Theatres: OffWestEnd.com has a map

Closest:

Offwestend.com shows plays at smaller theatres on a map. The better the play, the further it is worth travelling. I am not sure the best guide to well-known theatres but The Young Vic and The National Theatre are worth a look. The National Theatre sometimes has some free events for people who sit nearby or drink coffee in the coffee bars. There's also a National Film Theatre which has sometimes had very good exhibitions for children.Orange Tree Theatre34 locals recommend

Sightseeing

Grave of Thomas Gainsborough, artist, in the churchyard of on Kew Green. Not worth seeing but nice to know it's there. Camille Pissarro, an early impressionist, stayed above the corner shop. His painting of cricket on Kew Green is a bit odd. People had just invented synthetic paints that let artists go out and experiment.

River trips including ones from Kew Pier

Thamesriverboats.co.uk/thames-boats/fares.asp are the trips from Kew Pier and on the expensive side at £16.50 for a one-way ticket to Westminster, but the pier is within walking distance. Just two or three boats from the one company stop here each day. They use vintage boats with is a booth selling beer and mars bars and a commentary that ends with a request for a tip (don't pay: they charge enough already!).

Boats from the next peer in Putney are about half the price, thamesriverboats co uk/thames-boats/fares.asp There is also an Uber service by Thames Clippers. Both offer a discount if you have a Transport for London travel card. Boats from Putney peer are hooked-up to the Transport for London fare system. They have no commentary or beer but are half the price: tfl gov uk/river-bus/stop/930GPUT/putney-pier To get to Putney, take a train towards Waterloo from Kew Bridge Station, get off at Putney, turn right out of the station and walk half a mile to the river.

Information & Reference Library + Local museum
VisitRichmond co uk lists local tourist spots - but you might want to look up Time Out magazine, the vistors' guide, or a reference book, or find some working space, or check Museumofrichmond com in the same building. The library is a good place to work if there is a free desk, and I guess there is wifi. There is also a "Museum of Richmond" on the same site, and a view of the River Thames a short walk away. The nearest free council library is on the other side of the railway at Kew Gardens station, based in a converted shop. The books there are mainly fiction but there might be a newspaper or somewhere to use Wifi.More

35 Gloucester Rd

The person who lived here was a legal secretary but did more. All her life she liked to sketch views of sunlight through trees and some of her art is on the walls. Through the 1970s she had a job and children, but managed to do a painting in about one hour in a park while the children explored, using soft Van Gaugh pastels and a spray of fixative. When a picture cam-out well she would buy some glass and make a frame for it. When she retired she went to adult education classes and tried other styles, like the pictures in the conservatory. She had a go at making wire jewellery in celtic patterns, twisting wire round nails. If you like,

NationalArchives.gov.uk

  • Free child-friendly exhibitions
  • Free research if you have the right ID ready in advance
  • Good wifi and free desk space on 1st floor
  • Canteen with a view of a lake

Walking from Gloucester Road, turn left after passing the railway line (or right if you do it from the river) and find a back door to the grounds that faces the railway. This is the shortest walk.

There is always a free child-friendly exhibition on the ground floor, next to the canteen. This winter 2022 the exhibition is "Treason". The canteen tries not to be bureaucratic but has signs saying things like "do not use this door". It has views of an entrance garden with a lake and swans. It's within walking distance of 35 Gloucester Road.

