Where guests stay
- London Bridge HotelLondon Bridge
- Shangri-La The ShardLondon Bridge
- Hilton London BanksideBankside
- citizenM London BanksideBankside
Named as landmarks only. No hotel is a partner of ours.
Desk openReel 04 · AreasSE1
Borough escorts, SE1. Supper by the market, then the hotel.
Borough is the oldest corner of south London, a crossing point since the Romans first bridged the river here, and on a damp evening it smells of roasting coffee, warm bread and wet cobbles under the railway. The market has traded on its present site since 1756 and nearby for centuries before that, and the lanes around it hold some of the best small restaurants in the city. This page covers the hotels guests use here, the stations and walking minutes, the timing and the companions who make the journey.
SE1Postcode
1MINOn foot from Borough
£250/HROpening rate
24/7Desk hours
01 · Borough
Location notes
The hotels, stations and postcodes behind a booking in Borough.
Minutes on foot
- BoroughNorthern1MIN
- London BridgeJubilee, Northern, National Rail7MIN
- Elephant and CastleBakerloo, Northern, National Rail9MIN
SE1
Borough lies within Zones 1 and 2, so her journey adds nothing to what you pay.
Hotel, name and room are checked once, then kept at the desk. See booking.
02 · Models
On call for Borough
A shortlist for this side of the river, drawn differently on every district page. Any companion on the reel will make the trip; ask for the one you have in mind.
From £250Available today
Jasmin
Aged 22Soho
From £250Available today
Karolina
Aged 27Covent Garden
From £250Available today
Lucy
Aged 24Pimlico
From £250Available today
Molly
Aged 24Soho
From £250Available today
Nancy
Aged 30Covent Garden
From £250Away
Roxi
Aged 23Pimlico
22 more companions travel here too · all 28 frames on one page: Models
Areas
Arches, cobbles and a cathedral next door
The market sits beneath the viaducts that carry trains into London Bridge, with Southwark Cathedral on one side and Borough High Street on the other. Stoney Street and Park Street run through the middle, lined with pubs that open early for the traders and stay busy until last orders. Off the High Street, the George Inn is the last galleried coaching inn left in London, looked after by the National Trust and still pouring.
By early evening the stalls close and the character changes. The traders leave, the dining rooms fill, and the lanes become a supper district: relaxed, dimly lit and short on tourists after nine. The river is two minutes north on foot, and the Shard is visible from almost every corner.
The cathedral deserves a detour even without a service. Parts of it date from the thirteenth century, making it the oldest Gothic church in London, and its choir sings evensong on most weekdays, a fine prelude to an early dinner. Shakespeare's brother Edmund is buried inside, and the playwright himself is remembered in a memorial and a stained glass window.
Areas
The guests who come for the food
People who book in Borough have usually eaten their way here. A visitor who has read about the market for years and finally made the trip. A business traveller at the end of a conference who wants dinner in good company rather than the hotel restaurant. A regular who stays at the same London Bridge hotel every month and knows exactly which table to ask for. They tend to choose a longer evening, because in Borough the dinner is the point.
Areas
The hotels four streets from the stalls
London Bridge Hotel is the closest, five minutes' walk north on London Bridge Street, independent and discreet. Shangri-La The Shard stands beside it, the tower's lobby on St Thomas Street. West towards the Tate, the Bankside hotels, a Hilton and a citizenM, lie about ten minutes away along Union Street or Southwark Street.
We mention these hotels only because guests stay there, and none of them is a partner. Borough also has a good stock of serviced apartments and converted flats around Redcross Way and Southwark Street, and a companion visits those on the same footing: the address and the booking name confirmed once, then forgotten by everyone except the desk.
Areas
Northern line, the walk and the wait
Borough station, on the Northern line, is a minute from the southern end of the High Street. London Bridge, seven minutes north, adds the Jubilee line and mainline trains. Elephant and Castle, nine minutes south, brings the Bakerloo line and Thameslink.
Your companion arrives by cab. From Soho or Covent Garden the route crosses Southwark Bridge or London Bridge, twenty to thirty minutes depending on the hour. Expect her within the hour of the desk confirming, a little longer on a Friday. Borough is in Zone 1, so the fare is on us.
On arrival she messages the desk from outside, and the desk lets you know she is there. She comes into the lobby dressed as if for one of the dining rooms on Park Street, and if the hotel keeps a visitors' routine she follows it like anybody else. At a private flat, she uses the entry phone and waits to be let in.
Areas
Supper, the walk back, the room
Borough is made for the longest dinner booking: four hours, £900. A table at eight, perhaps at Roast, whose dining room sits in a glass and iron portico that once stood in Covent Garden. A bottle chosen slowly. Then a short walk past the cathedral to the river, where the lights of the City lie on the water. Back at the hotel by half past ten, with ninety minutes that belong to nobody but the two of you. She leaves at midnight, on time and without fuss.
Areas
Companions within a short drive, and the next streets over
Nancy and Karolina live in Covent Garden and reach Borough in one short drive over the river. Jasmin and Molly come from Soho, and Roxi from Pimlico. Every companion, with her age and her opening rate, is in the gallery.
London Bridge and the Shard are five minutes north. Bermondsey lies east along Tooley Street, Southwark and Bankside to the west, and London Bridge Station covers arrivals by train.
Q · Questions
Borough, answered
Yes. Eating well is half the point of Borough. The stalls close in the early evening, but the restaurants around them carry on. Tell the desk where your table is and she meets you there.
London Bridge Hotel, on London Bridge Street, about five minutes' walk. Shangri-La The Shard is next to it, and the Bankside pair, the Hilton and citizenM, are around ten minutes west.
Usually. Four hours, £900, allows a proper meal and an unhurried stretch afterwards. For a shorter supper, two hours at £500 is enough.
An hour is normally enough, since she usually arrives within that time. On a Friday or Saturday, or for one particular companion, a message in the afternoon gives the desk more room.
It is a lovely one, especially the courtyard in summer. It fills up after work, so a quieter corner inside, or your hotel bar, may suit better on a weekday.
Very. Once the restaurants empty, usually around eleven, the lanes fall almost silent, and the hotels by London Bridge are only a five-minute walk away.
→ · Areas
Nearest crossings
Next door to Borough, on foot or a single stop away.
SE1London BridgeLondon Bridge station, 2 min on foot · 5 hotels named on the pageSE1 · SE16Escorts in BermondseyBermondsey station, 3 min on foot · 4 hotels named on the pageSE1London Bridge Station hotelsLondon Bridge station, 1 min on foot · 4 hotels named on the pageSE1SE17 districts inside the postcode, one page eachSE1Escorts in SouthwarkSouthwark station, 1 min on foot · 5 hotels named on the page
7 more districts on both banks: Areas
From The Journal
- 5 min readWhen the traders go home: Borough Market's second act, table by tableBorough Market is famous by day and overlooked at night. Once the stalls shut, its restaurants, galleried inn and lanes beneath the railway make one of the best settings in London for a quiet date.
- 5 min readUp from the waterline: summer terraces between Waterloo and the TowerThe south bank and the City hold more open-air terraces than most visitors realise. Ranked by how hard they are to get into, with notes on weather, the last lift down and where to go next.
Last frame · Areas
Borough, tonight
Name your hotel or street in Borough and the hour that suits you. The cab over costs you nothing extra.