aggiegirl

Hi, I was wondering how difficult it is to catch a cab on a weeknight around midnight. I want to check out nightlife in the Leicester Square and Piccadilly areas and don't want to be stranded waiting for a cab. Thanks!

Nigello

It won't be hard but it will be expensive, at least compared to US fares. There will be a post-midnight charge. Do not, however, be tempted to get into an unlicensed cab. You will not be insured and you could be attacked.

andy

aggiegirl-
try to get to your nearest hotel and they will get a cab for you...then you won't be stranded..

Also, if you are in a bar or restaurant, they will call a cab for you..so no need to worry..

But it will cost a little more--

aggiegirl

Andy,
It will cost more if the bar or hotel calls the cab for me?

BTilke

Don't forget there are night owl buses that run all night long. Check to see if one goes near your accommodations.
As Nigello noted, whatever you do, do NOT take an unlicensed mini-cab. Stick to a "real" cab or the bus. (There is a growing problem with sexual assaults by some unlicensed minicab drivers who prey on women who have been out drinking at night.)

Tallulah

Where exactly are you going to be staying? You may find it easier to walk or get a bus, but that said, you do say that you're there on a week night so you should be fine.

If you're in that area, then in the past I've often asked the doormen/security outside Cafe Royal (Regent Street, just by Piccadilly Circus) to get me a cab as they have a car service for their customers. Equally, friends have used the doormen at Stringfellows (Upper St Martin's Lane, just near Leicester Square) for similar reasons. Ignore the fact that Stringfellows is a lap-dancing club if you don't like that kind of thing!

If you're looking for a black cab then don't hang around somewhere obvious like Piccadilly Circus or Charing Cross Road, try to work out which way the cabs are coming and and walk up that way - everyone will be doing the same thing to catch the cabs before they reach the popular pick-up points.

It can be frustrating sometimes but I've always made it home in the end!

m_kingdom2

Walking through the better areas of London in the small hours is always an interesting experience, but after an evening's partying you will be tired so will probably want something quicker!

As for night buses, they look like you get the weirdest people on them, I wouldn't touch them. You'll find plenty of cabs in that area, also I usually get them to call me a black cab, but stress black cab - you don't want some minicab turning up. Once at Baltic restaurant (not bad, nothing wonderful though) they called me a minicab, and when I refused it, I had the driver chasing down the street after me, how amusing!

aggiegirl

I won't be drinking when I go out, so I will have my wits about me, but I will be alone, so I don't want to be walking what will be too far a distance late at night.

highledge

Getting a cab in central London when the pubs close and the theeatres let out is a very trying experience!! Wait it out if need be! The black cabs are your ONLY safe bet. Period. At the witching hour (past 11pm) there will be lots of guys looking to srive you home. Nice cars, etc. They could be anyone. You are safer walking home (as my husband and I have almost done) than you are getting in anything but a black cab at night.
Some black cabs belong to zingo. You call them on your mobile phone and you're connected to the closest taxi driver. Their number is 08700700700. Or you can pre book a cab through comcab or radio taxi for a specific time.

Grasshopper

If you're at Piccadilli there is a taxi queue right next to the Criterion Theatre. I've taken a (lisenced) taxi from there with no problem at all at night.

coco

Many of the licensed cabs are not black any more; if you wait for a "black" cab could be quite a wait!

Around midnight is not a bad time for taxis in that area. The theatre-goers who are going home have departed and those who are dining or drinking after are inside doing their thing.

andy

aggiefirl-

if the hotel or bar calls a taxi for you, it usually runs a little more...
sort of like having the restaurant in NYC call you a taxi--

There is some sort of "call" rate..I have no idea what it is, but to be safe, I would definitely have the restaurant or hotel CALL me cab...

sunny16

Coco, if the black cabs aren't black, how do I recognize an official cab? Thanks in advance.

coco

All of the official taxis have a TAXI light above the windshield. If it's lit they are available for hire and you wave them over. If the have a passenger, the light is out. They have meters inside.

"Black" refers to the licensed cabs...they used to all be black--the famous London Taxi--but now come in all colors, multi colors and quite a few with ads covering the entire car. Still, they have the best trained and most knowledgable cabbies anywhere I've ever been.

PS: As a New Yorker, I can't quite picture why anyone would have a restaurant or hotel call a taxi for them or how that would work. Maybe a car service? Anyway, there would not be an extra charge as there is in London for calling an official ("black&quot taxi...think there it is maybe 2 euro.

coco

DUH...2 pound, not euro!

PatrickLondon

The argument for having someone call a cab for you is that you can wait inside - safe, warm and dry - until it arrives. As for how it works, they simply call the central number for one or other of the companies, just as highledge suggests (forgive me, but wasn't there a US sitcom about NY taxis that had just such a set-up?).

coco

TV shows aside, in NY if you want to call for a ride you will be calling for a car service or a livery service, not a licensed taxi. Conversely, the only cabs allowed to pick up WITHOUT call are the medallion taxis. This discussion made me want to check my facts beyond my own experience and observations, and I clipped the following from the Taxi & Limousine Commission. It does say "uniquely to NY"...

"TAXICABS: The familiar yellow medallion cabs.  Taxicabs are defined in City law as vehicles seating fewer than nine passengers (in addition to the driver) and permitted to pick up street hails. They are the only vehicles allowed by law to pick up street hails or pick up at taxi or airport stands.  Uniquely to New York, regulations prohibit taxicabs from pre-arranging service through two-way radios.  Taxicabs charge a metered fare.  All taxis are painted yellow.  Each cab has a rooflight indicating available for hire, hired, or off duty.  The number of taxicabs, currently 12,187, is set by local law and rarely changed.  Taxicab vehicle licenses ("medallions" in common parlance) are transferable and currently fetch well over $200,000 in the market."

More pertinent to the question in this thread, in London it IS POSSIBLE to have a cab called for you, not that this would be needed from areas like Leicester Square/Piccadilly where taxis are plentiful except right after the theatres let out (and of course, in the pouring rain!). And a word of caution about having a car called: many restaurants (not sure about hotels where the doorman will usually hail or whistle a taxi for you) actually will be calling a car service and not a "black" taxi. Generally a reputable car service, of course.

Nigello

Don't be put off by the night buses. If your hotel or lodging place is near to a bus stop and doesn't involve you wandering through too many side-streets, then go for the bus. You can use your Zone 1 (or Zone 2, 3 etc.) Travelcard on all buses at all times (valid until 4.30 am the day after your card expires) or, of course, your Bus pass. In the city centre you'll be fine. Sit downstairs, near to the driver, and take all the precautions you would do during the day in any city and you'll be OK, and save a lot of money.