Skip to content
Independent, London 465 guides to London Nobody pays to appear Every price checked at the source We take no bookings Est. 2026

Journal

Every guide we publish, newest first. London restaurants, bars, pubs, hotels, afternoon tea, spas and nightlife, each one checked against the venue's own published information rather than against other guides.

Read moreRead less

We take no bookings, sell nothing, and accept no payment for inclusion. Where a price or a rule appears here, it came from the venue.

Hampton Court Palace under a clear sky, with visitors at the front
Things to Do

Hampton Court Palace: The 1 Pound Ticket, and the Two Days It Shuts

Closed Mondays and Tuesdays, and a day ticket costs 1 pound for anyone on benefits, up to four per household. Full prices, the Maze, and the train times home.

7 min read
Shelves of dictionaries, the reference work this glossary is checked against
Things to Do

London Slang, Checked Against the Dictionary

Roadman has three meanings in Green's Dictionary of Slang and only one is the modern one. The words outsiders get backwards, and the ones the dictionary has never recorded.

5 min read
The second hand book market under Waterloo Bridge on the South Bank
Things to Do

The South Bank: What Is Free, and the Library Nobody Finds

The Southbank Centre runs free exhibitions alongside its ticketed ones, publishes no site-wide opening time, and hides the world's largest modern poetry collection on Level 5.

6 min read
The City of London tower cluster seen across the rooftops
Things to Do

The London Skyline: What You Are Looking At, and Where to Stand

The Shard will refund your view if you cannot spot three of five landmarks, but only if you ask before you leave. The buildings, the free viewpoints and the river route.

6 min read
Victorian industrial machinery and painted ironwork in a London engine house
Things to Do

Crossness Pumping Station: Book the Steaming Day, Not the Tour

The beam engine only runs on Steaming Days, and the free vintage bus from Abbey Wood only runs then too. Prices, open dates and the memberships that cut the cost.

6 min read
A swimmer in the lanes of an outdoor pool, as at Parliament Hill Lido
Things to Do

Hampstead Heath: Swim for 5 Pounds, and the Free Zoo

The same Lido swim is 8.80 pounds at midday and 5 at breakfast, when children go free. Pond prices, the booking rule, and the free zoo at Golders Hill.

11 min read
Reeds and open water on an urban wetland reserve, with a heron
Things to Do

Walthamstow Wetlands: Free, No Dogs, and a Hijacked Website

The old walthamstowwetlands.com now serves a casino site. The real opening times, the earlier weekend last entry, and why no dog is allowed in.

6 min read
A glasshouse of plants behind brick walls, as at Chelsea Physic Garden
Things to Do

Chelsea Physic Garden: Closed Saturdays, and a Two for One

It shuts on the one day most people try to go, the 15 pound ticket includes an optional donation, and National Rail Days Out gets two in for the price of one.

6 min read
Battersea Power Station and its four chimneys seen from the Thames
Things to Do

Battersea Power Station: Free to Enter, and the Lift Price Trap

The building costs nothing and is fully enclosed. The Chimney Lift, formerly Lift 109, is 16 pounds booked and 24 on the day. Hours, parking tariffs and the river bus.

8 min read
The crowded window of an antiquarian bookshop
Things to Do

Cecil Court: 23 Dealers, and One Opens on Sunday

Only Watkins Books trades on a Sunday. The shop by shop opening hours of London's rare book lane, two Alice specialists, and the window when everything is open at once.

7 min read

Browse by section

Questions we get asked

How often is the guide updated?

Continuously, and each page records the month it was last checked rather than only the date it was first written. Opening hours and prices in London change often enough that an unchecked guide is worse than none.

How do you decide what goes in?

Every entry is verified against the venue's own published information, not against other guides. Nothing is included in exchange for payment, and nothing is excluded for refusing it.