London Speed Dating - London Information

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This page provides an array of information about all aspects of London. If you are interested in going speed dating in London, then check out events listings pages and our calendar showing all Speed Dating events in London.

More about London, UK

London has been an important settlement for around two millennia, and London is today one of the world's leading business, financial and cultural centres. London has influence in politics, education, entertainment, media, fashion and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the major global cities. And London is a great city to go speed dating in too! Just visit our London Speed Dating events page.

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London is the most populous city within city limits in the European Union with an official population of . milllion (as of ) and has a metropolitan area population of between and million people. Its population is very cosmopolitan, drawing from a wide range of peoples, cultures and religions, speaking over different languages. London is an international transport hub, with five international airports and a large port. It serves as the largest aviation hub in the world, and its main airport, the multi terminal Heathrow, carries more international passengers than any other airport in the world.

London is a major tourist destination, with four world heritage sites and numerous iconic landmarks such as Houses of Parliament, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and the London Eye amongst its many attractions, along with famous institutions such as the British Museum and the National Gallery.

Definitions

The London region of England, also commonly known as Greater London, is the area administered by the Greater London Authority. The urban sprawl of the conurbation — or Greater London Urban Area — covers a roughly similar area, with a slightly larger population. Beyond this is the vast London commuter belt. At London's core is the small, ancient City of London which is commonly known as "The City" or "Square Mile". Within London, both the City of London and the City of Westminster have City status and both the City of London and the remainder of Greater London are ceremonial counties. The current area of Greater London was historically part of the counties of Middlesex, Kent, Surrey, Essex and Hertfordshire.

Forty percent of Greater London is covered by the London postal area. The London telephone area code covers a larger area, similar in size to Greater London, although some outer districts are omitted and some places just outside are included. The area within the orbital M motorway is sometimes used to define the "London area" and the Greater London boundary has been aligned to it in places. Greater London is split for some purposes into Inner London and Outer London.

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London's metropolitan area ('the metropolis') grew considerably during the Victorian era and again during the Interwar period. Expansion halted in the s because of World War II and Green Belt legislation, and the area has been largely static since. The Metropolitan Police District, city-wide local government area and London transport area have varied over time, but currently broadly coincide with the Greater London boundary.

Unlike most capital cities, London's status as the capital of the UK has never been granted or confirmed officially — by statute or in written form. Are you keen for a fun night out in London and looking for local events? London is one of the best cities in the UK for speed dating events! If you are interested in going speed dating in London, this site can help you. Try searching for an event on our London Speed Dating events calendar. Also be sure to check out our Speed Dating events in Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol. Its position as the capital has formed through constitutional convention, making its position as de facto capital a part of the UK's unwritten constitution. The capital of England was moved to London from Winchester as the Palace of Westminster developed in the th and th centuries to become the permanent location of the Royal court, and thus the political capital of the nation.

The Romans may have marked the centre of Londinium with the London Stone, still visible on Cannon Street. The co-ordinates of the nominal centre of London (traditionally considered to be the original Eleanor Cross at Charing Cross, near the junction of Trafalgar Square and Whitehall) are approximately °′″N, °′″W. Trafalgar Square has also become a central point for celebrations and protests.

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One area of London which does have a strict definition is the City of London (usually just called The City), the largest financial district and central business district (CBD) in Europe. Are you keen for a fun night out in London and looking for local events? London is one of the best cities in the UK for speed dating events! If you are interested in going speed dating in London, this site can help you. Try searching for an event on our London Speed Dating events calendar. Also be sure to check out our Speed Dating events in Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol. The City has its own governance and boundaries, giving it a status as the only completely autonomous local authority in London. Are you keen for a fun night out in London and looking for local events? London is one of the best cities in the UK for speed dating events! If you are interested in going speed dating in London, this site can help you. Try searching for an event on our London Speed Dating events calendar. Also be sure to check out our Speed Dating events in Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol. London's new financial and commercial hub is the Docklands area to the east of the City, dominated by the Canary Wharf complex. Other businesses locate in the City of Westminster, the home of the UK's national government and the famous Westminster Abbey. Are you keen for a fun night out in London and looking for local events? London is one of the best cities in the UK for speed dating events! If you are interested in going speed dating in London, this site can help you. Try searching for an event on our London Speed Dating events calendar. Also be sure to check out our Speed Dating events in Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol.

