wrenwood

I'm looking at an apartment at this address in London

1 Albert Embankment

Any thoughts on restaurants, walkability etc. Can you walk over the bridges or are you taking your life in your hands?

janisj

I personally would not stay there. It is on the southbank and the nearest tube station is Lambeth North which is only on the Bakerloo line.

Might be nice views of the river - but otherwise not that convenient for tourists.

The bridges are fine to walk across, but it wouldn't be my choice.

qwovadis

londontown.com Kensington apts tonne better

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BigRuss

Qwovadis gave you absolutely no information. There's South Kensington, Kensington Gardens, Kensington High Street, and whether those areas are more convenient is subject to question on an apartment by apartment basis because High Street Kensington is far from the rest of central London and various apartments in South Kensington (which IS a generally good location) are far from Tube stops.

If you can find a Southbank flat closer to Waterloo, the Hungerford Bridges that lead to Charing Cross station, the Eye, and the Westminster Bridge, that's a far better location than anyplace in the Kensingtons because you'll be within walking distance of Westminster, Trafalgar Square, and Soho and closer to the British Museum, British Library, the Tower and Monument/St. Paul's areas. Restaurants, bars, and walking areas abound. And you're on the Jubilee, Bakerloo and Northern Lines while being right across a bridge (Westminster, Hungerford or Waterloo) from the District and Circle lines.

Your place on the Albert Embankment (is the closest Tube station Lambeth North or is it Vauxhall?) is not particularly close to the area I'm describing. It is across the river from Parliament, but more distant from the sites I mentioned above than the immediate Southbank area that's hard by Southbank Centre and the Hayward Gallery.

wrenwood

PR says Westminster Tube Station is about a 12-minute walk, and that Bus 8 stops directly in front of the Apartment and goes over Lambeth Bridge to Parliament Square, on to Trafalgar Square, and on to Oxford Street.

It doesn't look like Buckingham Palace is a long walk?

texasbookworm

There is a website called walkit.com where you can plug in routes in London and get pretty accurate ideas of routes, distances and times. It's a bit more accurate for walking routes, I found, than googlemaps

janisj

what is the actual post code?

I'm assuming #1 Albert Embankment is at the Lambeth Bridge end. That is not very convenient. Don't get me wrong -- it isn't a dreadful location. Just not very convenient. About 1.5 miles from Buckingham Palace.

If it is in fact closer to the Vauxhall Bridge end -- then it is even less convenient.

PatrickLondon

There's not a lot in the immediate locality, in the way of restaurants, entertainment and general neighbourhood life. You're right next door to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and a lot of office buildings.

You could walk over Lambeth Bridge to Millbank in safety, but it's the kind of area you might stay if you were on business rather than for a holiday.

Ackislander

What Patrick says, plus you are just around the corner from the Museum of Garden History, but that wouldn't be a reason to stay there, no matter how much I loved gardening!

wrenwood

It's right at Lambeth Bridge on that roundabout.

Is the reason most of you are saying that it is not as convenient of a location is because it is a 12-15 minute walk from either Vauxhall Tube or Westminster Tube?

wrenwood

Also a 12-15 min walk from Lambeth North.

I do think it is more of a business location. Beautiful apartment.

We do want to walk to restaurants, so that does concern me.

Problem is it ticks all the boxes on my requirements for the 6 of us, including AC. Now I know that most of the AC is not necessary in England, but I have a difficult time sleeping if at all hot, and opening windows doesn't do me any good if there's much noise at all.

A comparable one in ABINGDON ROAD, KENSINGTON W8 is almost 2x the price.

wrenwood

Regarding Restaurants ~ Usually my husband and I would be looking for really nice places to eat. With the girls along this trip will be much more casual. For instance, there is a Pizza Express across the bridge where I bet we eat 2 nights. So I need some options, but not as many as if it was just the 2 of us.

CharlotteK

Well, I once stayed in a rental apt in Battersea, a bit off the beaten path for sure. We had buses running to and from with frequency and late into the night, that took us into Chelsea and Sloane Sq. While it did take us longer than usual to get into central London, it was very interesting and fun to be in a neighborhood where regular people lived.

I don't know anything about the neighborhood you are looking at, but I wouldn't assume it's going to be awful. We also found we were out and about in London "proper" a lot during the day, so we'd make one big trek into the city center and then go back "home" to this very lovely place late at night.

PatrickLondon

It's not awful, just a bit dull - and you don't have jolly neighbourhood cafés on the doorstep. This directory, for example, lists mostly upmarket places over the Bridge in Westminster:
http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaura...Sort=cdistance

There are some OK pubs down Black Prince Road, if memory serves, but you might as well expect to eat elsewhere and commute back to the flat. Or eat in.

wrenwood

Thanks Patrick, great to have that map.

Dull is ok. We won't be going out for any nightlife and maybe we do eat wherever we are sightseeing that day, and then head home. At least that would work in addition to Pizza Express or another close by restaurant.

We'll be headed to York or Warwick or Chipping Campden after London, so we'll probably have places to eat there that are more "atmospheric"

Mimar

With 4 people it's nice to have a place convenient to drop back to mid-day if somebody gets tired or wants to drop off shopping bags. But I'm sure you can make the best of it. Become experts on the bus: www.tfl.gov.uk

When in London we practically live off take-out from M&S Food; it's not cheap but there's lots of variety.

Re: nightlife. Mightn't you take the girls to a play one night? Plays are always a big part of our visits to London, and I'm sure they'd enjoy the experience. You could taxi home from the play if you didn't want to bus it at night.

BTW, have you tried earplugs? They go on every trip with me.

PatrickLondon

Nothing wrong with buses in the late evening, BTW. Everybody uses them. Buses for this location (which is pretty well served):
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/gettingaro...idge-12341.pdf

wrenwood

You guys are amazing, thanks

Yes we do want to go to a play, but maybe a matinee if cheaper. Anyone know which theatres are closest to this apartment? Older niece loves musicals.

There's a M&S close to the Lambeth North Tube Station, we'll check it out

I've tried earplugs, but I just can't stand anything in my ears. I don't listen to music that way, don't watch movies that way, for some reason they really irritate and hurt my ears.

janisj

"<i>Anyone know which theatres are closest to this apartment? Older niece loves musicals.</i>"

There are no theatres near this flat -- the closest is probably the Old Vic.

But not to worry - traveling around London after the theatre is perfectly safe. I personally wouldn't go to a matinee. Not appreciably cheaper and they seriously eat into sight seeing time. Whereas an evening performance is when the sites are mostly closed up.

BigRuss

There's an M&S Simply Food at just about every mainline rail station too - there's one at Waterloo, and an EAT and a Pret-a-Manger (and a Boots pharmacy, which is ubiquitous).