Escorts in London City Airport, E16: the trip out from town, agreed in writing
Why would anyone build an airport in the middle of a dock? Because by 1981 the Royal Docks had nothing left to do. The Royal Victoria, the Royal Albert and the King George V, together once the largest enclosed docks in the world, had closed to shipping, leaving miles of empty quay and still water, and the long strip between the last two turned out to be just long enough for a runway. Almost everything round the terminal is left over from that story. The airport lies beyond central London, so for escorts in London City Airport the office puts her travel, and any minimum length, to you in writing over WhatsApp before a booking stands; coming out from town takes longer than the usual hour, her exact time is sent in the chat, and the rates name every length.
On the ground
London City Airport in practice
Landmarks on the arrival slip
By postcode, never by nameE16 1AL, E16 1FR, E16 1AA.
Nearest stations
Walking timeLondon City Airport, 2 minutes.
Getting there
E16Outside Zones 1 and 2, so the office confirms the travel and any minimum in writing on WhatsApp before booking. The window is longer than the usual hour, and the chat carries her exact time.
On the board
Out from town to London City Airport
Who comes out
On the board for London City Airport
Every name on the board lives in town, so whoever is booked for London City Airport travels out to you; the six prints above are a first shortlist for tonight. Any of the twenty eight on the who is free page can be asked for by name instead.
Note 02
Three royal docks, one after another
The docks were dug in stages as London's trade outgrew the older basins upriver. The Royal Victoria opened in 1855, the Royal Albert followed in 1880 and the King George V, the last of them, in 1921, the three names running from a queen to her consort to her grandson. Between them they handled refrigerated meat, grain and tobacco from across the world, and the flour mills and sugar refineries of Silvertown grew up along their southern edge. The basins were never filled in.
Note 03
Closure, and a landing on Heron Quays
Container ships wanted deeper water and bigger quays, and the trade moved downriver to Tilbury. The Royal Docks closed in 1981, the year the London Docklands Development Corporation was set up to find a new use for the whole of the old port. The airport was one of its boldest answers. In 1982 a short take-off turboprop came down on Heron Quays, in what is now Canary Wharf, to prove that flying in among the docks could work, and the airport itself opened on the quay between the Royal Albert and the King George V in 1987.
Note 04
A steep approach, and a longer runway
It was built for short take-off aircraft, and the approach is still nearly twice as steep as at most airports, so only aircraft types cleared for it may land. The runway was lengthened in the early 1990s, which let small jets in. The last great change came in 2005, when the Docklands Light Railway reached the terminal itself and tied the old docks to Bank and Monument by rail.
Note 05
What is left to see
Ride the DLR along the southern quay of the Royal Victoria and you pass the Millennium Mills, a vast derelict flour mill rebuilt in the 1930s after the Silvertown explosion of 1917 wrecked the streets around it; that blast, at a works making explosives for the war, was one of the worst in London's history. On the river side of Silvertown, the refinery Henry Tate opened in 1878 is still refining sugar. Old cargo cranes stand along the quays of the Royal Victoria, and the Royal Albert, beside the runway, is used by rowing crews. A guest booking London City Airport escorts is staying within a short ride of all of it.
From The Roundup
Two notes worth reading for London City Airport
Asked most often
London City Airport, asked and answered
Is the water beside the runway the old dock itself?
What is the huge ruined building beside the DLR on the way out?
Why do the planes come in so steeply?
One zone either way
Next along from London City Airport
City Airport and ExCeL
E16Same ladder, but outside Zones 1 and 2: the office confirms the travel and any minimum in writing on WhatsApp before booking.
escorts in Royal Docks and ExCeL
E16Same ladder, but outside Zones 1 and 2: the office confirms the travel and any minimum in writing on WhatsApp before booking.
Bank and Monument hotels
EC3, EC4Same ladder, inside Zones 1 and 2, where travel is included and the usual hour applies.
Canary Wharf
E14Same ladder, inside Zones 1 and 2, where travel is included and the usual hour applies.
Last strip
Say a name and an hour
Write in with the day, the length and the hotel or address in London City Airport, and the office replies with a name, a window, and the travel and any minimum in writing before anything is booked.