable priced food.

Guanabara is in Holborn which isn't far and is a really fun brazilian bar, the dance floor is always heaving and they have Brazilian dancers who do sets, bit cheesy but fun!

fino just off charlotte st is fab
crazy bear is also cool
haakasan off tottenham court rd/mayfair is amazing,need to book tho
also check out" All star lanes"
shoreditch is fab for bars etc and amazing shops,if you start off on Redchurch st and work your way round. the boundary is just around the corner and they have a roof terrace.columbia rd flower market on a sunday is good,lovely shops aswell,pop to bistroteque for lunch,they have a pianist,they also do regular drag shows.