nyteach

I am leaving on Sunday for a two night stay in London. Has anyone stayed at the Regent Palace Hotel or taken a Jack the Ripper walking tour with London Walks? If so, I'd appreciate some feedback.

Lesli

It's a bit late to start asking for feedback on your hotel, but I suppose you *could* change it. It's only for two nights anyway.

There is a text search feature here. Type "jack the ripper AND walk" in the text box at the top of this page to pull up over 50 threads on the subject. Most say it's good, but can be a very large crowd. I've done other London Walks and enjoyed them.

You can also text search for "regent palace" to get about 20 threads. Reviews are neither very recent, nor very enthusiastic. Another place to look for feedback would be on tripadvisor.com

If you decide you do want to switch hotels, you might check for deals on laterooms.com, lastminute.com, and londontown.com

Have a great trip!

janis

The Regent Palace is a HUGE place - almost 900 rooms more than half of which share bathrooms. You can always get good rates there. Many tour groups use it because it is so big. The location is very central - close to everything in central London. It is also on the edge of Soho and near a lot of theatres - nothing to worry about but just watch yourself if you wander around alone late at night.

Needless to say - It is not a quiet location.

as for the ripper tour - if you do a search you will find TONS of threads/posts about it - mostly pro, but some con due to most of the places associated with the Ripper having been obliterated and the fact that sometimes over 200 people join in on the walk.

Maira

I joined the Jack the Ripper-London Walk on a Friday (on Friday the guide is Donald Rumbelow, former Curator of the City of London Police Crime Museum and recognized subject expert...if it means anything to you). There were about 150-200 people, so the group was split with another guide (people were asked; volunteers). Some people complained about the dark alleys and that they could not hear Mr. Rumbelow sometimes. I didn't experienced either. There are about 5-6 stops, the 4th one is at The Ten Bells pub, where the murdered prostitutes used to hanged out. Interesting place, it is very crowded on Friday nights, so the tour continues on after a brief stop. The last stop is obviously at the site of the last murder (a million dollar apartment today). About two-three blocks is the Liverpool Metro; while Donald was finishing his talk we all were looking at a distance a gentleman being robbed in the front parking lot. Some people made some noise which scared the robber away. Never thought I'll go to London to see that one. So, try not to do this one on your own on a Friday night. At the end of the tour you will have to get the metro and figure out how to get to your hotel. He brings copies of his book to sell and signs them. I found it amusing that throughout the walking route, there were a number of "hacklers" yelling stuff. All part of the experience. I recommend it, although I would had take a flashlight with me.

ucsun

when i went in may i too looked at the regent but decided on the park international...gloucester tube which you can't beat for the tube. check the site for last minute deals. i landed a room there for 37#/night.

daph

Years ago we stayed there twice but over the years we've seen it go downhill badly. Last summer there were homeless sleeping around the entrance and the lobby, where you could once buy theatre tickets, souvenirs and sit in pleasant surrounding, looked like a flophouse.

jenstu13

Did the Jack the Ripper walking tour about a month ago and loved it. The very large Sunday night crowd was divided up into three groups of about fifty people each. Our guide was knowledgeable and funny. He pointed us to the tube station at the end of the tour. It being summer made it still light when the tour was over. In winter I can see how the night tour might discourage some visitors. Oh well, just decide if it is something you would want to do. I certainly enjoyed it.

KathrynT

I took the Jack the Ripper tour and found it interesting but certainly not a "must do". Our guide was very good. The neighborhood is not great that you wander through, but I felt safe in the large group. I would not want to linger in the area alone, though.

MizzEve

I did the Jack the Ripper tour 10 years ago. The tour was quite inexpensive, only a few pounds. I can't remember the name of the guide or the day of the week, but there were less than 20 people in the group. What I remember most was being yelled by neighborhood boys, saying things like "the butler did it!" LOL. We also stopped at a pub at toward the end of the tour. The pub was not busy and we stayed for quite awhile. I remember the pub owner giving me some pub towels to take home. I wonder what happened to those things????