parking central london. advice please!

[zoeuk1]

i have no knowledge of london parking. we are hoping to go tomorrow for gumball3000 which is in pall mall. driving there from cambs. basically, does anyone know where we could park!?

There'll be no parking nearby to allow the gumball to happen...you could park in Selfridges (multistorey) and walk down to Pall Mall. It's about a mile or less and a pleasant walk through mayfair. There will be single yellow lines available too for free but ime they're hard to find especially if there's an event on.

any idea on cost to park at selfidges? would be for around 5 hours.

Not cheap I'm afraid. Not sure about the detail but comparable to using a London parking meter for the duration - but with the big advantage of no time limit and therefore no risk of clamping/towing. Maybe £4 per hour ?

At that price wouldn't it be better to park in outer London and take the tube in?
But then, I live in London and wouldn't dream of trying to drive into town anymore, let alone find parking!

I parked in central London (NCP near Selfridges) for the first time ever today and was at £15.60 for just over 3 hours

Park near a tube station on the outskirts. Less faff, and if going with small children, they'll be entertained by the whole getting-on-the-little-train business.

But coming from Cambridge, there aren't that many tube stations on the way in from the bottom of the M11 that will be cheap or easy to park near anyway. And by the time you have found parking and paid for return tube tix and spent ages doing that - wouldn't it be quicker to just come by tain and jump in the tbe at King's Cross?

On Sundays you can park on the street in (and in some of the streets near) Baker Street. We did it a couple of weeks ago to visit friends who live near there and had no real trouble finding a space. I'm pretty certain we didn't put any money in a metre.

Must admit... I'm with Blu. I'd get the train. (We were only in the car because we'd been at a wedding and the train times didn't work out for us. Otherwise would always avoid driving to Central London.)

Aaah, to be fair I don't know the M11. I come along the M4 and park in Acton or Ealing or thereabouts. What's gumball 3000?

Peaches - when I lived in Reading, I used to park at Turnham Green (free on-street parking round there).

Yes, you could just take a chance and find on-street parking in the centre of tomn.

er 'town' 'tomn' is not, sadly, a little know free-parking oasis!

sunday you can park on a single yellow for free at any time. If you go in bafore the shops open or about that time you'll find loads of free spaces north of Oxford Street.
we've done it many times, before DH's tube-phobia had been cured

Don't know Turnham Green but it's such a fab name I might check it out next time. I'm sure the parking drives the locals mad though. (There'll be a MN thread about it somewhere...)

It's on the District Line, Peaches, so not as good as Acton for getting into Central London, but (used to be) good for free parking! Apols to any residents of Turnham Green!

we used to park near Grosvenor Square or near Selfridges on a Sunday, but you do need to get there early to get a space.

yes - metered spaces etc are usually free of charge on sunday. there's lots around if you get there early enough.