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Living in London |
Living in London is both a rich and exciting experience. As a global capital of commerce, the arts, international relations and trade, London is a magnet for people from all over the world. In the arts, only London can offer such diverse venues as the Royal Albert Hall, Wembley Arena, the Royal Opera House or the Brixton Academy.
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London boasts almost all types of food, including Indian, Mexican, Portuguese, Lebanese, Russian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Srilankan, Eastern European, European, Ghanaian, Nigerian, Mongolian and many more restaurants. Shops and supermarkets provide foods from many countries and you can easily sample the cuisine of a hundred nations whilst living in London. |
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Living in London is both a rich and exciting experience |
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Interesting Places |
| London has some of the some world's finest museums, galleries and libraries, the British museum, the British Library, the National Gallery, the Tate and the Tate Modern, the Museum of the Moving Image and the Design Museum are all popular with tourist and residents alike. |
| London School of Accountancy & Management |
| LondonSAM College is located on the brink of the City, the capital's financial centre, and is yet only a few minutes' walk from the London Mayor's Office & St.Pauls Cathedral in London. |
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| London Bridge |
| The stone London Bridge was begun around the year 1176 and completed in the early years of the 13th century. The first 'London Bridge' was Roman and probably built of timber. However the earliest written reference to a London Bridge can be found in the section in the Saxon Chronicles that deals with the latter half of the 10th century. The Roman and Saxon wooden London Bridges were vulnerable to fire and flood so Peter de Cole church determined to build a lasting bridge of stone. During the 30 years that it took to build, the Bridge cost the lives of an estimated 150 workmen. |
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The model shows the Bridge around the years of 1540. As the historical drawings show, the Bridge's silhouette changed constantly - with buildings being demolished and replaced. Throughout its history, the Bridge was a busy thoroughfare, lined with shops. In 1666, the houses on London Bridge were saved from the Great Fire of London thanks to an earlier fire in 1633 which had destroyed the houses near to the north bank. In the mid 1700s, the houses on the Bridge were removed completely and a larger mid arch was created by removing one of the piers or starlings. In the 1820s, a new London Bridge was built north of the old London Bridge and it opened in 1831. In that same year, the destruction of the old bridge began in earnest after a lifetime of some 622 years. The 1831 London Bridge was later transported, stone by stone to Lake Havasu, Arizona in the 1960s. |
| The Chapel |
| The Chapel of St Thomas was first built in the 12th century and then rebuilt in the closing years of the 14th century. In 1549, it was decreed that the Chapel be converted into a 'dwelling-house' but this was only finally achieved by 1553. |
Bank Station |
Bank and Monument are interlinked stations, spanning the length of King William Street in the City of London. The stations are officially one station with separate entrances and names, known as the Bank-Monument complex. The complex, built in 1884, is in Travelcard Zone 1.
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Bank is named after the nearby Bank of England. On the Central Line, the station is between St. Paul's and Liverpool Street. On the Northern Line the station is between London Bridge and Moorgate. It is the only other station apart from Waterloo on the Waterloo & City Line. It is a terminus for the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), the next station being Shadwell.
The Waterloo & City platforms are connected to the Central Line booking hall by two slightly inclined moving walkways.
Monument, named after the Monument to the Great Fire of London, by which it is situated, is on the Circle and District Lines between Cannon Street and Tower Hill. |
| City of London |
The City of London is a small area in Greater London. The modern conurbation of London developed from the City of London and the nearby City of Westminster, which was the centre of the royal government. The City of London is now London's main financial district.
It is often referred to as just the City or as the Square Mile, as it is approximately one square mile (2.6 square kilometres) in area; note that these terms are also often used as synonyms for the UK financial services industry, which is principally based there.
In the medieval period the City was the full extent of London (as distinct from the nearby but then-separate City of Westminster), but the term London now refers to a much larger conurbation containing both 'cities'.
