Escorts in Charing Cross, WC2N: who is close, and how soon
Every December a tall Norway spruce goes up in Trafalgar Square, sent each year by the city of Oslo as thanks for Britain's help during the Second World War, and for a few weeks the view from the top of the square has a lit tree at its centre. For the rest of the year the view is the same without it, and it is one of the widest in central London: Nelson's Column straight ahead, Whitehall running away to the south, and the arch at the head of the Mall to the right.
WC2N is the postcode of the station, the northern side of the square and the streets that run down to the river, and nearly every one of them looks out at something. For Charing Cross escorts that makes the district a place to look up and around before looking for a table. No companion on the board lives inside WC2N; the three who live in Covent Garden, just up the hill, are the first the office looks at.
On the ground
Charing Cross in practice
Landmarks on the arrival slip
By postcode, never by nameSW1A 2BD, SW1A 2HN, SW1A 2EJ, WC2N 4HX, WC2R 0EZ.
Nearest stations
Walking timeCharing Cross, 1 minute. Embankment, 3 minutes. Leicester Square, 4 minutes.
Getting there
WC2NTravel is included across Zones 1 and 2, and counted from the moment the hour is set rather than from when she leaves.
On the board
Nearest prints to Charing Cross
Who works here
On the board in Charing Cross
The eight prints above are a first shortlist for Charing Cross tonight. Any of the twenty eight on the who is free page can be asked for by name instead.
Note 02
The square from the gallery terrace
The best place to take in Trafalgar Square is the terrace in front of the National Gallery, along its northern side. From there the whole square lies below: the two fountains, the four bronze lions at the foot of the column, and Nelson high on top of it, facing south. At night the fountains are lit and the column stands pale against the dark sky.
St Martin-in-the-Fields stands at the north-east corner, its portico and steeple copied by church builders across the English-speaking world. On the square's other corners the plinths carry their statues, one of them given over to a changing run of contemporary works, so the view from the terrace is never quite the same from one year to the next.
Note 03
Down Whitehall to the clock tower
Looking south, Whitehall runs straight from the square towards Parliament, and at its far end the clock tower rises above the government buildings, its face lit after dark. It is one of the classic London sightlines, and it is at its best from the southern edge of the square, where nothing stands between you and the length of the street.
Just below the square, on its own island at the head of Whitehall, Charles I sits on horseback looking down the same line. The spot is where the medieval Eleanor cross stood that gave Charing Cross its name, and it is still the point from which road distances to London are measured, marked by a small plaque set into the ground behind the statue.
Note 04
Through the arch to the Mall
At the south-west corner, Admiralty Arch frames the start of the Mall, the long, straight, red-surfaced road that runs beside St James's Park to Buckingham Palace. Look through the arches and the road narrows to a point with the palace at the end; after dark, with the lamps along the Mall lit, it reads like a runway lined with lights.
The arch is also where the ceremonial London of the Mall meets the everyday traffic of the square, and the view changes completely within a few steps. Turn round, and the square, the gallery and the church are all in front of you again.
Note 05
The footbridges over the river
From the Embankment beside the station, the two Golden Jubilee footbridges cross the Thames on either side of the railway bridge, and the views from them are among the best in London. The western bridge looks upstream to the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Bridge and the London Eye on the far bank; the eastern one looks downstream to Waterloo Bridge, the dome of St Paul's and the towers of the City beyond.
Halfway across is the place to stop. Trains rumble past behind the rail on one side, the river opens out on the other, and the concert halls and walkways of the South Bank are lit below. On a clear night it is hard to find a finer view in town for nothing more than a walk.
Note 06
Along the Embankment after dark
Back on the north bank, the Victoria Embankment runs east from the bridges along the river wall, lined with ornate cast-iron lamps whose bases are wrapped in coiled fish, and after dark their globes make a chain of light along the water. A short way east stands Cleopatra's Needle, an Egyptian obelisk far older than Cleopatra herself, set up here in 1878 and later given a bronze sphinx on either side.
Behind the river wall, Victoria Embankment Gardens run alongside, and at their edge the old York Watergate marks where the bank of the river lay before the Embankment was built out over the mud. It stands a good way from the water now, which says more about how the river has been pushed back than any map.
Note 07
Looking back at the station
From the water, the station is a view in itself. Its platforms are roofed over by a large office building completed around 1990, all curves and glass, which sits across the tracks above the river and is best seen from the footbridges or from the South Bank opposite, lit up at night like a liner at its berth.
On the Strand side, the forecourt holds a tall, spired Victorian replica of the Eleanor cross, carved in stone, which gives the district its name a second time. It is easy to walk past on the way to a train, and worth stopping for.
Note 08
Where the views run on
Whitehall leads down to Westminster and the river front of Parliament, the natural next view once the clock tower has been seen from a distance. East along the Strand, Strand and Aldwych has Waterloo Bridge, the other great bridge view in this part of London, looking both ways at once. West through the arch lies St James's, and uphill the lanes of Covent Garden.
Count on roughly an hour between the office's confirmation and her arrival, longer at rush hour or when a Friday crowd fills the square, with every length set out on the rates.
From The Roundup
Two notes worth reading for Charing Cross
Asked most often
Charing Cross, asked and answered
Is the view here better by day or after dark?
Can you see the clock tower at Westminster from Trafalgar Square?
Which footbridge faces which way?
What is the obelisk on the Embankment?
Where exactly is the centre of London measured from?
One zone either way
Next along from Charing Cross
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