24 hours in London
21.07.2023 - 08:49
/ roughguides.com
/ London
“The city that never sleeps” is probably a cliché used for cities in almost every country in the world. But is London really a nocturnal city, where night-or-day you can find somewhere to play? Lottie Gross took up the challenge to find out...
It’s 6am on a Saturday morning and for some reason I’m awake, trundling along on a big red bus on my way from south-west London to Vauxhall. It doesn’t exactly sound exotic, but it’s about to get far more colourful as my boyfriend and I jump off in search of the confusingly named New Covent Garden flower market (bizarrely, it’s not anywhere near the actual Covent Garden).
After a dazed amble around some empty looking warehouses we find the flower market, a hive of activity with palettes stacked high with plants and flowers from all over the world. This is the main wholesale flower market for London, where florists, designers and individuals alike come to barter over the price of a petal – and that golden dinosaur sitting atop a display, apparently.
© Empirephotostock/Shutterstock
When my pollen allergies get the better of me we finally move on, jumping on the London Underground to Victoria where the enormous Westminster Cathedral provides a fascinating view of the city. From the top of the tower, I can see Parliament, the London Eye and Westminster Abbey, but only just, as they’re mostly masked by a melee of concrete and glass buildings, corporate offices and residential blocks. It’s rare that you ever see London from this angle and I gain a new perspective on this ever-growing city, as workmen hammer away on new developments.
The cathedral itself is magnificent; it’s a Byzantine-style basilica decorated inside with all colours of marble and mosaics. At over 100 years old it’s opulent and in some places garish, but most of all it’s impressive – there are over 12.5 million bricks making up this building and its bare, black ceiling provides a dramatic contrast to the colourful walls.
Sitting in the Lady Chapel, my stomach rumbles and I realise I’m starving – it’s 11am and it’s been hours since breakfast after all. Hopping back on the Underground, we arrive in Brixton and head to The Provincial, one of the many restaurants on Market Row, for a feast of chorizo, fried eggs and roasted vegetables on a thick white bloomer.
Satisfied and sleepy – perhaps not a great start to our 24 hour adventure – we stroll through Brixton Village, an indoor market that’s a mish-mash of boutique clothes shops, delicatessens and international supermarkets, where you can buy anything from pigs ears to giant snails and art prints to kitchen supplies.
From Brixton we jump back on the Underground and take the Victoria line and then District line to Embankment, from where we can cruise on the