If you search all the ID requirements and get them ready in advance, you can request British Empire and UK documents to be delivered to a box and read them in a reading room. But they are very strict about ID, even if you have come round the world.More38 locals recommend

London Museum of Water & Steam - waterandsteam.org.uk

Children free. Adults £18. I have not been for years, but it is an odd thing to see. An old sewage pumping station with a giant steam engine inside, and other things that amuse steam engine people such as a 1950s style canteen. A lot of the machines can be understood by looking at them, which is an attraction to steam enthusiasts. A lot are surprisingly old. For a fit person, it is walking distance from 35 Gloucester Road. Over the bridge, turn left, and you'll see it on the right.More38 locals recommend

Hammersmith Bridge, London, UK

This is sight-seeing to combine with something else like shopping in Hammersmith or a Fullers Brewery Tour down the river in Chiswick

Only two bridges from this firm survive. The other one is in Budapest. This one is broken due to metal fatigue in the pillars and the short attention-span of Boris Johnson, who was Mayor of London when it broke and is still a favourite of the Conservative Party's 172,000 members. You are allowed to walk-over and see what's planned to make the bridge work again. There are pubs on both sides and a bike track along the south bank. If you cross the bridge and go West, you can get to Fullers Brewery Tour, but that's for over 18s only, costs £25, and it would be hard to arrive at the right time with train strikes and traffic jams just now.More

Fullers Brewery Tour from £25

Various footwear requirements, age requirements and stair-climbing abilities apply. The brewery is a long walk south from Hammersmith Bridge - partly along the river bank.

Royal Botanic Gardens

I don't recommend this place because it is too expensive to get-in and see manicured plants on lawns. If you ignore my advice, though, it is not all bad. Search "what's on" for exhibitions. There is a tree walk which lets you go-up in a lift and see trees from above while walking on a long secure platform. There is a strange Pagoda tower you can climb-up. There is a vast greenhouse built just as plate glass was invented (but not quite in time: there was trouble) and which allows you to walk round a long balcony on Victorian cast iron. There is a greenhouse with an aquarium underneath it, if I remember right. There are lots of lawns between over-tended trees and in summer there are happy-looking people strolling about. There is a slightly academic side to Kew which involves Victorian libraries. One shows the work of a Victorian woman who wanted to escape from the UK at all costs, even if involved going to paint plants in Africa. I have never quite got the hang of their academic work but would like to know more about fungus roots for compression into a leather-like material, so if you know more about Kew than me please pass-on any tips.More

things to do

Ceramics Cafe - Kew

I have never been, but this is withing walking distance and might be fun. This is just a block or two away - left past the Coach and Horses hotel. The red shop on the right sells household and hardware stuff.

Brentford Fountain Leisure Centre

I have only been once. The swimming pool is very shallow. Owned by the council, allowing them to charge a reasonable price for adults and a cheap price for children.11 locals recommend

Sreets with plenty of rrestaurants

Sandycombe Rd, Richmond TW9, UK

You can browse three restaurants yards from each other if you can afford restaurant prices for drinks. If not, Kew Gardens Hotel opposite is a pretty place to drink but the only affordable thing to eat is a sausage roll. Rastaurants are Q Verde, Italian; La Palmera, Lebanese: Rara, Nepalese. Takeways are a little further from the station - an Indian and a Chines.. The mackingtosh shop also has a mail order web site for people who have a mackingtosh fetish, should you be interested! You can either walk there or type "Sandycombe Road TW9 restaurants" into a search engine first.More

Drummond St, London NW1, UK

Between Euston and St Pancras stations is a street where you can browse several Indian restaurants that compete with each other. Another food idea is to check VisitLondon dot com for "rooftop restaurants".

Watermans.org.uk/your-visit/food-drink/
also the occasinal film
https://www.watermans.org.uk/whats-on/calendar/?filter=cinema
The Watermans Arts Centre.

Nothing special to see, but lunchtime curry is cheap. Eat in a room like a 1970s car park over-looking the river through plate glass. watermans org uk > your-visit > food-drink . To get to the Watermans Arts Centre, find a bus or walk over Kew Bridge, then take any bus going left and get off where you see a sign saying "this is not a car park". The restaurant is one floor down. There is a little-visited exhibition space on the top floor, some events for children, and a derelict sunken boat on the river just this side. Any UK Indian restaurant is good value. Try Tripadvisor for ideas.