The West End is London's main entertainment and shopping district, with locations such as Oxford Street, Leicester Square, Covent Garden and Piccadilly Circus acting as tourist magnets. Are you keen for a fun night out in London and looking for local events? London is one of the best cities in the UK for speed dating events! If you are interested in going speed dating in London, this site can help you. Try searching for an event on our London Speed Dating events calendar. Also be sure to check out our Speed Dating events in Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol. The West London area is known for fashionable and expensive residential areas such as Notting Hill, Knightsbridge and Chelsea — where properties can sell for tens of millions of pounds. Are you keen for a fun night out in London and looking for local events? London is one of the best cities in the UK for speed dating events! If you are interested in going speed dating in London, this site can help you. Try searching for an event on our London Speed Dating events calendar. Also be sure to check out our Speed Dating events in Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol. The average price for all properties in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is £, (as reported by the BBC in February ) with similar average outlay in most of Central London.

The eastern side of London contains the East End and East London. The East End is the area closest to the original Port of London, known for its high immigrant population, as well as for being one of the poorest areas in London. Are you keen for a fun night out in London and looking for local events? London is one of the best cities in the UK for speed dating events! If you are interested in going speed dating in London, this site can help you. Try searching for an event on our London Speed Dating events calendar. Also be sure to check out our Speed Dating events in Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol. The surrounding East London area saw much of London's early industrial development; now, brownfield sites throughout the area are being redeveloped as part of the Thames Gateway including the London Riverside and Lower Lea Valley, which is being developed into the Olympic Park for the Olympics. Are you keen for a fun night out in London and looking for local events? London is one of the best cities in the UK for speed dating events! If you are interested in going speed dating in London, this site can help you. Try searching for an event on our London Speed Dating events calendar. Also be sure to check out our Speed Dating events in Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol. North London and South London are informal divisions of the capital made by the River Thames, although they can define varying areas. If you interested in going speed dating in London, then check out our Speed Dating events in London.

Built environment

The Great Court of the British MuseumThe density of London varies, with high employment density in the central area, high residential densities in inner London and lower densities in the suburbs. In the dense areas, most of the concentration is achieved with medium-rise and high-rise buildings. London's skyscrapers such as the famous "Gherkin", Tower and One Canada Square are usually found in the two financial districts, the City of London and Canary Wharf. Are you keen for a fun night out in London and looking for local events? London is one of the best cities in the UK for speed dating events! If you are interested in going speed dating in London, this site can help you. Try searching for an event on our London Speed Dating events calendar. Also be sure to check out our Speed Dating events in Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol.

In recent years, the development of tall buildings has been encouraged in the London Plan, which will lead to the erection of new skyscrapers over the next few years as London goes through a high-rise boom, particularly in the City of London and Canary Wharf. The -storey, m "Shard London Bridge" by London Bridge station, the m Bishopsgate Tower and around other skyscrapers over m are either proposed or approved and could transform the city's skyline.

Other notable modern buildings include City Hall in Southwark with its distinctive oval shape, the British Library in Somers Town, the Great Court of the British Museum, and the Millennium Dome next to the Thames east of Canary Wharf. The disused (but soon to be rejuvenated) Battersea Power Station by the river in the southwest is a local landmark, whilst some railway termini are excellent examples of Victorian architecture, most notably St Pancras and Paddington (at least internally). Are you keen for a fun night out in London and looking for local events? London is one of the best cities in the UK for speed dating events! If you are interested in going speed dating in London, this site can help you. Try searching for an event on our London Speed Dating events calendar. Also be sure to check out our Speed Dating events in Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol.

