*Cheap/free London!

[Cloo]

Cheap/free London!

Seeing as my beloved is shortly to become a full-time Master’s student and therefore will be chronically skint for the next 12 months, I was wondering if people had any recommendations for free or cheap stuff to do in London, ‘cos I’m not bloody well paying for him (well, not all the time, anyway ).

Obviously there’s the big free-entry museums, but what other stuff do you recommend to do for little or no money (outside the bedroom, you dirty-minded people!). Any good cinema/theatre ticket schemes for students or the general public, for example? Or websites that are good for info on free stuff or providing special offers?

PS, mods – if people come up with good stuff could this potentially be a sticky? Might make a good resource for the many poor and destitute urbanites out there.

 

[gsv]

Cheap/free London!

Originally posted by Cloo
Seeing as my beloved ... will be chronically skint for the next 12 months...

What, as opposed to the last 12 months?

I'm sure he can find you some free entertainment in Islington / Walthamstow!

 

[Naiib]

Here you go lovey....hope this is helpful

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/whereyoulive/free/index.shtml

 

[grasshopper]

Cloo - I'm fairly sure you can get free tickets to be part of an audience at various TV and Radio progs. Radio 4 shows such as "the News Quiz" and "Just a Minute" for eg.

Not sure how to go about obtaining them tho. In my case the cost of transport to London outweighs the benefits of a freebie

 

[Hollis]

This is the site you want:

http://www.londonfreelist.com

Cloo - if you're a bit busy, I don't mind putting together an itinery for gsv.. I thought we could start him off on abit of tea dancing..followed by some Sunday morning car booting.. you can pick up allsorts of cheap stuff there - some of it in quite good condition.

 

[mrmule]

its small and you have to share.. great view and security.

 

[grasshopper]

When you're ultra-skint, a walk in Epping forest with a bag of sarnies and a thermos is good in the Winter (or anytime of year, although may wish to swap the thermos for a couple of tinnies in the hotter weather )

Epping Forest - beautiful place

And depending upon where you are in Walthy, could be a mere stonesthrow away. Good for edible mushrooms in the Autumn too if you fancy adopting a new hobby and cutting down on food bills.

 

[Cloo]

Thanks for the link, Hollis - I knew there must be something of that ilk.

I'm not too far from Epping Forest actually - I intended to get round to going there this summer, but never quite managed!

 

[marty21]

epping forest is worth the trip...lovely place...

and what about the marshes?....walthamstow/hackney...a little oasis in the city

 

[bluestreak]

maybe we need an urbanites in epping forest day out sometime... that'd be cool. says the lazy git who can smell the forest from his living room...

 

[ScallyWag II]

Yep Epping Forest is a lovely place to go. You can wander around for ages, very peaceful

East end markets on a Sunday... fucking great for using up the hours!

Also, that freebie paper you can get on the tube sometimes has a bit near the middle that tells you about free stuff happening in London that day. Mostly it's seems to be central London but maybe worth checking out.

 

[disco_dave_2000]

Walking undiscovered parts of London is great and free, and yep Epping Forest is good. I recommend buying a couple of books by Andrew Duncan, he gives really detailed walk and direction information and includes local history / events etc as you go around.

I have his Notorious London book and the east end walk is recommended and quite creepy in places.

disco dave 2000 >>>>>>>>><<<<<<<

 

[mango5]

Try How to enjoy London or London for Less and London for Free and of course the London Free List mentioned earlier is great

There's lots of repetition but they'll get you started. Enjoy

 

[BEARBOT]

on a related topic to what disco dave said..check yr LIBRARY for walking london books...andrew duncans are very good, there are also 2 published by time out which have interesting themes/loads of esoteric info on london/literary/artisitc/social/history and culture.also there are the 2 london loop books, one inner and one outer..takes you in a nice circle around london..a zone 3/4 one and a zone 5/6..nice day out for the price of a travel card!
i never thought id enjoy this kind of thing(exercise) but now im mildly hooked on it...enjoy!

 

[Thimble Queen]

hmmmmm

the women's librarys cool.. a free exhibition its on suffrage and they have guided tours and cheap talks an stuff
its nr Aldgate East Station

 

[Smølfine]

If you want to do slightly serious stuff you could go to a public lecture at the LSE - if you are a bit of a nerd that is

http://www.lse.ac.uk/events/

I've been to hear Naomi Klein and Richard Stallman (GNU project), and Richard Dawkins was there a couple of weeks back.

 

[deano]

there's always the Royal Academy of Music or Guildhall Music and Arts School...check londonfreelists.com., I think.

 

[jdaviescoates]

canal

more of a spring / summer activity, but walking / cycling along london's canal is always a pleasurable and welcome retreat from the city.

Head east down regents canal and then turn left after victoria park to get to the river lea. From there you can now north for miles.

I would recommend getting off the river near leytonstone and checking out the excellent http://491gallery.org - in fact the growing network of Social Centres around London have lots of very good and free / cheap events to go to.

Peace,

Josef.

 

[sarcastic food]

That's a good site jdaviescoates

 

[jdaviescoates]

Originally posted by sarcastic food
That's a good site jdaviescoates

(/shameless self promotion)

It is, isn't it.

Loads more good sites can be found via my own site http://www.uniteddiversity.com

Peace,

Josef.

 

[Streathamite]

are not most/all museums free? ditto the national gallery?

 

[Nixon]

epping forest is nice but ... im not a fan of haunted places.bike riding in crystal palace from the mast down to penge .Thats good in the summer.Of kite flying in Blackheath? There is meant to be a little guitar like concert in blackheath halls every sunday.free i think.

 

[kait]

Walks along the Grand Union canal. Find the route that leads to camden lock

 

[Louloubelle]

for women hampstead heath ladies pond is just sublime
you can sunbathe topless, swim in a natural pond with fish in it and watch moorhens and ducks swimming around
here's some photos (more later)

http://www.pbase.com/louloubelle/hampstead_heath_&page=all

 

[Louloubelle]

get on the emailing list for art galleries
www.eyestorm.com is good
you get occasional invites to exhibitions, usually sponsored by drinks companies, where you get lots of free drinks and cocktails while checking out cool art.

 

[Cloo]

Cool! Have joined up.

 

[Louloubelle]

here's another one for ya
not just London, but all over the UK you get to see films free, see them before most other people and you get paid for it.
more here:

http://www.cinecheck.com/

 

[Louloubelle]

might be of interest to some
http://209.61.226.18/Site/

 

[easy g]

you used either of those Louloubelle? especially the cinecheck thing?

 

[Louloubelle]

you used either of those Louloubelle? especially the cinecheck thing?

I registered with cinecheck 4 months ago and get an email about once a month with assignments at cinemas accross the UK on it.

I got the first one with a cinema near me about 3 days ago, it was to go and see shrek 2, on Friday or Saturday night but I'm at an all day festie at the weekend so can't make it.

You can take up as many or few assignments as you like and once you register you get the phone numbers of people who give advice to first timers re what exactly you need to do to get paid.

It's free to join so you have nothing to lose.