pinkmcfarquhar

Only been to London once, but I would also recommend Covent Garden area - nice wee shopping centre near by with surfey/t-shirty shops.

If time permits and the queue is not too huge - london eye may be worth a visit.

JonboyE

You must be Flossie. You think Brent Cross is preferable to Willesden bus garage! I'd rather stick red-hot needles in my eyeballs.

As others have said, the 'real' London can be pretty depressing. The high rise housing estates of Lambeth and Southwark are real enough, but not places I'd send a visiting lad to check out. Best to stick to Westminster and the City.

However, a stroll though Soho is what every 14 year old boy needs.

canuckgirl

So many people seem to hate London. I loved it the three times I have been.
if I was rich I would live there. I dream of renting a flat there for a month or so and really enjoying everything the city has to offer.


If you hate London...why?

(I do hate how damn expensive everything is- just buying a coffee can set you back!). Oh and I miss the refills you get here too.

Anyway please tell me about the side of London I haven't seen.

Mrs Miggins

If you were rich you would live there - exactly......................

The kids I worked with in HMP Warren Hill, were 15 years old and living mostly in Hackney, but in East London generally as that was our catchment area.

These kids had been dealing since they were old enough to, they had been robbed of their childhood, had the poorest education you could imagine, lived in the most horrible conditions and had usually been neglected, or just given up wanting to achieve anything other than survival. 15 year old children, who have been under custodial sentence in secure settings since they were criminally of age, who had seen more heartache and pain that I will ever experience, when all around them the cruel contrast of the rich getting richer was right in their face.

Now I know that my experience is extreme, but if you look around you when you are there the social deprivation is obvious. There are children in that city who have are being educated in the most poorly funded and resourced education systems you can imagine, when a couple of miles away MPs and Lords are earning a fortune for fighting amongst each other and changing very little, I find it (like any big city I am sure) hugely and unappealingly diverse in it's economics, culture and general feel. I have been there lots (as I lived an hours train ride from there) and was always, and will always be glad to get out of it......

It's well worth looking at the people the next time you are there, not the architecture or the shops, then you will see the state of the real London, where the rich are happy and the poor are hopeless. It's nice for day out if you are tourist, if you are socially aware and see what many of us have, you would know what I mean.

I really hope that answers your question in a constructive way, as upon reflection, it's a really good question to ask an expat

All the best

Mrs Miggins x

lins and Stef McLachlan

HI
We live 80 miles North of London and I took my boys 11 and 13 to London during the Feb half Term as I had promised that I would take them on the London Eye before we go to Canada to live. I would not recommend it as I found it a tad boring and costly. However I would say that a walk around the bottom of The London Eye is well worth the effort. They had costumed people standing on boxes pretending to be statues and they were brilliant to watch....only moving very occasionally befor adopting the statue pose again. My kids found this fascinating. Then a walk over Westminster Bridge, followed by a visit to the Science Museum is well worth the effort, with plenty of interactive things to do and simulators (for a fee) to go on. The Tour Bus is a good idea as you are able to see all the buildings without walking your feet off. London can be very heavy on the feet, and the fast pace can leave the head spinning.
Stef and Lins

daft batty

I am just amazed that a school would let 14 year olds loose by themselves in London. I say this after listening to a group of Ontario mothers say that age 18 isnt old enough for their kids to leave home and go to Uni, so how would they cope with the prospect of them being unsupervised in a foreign city?

Mrs Miggins

I hear you batty!

I notice at college that an 18 year old here, is comparable to maybe 15/16 in the uk normall, it's been shocking. I just completed a year of unpaid youth work to be honest, and that was with my fellow students

Gorgeous day here in the bridge!!

All the best
Mrs M xx

canuckgirl

I really appreciate all your answers-very thought provoking. I will look at London and the UK with a more critical eye next time I am there. I certainly see how the price of things alone would create a huge disparity between rich and poor.
I feel the same thing could be said about Vancouver- the city I grew up in, once loved and now can barely tolerate.
The Downtown eastside has got to be as bad if not far worse in terms of sheer human misery and despair than anywhere in the UK. It is a national shame-as is I am sure the aboriginal sitaution in cities like Winnipeg and the "projects" of T.O.

What I have loved about London (as a tourist , there for one week at atime) is the lively arts communtiy and the great sense of history.I also love the Tube(call me crazy!).
I specifically said rich because I do believe the life of a Londoner on minimum wage muct be very frustraing indeed. Al those beautiful shops and restaurants and yet one can't afford them unless they are very well off.
That is true anywhere but the prices in London are so staggering (at least to this Canadian) that they leave me gasping. I did find it depressing to have to constantly tell my daughter that the Tshirt she loved was 55.00 CDN and no I wasn't buying it. Finding a healthy, decent meal for under $40.00 was a huge challenge as well. But my the Indian food was divine!

But for all that I found London,like new York, to be such an excoiting and invogorating place to be that I was sad to leave every time.

I do imagine that IF I was to move there the novelty would wear off and being Canadian through and through I would miss the friendliness, the wide open spaces and Tim Hortons that Canada offers.
In the meantime can anyone rec a nice, reasonably priced aprtemnt in a safe, central part of London for a one month holiday?

rickbill

Hi Mandy,
I would suggest telling your friends son to stick to the tourist 'traps' if he's only over for a short time. He will get a reasonable feel for the history of London if he does that. Whilst i don't think London is as bad as some on here i wouldn't advise walking around some places unless very 'clued in' and street wise. Westminster Abbey, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower of London and the new London Bridge experience are all worth a visit. If he gets a chance Windsor Castle is pretty cool too if a little pricey.
At 14 he's likely to prefer the busier places too, Camden Town market is pretty vibrant and quite a trendy place (Amy Winehouse loves it!! ), but I'd say it's more suited towards older teens and adults really. (had a big fire there a few weeks ago not sure how much damage was done to the market area though).

Hope this helps
Rick

Shoe

Spitalfields on a Sunday

roanin

No such thing as a reasonably priced rental in central London. Try the greater London areas, they are only 10-20 mins on the train away. The cost of accommodation drops dramatically, just 10 minutes outside the inner core.

mandymoochops

thaks for all the info everyone! Apparently he is having a whale of a time but spending lots of money!!!

Batty I believe they are only allowed 3 hours or something to themselves (and I got his age wrong they are 16 / 17 year olds )

Anyway, he spoke to his mum last night so they haven't been murdered yet which can only be a good thing!

gingnut

The real London, hmm, have something of yours stolen and blame the thief-tourist, blame yourself-local.

britsnake

I live in London, and it is a great city with plenty to see and do. There are some rough areas but there is no reason to visit then unless you want to see run down housing and urban decay.

As long as he gets to bed at a reasonalbe time, most parts of London are pretty safe. On the other hand, if he's in parts of London by himself late at night flashing the cash and refuses to give it up when asked ...

The4BellsLondon

Borough MArket & South Bank are my suggestions!

Re; The age thing - my daughte is just 13 and we live on a direct train line south of Victoria Station (20 mins) . She asked if she could go up to town with her friends last half term - (feb) We siad no - but they could go if me and one of the other mums were say up in Covent garden so they knew we were nearby . .

They said no worries we will go to Wimbledon - next town - all ok!



Oh no - the next day she admitted they ahd gone up to town any way!!!


Grounded for a week - no mobile, no lap top , no MSN!!