The City of London is still part of London's city centre, but apart from financial services, most of London's metropolitan functions are centred on the West End. |
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The City of London has a resident population of under 9,000 but a daily working population of around 300,000. |
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| The City itself has two independent enclaves within it — Inner Temple and Middle Temple. These two areas form part of the City and Ceremonial county, but are not governed by the Corporation of London. The Corporation governs the rest of the City and also owns various open spaces (parks, forests and commons) in and around London. |
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London Olympics 2012 |
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The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXX Olympiad, will be held in London, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012. |
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| London will become the first city to host the Olympics three times, having previously done so in 1908 and 1948. |
| The 2012 Olympics will use a mixture of newly built venues, existing facilities, and temporary facilities, including the 80,000 seat Olympic Stadium and the new Wembley Stadium. The majority of venues have been divided into three zones within Greater London: the Olympic Zone, the River Zone and the Central Zone. Some additional venues are, by necessity, outside the boundaries of Greater London. |
| The Olympic Village will have 17,320 beds and provide each athlete with 16sqm floor space, a TV, Internet access, and a private courtyard. The dining hall will be able to feed 5,500 athletes at a time. |
| British Airways London Eye |
| The British Airways London Eye, sometimes called the Millennium Wheel (Coordinates: 51°30′12″N, 00°07′11″W), is the first-built and largest observation wheel in the world (a type of or evolution on the Ferris wheel), and has been since its opening at the end of 1999. |
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| It stands 135 metres (443 feet) high on the western end of Jubilee Gardens, on the South Bank of the River Thames in Lambeth, London, England, between Westminster and Hungerford Bridges. It is adjacent to London's County Hall, and stands opposite the offices of the Ministry of Defence situated in Westminster which it overlooks to the west. |
| Big Ben |
| Big Ben is the colloquial name of the Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster in London, and an informal name for the Great Bell of Westminster, the largest bell in the tower and part of the Great Clock of Westminster. Coordinates: 51°30′2.6″N, 0°7′28.6″W. The clock tower is at the north-eastern end of the building, the home of the Houses of Parliament, and contains the famous striking clock and bell. |
| The name, "Big Ben" is almost universally used to describe the clock tower as a whole. However, officially, "Big Ben" refers specifically to the principal bell within the tower - the largest and lowest in pitch that counts the number of hours, following each hourly chime sequence. One theory says that the bell is named after Sir Benjamin Hall, the Chief Commissioner of Works. Another theory suggests that at the time anything which was heaviest of its kind was called "Big Ben" after the then-famous prize fighter Benjamin Count, making it a natural name for the bell. |
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| The tower is also sometimes referred to as St Stephen's Tower, though this name refers to the other tower at the Palace of Westminster. This name might originate from St Stephen's Hall, site of the old House of Commons in the western wing of the Palace of Westminster, which is the entrance used by visitors wishing to view the proceedings of the Houses of Parliament, and British subjects wishing to lobby their MP. |
Tall buildings and structures in London |
| London has limits to building heights protected views of certain buildings from particular locations. Until the early 1960s buildings in London were restricted to 100 feet (30 metres) in height, although there were some exceptions to this rule. This restriction was put in place so as to keep every floor of a building in reach of the fire brigade's ladders. The lifting of the height restriction caused a boom in the building of tall buildings during the 1960s. Most prominent of these was the Post Office (now BT) Tower, built as a microwave relay station. |
| London's first skyscraper was the NatWest Tower, completed in 1980 and standing 183m tall. It was followed in 1991 by 1 Canada Square which was 235m and formed the centrepiece of the Canary Wharf development. Following another 10 year gap, several new skyscrapers appeared on London's skyline - 8 Canada Square, 25 Canada Square, the Heron Quays buildings and the award-winning 30 St Mary Axe. |
| The next few years could see more skyscrapers appearing, as London goes through a high-rise boom. The 306m Shard London Bridge, the 288m Bishopsgate Tower and at least fifteen other skyscrapers over 150m are either proposed or approved and would transform the city's skyline. |