Getting around

Strikes: use Transport for London's journeyplanner or ebikes

London railways are often on strike at the moment. Transport for London, which organises most public transport, has a journeyplanner with up to date information about how to get somewhere today, leaving out the closed railways. It would be nice to get a bus or a cab from an app like Bolt, but traffic often jams because of the rail strike. The Waze app tries to estimate road travel times based on users' experience of traffic jams. Another app - I think it is Gett - allows you to hire electric bikes or to be on the safe side try their own app called Lime .

Travelling with kids

Weatherspoons have free wax crayons and paper for children

The cheapest chain of pubs is called Wetherspoons. It gives a slight extra discount if you download the app and order food from a table. They run as a cafe till 11am, when they start serving beer, and the cheaper breakfast menu ends at 11.30. Coffee refills are free after the first cup and some branches - like The Rocket - offer free wax crayons and paper to amuse children. Ask the staff where they are kept - I think it is by the sauces and the kitchen counter. Water is free - glasses and a dispenser are in the North West corner. The Rocket is near Putney Pier and has a view of the Thames

Ways to save

The Express Tavern 2 for 1 pizza on Mondays

Walk over Kew Bridge and this is one of the first things you see - a large brown building staring back at you. Expresstavern dot co dot uk > menus shows any special offers and the main one is two pizzas for the price of one on Mondays. There is also a gift card offer but I don't understand it.

Ways to save

The Cricketers pub

This is a pub on Kew Green. Their food is cheap if you are not hungry and buy a small plate from the top of their menu. If you buy three there is a discount. On Brentford Football Club match days the place is too full to use, but on other days there is plenty of space and sometimes a view of cricketers on Kew Green, or use of the garden at the back.

Ways to save

The Greyhound pub

The kitchen is too small so anything complicated takes forever to arrive - stick to whatever they are pushing for the day! Also, ask them to deliver meals at the same time. Sometimes they think one is a starter and another a main course. For a pub on Kew Green they are not too expensive with some meals @ £7 and beer £5 for Fullers. There is a back door that leads to a riverside walk past Kew Pier and a route to the National Archives (turn right after the bridge then left into the grounds of the building)

Travelling with kids

Book before you go

Cars: use Zipcar.com or book parking space in advance on Justpark.com

There is no free parking within walking distance. The nearest is probably in Brentford, opposite Zion House if you drive West and take a bus back. I am not allowed to post links here but http://bit ly/TW93BSpark is a list of places to book parking in advance. It also has alternatives to Zipcar. The safest bet is to use public transport or cabs.

Travelling with Children

tflgovuk>travel-information>visiting-london>visitor-oyster

A guest asked what ticket to use for a family. I still don't know and would not dare try to explain but it seems to be on the Transport for London web site which has a "Visiting London" section including "Visitor Oyster" cards. There are various rules about accompanied children of different ages, where and when to get Visitor Oyster cards, and more. The adult local way to use public transport is simple. Press a credit or debit card against the card reader next to a bus driver, or on the gate into a station. Oyster is an alternative to a bank card.

Ways to save

Visitlondon dot com > things-to-do > budget-london

The Greater London Authority has its own free travel guide, including a section called "budget London". Another good one for East and Central London is Timeout dot com>london but the journalists can't afford to live in places like Richmond, where less happens anyway, so coverage of Richmond is a bit like what you see on Visitlondon dot com

Ways to save

topcashback co uk>ref>employees

This site offers a small amount of cash back from a large number of other sites where you might buy online. You can install it in a laptop browser so that it automatically tells you that there's cashback available on a site you visit anyway. One example is Hiyacar - one of the P2P car rental sites described as "the airbnb for cars". You can find Hiyacars north of the river, or a mile from Barnes station to the south. They are usually cheaper than Zipcars and there is a fifteen pound cashback payment for your first drive. The full topcashback co uk>ref>employees link, there's a £10 bonus

Ways to save

Cab apps in London

If you have a cab app on your phone, it quite likely works in London. Bolt is the biggest and cheapest here, after Uber were denied a licence for a few years. FreeNow is another cheap one, as is Ola.

