Parking in Central London

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
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160,209
Hi guys,

This is perhaps an utterly stupid question but never mind.

Whats parking like in Central London on a late afternoon/early evening of a Saturday? Whenever I go I usually use public transport but that wont be convenient on this occasion. Is there safe onstreet parking? How much is it? What about carparks? Expensive?

Cheers!
 
Depends on /where/ you park. Some are free after a certain time like 6pm - when we went to watch IJ4 at Leicester Square we parked in an off street carpark (the ones that were going to be unparkable the following week due to the marathon thing) and it was free which was about 8pm.
 
You can park it on my road and get the tube into central london, feel free to pop the keys through my letterbox so i can, errr, keep them safe for you :)
 
Totally depends, i'm down in London most weeks atm and from what i've seen i'd never want to take my car in i'm working just off Pall Mall.

Why not get a train in a Taxi across town fox?
 
Can you give any more details as to where you'll be aiming to visit? I go into London weekly and have to drive so I'm pretty familliar with Central London.

Generally I would just say to use your common sense, but on a recent trip to Selfridges late Saturday (parking about 6pm) I saw a Bently Continental that had been parked outside a nice restaurant that had been freshly keyed (you could easily tell as it looked 'fresh' and even had the little curls of paint at the ends).
I wouldn't have hesitated to park in that area normally as it's an exclusive area but if someone just takes a dislike to your car you've got little chance.

Your BMW will fit in nicely around that area and certainly won't stand out and attract the 'wrong sort', but with that in mind I would still recommend parking in an NCP even jsut for your own peace of mind.

You're looking at (approx) £10 for 3 hours.

http://www.ncp.co.uk/
 
On evenings and weekends after 7pm I usually park down Harley Street if I want to go anywhere central. Havent done that for a while so Im not sure if you still can.
 
I usually end up using an NCP, but I'm guessing you won't want to do that (unless you're going to park over 2 bays to stop door dings ;))
 
You can park free around Hatton Garden from after 1pm on Saturday and then get tube or cab into the west end
 
Tricky as if you park in an NCP you're open to door-dings, but parking on the street leaves you open to the 'bumper car' style of parking where someone nudges their way in or out (although I think that's preferable to the dings).

I'd be happy to find somewhere close to where you'll be visiting and park on the street in a metered bay (free after 6pm but check in case). Make sure you leave nothing on view of course and you'll be fine.
 
I always park in central london, there are loads of spaces you just need to know where to go.

I usually park by St. James Park - its just down the road and 5 minutes walk from piccadilly circus, theres around 100 bay parking spaces around there, which is free after 6.30pm on saturdays. If you go late afternoon, there will be plenty of spaces as people usually park there after 6.30pm as it's free to park. If you go before 6.30pm, you will have to pay £4 an hour, and display your ticket on your windscreen. Also, there are a range of cars that park there, ranging from an average golf like mine to mercedes benzes or high end saloons.

Hope that helps.

If you want the street name pm me.
 
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Early evening you should be fine to park anywhere in central london on a sat -can't think of many places that have restrictions past 6:30 in westminster, + all the single yellow lines free up.
 
I drive up most weekends and it's not a problem. I park in Camden on the side roads and it's fine there over night and it's free. Towards the middle of town I've parked in some of the NCP car parks before. Can't remember the price but you might be able to find out on the website.
 
Do you need to take the car all the way in or just don't want to get to London from Plymouth on the train?

I always park at East Finchley tube station, which is 15 mins off the bottom of the M1, for a few quid a day then tube it in.
 
I'd rather park outside of the congestion charge zone, and get the tube in. Infact, that's what I did last time I ventured into central london on the way back from Kent.
 
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