North London: Camden to Barnet

North London runs on a fan of tube lines that all point at the same place and barely connect to each other. That single fact decides how a booking works from anywhere above the Euston Road.

Everything points south

The Northern, Victoria, Piccadilly, Metropolitan and Jubilee lines all run from the outer north into the middle of London, and almost nothing runs across between them.

So a journey into town from north London is usually easy and a journey sideways is usually terrible. Barnet to Wembley is eleven miles and can take an hour. Barnet to Leicester Square is thirty five minutes.

The useful conclusion: from north London, coming in is nearly always the path of least resistance.

The inner north

Kings Cross is barely north at all now. Camden is two miles up the road, Islington two and a half, Kilburn four.

All are ordinary outcall distance and all are ten to fifteen minutes from the centre. Kings Cross in particular has the odd quality of being a transport hub with a genuinely good hotel stock around it, which makes it one of the more practical places in London to arrange an evening. See London hotel bookings.

The middle north

Finchley, Wood Green and Tottenham sit six to eight miles out on the Northern and Victoria lines. Wembley and Harrow are seven and eleven miles to the north west.

Wembley is worth its own line because of the stadium and the arena. On an event night the whole area is impassable, hotel rooms are booked out months ahead, and an outcall is close to impossible. On any other night it is unremarkable. If you are booking around a fixture, our post on booking around the London calendar is the relevant one.

Outer north

Barnet, Enfield, Edgware, Ruislip and Watford run from ten to seventeen miles out.

These are the far end of Greater London and in some cases past it. An outcall here is a long evening for one fee, which is the arithmetic our guide on booking outside central London sets out.

What they do have is fast, direct trains. Watford Junction is sixteen minutes into Euston. Enfield is under half an hour into Liverpool Street. From this far out, coming in stops being the fallback and becomes the sensible plan.

What works from the north

Kings Cross, Camden, Islington, Kilburn. Outcall, straightforwardly.

Finchley, Wood Green, Tottenham, Wembley. Possible with notice, though the train in is often quicker than the journey out.

Barnet, Enfield, Edgware, Ruislip, Watford, Harrow. Come in. Twenty minutes to half an hour, no travel surcharge, and the whole roster rather than a corner of it.

Where the trains put you

This is the north’s real advantage and almost nobody uses it deliberately.

Euston and Kings Cross are a ten minute walk from Fitzrovia and Marylebone, which is one of the better parts of London to spend an evening and one of the quietest. See Marylebone and Fitzrovia.

Marylebone station serves the Chiltern line from High Wycombe and beyond, and puts you three streets from a good deal of the roster.

The Metropolitan line from Harrow and Ruislip runs straight to Baker Street, which is the same neighbourhood by another route.

Late

The Northern, Victoria, Piccadilly and Jubilee lines all run Night Tube at weekends, so getting home late from the north is easier than from most of London. Midweek it is the last train or a cab, and a cab from the West End to Barnet at one in the morning is not a cheap way to end an evening. See getting around late at night.

See every area we cover, or ring +44 20 7846 3480.