Escorts in SW3, Chelsea and Brompton: who is close, and how soon
"SW3 is served by two stations, and neither of them is actually in it," is how Sylvie, who answers for the office, sums up the postcode, and every plan for an evening here starts from that. Sloane Square stands just over the line at the eastern corner, South Kensington just over it to the north, and the streets between rely on buses, taxis and their own feet. Three names on the board give Chelsea as home, which puts part of the board inside the postcode for SW3 escorts; even so, give it an hour or so between the office confirming and her reaching a Chelsea address, more when the King's Road is jammed; the chat carries her exact time and each length is priced on the rates.
On the ground
SW3 in practice
Landmarks on the arrival slip
By postcode, never by nameSW3 2RP, SW3 2RJ, SW3 1PT.
Nearest stations
Walking timeSloane Square, 6 minutes. South Kensington, 8 minutes.
Getting there
SW3Travel is included across Zones 1 and 2, and counted from the moment the hour is set rather than from when she leaves.
Who works here
On the board in SW3
The eight prints above are a first shortlist for SW3 tonight. Any of the twenty eight on the who is free page can be asked for by name instead.
Note 02
Two stations, one stop apart
Sloane Square and South Kensington sit side by side on both the Circle line and the District line, which tells a guest two things. Moving between the corners of the postcode by train is a single stop, and neither station puts him in the middle of anything: the walk from the platform does the rest, as the panel on this page sets out.
What separates them is where each one leads. Sloane Square looks east, with Victoria and its main line trains the very next stop and the District line running on to Westminster and the Embankment. South Kensington adds the Piccadilly line, straight through Knightsbridge, Hyde Park Corner, Green Park and Piccadilly Circus to Leicester Square and Covent Garden, and the other way out to Heathrow. Look up on the Sloane Square platforms, too: the iron pipe crossing above the tracks carries the River Westbourne, one of London's buried rivers, down to the Thames.
Note 03
The line that never reached the King's Road
The King's Road was a private road for the monarch until 1830, and in one sense it has stayed private ever since, because no railway has ever run beneath it. Planners have drawn a line under Chelsea for decades, most recently as Crossrail 2 with a station on the King's Road itself, and none of it has been built.
So the long middle of SW3, from Sydney Street out towards World's End, is bus and taxi country. For an evening that begins at the western end, a car from the door is simpler than a station at either corner; for one that begins by Sloane Square or up at Brompton Cross on the Fulham Road, the Underground is right there.
Note 04
The river edge and the other borders
To the south the postcode stops at the Thames, and three bridges carry pavements across it to Battersea: Albert Bridge, Battersea Bridge and Chelsea Bridge. North of the Fulham Road the map turns into South Kensington, and east past Sloane Street into Knightsbridge, both an easy walk for a guest who would rather stretch his legs than wait for a cab.
From The Roundup
Two notes worth reading for SW3
Asked most often
SW3, asked and answered
Which Underground stop should I use for the King's Road?
Is there a direct train from SW3 to the West End theatres?
Can we cross the river from Chelsea on foot?
One zone either way
Next along from SW3
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.