Where to spend an evening alone in London.

[qwertyasdfgzxcv]

Tomorrow I have an appointment in London which is done by 4.30pm but my return coach from Victoria isn't until 8.45pmish.

What can I do until then to stay safe? I will be on my own. Maybe someone can suggest a hotel lobby that I can sit and read a book in.

Any advice gratefully received.

Tate Britain is walking distance from Victoria and is open until 6. I would head there and enjoy as much as possible before it closes. Then I'd probably head back towards Victoria and find a nice cafe or pub to pass the time with a book.
Or I'd look at film times at the Curzon Victoria and catch a film. Or I'd go shopping on Oxford Street. Or I could lose several hours in the big Waterstones on Piccadilly.
Make the most of it. It's nice to have a few hours to yourself in the city. I wouldn't worry about safety. It's perfectly safe around Victoria and surrounding areas.

Covent garden area so suggestions of National Gallery are good and then I can get a tube to Victoria.

I suppose I may be more on guard as the last time I was at Victoria coach station someone tried to pick pocket me and it didn't feel safe so I didn't want to wait there for 3 hours!

Do you know roughly what a can costs? Assume they all take card these days

The national gallery is only open till 6 and is fully booked otherwise that was a good call.

Go for somewhere nice for an early dinner as somewhere to read your book. In In Covent Garden, Dishoom and Hawksmoor are two places I would be happy to dine solo without feeling self conscious. If you are worried about being pick pocketed, just take sensible precautions i.e keep your valuables in an inner zipped pocket and you will be fine. Remember 8 million of us live in London and we don't walk around in a state of fear - but I do get how intimidating big cities can be if you are from somewhere more quiet!

The National Portrait Gallery (next door) is open till 9 pm and is actually really interesting.

You've got loads of options if you just want to kill time. The Leon and coffee shops on the Strand are open late - I'd do the Ntional Portrait Gallery, as suggested above, then grab food at Leon and a coffee somewhere. Then go to Victoria in time for the bus. Not exciting but easy.

I was going to suggest the British Library but she's traveling from Victoria so might not be convenient. A great place to hang out though!

That's only 4 hours and, as you're in London, pretty much everything will be open.
It's only a couple of miles between the two and there are various routes you could take, whether via Oxford Circus for shopping (or just staying around Covent Garden for shopping), heading down to the South Bank or doing a lights walk around Carnaby St, Regents St and Bond St or going to the National Gallery and then the National Portrait Gallery or doing a combination of all of those.

Yeah this. Galleries, museums, libraries, shopping, bars, restaurants, coffee shops... The list is endless!

Not sure why you don't think you'll be safe?! Thousands of women of all ages work, socialise and travel around London on their own every single day and night with no problems? It's just a busy city....

The OP has explained why she’s a bit nervous, @Starlight1979.

Tbh the area around Victoria coach station would not be on my list of great places to hang out (though I vaguely recall a cafe in a crypt?). But you’ll have a good three hours to spend wherever you like before going to catch your coach, @qwertyasdfgzxcv. And if you’re already in Covent Garden you have loads of options.

Bloom Perfumery is open til 6pm …

https://bloomperfume.co.uk/pages/new-store

Surely not if you just want to see the (free) permanent collection, as opposed to the paid blockbuster exhibition, and maybe go to the shops and cafe?

The OP reads like she thinks it's unsafe in London in general unless you sit in a hotel lobby with a book.
I don't find Victoria coach station the most salubrious of places either, but it is by no means representative of a Saturday early evening in the National Gallery/Soho/Foyles/the South Bank Centre.

@MarkWithaC yes sadly! I looked on the well site and you have to book an entry time.ive got entry to the National Portrair gallery though

Also, when I meant safe, it's because I don't know London and it's meant to be really cold tomorrow!! I don't know London well. So essentially, safe, warm and relaxed. I didn't realise using the term safe would through up such controversy.

To be fair, you do get some scummy types hanging around the coach station and I wouldn't want to spend a few hours waiting there (it's really cold in there if nothing else).

I'd probably go look at the V&A and then buy myself a nice dinner and a glass of wine.

Ah, that's jogged my memory – I chanced it on a Friday or Saturday late afternoon a little while ago with a visiting friend, and they just let us in. We had to queue briefly, that was all.
The NPG is terrific. The Tudors are particularly good IMO. The ground-floor cafe is lovely and if you sit at a window it's great for people-watching. If I'm on my own I feel more comfortable and less conspicuous at a counter in the window than at a table too.

'warm and relaxed' I get, but 'safe' does rather sound like you think it's going to be like walking through a favela.

It's definitely still worth trying the National Gallery if you're late afternoon - they have walk up spaces as well as the pre-booked ones, and it's just round the corner from the Portrait Gallery.

If you're starting in Covent Garden, the market should still be looking festive, and if you like travel books then Stanfords is just round the corner in a new location just off Long Acre.

You'll have a brilliant time, and the spare hours will fly by!

Covent Garden is only about three miles away so a black cab shouldn't be too expensive.

Or you could jump on a bus from the Embankment or get a tube.

https://www.curzon.com/venues/victoria/?utm_source=google_gmb&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=map&utm_term=Curzon_Victoria

I'd go and see Nickel Boys at 1730 at the Curzon Victoria

According to Google, a No 24 bus will take you from Trafalgar Square direct to Victoria, past Downing St, Big Ben & Westminster.

Also find a restaurant of the type which might not be so easily available where you live, and have a lovely early meal before heading to the coach

National portrait gallery is an excellent choice and the cafes and bar downstairs is great. Else you can wander out towards covent garden which is only 5 min walk away

tube to Victoria from embankment is very easy from there

Brasserie Zedel is nice for dining alone.