Escorts in Green Park, W1J and SW1A: who is close, and how soon
Green Park lies along the south side of Piccadilly, a wedge of lawns and plane trees reaching from the edge of St James's towards Hyde Park Corner, with Mayfair across the road to the north and Buckingham Palace beyond its southern edge. Under its north-eastern corner three Underground lines meet, and that one fact shapes most evenings planned around it: from here, a great deal of London is a single train away.
The lines matter for your plans rather than for her journey, since after dark she comes by taxi, and three of the board's companions keep their homes in Mayfair, just across Piccadilly. For escorts in Green Park the office generally quotes an hour or thereabouts once it has confirmed, a little more at rush hour, and sends her exact time once she leaves; the lengths are on the rates.
On the ground
Green Park in practice
Landmarks on the arrival slip
By postcode, never by nameW1J 9BR, SW1A 1NJ, SW1A 1NY, W1J 8LT, W1J 7BJ, W1J 7BH.
Nearest stations
Walking timeGreen Park, 1 minute. Hyde Park Corner, 6 minutes. Piccadilly Circus, 8 minutes.
Getting there
W1J, SW1ATravel 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 Green Park
Who works here
On the board in Green Park
The eight prints above are a first shortlist for Green Park tonight. Any of the twenty eight on the who is free page can be asked for by name instead.
Note 02
Three lines under one corner
Green Park station serves the Jubilee, Piccadilly and Victoria lines, and it comes up in two places: on the north side of Piccadilly, at the Mayfair edge, and inside the park itself, where an entrance opens among the trees just south of the road. The park entrance is the one to know on a fine evening, because it lets a guest step off the train and onto grass without crossing a single street.
Changing trains here involves a fair walk below ground, especially between the Jubilee line and the other two, so a plan that needs one change is better rebuilt around a line that needs none. Green Park station is a minute's walk from the park, Hyde Park Corner six minutes and Piccadilly Circus eight, which puts two more stations within easy reach on foot.
Note 03
Where each line will take you
The Jubilee line runs east from here through Westminster and Waterloo to London Bridge and on to Canary Wharf, and one stop north-west to Bond Street, where it meets the Elizabeth line. The Victoria line runs one stop south to Victoria, for the main line station, and north through Oxford Circus to Euston and King's Cross St Pancras.
The Piccadilly line is the long one. Westbound it passes Hyde Park Corner, Knightsbridge and South Kensington on its way out to Heathrow; eastbound it runs through Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square and Covent Garden to Holborn and King's Cross St Pancras. Between the three lines, most of the places a visitor is likely to be coming from, or going on to, are reached without a change.
One stop up the Jubilee line, Bond Street adds the Elizabeth line, which runs east to Liverpool Street and Canary Wharf and west to Paddington and on to Heathrow, so the City, the Docklands towers and a second route to the airport are all one change away. For anyone arriving at Paddington with luggage, that single change at Bond Street is the simplest way in.
Note 04
Building an evening around the right line
The sensible way to plan is backwards from where the night ends. A guest working in Canary Wharf can finish his day, ride the Jubilee line west without changing and be on Piccadilly for dinner; one staying in Knightsbridge or South Kensington is a short run along the Piccadilly line. Someone off a Eurostar at St Pancras has two direct lines to choose from, and a guest with an early train from Victoria the next morning is one stop from it.
Theatre fits the same way. Covent Garden and Leicester Square are a few stops east on the Piccadilly line, so a curtain there and a late supper near the park share a single line. What no line can fix is a change of trains at the end of a long day, which is why the evening is best placed near the station the guest will need last rather than the one he arrived at.
Note 05
When the park is the better connection
Not every link needs a train. Hyde Park Corner is one stop west, but on a dry evening the walk across the park towards its western tip, under the planes and away from the traffic, is the pleasanter connection, and it arrives at the corner with the Wellington Arch in view. In the other direction, Piccadilly leads east past the shopfronts to the Circus, and St James's Street drops south from it towards the palace of the same name.
For a guest staying in St James's or on Piccadilly itself, going underground is often the wrong answer: the streets are short enough that walking is simpler than descending to a platform only to come back up a stop later.
Note 06
Late trains and the ride back
After a late evening, the same three lines are the guest's way home. On the weekend nights when the Night Tube runs, the Jubilee, Piccadilly and Victoria lines are all among those that keep going through the small hours, so Green Park stays connected long after its weekday service has stopped. On other nights the last trains leave not long after midnight, and the buses that run along Piccadilly take over.
Taxis pass along Piccadilly at every hour, and for Green Park escorts spending the evening with a guest in Mayfair, to the north, the streets are close enough that walking back from the park's edge is often the calmest way to end the night.
From The Roundup
Two notes worth reading for Green Park
Asked most often
Green Park, asked and answered
Which line from here goes straight to Heathrow?
Can Canary Wharf be reached without changing trains?
Is it worth crossing the park on foot rather than riding one stop?
Which lines serve King's Cross St Pancras from here?
One zone either way
Next along from Green Park
Last strip
Say a name and an hour
Write in with a length, a time and the zone you are staying in, and a name from the board comes back with a window attached. That is the whole of the arrangement.