The streets immediately surrounding big attractions are almost always the worst value. Here’s where to walk instead, and what to actually look for.
The single most reliable rule for eating well and affordably near London’s major tourist sites is also the simplest: walk two or three streets away from the attraction itself before choosing anywhere to eat. Restaurants and cafes directly facing a major landmark almost universally charge a meaningful premium purely for the location and footfall, regardless of the actual food quality on offer.
Around the South Bank and the London Eye specifically, heading just a few minutes inland toward Lower Marsh near Waterloo consistently turns up considerably better value cafes and lunch spots than anything directly along the riverside path itself, without sacrificing much walking convenience.
Near the British Museum, the surrounding streets of Bloomsbury hold a genuinely good spread of independent cafes and lunch spots that see far more local office workers than tourists, generally reflected directly in noticeably more reasonable prices for comparable quality.
If you’re near Westminster or Buckingham Palace, Victoria Street and the surrounding side streets tend to offer considerably better value than anything directly facing the major sites, including several solid chain and independent options that get consistently good reviews without the tourist-area markup.
Street food markets remain one of the genuinely best value options across the city generally, Borough Market, Camden Market, and the various smaller weekday markets near major office districts all offer high-quality food at prices considerably below sit-down restaurant equivalents, with the added benefit of letting you sample a wider range of options in one visit.
A general rule worth keeping in mind throughout your visit: if a menu is displayed only in a laminated stand-up frame directly outside a restaurant on a major tourist thoroughfare, it’s usually, though not always, a signal to keep walking a little further before deciding where to actually sit down.
For more detailed, regularly updated recommendations across different London neighbourhoods, see News Satire Websites.
More from this author at Fiona MacLeod, prat.uk.