Ways to save

Supermarkets

For a short stay, Tesco near Kew Gardens Station should have most things + couple of chemists over the road from it. If you travel via Kew Bridge Station there is a Sainsburys hidden just north west of the bridge. Abrahim Food and Wine is more expensive but much closer, just 100m up the road where reaches Kew Green. Their other branch is called Kew Essentials and has more hardware and homeware: turn left at the green instead of right. TFL gov uk > plan-a-journey or the TFL GO app will show you a map to find the 65 bus stop for Richmond Station. It passes a large Tesco just before.

Getting around

Getting to Putney: take the Waterloo train from Kew Bridge

The journeyplanner app suggests taking a bus to Richmond and the train from there. Another option is a half-hour walk over the bridge to Kew Bridge Station, and then take any train towards Waterloo. Putney station is on the route. Then there is another walk, right out of Putney station, to the bridge or take a bus. A more exotic system is to hire a Lime bike and follow the riverside path from Kew Bridge to Putney bridge on the south side of the river. Prices are not very clear in advance and they are for over-18s with no passengers unfortunately.

Ways to save river trips

Add "wowcher" and "groupon" to a search for river trips

There is an £8.50 river trip to Richmond within walking distance, but if you're travelling with a group or want to go further, it can get expensive. The first tip is to take the train from Kew Bridge to Putney and take cheaper trips from there. Another idea is to type "wowcher hotukdeals" and "river trip" or "thames clippers" into a search engine. A lot of trips start in Westminster, in the District Line from Kew Gardens Station. You can also get a discount on Wowcher and Groupon by joining Topcashback co uk / ref / employees That last stage earns you a ten pound credit on Topcashback

Don't miss

Open Mike Nights - an alternative to musicals

https://openmicfinder.com/UK/Map/?locationQ=TW9+3BS&radiusMiles=6

If you are past caring what you see in the evening, Musicals are traditional: https://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/whats-on/theatre/top-ten-musicals

Openmikefinder com suggests alternatives for the past-caring which are cheaper & closer. You can go on your own or with others. Events are likely to be cancelled and even pub's own web sites might be out of date but this is the kind of thing nearby.

  • Sundays: The White Horse, Richmond;
  • Mondays The Angel & Crown, Richmond,;
  • Tuesdays ?
  • Wednesdays: George IV, Chiswick;
  • Thursdays: The Distillers, Hammersmith;
  • Fridays: the Cross Keys, Fulham;
  • Saturdays: rare - The Pillars of Hercules Holborn

Music pubs

Mondays: the Half Moon Putney has £2.50 entrance to sit and watch any band that will play for free

Jazz at the Bulls Head in Barnes

https://www.facebook.com/bullsheadsw13/events/

Windmillbrixton.co.uk

A pub which is hard to find but only five or six pounds cash to get in and shows spirited bands to a small standing crowd. Directions get easier once you have turned-left out of Brixton tube station.

The-Fighting-Cocks.co.uk

The Fighting Cocks, Kingston. These last two are worth checking from their own web sites in case any acts appeal. Sometimes they sell out. Another route-in is to look for bands playing in London on sites like Dice fm

Ways to save

Cheap tinned beans or tomato, potato, onion, pasta, muesli

Not many people travel with the cheapest tins of beans or tomato, spaghetti, muesli, or potatoes & onions. Specially people who come by air. These things are practically free compared to the rent so some of them will probably be in the kitchen when you arrive along with odd things that other guests have left. Please ask if you want detail.

Ways to save: Too Good To Go app for last minute short-life food

Typical offer is a £4 bag of leftovers at a certain time of day with limited stocks, sold with a restaurant name and place name. You can specify vegetarian in the search. Kew Station Parade sometimes has offers from Gail's Bakery and Starbucks. Round the corner is Sandycombe Road where Curry Bae takeaway sometimes offers something.

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