muscat

Are you sure you know where your meeting is? Westminster Abbey is not in the City. (approx the area around Bank tube station)

NeverFirst

Now, now. I thought everyone was just leaving this bit alone lest we cause more confusion.

To the OP; 'The City' is a very specific term for the area which elsewhere might be called 'the financial district' and is actually 'The City of London'.

So if somebody says 'I need to get from the airport to the city' this means you're heading to this small part (famously one square mile) of London.

To add to the confusion the small area you're heading to is 'Westminster' which in turn is part of the much larger 'City of Westminster'.

By if you're sure your meeting is near Westminster Abbey (and not St Paul's Cathedral) then you can pretty much rely on any of the advice you've previously been given.

BahrainLad

Actually,

'I need to get from the airport to the city' I would take to mean Zone 1
'I need to get from the airport to the City' I would take to mean the square mile.

medicus

OK. Sorry for any confusion that I may have (inadvertently) caused.

The address of my appointment is Tufton St, Westminster.

I'll remember to be more precise in future. Thanks for the education and the advice.

Medicus

Cymro

The problem is that there is an unwritten rule that all journeys in London, of any distance, take one hour, hence all the controversy.

Generally the further you go, the faster you will travel but the greater the change overhead.

Sixth Freedom

From Tufton St I would head to St James' Park tube.

layz

Is (Greater) London unique in this regard?

An area comprising 2 cities and many boroughs but the area is generally referred to by the name of the smallest city. The City of London is much smaller than the City of Westminster.

There's Manchester and Salford in Greater Manchester, and many outside the area would refer to the whole area as Manchester but those based on the area would normally identify Salford correctly.

There was a quiz show on TV (not sure what it was, playing in the background) and they asked "The Metropolitan Police is the police force for which city?", contestant answered London and was considered right. But confusingly the met is the police force for all of London except the city!

Howard Long

I agree that either the tube or private hire is the way to go.

The benefit of changing at South Ken rather than Hammersmith or Barons Court is that you can take any train that arrives on the westbound District/Circle line platform from St James Park or Westminster. To change at Barons Court/Hammersmith you'll have to pick the right train as about half the trains won't hit Hammersmith/Barons Court, but all go to South Ken.

True, there are stairs and escalators to deal with at South Ken , but it's not a big deal, particularly at the time of day you're talking about when it won't be uber busy. Although I now live about a mile away, until recently I lived in South Ken for over 12 years, and my tip is to move down to one end of the platform: the platform entrance is in the middle so the tourists huddle there making boarding the train difficult. You are also more likely to get yourself a seat by moving to one end of the platform.

By the way, not all Piccadilly line trains go to T5, but it will be clear which ones do as T5 is the final stop on the branch.

Regarding the Heathrow Express, as others have said, it's not really as convenient as all that as getting to Paddington is often more trouble than it's worth.

Cheers, Howard

jib71

I suppose "the city" could refer to the City of Westminster if carefully inserted in the right context, (although more likely to be referred to as "the borough") but I digress.

I would take D&C to Baron's Court then switch to Piccalilli, as mentioned above. (I wish that line were yellow, not blue).

Sixth Freedom

Possibly.

The City has certain unique privileges dating back from time immemorial (in the legal sense) and stemming from it's immense and unique commercial power. That Greater London has taken the name of it's geographically smallest component is testament to this power.

tuff

+1

I am travelling from the City to Victoria Station this afternoon and have estimated it will take an hour.

NeverFirst

Don't apologise, we love a bit of arcane information.

Now, why don't you ask about the difference between Britain, the United Kingdom, the British Islands, and the British Isles (we'll leave the Kingdom of Britain out of it for now)?

stifle

This gets my vote too. Travel time is more or less the same as the HEX, especially if you miss the HEX by a minute or two and have to wait 15 minutes for the next one.

layz

Westminster "the borough"? Never heard it referred to as that. I'd think of that as the area around Borough High Street, SE1 (Southwark).

tuff

Some major european cities, especially in Germany, have an area called City which houses the financial institutions.