London is too large to be overwhelmingly characterised by any particular architectural style, having accumulated its buildings over a long period of time and drawing on an inexhaustible range of influences, although it is mainly brick built, most commonly a warm orange red, often with carvings and white plaster mouldings. Are you keen for a fun night out in London and looking for local events? London is one of the best cities in the UK for speed dating events! If you are interested in going speed dating in London, this site can help you. Try searching for an event on our London Speed Dating events calendar. Also be sure to check out our Speed Dating events in Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol. Many areas of the city are characterised by white stucco or whitewashed buildings. Few structures predate the Great Fire of , except for a few trace Roman remains, the Tower of London and a few scattered Tudor survivors in the City. A majority of buildings in London date from the Edwardian or Victorian periods. Are you keen for a fun night out in London and looking for local events? London is one of the best cities in the UK for speed dating events! If you are interested in going speed dating in London, this site can help you. Try searching for an event on our London Speed Dating events calendar. Also be sure to check out our Speed Dating events in Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol.

A great many monuments pay homage to people and events in the city. The Monument in the City of London provides views of the surrounding area whilst commemorating the Great Fire of London which originated nearby. Marble Arch and Wellington Arch, at the north and south ends of Park Lane respectively, have royal connections, as do the Albert Memorial and Royal Albert Hall in Kensington. Nelson's Column is a nationally-recognised monument in Trafalgar Square, providing a focal point for the whole central area.

Parks and gardens

Greenwich Park, one of London's Royal ParksOften called "The Green City," London has a number of open spaces. The largest of these in the central area are the Royal Parks of Hyde Park and its neighbours Kensington Gardens and Holland Park Gardens at the western edge of central London, and Regent's Park on the northern edge. This park is located near the tourist attractions of Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum and Baker Street, where the fictional Sherlock Holmes lived. Closer to central London are the smaller Royal Parks of Green Park and St. James's Park. Hyde Park in particular is popular for sports and sometimes hosts open-air concerts. London is the best city in the UK for speed dating events! Try searching for an event on our London Speed Dating events calendar.

A number of large parks lie outside the city centre, including the remaining Royal Parks of Greenwich Park to the south east, and Bushy Park and Richmond Park to the south west. Primrose Hill to the north of Regent's Park is a popular spot to view the city skyline. Some more informal, semi-natural open spaces also exist, including the -acre Hampstead Heath of north London. This incorporates Kenwood House, the former stately home and a popular location in the summer months where classical music concerts are held by the lake, attracting thousands of people every weekend to enjoy the music, scenery and fireworks. Outer South East London is noted for its open spaces and extensive wooded areas.

History

Early London
Although there is some evidence of scattered brython settlement in the area, the first major settlement was founded by the Romans in AD , following the Roman invasion of Britain. This settlement was called Londinium, commonly believed to be the origin of the present-day name, although a Celtic origin is also possible.

Westminster Abbey is one of London's oldest and most important buildingsThe first London lasted for just seventeen years. Around AD , the Iceni tribe of Celts led by Queen Boudica stormed London, burning it to the ground. The next, heavily-planned incarnation of the city prospered and superseded Colchester as the capital of the Roman province of Britannia in AD . At its height in the nd century AD, Roman London had a population of around ,. However, by the rd century AD, the city started a slow decline due to trouble in the Roman Empire, and by the th century AD, it was largely abandoned.

By AD, the Anglo-Saxons had created a new settlement (Lundenwic) about km upstream from the old Roman city, around what is now Covent Garden. There was probably a harbour at the mouth of the River Fleet for fishing and trading, and this trading grew until disaster struck in AD, when the city's defences were overcome by a massive Viking raid and it was razed to the ground. A Viking occupation twenty years later was short-lived, and Alfred the Great, the new King of England, established peace and moved the settlement within the defensive walls of the old Roman city (then called Lundenburgh). The original city became Ealdwīc ("old city"), a name surviving to the present day as Aldwych.

