Hi all - my husband and I will be in London for 7 days in November - staying at Marriott's London County Hall. I've been through Fodor's 5-day best itinerary and it sounds great, but I was wondering if anyone could help with suggestions for light lunch fare 'right in the middle of things', and some places for dinner. I'm thinking of maybe two really nice places, and possibly more 'pub-like' atmospheres for the rest of the nights. Would like to soak up the local flavor, but would like it to be clean, comfortable and not so far out of the way that we need a map to find a meal. Any ideas? Also, if there are any little tidbits of info that would be helpful to us that you don't read about in guide books, please feel free to fill us in! Thanks so much!

Oh goodness. This topic has been covered extensively here, and there should be many recent recommendations. Just do a search for London restaurants or London pubs.

"'right in the middle of things'" London's centre is large, please be more specific about locations.

Anything with Gordon Ramsay's name will be good.

There's so much info archived in this forum - you should be able to find information here! Come back with specific questions.

Don't worry, if you try to follow the Fodors 5-day London itinerary, you won't even have time to think about eating. Or, you'll be near every restaurant in the city at least once.

For fellow Fodorites who haven't checked this out, here's most of DAY ONE:

Westminster Abbey
Changing of the Guard
Buckingham Palace, if open
Trafalgar Square
National Gallery (OR St. Martin's and National Portrait Gallery)
Whitehall
Banqueting House
Horse Guards Parade
10 Downing Street
Parliament
Dinner ar Rules

Day Two includes St. Paul's, the British Library, and 4 or 5 museums, and so on.

That's an itinerary?!!!!!!! That's a death march!!!!! At first I thought you were kidding but then I remember another comment regarding Forder's itinerary...that it was rather full to say the least. If I followed that I would have to be medivaced home!!!!!! dmoconner, please don't try to follow that!

For pub-like atmosphere, but with a particular flavour, please look into Gordon?s wine bar, 50 yards up Villiers Street from Embankment tube station, reached by walking over the Jubilee Hungerford Bridge from the Festival Hall. The Albert is a pub on the corner of Victoria Street and Buckingham Gate, and upstairs they have a good carvery, with three joints on offer. Villiers Street is short, and good for light lunches, better than roads beside the County Hall.

I do not know how much Americans learn at school about Florence Nightingale, pioneer of public health and germ-free nursing. The Victorians became very keen on her, and they have a case. Her museum is across the road from your hotel, in the bottom of the nearest block of St Thomas Hospital.

Three attractions of Westminster Abbey are little known. College Garden is hidden away, off Dean?s Yard, quiet, but open to all. You can take a guided tour of Westminster School, an ancient high school for boys, teacher for many English leaders. And at the west door of the Abbey, now used as exit, you can see from outside recent statues to martyrs of the twentieth century. Background is at http://www.westminster-abbey.org, then click on ?Search for Information?, enter ?Twentieth century martyrs?, and click on ?Introduction?. Or you can buy a booklet at the Abbey bookstore.

Well, I don t know, but your wording seems to have been some use to me in choosing for you. Welcome to my half-hidden city.

[email protected]

Having just returned from London 2 weeks ago, let me suggest taking some London Walks tours. Having used Fodors several years ago, I found the itineraries to be quite tiring and you are always stopping to read about what you are seeing. That, and the fact that it can quite possibly be raining (it was a November we were there), make it a difficult task. Go to www.londonwalks.com and it will provide a general schedule of walks and then one for the month you will be there. It was recommended to us and we took 2 of the walks this time. It was the Shakespeare walk and in the evening the pub crawl walk. You meet at a designated Tube stop and the fee is 5.5 pounds per person in cash-no rservations necessary -rain or shine, just show up. It makes it easy to carry an umbrella if necessary and listen to the guide. I understand they also do day trips outside London and I would consider this on my next trip-they are quite good.

We also opted for simpler, more reasonable meals having eaten our way through France first. On our way to the theater, we came upon the White Lion pub just down the block from the Covent Garden tube stop on the corner. We thought it would be full of tourists, but it was mostly office workers. Go upstairs to the area they serve the food. The menu is perfect (fish and chips, soup, starters, full main courses, cheese plates) with large portions and quite reasonable prices. I believe it is in Fodor's (my 2003 pocket guide) and we were quite pleased. The pub walk also started at Blackfriar's pub which is quite traditional (Blackfriar's tube stop) and a hangout for locals with alot of character. We also ate at Tas, a turkish restaurant with 2-3 outlets. It was very good, reasonably priced and was located a block from the end of the pub crawl walk on the south side of London Bridge (same side as the Marriott). You may also want to have high tea late in the day and a snack later. We did that last January at Brown's with a roaring fire (quite possible in November). It was very elegant, filling and we were able to go to the theater later and not be too full or starved. The half price ticket window at Leicester Sq. opens at 10AM and they take credit cards. We got there at 10 and waited for about 40 minutes (during peak tourist season). I would recommend this if you don't need or want to see high demand shows as there is alot of variety and availability. Close to the main theater district is Chinatwon, Covent Garden and Soho where there are many reasonably priced restaurants.