London/Bloomsbury

This article is about three neighbourhoods of central London: Bloomsbury, St Pancras and Fitzrovia.

Bloomsbury is the hub of London's university district, is home to the British Museum and is next to the British Library. St Pancras is a largely residential area with many fine 17th- to 19th-century townhouses built around pretty squares with gardens of varying levels of privacy, and the perfect place for a wander to soak up the atmosphere of being in London. This is also a promising place to look for accommodation, from cheap student hostels to 4-star hotels and apartment rentals. What Fitzrovia lacks in attractions it makes up for in an excellent variety of pubs and bars, most of which cater for a young, intellectual crowd of students, media types and junior doctors.

Understand
Bloomsbury is a vibrant historic district made most famous by a group of turn-of-the-century writers that included Virginia Woolf and EM Forster (the "Bloomsbury Set"), economist John Maynard Keynes and the artist Roger Fry.

It is also the location of the British Museum, the campus of University College London and numerous historic homes, parks, and buildings.

Fitzrovia is to the west of Bloomsbury. The border between these 2 districts is the Gower Street–Bloomsbury Street axis. Allegedly, Fitzrovia was named after the Fitzroy Tavern. The BBC's New Broadcasting House is at the western end of this district.

By tube
Bloomsbury can be easily accessed from several convenient tube stations as follows:


 * Euston (Northern and Victoria lines)
 * Euston Square (Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines)
 * Goodge Street (Northern line)
 * Great Portland Street (Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines)
 * Holborn (Central and Piccadilly lines)
 * King's Cross St Pancras (Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, Northern (Bank Branch), Piccadilly and Victoria lines – yes, that many!)
 * Oxford Circus (Bakerloo, Central and Victoria lines)
 * Russell Square (Piccadilly line)
 * Tottenham Court Road (Central, Northern and Elizabeth lines)
 * Warren Street (Northern and Victoria lines)

By train
Nearby Camden has 3 mainline rail stations within walking distance: King's Cross, Euston and St. Pancras International.

Tottenham Court Road is on the Elizabeth line from Reading to Shenfield and Abbey Wood.

Get around
Most of the sites are reachable by foot or a single stop on the tube.

Museums and exhibitions




















Landmarks and parks














Other






Bookshops
With University College London being a dominant presence in Bloomsbury, it is no surprise that there are a lot of bookshops. The area around Marchmont St and the Brunswick Centre (north of Russell Sq) rivals Charing Cross Road to be the bookshop capital of London.



Budget
This area is teeming with students so there is a wealth of cheap (relative to London prices) eating options. Charlotte Street near Goodge Street underground station, parallel to Tottenham Court Road has a number of nice restaurants, some of them very reasonable. Look for the cheap Korean restaurants under Centre Point at Tottenham Court Road. They are great value and very close to the British Museum.









Bloomsbury
There are a number of pubs and wine bars around the British Library and University College London campus.

Sleep
Bloomsbury is a great choice of district to stay in as there is a large range of hostels, B&Bs, budget hotels and four-star hotels in the area.

Hotels
Many of the budget hotels are located on Argyle St in the very northern part of the district, nearest tube station: King's Cross St Pancras.



Splurge






Go next

 * North to Camden.
 * East to Holborn and Clerkenwell
 * South to Covent Garden and Soho.
 * West into Marylebone.