Subsequently, under the control of various English kings, London once again prospered as an international trading centre and political arena. However, Viking raids began again in the late th century, and reached a head in when they besieged the city under Danish King Canute and forced English King Ethelred the Unready to flee. In a retaliatory attack, Ethelred's army achieved victory by pulling down London Bridge with the Danish garrison on top, and English control was re-established.

Canute took control of the English throne in , controlling the city and country until , when his death resulted in a reversion to Anglo-Saxon control under his pious step-son Edward the Confessor, who re-founded Westminster Abbey and the adjacent Palace of Westminster. By this time, London had become the largest and most prosperous city in England, although the official seat of government was still at Winchester.

Norman and medieval London

The Great Fire of London destroyed many parts of the city in Following a victory at the Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror, the then Duke of Normandy, was crowned King of England in the newly-finished Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day . William granted the citizens of London special privileges, whilst building a castle in the southeast corner of the city to keep them under control. This castle was expanded by later kings and is now known as the Tower of London, serving first as a royal residence and later as a prison. And London is a great city to go speed dating in too! Just see our London Speed Dating events listings.

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In , William II began the building of Westminster Hall, close by the abbey of the same name. The hall proved the basis of a new Palace of Westminster, the prime royal residence throughout the Middle Ages. Westminster became the seat of the royal court and government (persisting until the present day), whilst its distinct neighbour, the City of London, was a centre of trade and commerce and flourished under its own unique administration, the Corporation of London. Eventually, the adjacent cities grew together and formed the basis of modern central London, superseding Winchester as capital of England in the th century.

After the successful defeat of the Spanish Armada in , political stability in England allowed London to grow further. In , James VI of Scotland came to the throne of England, essentially uniting the two countries. His enactment of harsh anti-Catholic laws made him unpopular, and an assassination attempt was made on November — the famous Gunpowder Plot.

Plague caused extensive problems for London in the early th century, culminating in the Great Plague in -. This was the last major outbreak in Europe, possibly thanks to the disastrous fire of . The Great Fire of London broke out in the original City and quickly swept through London's wooden buildings, destroying large swathes of the city. Rebuilding took over ten years.

Rise of modern London

A London street hit during the Blitz of World War IIFollowing London's growth in the th century, it became the world's largest city from about to . This growth was aided from by London's first railways, which put countryside towns within easy reach of the city. The rail network expanded very rapidly, and caused these places to grow whilst London itself expanded into surrounding fields, merging with neighbouring settlements such as Kensington. Rising traffic congestion on city centre roads led to the creation of the world's first metro system — the London Underground — in , driving further expansion and urbanisation. Because of this rapid growth, London became one of the first cities in human history to reach a population of one million, and was the first ever to surpass five million.

London's local government system struggled to cope with the rapid growth, especially in providing the city with adequate infrastructure. Between and , the Metropolitan Board of Works oversaw infrastructure expansion. It was then replaced by the County of London, overseen by the London County Council, London's first elected city-wide administration.

The London Eye, one of the many symbols of modern London. It is also the world's largest observation wheel and London's most popular tourist attractionThe Blitz and other bombing by the German Luftwaffe during World War II killed over , Londoners and flattened large tracts of housing and other buildings across London. The rebuilding during the s, s and s was characterised by a wide range of architectural styles and has resulted in a lack of architectural unity that has become part of London's character. In London's political boundaries were expanded to take into account the growth of the urban area outside the County of London's borders. The expanded area was called Greater London and was administered by the Greater London Council.

In the decades following World War II, large-scale immigration from Commonwealth countries and beyond transformed London into one of the most racially and culturally diverse cities in Europe. Integration of the new immigrants was not always smooth, with events such as the Brixton Riots in the early s, but was certainly smoother than other English regions and largely lacking in widespread support for far right organisations, unlike its European or American contemporaries.

An economic revival from the s onwards re-established London's position as a pre-eminent international centre. However, as the seat of government and the most important city in the UK, it has been subjected to bouts of terrorism. Provisional Irish Republican Army bombers sought to pressure the government into negotiations over Northern Ireland, frequently disrupting city activities with bomb threats — some of which were carried out — until their cease-fire. More recently, a series of coordinated bomb attacks were carried out by Islamic extremist suicide bombers on the public transport network on July — just hours after London was awarded the Summer Olympics.

