Guest post by Greg Perry
London is one of the most important cities in the Western hemisphere, a global centre for business and a beacon of culture to boot. While it is a 24-hour, all-year city, it well and truly springs to life in the summer months. That liveliness is one of the city’s key draws, but it can also disrupt efforts to travel and work there. If you’re slated to visit London on one of this year’s 9 million business trips in the UK, here’s what to expect.
Less Accommodation Availability
The summer months bring with them a marked increase in tourism to the capital, as domestic and international tourists seek to make the most of clement weather, school holidays and an increased roster of events and activities. With all manner of visitors, from holidaymakers in town for a fortnight to UK families taking a weekend city break, flocking to London in the summer, accommodation options become a little thin on the ground.
Hotels and holiday lets can fill up at remarkable speed, making the booking of overnight business stays a little more difficult than other times of the year. Alternative forms of accommodation are available and less affected by tourism; booking out serviced apartments in London can provide you with a comfortable place to stay and keep you close to important transport connections.
Busier Transport and Streets
That same boom in tourism to London will have a sympathetic impact on the city itself as well as on accommodation. Transport infrastructure is well-built to handle the uptick in usage, but things can get nonetheless cramped thanks to the extra population – especially at peak times when transport systems are already tested by the mass movement of office workers during their daily commute.
Planning travel ahead of time can help you avoid the worst of the rushes, and prevent you from encountering unforeseen delays as a result. Booking taxis or hailing hackney carriages can also help, but not to the same extent; the streets will also be much busier for the summer tourist rush, with higher congestion on the roads making movement much slower. Having your appointments and commitments planned and secured ahead of time will allow you to organise and navigate transport with a little more leeway.
Extreme Weather
Lastly, while warm weather is to be expected with the changing of the seasons, it can be easy to underestimate the extent to which that weather can affect travel. London can become unpleasantly warm in the summer, and with the added congestion of its central roads and streets can become oppressively humid to boot.
Make sure you pack light-coloured and breathable clothing for your visit – resist the temptation to wear heavy coats or carry too much in the way of baggage. The weather can also be surprisingly changeable, so don’t be surprised if you find yourself needing an umbrella all of a sudden.