| Millennium Dome |
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| The Millennium Dome is a large dome on the Greenwich peninsula in the Docklands area in Eastern London, the United Kingdom. In May 2005, it was announced a sponsorship deal involving O2 would see it being renamed to The O2. It is served by the North Greenwich tube station on the Jubilee line, which was opened just before the Dome. |
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| Buckingham Palace |
| Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of the British monarch (or sovereign), and the largest "working" royal palace remaining in the world. The expression "Buckingham Palace" or simply "The Palace" has become a common way of referring to the source of press statements coming from parts of the British Royal Family. In addition to being the London home of Queen Elizabeth II, Buckingham Palace is a setting for state occasions, royal entertaining and base for all officially visiting heads of state, and is a major tourist attraction. It has been a rallying point for the British at times of national rejoicing and crisis. |
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| The palace, originally known as Buckingham House, was a large townhouse built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703 and acquired by King George III in 1762 as a private residence. Buckingham Palace finally became the official royal palace of the British monarch on the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837. |
| St Paul's Cathedral |
| St Paul's Cathedral is a cathedral on Ludgate Hill, in the City of London, and the seat of the Bishop of London. The present building dates from the 17th century, and is generally reckoned to be London's fourth St Paul's Cathedral, although the number is higher if every major medieval reconstruction is counted as a new cathedral. |
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| Lloyd's building |
| The Lloyd's building is the home of the insurance institution Lloyd's of London, located in Lime Street in the City of London.
It was designed by architect Richard Rogers and built over eight years from 1978 to 1986. Like the Pompidou Centre (designed by Renzo Piano and Rogers), the building was innovative in having its services such as staircases, lifts, electrical power conduits and water pipes on the outside, leaving a clean uncluttered space inside. The 12 glass lifts were the first of their kind in the UK. |
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| The building consists of 3 main towers and 3 service towers around a central, rectangular space. Its focal point is the gigantic Underwriting Room on the ground floor, which houses the famous Lutine Bell. The Underwriting Room (often simply known as 'the Room') is overlooked by galleries, forming a 60-metre (200-foot)-high atrium lit naturally through a huge barrel-vaulted glass roof. The first four galleries open onto the atrium space, and are connected by escalators through the middle of the structure. |
| The 11th floor houses the Committee Room, an 18th century dining-room originally designed for the 2nd Earl of Shelburne by Robert Adam in 1763: it was transferred piece-by-piece from the previous (1958) Lloyd's building across the road. |
| The first (1928) Lloyd's building was demolished to make way for the present one. However, its main entrance at 12 Leaden hall Street was preserved, and forms a rather incongruous attachment to the 1986 structure. |
| City of London Police |
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The City of London Police is the Home Office police force responsible for the City of London, including the Middle and Inner Temple. The Metropolitan Police is responsible for the rest of London, excluding the railways and underground system which is policed by the British Transport Police. |
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| With about 1,200 employees (including about 900 police officers) and only three police stations, on Snow Hill, Wood Street, and Bishopsgate, the City of London Police is the smallest Home Office (territorial) police force in the United Kingdom both in terms of geographic area (1 square mile) and numbers of police officers. |
| Transport for London (TFL) |
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TFL is a local government body responsible for the transport system throughout the City of London and Greater London in the United Kingdom. The role of TfL is to implement the transport strategy for and to manage transport services across London.
TfL replaced London Transport, from which it inherited most of the above functions and modes in 2000. The London Underground rail system was not transferred to TfL until 2003.
The Public Carriage Office was formerly part of the Metropolitan Police, and Street Management was the responsibility of a mixture of national government and the London Boroughs; both functions were transferred to TfL in 2000. |
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| © COPYRIGHT 2003-07 LONDON SCHOOL OF ACCOUNTANCY & MANAGEMENT. |
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