Government

Local government

City Hall at night, headquarters of the Greater London Authority.
Mayor Ken Livingstone (on the left) at a City Hall reception for Hanukkah.The administration of London takes place in two tiers — a city-wide, strategic tier and a local tier. City-wide administration is coordinated by the Greater London Authority (GLA), whilst local administration is carried out by smaller authorities.

The GLA is responsible for strategic planning, policing, the fire service, most aspects of transport and economic development. It consists of two elected parts — the Mayor of London, who has executive powers, and the London Assembly, who scrutinise the Mayor's decisions and can accept or reject his budget proposals each year. The GLA is a recent organisation, having been set up in to replace the similar Greater London Council (GLC) which had been abolished in . The headquarters of the GLA and the Mayor of London is at City Hall.

The Mayor of London is Ken Livingstone, who is in his second term of office. He was elected in as an independent candidate and again in as a Labour candidate. Ken Livingstone was also the leader of the GLC when it was abolished in .

The local authorities are the London boroughs and the City of London. They are responsible for local services not overseen by the GLA, such as local planning, schools, social services, local roads and refuse collection. The London boroughs each have a council which is elected every four years by local residents. The City of London does not have a conventional local authority, but is governed by the historic Corporation of London which is elected by both residents and businesses, and which has existed more or less unchanged since the Middle Ages. The head of the Corporation is the Lord Mayor of London, which is a different position from that of Mayor of London.

The City of London also has its own police force: The City of London Police, which is independent of the Metropolitan Police Service which covers the rest of Greater London.

Health services in London are managed by the national government through the National Health Service, which is controlled and administered in London by a single NHS Strategic Health Authority.

National government

Buckingham Palace is the official residence of the Queen of the United Kingdom in London.London is the home of the Government of the United Kingdom which is located around the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. Many government departments are located close to Parliament, particularly along Whitehall, including the Prime Minister's residence at Downing Street.

The British Parliament is often referred to as the "Mother of Parliaments" (although this soubriquet was first applied to England itself by John Bright ) because it has been the model for most other parliamentary systems, and its Acts have created many other parliaments. Many nations with parliaments have to some degree emulated the British "three-tier" model. Most countries in Europe and the Commonwealth have similarly organized parliaments with a largely ceremonial head of state who formally opens and closes parliament, a large elected lower house and a smaller, upper house.

The Houses of Parliament at nightLondon is represented in the national Parliament by Members of Parliament (MPs) who correspond to local parliamentary constituencies. For a list of London constituencies, see List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London. Of these MPs, are from the Labour Party, are Conservatives, are Liberal Democrats and one is from the RESPECT party.

Economy
Further information: Economy of the United Kingdom, Economy of London, Media in London and Tourism in London

Aerial view of the City, with SwissRe and Tower in the background. Also seen here are the Willis Building, Aviva Tower, Bishopsgate and the Stock Exchange Tower. At the bottom is the Broadgate Tower, currently under construction.London is a major centre for international business and commerce and is one of three "command centres" for the global economy (along with New York City and Tokyo).

As Europe's largest city economy, year-by-year, London's economy generates approximately % of the UK's GDP (or $ billion in ); whilst the economy of the London metropolitan area (also the largest in Europe) generates approximately % of UK's GDP (or an estimated $ billion in .)

London shifted to a mostly service-based economy earlier than other European cities, particularly following the Second World War. London's success as a service industry and business centre can be attributed to many factors:

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London has five major business districts: the City, Westminster, Canary Wharf, Camden & Islington and Lambeth & Southwark. Are you keen for a fun night out in London and looking for local events? London is one of the best cities in the UK for speed dating events! If you are interested in going speed dating in London, this site can help you. Try searching for an event on our London Speed Dating events calendar. Also be sure to check out our Speed Dating events in Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol.

