Coming to London 9/1-9/9 - what to see/do

[austin_rugger]

I'm from Austin, Texas...hey no cowboy remarks. Austin isn't really Texas. I don't even have an accent...unless having one will work to my advantage.

I am going to be in London Sept 2,3,4 and will be in Newbury Sept 5-9 on business. Rather than consult the various tour books and sites, I though it best to check with the locals and let's just say I found this site due to certain interests. I have not booked a hotel in London yet, suggestions are welcome, I assume something central is good and the tubes will take me anywhere.

A little about me to help you help me find suitable entertainment and points of interest...
Male, 34 (look and behave much younger)
I play rugby, Div II for severals years...which is probably social rugby by UK standards. http://www.hunsrugby.com/
No stanger to loud music (almost anything-house, punk, non-poppy hip-hop, etc), binge drinking, my favorite is RedBull Vodkas.
Been known to roll (can I say that?)
Regular casual dresser - jeans and polo/button-down/t-shirt, not the warm-up suit crowd.

Aside from seeing the average tourist points of interests i am looking to club a bit. I am open to a regular pub scene all the way to an all night rave. As long as I am not "the old guy," so the under 21 scene is not for me...rather find the late 20s crowd. I am not stuffy and a mixed crowd (age/race/sexuality/etc) is fine, in fact it all adds to the flavor I think.

I've been given a few anitpodean ruggers in London to look up and they suggest The Church on Sundays. Checked out the site and it looks like a place I would fit in, but I don't want to limit myself to that crowd.

Thanks in advance for any help.
-Eric
http://www.hunsrugby.com/images/pre-2000/action_ericburns.GIF

[java1200]

www.fabriclondon.com

www.endclub.com

[liberty]

Come to picnic with a view it will be great :)

[TeeJay]

Suggestions:

Accomodation - anything central (eg zone 1 for example) and within budget. Doesn't really matter as you will just be crashing out there, so the only real factor is getting back there easily late at night (or early morning) - eg tubes, night buses, taxis or on foot. Anywhere central therefore, nothing glamourous - save your money for drinking etc.

"Average Tourist Attractions" - so many! Maybe the best things (any or all) would be:

1. The London Eye (large wheel thing) - brilliant views of whole of London
2. An open-topped tourist bus - will drive all all round the place, and I think you can get on and off.
3. A trip down the Thames on a river boat - Westminster to Greenwich - gives amazing views of many landmarks etc.

Either that or just buy a one-day or weekend travel card and zoom around randomly on the tube to whichever places take your fancy and you have the time and energy for.

Recommended: Buy a mini "AtoZ" - a cheap, handy, pocket-sized and comprehensive street/road/train/tube/everything map to all of London.

"What's On": Buy a copy of "Time Out" - it will list almost everything you can think of for that week.

Some websites aimed at aussie/kiwi/SA-types and generally useful for visiting London:
www.ukhostels.com
http://www.gumtree.com
http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com
http://www.tntmagazine.com/uk/

More specifically:

++++++++++

Fri 2nd
Friday clubs nights: http://www.londonnet.co.uk/clubs/fridaynights.html - massive range of choice.

Here is some of what's on that night - ask around if you see anything that interests you...
house - 18 West at AKA Bar / Bingo at Thirst / DirtyFunkySexy at Studio 33 / The Dog Pound at The Dogstar / The Gallery at Turnmills / Glamour Rocks at The Rex / Latino Soul Movements at The Gate / Skookum at The Key
general - 333 Fridays at 333 / Encompass at Cargo / Hooga And Beatmarket at 93 Feet East / Larkin' Out at Vibe Bar
big beat - Inspiration Information at Notting Hill Arts Club / Lemmonade at Clockwork
retro pop & indie pop - Big Night Out at The Roxy / Fantasy Fridays at Hombre De Bahia / Gold at Cirque / Cow Club at The Old Dairy / Fortuna Pop at The Buffalo Bar / Laid at St Moritz / Stay Beautiful at The Buzzard
drum n bass - Fabriclive at Fabric / Ram Records at The End / Wax On Wax Off Versus Feline at Herbal
gay - The Cock at The Ghetto / Fiction at The Cross / G-A-Y Camp Attack at The Astoria / AM at Fire / Pimp at Trash Palace / Popstarz at The Scala [gay/indie pop]
latin - Fiesta Fiesta at Fiesta Havana SW6 / Latin Fever at Salsa / Revolution Latin Sound at Cuba / Urban Boogaloo at Fiesta Havana W1
others - Partido Del Mundo at The Big Chill Bar [world] / Jazzin' at The Soho Spice Cellar Club [jazz] / Dolly Mixture at The Gardening Club [funk] / Shake at The Pleasure Unit [soul] / Rock at The Mean Fiddler [metal] / Stereo Picnic at Embassy Bar [disco] / Bronx II Brixton at 3rd Base, Mass St. Matthews Church [hip hop]

Also a special mention goes out for:
How Does It Feel To Be Loved? at The Canterbury Arms [indie pop]
Which is put on by ianw - one of the posters here (send him a PM for 'membership').

++++++++++

Sat 3rd
As a true rugby fan you should then get up early and start drinking for the:
03 September 2005
Vodacom Tri-Nations Series
New Zealand v Australia, Auckland.
08.35am
You could watch it at one of these venues: http://www.citypublife.co.uk/New%20Zealand%20v%20Australia.htm

You can then stagger to south london via an off-license for:

1pm onwards: "picnic with a view" in Dulwich...
See this thread for details and directions (http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=125950) You can come and meet a lot of us! ;)

Of course you should come and meet us but alternatively you could get a ticket for the London Double header at Twickenham:

The opening round of the 2005/6 Guinness Premiership will see reigning Premiership Champions London Wasps begin the defence of their title against Saracens at Twickenham in the second London Double Header.

