london

London and Leisure

London is the capital of England, with something to offer everyone – engrossing museums and art galleries, majestic palaces and monuments, tranquil green parks and a fine zoo. Popular parts of London include great shopping centres with all the major stores, specialist shops and street markets. Many visitors come to London for the theatres and concert halls. And many enjoy the traditional English pubs, and the wide range of restaurants offering cuisine from all over the world.

The main residence of the Royal Family is at Buckingham Palace in London, close to Green Park underground station. Other interesting places to visit that have Royal connections include Hampton Court Palace, The Tower of London and Regents Park, an ancient Royal hunting park. For example, the Tower of London, near the iconic Tower Bridge, is worth a day’s visit. You can see the crown jewels, the armour worn by medieval kings, and the cells where the Kings’ enemies in bygone centuries were confined and sometimes tortured prior to losing their heads. Take your photos of the scarlet-uniformed Beefeaters, and the black ravens. Legend has it that if the ravens ever leave the Tower, disaster will befall the Kingdom.

The College is situated in the heart of ‘the West End’, close to the main shopping centre and the theatre district. The building is five minutes’ walk from Oxford Circus underground station and about ten minutes from the British Museum. The College is also quite near Hyde Park, 350 acres of lawn and stately trees.

Entertainment

There is no shortage of evening entertainment; The West End is popular for its shows and musicals. It has a wide selection of restaurants of all types, classical music at the Barbican or The London Coliseum, ballet at Sadler’s Wells or the cinemas in Leicester Square to choose from.

Leisure

Sometimes teachers may take their classes to places of interest in and around London instead of having the normal classroom lesson. Such places include museums, art galleries and historic buildings. On a fine day, they may take the class on a "London Walks" guided tour, or guide trips themselves - to Kew Gardens, perhaps, or down the Thames to Greenwich by launch.