Business District Office Space (m²) Business Concentration
The City ,, finance, brokering, insurance, legal
Westminster ,, head offices, real estate, private banking, hedge funds, government
Camden & Islington ,, creative industries, finance, design, art, fashion, architecture
Canary Wharf ,, banking, media, legal
Lambeth & Southwark ,, accountancy, consultancy, local government

London's largest industry remains finance, and its financial exports make it a large contributor to the UK's balance of payments. Over , people are employed in financial services in London. London has over overseas banks, more than any other city in the world. More funds are invested in the City of London than in the next top ten European cities combined, and more international telephone calls are made to and from London than any other point on the planet. Are you keen for a fun night out in London and looking for local events? London is one of the best cities in the UK for speed dating events! If you are interested in going speed dating in London, this site can help you. Try searching for an event on our London Speed Dating events calendar. Also be sure to check out our Speed Dating events in Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol. The City is the largest financial and business centre in Europe and, has recently begun to reovertake New York City, partly due to strict accounting following the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and a tightening of market regulations in the United States. The Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg has said that New York risks losing its title of world financial capital to London because of Britain's more easy going regulatory, legal and immigration systems.

London is home to banks, brokers, insurers and legal and accounting firms. Multimillion pound bonuses are commonplace and serve further to drive up house prices in the capital. Are you keen for a fun night out in London and looking for local events? London is one of the best cities in the UK for speed dating events! If you are interested in going speed dating in London, this site can help you. Try searching for an event on our London Speed Dating events calendar. Also be sure to check out our Speed Dating events in Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol. A second, smaller financial district is developing at Canary Wharf to the east of the City which includes the global headquarters of HSBC, Reuters, Barclays and many of the largest law firms in the world. London handled % of global currency transactions in — an average daily turnover of US$ billion — with more US dollars traded in London than New York, and more Euros traded than in every other city in Europe combined.

The Bank of England, the central bank of the United KingdomMore than half of the UK's top listed companies (the FTSE ) and over of Europe's largest companies are headquartered in central London. Over % of the FTSE are located within London's metropolitan area, and % of Fortune companies have offices in London.

Along with professional services, media companies are concentrated in London (see Media in London) and the media distribution industry is London's second most competitive sector. The BBC is a key employer, while other broadcasters also have headquarters around the city. Many national newspapers are edited in London, having traditionally been associated with Fleet Street in the City, they are now primarily based around Canary Wharf. Soho is the centre of London's post-production industry.

Tourism is one of London's prime industries and employed the equivalent of , full-time workers in London in , whilst annual expenditure by tourists is around £bn. London is a popular destination for tourists, attracting million overnight-stay visitors every year, second only to Paris.

From being the largest port in the world, the Port of London is now only the third-largest in the United Kingdom, handling million tonnes of cargo each year. Most of this actually passes through Tilbury, outside the boundary of Greater London.

Society and culture

Leisure and entertainment

Bond Street, one of Mayfair's main shopping streetsWithin the City of Westminster, the entertainment district of the West End has its focus around Leicester Square, where London and world film premiers are held, and Piccadilly Circus, with its giant electronic advertisements. London's theatre district is here, as are many cinemas, bars, clubs and restaurants, including the city's Chinatown district, and just to the east is Covent Garden, an area housing speciality shops and London's "Avenue of Stars" which honours achievers in the entertainment industry. Shoreditch and Hoxton in the East End form a second, less mainstream, focus of bars, nightclubs, restaurants and galleries. Islington's km long Upper Street, extending northwards from The Angel, has more bars and restaurants than any other street in the UK. It was also the first street in the UK to have wireless enabled for its cafes.