Both teams finished their campaigns at Twickenham last season, London Wasps beating Leicester Tigers to win the Premiership and Saracens defeating Gloucester to win the Wildcard Final.

They will be joined in the Twickenham showpiece by London Irish and Leeds Tykes, the latter team assuming the berth left vacent by the relegation of NEC Harlequins. source: http://tisc.planet-rugby.com/Tournaments/Zurich_Premiership/story_43761.shtml
tickets: http://www.rfu.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/RFUHome.Tickets_Detail/StoryID/146

Later on you might end up going to wherever with whomever, but if you have some cash to spare and are still actually conscious by then:

Fabric at Fabric Saturday Sep 3 type: house 10pm-7am prices: £15
Huge night of house, techno and more with Carl Craig, Craig Richards, Akufen, Stacey Pullen and Terry Francis plus Mr G live. The Tummy Touch room features Tim Love Lee, Crispin Cior, Crazy Girl live and Raphael Pellizzaro.

...more listings here (pretty much anything you can think of): http://www.londonnet.co.uk/clubs/saturdaynights.html

++++++++++

Sun 4th "The Church": Lots of aussies, Kiwis, SAs, guys girls noise beer Lots of drinking :D - I think you should do this. ;)
http://www.thechurch.co.uk/index.html :D

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Mon - Fri: Newbury (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newbury%2C_Berkshire) is a fairly small (pop. 32,000) and quiet town, so the best thing is to sample the rural pubs & real ales and take a trip over in Oxford which is c.20 miles away - either in the day (colleges etc) or maybe even the evening (a bit more life than Newbury). You could also go and visit the nearby ruins of Donnington Castle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnington_Castle) or you could try and escape back up to London (trains run direct to Paddington).

+++++++++++

Other areas of rugby-related interest: Maybe visit Twickenham. The most 'rugby' orientated parts of london are mostly in south-west London. There are also various Aussie/Kiwi/SouthAfrican bars in central london also these "top rugby pubs in London": http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/home_feat_where_rugby_watch.asp

also: Earl's Court, Putney & Clapham (SW London) are famous for Aussie, Kiwi and South African backpackers, vibrant and still relatively inexpensive (particularly Earl’s Court). Shepherd's Bush, Hammersmith (W London) - more and more Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans there, still well-priced with lots of shops, pubs and restaurants.

[austin_rugger]

Thank you all. Much appreciated, this and the PMs.
Sounds like I may meet some of you.

-Eric

[austin_rugger]

Again, thanks for all of you that help me.

Hotel is booked for Fri and Sat. Pretty much central.
Hilton London Metropole
225 Edgware Road, London W2 1JU, UK

A mate might be joining me, he's quite a partier.

So we get to London Friday morning and will do the typical tourist thing at that point.
1. Get Travel cards for the weekend to have unlimited access to the tubes
2. Get a copy of Time Out
3. Get a mini AtoZ map
4. Open top bus definitely...I mean that what we think of when we think 'London'
5. Insert other tourist things here.

Friday night
Bar hop if that's possible, seems like the clubs are have a heavy cover.
I assume there are no-cover bars along with the clubs, that how it is at Austin's 6th street, which is several streets full of clubs, bars, and restaurants.
We'll ask the locals for the hot spots, we'll find some good late 20s, early 30s clubs with good music and atmosphere to hang out, chat up.

Sat
Watch the Oz v NZ somewhere - probably with antipodean ruggers.
Maybe picnic
Fabric

Sun
Recover and The Church more tourist stuff

-Eric

[butterfly child]

Blimey, you're brave.. the Metropole!

Respect ;)

[TeeJay]

Friday night
Bar hop if that's possible, seems like the clubs are have a heavy cover.
I assume there are no-cover bars along with the clubs, that how it is at Austin's 6th street, which is several streets full of clubs, bars, and restaurants.
We'll ask the locals for the hot spots, we'll find some good late 20s, early 30s clubs with good music and atmosphere to hang out, chat up.Can I suggest that if you want to do this then go to EC1, EC2, E1, E2 (these are post codes) - eg clerkenwell, farringdon, shoreditch etc. It isn't bang in the centre of the west end - the tourist, mainstream & shopping part - its slightly to the east (EC=east central, E=east). Or Brixton/South London of course - or Islington... and so forth - in other words the places you want to be are not bang in the centre (aka the west end) they are in a kind of 'ring' especially to the north east and south. Although maybe people will argue that SoHo is full of cool places also... but you could probably do that as a *really* late stop on your way home - eg check out some of the 24 hour cafes or after hours joints hidden away in there ;)

Re. "cover charge" - you'll find some really cool places are free or only £5 before 11pm (traditional pub closing time) and will also tend to be more "dj-bars" (half bar half club), so for 'bar hopping' the earlier start the better. The big cover charges £10-15 are typically for the 'all-nighter' full-on clubs espcially after 11pm. People will often start off at the pub then only really get to their final club destination later on the bulk between 12 and 1 maybe - when there'll be more crowds and queues etc. The tube doesn't run between 1am and 6am, night buses run radially to Traflagar Square and so it'll be taxis.

So a typical night would be to 'bar-hop' and 'pub-hop' in a certain area (eg south london, east london) earlier on when its free or go to a cool place w/£5 cover, then - if you want to do an all-nighter - move on to your final destination of choice between 11 to 1. Stay there and party till 6 when you can catch the first tube - or if you flake out get a taxi back and maybe stop off at a chill-out-cafe or some back-street soho joint on the way back to your hotel.