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Impact of Pride whilst touring

Hi! I'll be traveling to Britain for 11 days this summer (5 nights in Teignmouth and 5 nights in Greenwich). There are 9 of us, ranging in age from 12 to 53.

After booking the flights and finding our airbnb's, i noticed we will be in London for Pride. Having attended Pride the US, I know it can be a wonderful event, but i also know it can crawl a city to a halt.

Does anyone have experience with London Pride?

Should we:
1) embrace the parade and spend a day enjoying the festivities? giving up on touring?
2) stay away from the city, spend time invesitgating an alternative venue
3) attempt to push through with touring

Posted by
23642 posts

Remember London is one of the largest cities in the world. The Pride will have impact in the area that it is but most of London will be unaffected because of the size. I would find out where the parade is and just avoid that area.

Posted by
8 posts

good point. Its just that last year, it was reported that 1 million people participated.

Posted by
23642 posts

Maybe one of the London folks will log in. But London's population is 10M and 14M including total metro area. The urban area covers about 670 sq miles and whole of London is about 3200 sq miles so even a million folks may not have much impact. I am guessing the Tube in the area of the event would be jammed so just avoided it.

Posted by
16420 posts

Just to add to Emma's advice--it might also be a good time for a day out of London if you were planning any. Windsor, Oxford, Cambridge, Bath are all easy days out.

Posted by
4684 posts

I was at a restaurant in Soho on the day of Pride last year and even late in the evening the traffic in the area was totally gridlocked. Don't make plans that depend on using buses in the West End that day, tube should be OK but crowded.

Posted by
9265 posts

Agree with the suggestion to spend the day away from the Trafalgar Square/Regent Street area.

Why not consider a trip to Windsor Castle, or Hampton Court or a Salisbury and Stonehenge combo? All worth a visit.

Great city. Enjoy it.

Posted by
8 posts

ok, so no HOHO (or other buses), tube will be cramped, but touring outside the epicenter should be ok. thank you so much

Posted by
662 posts

London hosts huge events all the time, it's rare that even the biggest affect it too badly. But tubes and buses most local to the event will be disrupted or crazy busy.