Europe's busiest shopping area is Oxford Street, famous home to the vast Selfridges department store, a shopping street nearly km long which makes it the longest shopping street in the world. The adjoining Bond Street in Mayfair is an extremely upmarket location, complimented with the Knightsbridge area - home to the Harrods department store - to the southwest, home to fashion, jewellery, and accessories design houses. The districts of Knightsbridge (Sloane Street), Mayfair (Bond Street, Brook Street), and Chelsea (King's Road) represent London's prestigious role in the world of fashion, home to Vivienne Westwood, Galliano, Stella McCartney, Manolo Blahnik, and Jimmy Choo amongst others, its renowned art and fashion schools cementing it an international centre of fashion alongside Paris, Milan, New York and Tokyo. Top global supermodels such as Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss come from South London; and Chelsea raised actress Sienna Miller. London also has a high number of street markets, including Camden Market for fashions and alternative products, Portobello Road for antiques, and vintage and one off clothes, and Borough Market for organic and specialist foods.

Victoria Palace
The Trooping the Colour during the Queen's Official Birthday, June London offers a huge variety of cuisine as a result of its ethnically diverse population. Gastronomic centres include the Bangladeshi restaurants of Brick Lane and the Chinese food of Chinatown. Soho offers a huge variety of restaurants including novelties such as Garlic and Shots - an entirely garlic restaurant, whilst more upmarket restaurants are scattered around central London, with concentrations in Mayfair, Knightsbridge and Notting Hill. Across the city, areas home to particular ethnic groups are often recognisable by restaurants, food shops and market stalls offering their local fare, and the large supermarket chains stock such items in areas with sizeable ethnic groups.

There are a variery of regular annual events. The Caribbean-descended community in Notting Hill in West London organises the colourful Notting Hill Carnival, Europe's biggest street carnival, every summer. The beginning of the year is celebrated with the relatively new New Year's Day Parade, whilst traditional parades include November's Lord Mayor's Show, a centuries-old event celebrating the annual appointment of a new Lord Mayor of the City of London with a procession along the streets of the City, and June's Trooping the Colour, a very formal military pageant to celebrate the Queen's Official Birthday.

Literature and film

Charles Dickens (-), whose works formed a pervasive image of Victorian LondonLondon has been the setting for many works of literature. Two writers closely associated with the city are the diarist Samuel Pepys, famous for his eyewitness account of the Great Fire, and Charles Dickens, whose representation of a foggy, snowy, grimy London of street sweepers and pickpockets has been a major influence on people's vision of early Victorian London. James Boswell's biographical Life of Johnson mostly takes place in London, and is the source of Johnson's famous aphorism: "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford." The earlier () A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe is a fictionalisation of the events of the Great Plague. William Shakespeare spent a large part of his life living and working in London; his contemporary Ben Jonson was also based in London, and some of his work - most notably his play The Alchemist - was set in the city. Later important depictions of London from the th and early th centuries are the afore-mentioned Dickens novels, and Arthur Conan Doyle's famous Sherlock Holmes stories. Trollope's Palliser novels are largely set in London, vividly depicting Westminster and its surrounds. The novel Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell describes life in poverty in both cities. A modern writer pervasively influenced by the city is Peter Ackroyd, in works such as London: The Biography, The Lambs of London and Hawksmoor. Along with Bloomsbury, the hilly area of Hampstead has traditionally been the liberal, literary heartland of London.

London has played a significant role in the film industry, and has major studios at Pinewood, Shepperton, Elstree and Leavesden, as well as an important special effects and post-production community. Many films have also used London as a location and have done much to shape international perceptions of the city. See main article London in film.

The city also hosts a number of performing arts schools, including the Central School of Speech and Drama, whose past students include Judi Dench and Laurence Olivier, the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (educators of Jim Broadbent and Donald Sutherland amongst others) and the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (past students including Joan Collins and Roger Moore).

The London Film Festival is held in the city each October.

Music
London is one of the major classical and popular music capitals of the world and is home to one of the five major global music corporations, EMI as well as countless bands, musicians and industry professionals.

