South East London: Greenwich to Bromley
The least written about corner of the city, and closer in than it feels. Suburban rail, the London Bridge advantage, and the last train problem.
South east London is the least written about corner of the city and the one where the gap between how far away it feels and how far away it is runs widest. Greenwich is closer to the middle of London than Hampstead. It just does not feel it.
The transport picture
No tube to speak of, beyond the Jubilee line reaching Greenwich and the DLR crossing under the river.
What there is instead is one of the densest suburban rail networks in Europe, running into London Bridge, Cannon Street, Charing Cross and Victoria at a frequency that makes the missing underground much less of a problem than it looks. Almost everywhere in this post is under half an hour from a terminus.
The riverside
Greenwich is five miles from the centre and about fifteen minutes from Canary Wharf. Bermondsey and Peckham sit closer in, three and four miles.
Woolwich is further east and now on the Elizabeth line, which puts it fourteen minutes from Liverpool Street and completely changes what is reasonable to plan from there.
The inner suburbs
Lewisham and Catford are six and seven miles out, both a quarter of an hour into London Bridge.
This is the band where an outcall is a real conversation rather than an assumption. It can be done, it works far better with a day’s notice, and it works better still as a two hour booking than an hour. Our guide on booking outside central London sets out why.
The outer edge
Eltham, Beckenham, Sidcup, Bromley, Orpington and Dartford run from nine to sixteen miles.
Bromley is the anchor here, a proper town centre with its own hotels and a good deal more going on than its reputation suggests. Orpington and Dartford sit at the Kent boundary, where the sensible plan flips: the train in is quicker than the drive out, and the evening is better for it.
What works from the south east
Bermondsey, Peckham, Greenwich. Ordinary outcall territory.
Lewisham, Catford, Woolwich, Eltham. Ring with a day’s notice, and consider a longer booking.
Bromley, Beckenham, Sidcup, Orpington, Dartford. Come in, and make an evening of it rather than an hour.
The London Bridge advantage
Nearly every train from this side of London arrives at London Bridge, Cannon Street or Charing Cross, and that is more useful than it sounds.
London Bridge and Cannon Street put you in the City, which is deserted after six and consequently among the most private places in London to spend an evening. See the City after six.
Charing Cross is a two minute walk into Covent Garden and ten minutes from Mayfair. Our post on Soho and the West End after dark covers the ground, including why the busiest streets are not the discreet ones.
The thing to check
Last trains, every time. South eastern rail stops considerably earlier than the tube, there is no Night Tube on this side of the river, and a cab from the West End to Bromley at midnight costs more than an extra hour would have. See getting around late at night.
If the evening is likely to run long, a hotel is the cheaper answer more often than people expect. What an evening actually costs has the arithmetic.
See every area we cover, or ring +44 20 7846 3480.
Ready when you are
Every escort on our books carries her rates in full, the areas she covers and what she offers, so nothing is worked out at the door.