staying in Bromley

Nothing against Bromley; but if you are only in London for seven days, you dont want to be in the suburbs. In addition to the daily commute, once you are in town, you are "stuck" for the whole day. Its much more conveneient to be in a hotel or apartment in London, where if you are tired you can go back to the hotel for a few hours, and then be back on your sightseeing, without the commute back into London. I also enjoy the theatre; easier if you are in london (same reasons as above). There was an earlier debate on this forum on this same subject regarding Chiswick

Kent House is in London fare zone 4 so you should be able to use Travelcards. The journey to London Victoria is about twenty minutes each way. But you should always consider practicalities when staying in the suburbs. Do you actually want a train commute every day? If you travel before about 0930 you will have to pay higher fares, unless you get a weekly Travelcard, and the trains will be very crowded in the rush hours. (And I mean very on an inner-suburban line like that.) Looking at the timetable you shouldn't have to worry too much about having to leave central London early in the evening - the last train from Victoria is 0013 on a weekday and it looks as if trains are every thirty minutes up until then.

As you can see I live in Bromley! Kent House, although in the London Borough of Bromley, is actually located between Beckenham and Penge. Can you tell me the address?

Linda, It's Ringwold Close. Seems like a very good deal being 1000. american dollars for 7 nights, every flat I look at in the city is 500 dollars more. The people seem very nice and prompt with replies as well. Oh and they live in the states so I could just send them a check.. no extra fees.

Philip, is the train commute horrible? I figured a lot of the flats we were looking at were even further than 18 min, like a few in Hammersmith on the tube system but like 25 min from touristy spots. Thanks for any input :)

Kris - the place shows up very well on Google Street View. As you will see it is a typical anonymous/boring(?) South London commuter suburb. Nothing bad and next to Cator Park which is pleasant enough........... Your nearest main shopping area is Penge High Street, although not terrible, is in one of the drabbest part of the Borough. Again take a "walk" around there. Definitely a good example of "the other side of the tracks" - ie the High St area when compared to around Cator Park. Having said that my OH used to own a flat nearby at the bottom of Crystal Palace Hill and lived there quite happily! I don't want to scare you off because it is not a bad area as such, just not that inspiring. A really "back door" place ??? ............ The commute from these parts is, as Phillip said, crowded before 9.30am as well as the return between 4.30 and 6.30pm but fine at other hours.

Thanks all for the replies. It's so confusing to me where to try to get a flat. I look at West Kensington, and Islington, and others and it seems like some of them have the same commute times as Bromley would but for a lot more money. I'll have to check out the chiswick posts to see what they said. So basically do you all think I should try for zone 1 and 2 for accomodations?

How would I find the old Chiswick post? I tried to do the google thing in this site, but it brings up a whole page of old posts...

I have no wish to be pedantic but I will. The location you are looking at is not actually called or in Bromley. The London Borough of Bromley, which is London's biggest in terms of area, is made up of several and varying towns and villages which have been swallowed up by urban sprawl. As well as several rural villages. The subsumed places still have distinct identities. Advertisers often call a place Bromley because it is seen as a better address than say Penge or Annerly etc. Got that off my chest!

Saw this thread and thought, "I hope Linda replies!" The biggest question about the accommodation you're considering is whether you're the type of traveler who likes to return to your lodgings in the middle of the day to rest / drop off the shopping before venturing out again. Remember there's also the walk to/ from the station to the lodging to consider, and psychologically, if one has to travel some distance, especially on a crowded train, to get back 'home', one is less willing to venture out again. It could be an interesting cultural experience though, seeing neighbourhoods that most tourists wouldn't see.