Classical music

The Royal Albert Hall hosts a wide range of concerts and music eventsLondon is home to many orchestras and concert halls, including:

Barbican Arts Centre (London Symphony Orchestra)
Cadogan Hall (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra)
Royal Albert Hall (BBC Promenade Concerts)
Royal Festival Hall (Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta)
Wigmore Hall

Opera
London has two main opera houses - the Royal Opera House and the Coliseum Theatre

Ballet
The Royal Ballet and English National Ballet are based in London and perform at the Royal Opera House, Sadler's Wells and the Royal Albert Hall.

Rock/Pop music
London has numerous venues for rock and pop concerts, most notably Earls Court and Wembley Arena, as well as the more intimate venues, such as Brixton Academy and Hammersmith Apollo. The area around the northern part of Charing Cross Road in Westminster is famous for its shops that sell modern musical instruments and audio equipment.

London and its surrounding Home Counties have spawned iconic and popular artists. London is home to the first and original Hard Rock Cafe and the famous Abbey Road Studios.

As Britain's largest urban area, London has played a key role in the development of most British-born strains of "urban" and electronic music, such as drum and bass, UK garage, grime and dubstep, and is home to many UK hiphop artists.

In , according to DJ Magazine in a poll of over international DJs, London is home to the three best nightclubs in the world, Fabric, The End and Turnmills. As of , Fabric dropped down to No. and The End to No. , with other London clubs in the top .

Sport

The new Wembley Stadium is the most expensive stadium ever built costing £ million ($. billion)London has hosted the Summer Olympics twice, in and . In July London was chosen to host the Games in , which will make it the first city in the world to host the Summer Olympics three times. London was also the host of the British Empire Games in .

London's most popular sport (for both participants and spectators) is football. London has League football clubs, including six in the Premiership (Arsenal, Charlton Athletic, Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United and current champions Chelsea), plus a further six in the remaining three divisions (Barnet, Brentford, Crystal Palace, Leyton Orient, Millwall and Queens Park Rangers), plus countless non-league and amateur football teams. Non-league Dagenham and Redbridge F.C. have been promoted to the Football League for the - season, and will bring London's total of League teams to .

London has a special place in the history of Association Football. The playing of football in London has been well documented since it was first outlawed in . In the sixteenth century the headmaster of St Paul's School Richard Mulcaster is credited with taking mob football and transforming it into organised and refereed team football. The modern game of football was first codified in in London and subsequently spread worldwide. Key to the establishment of the modern game was Londoner Ebenezer Cobb Morley who was a founding member of the English Football Association, the oldest football organisation in the world. Morley wrote to Bell's Life newspaper proposing a governing body for football which led directly to the first meeting at the Freemason's Tavern in central London of the FA. He wrote the first set of rules of true modern football at his house in Barnes.

London also has four rugby union teams in the Guinness Premiership (London Irish, Saracens, Wasps and NEC Harlequins), although only the Harlequins play in London (all the other three now play outside Greater London), as well as a rugby league Super League club in Harlequins RL. London also has many famous other rugby union clubs in lower leagues, including Richmond F.C., Blackheath R.C., Rosslyn Park F.C. and Barnes R.F.C.

Since , the original Wembley Stadium was the home of the English national football team, and served as the venue for the FA Cup final as well as rugby league's Challenge Cup final. The new Wembley Stadium will serve exactly the same purposes. Twickenham Stadium in west London is the national rugby union stadium, and has a capacity of , now that the new south stand has been completed.

Cricket in London centres on its two Test cricket grounds at Lord's (home of Middlesex CC) in St John's Wood, and The Oval (home of Surrey CC) in Kennington.

One of London's best-known annual sports competitions is the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, held at the All England Club in the south-western suburb of Wimbledon. Other key events are the annual mass-participation London Marathon which sees some , runners attempt a km course around the city, and the Oxford vs. Cambridge Boat Race on the River Thames between Putney and Mortlake.

Twinnings
London has twin and sister city agreements with the following cities:

Berlin, Germany (since )
New York City, USA (since )
Paris, France (since )
Moscow, Russia
Beijing, China (since )

Speed Dating Diary

Calendar of UK Dating Events

Listing all speed dating events across the UK!