Can anyone give me an idea of how safe the area around Paddington Station in London is? I have made a reservation at the Norfolk Plaza hotel, which is nearby, and wonder whether it is advisable to walk in the neighborhood to restaurants, etc.

The only unsafe places in London are the big inner-city estates of apartment blocks in social housing, where the police walk in pairs. Since they are ugly no tourist goes to them. Paddington is fine. <BR> <BR>Like much of Britain, and like the place where I live, it's multicultural and multiracial. This adds to the interest and variety. If, however, you have never walked such streets then you are likely to suppose that all those strange -looking people carry knives. They don't. <BR> <BR>Please write if I can help further. Welcome to London, open city. <BR> <BR>Ben Haines <BR> <BR>

Fran, <BR>I think the area around Paddington is fairly typical of any area near a major European train station, that is, a great deal of pedestrian traffic, money changing places open til all hours, heavy taxi and bus traffic. My wife and I spent a couple of nights in the area (Sussex Gardens) and moved out as soon as we could find more suitable accommodations elsewhere. I don't recall a large number of eating places in the area other than the cafeteria in Paddington station (which was reasonably priced), a good Italian restaurant, Mr. Frascati at 34 Spring Street, almost on the corner of Sussex Gardens and, a real surprise, an excellent Spanish restaurant diagonally across from Mr. Frascati in the basement of the hotel on the corner of Spring and Sussex. The restaurant is tiny and totally unpretentious; we were treated like royalty, probably because Spanish is my wife's native language.

Dear Ms Cordell, <BR> <BR>I like Spanish food, have often found Wes Fowler well informed, and was to be at Oxford Circus anyway, so at lunchtime today I took the underground to Paddington. Paddington is much as Wes Fowler describes it, though with quite a range of ethnic restaurants, and three pubs near the station, each in its way unsatisfactory. The Spanish restaurant is closed on Mondays. The surprise was the Norfolk Plaza Hotel. It's not on a bus route, but is set between two routes and is five minutes from Paddington underground station, on Norfolk Square, which is planted out with flowers, and has grass and walls to sit on. Our weather just now is brilliant, and the scene at noon today was quiet, sunny, and attractive. The public rooms in the hotel look clean and simple. <BR> <BR>Sussex Gardens are on an inner London main route, so are indeed busy. <BR> <BR>Ben Haines <BR> <BR> <BR>

My wife and I moved from the States to London last year and lived less than a block from Paddington. It's a fine neighborhood - no problems at all. There are enough restaurants/pubs to get anyone through the day and Paddington is a GREAT location for taking the tube or train anywhere you might want to go.

Fran, <BR>I give a thumbs up to the Paddington area. I stayed at the Hotel Niki, about a block from the Paddington Station and it's a nice area. Each night we came in late and never felt unsafe walking from the station. There are small stores that stay open very late so there are always people around. You'll be fine there.

All this brings back memories of our first foray to Europe with our kids 30 years ago. Frommer recommended small hotels on Norfolk Square, only a block or so from Paddington. And so we headed there to one of those old mansions that had been taken over by a Corsican family to be run as a small hotel. Price then: one pound per person per night, breakfast included. In the intervening years, we have headed there on occasion. The prices, of course, have gone up but not the atmosphere, the street life, the feeling that we are surrounded by real people living real lives on real wages, not the "expense-account" crowd living it up on some sugar-daddy's largesse. We particularly liked checking out Indian tandoori restaurants in the neighborhood and bending an elbow with the locals at the corner pubs.

Thanks to all who replied. The information was most helpful.

My wife and I recently stayed in Paddington at Dolphin Hotel. There was nothing fancy about the area but it was convenient being close to the train and underground stations. We felt safe the entire week we were there. You'd be fine walking to restaurants although there didn't seem to be many in the area other than a couple of pubs, a Burger King, and McDonalds.