Left
Luggage Paddington Station
There
is a left luggage facility at Paddington station operated by the Excess
Baggage Company - the company have their own web site.
The office is open 7 days a week from 07:00 to 23:00. You can find
the office at platform 8, on the eastern side of the station. (From
the main concourse looking towards the trains, go to the platform
furthest on your right).
The Excess Baggage Company have a monopoly of the left luggage facilities
at most of London's main railway stations and airports. They can also
ship items home if you require. |
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Shops
& Services Paddington Station
There
is the normal shops and kiosks you would associate with a major rail
station. There are countless outlets offering most snack foods from
Burger King through baguettes, pizza's, pastries to bars and restaurants
offering more substantial fayre.
There is a branch of Boots chemists and of course a choice of newsagents
and money exchange facilities. |
If
you venture outside the station, the main road Praed Street has many
of the same outlets duplicated but with more competition - you may
find prices slightly lower than in the station.
There is a also a small Budgens supermarket on the other side of the
road from the station. As you come out the main entrance there is
a Garfunkels restaurant to your left on the corner. Garfunkels are
a restaurant/coffee shop chain found throughout London and do a wide
range of fayre throughout the day. |
Heathrow
Airport to Paddington Station
By
far the most comfortable transfer from Heathrow to Paddington is to
catch the Heathrow
Express from Heathrow. There is a dedicated kiosk in the middle
of the station concourse, (see picture below).
It is slightly cheaper to purchase your tickets on-line in advance
and it can save you a few minutes too if there are queues at the ticket
booth.
>>Details
of Heathrow Express
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At a
fraction of the cost of the Heathrow Express, the London
Underground will deliver you from Heathrow to Paddington in about
an hour, changing at Earls Court. If you have lots of luggage you
can avoid the escalators at Earls Court, by getting off at Hammersmith
and getting an extra train to Earls Court which arrives at same platform
as the Paddington train. |
Paddington
Station District
Immediately
outside the station the main street (Praed Street) is a crowded narrow
street with small shops, many providing snack food demanded by the
station patrons. There is the constant roar of buses that run every
few minutes along Praed Street most of them to Marble Arch/Oxford
Street about 1km away.
Away from this hustle and bustle there is quite a different scene. |
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In
the immediate area opposite the station, centred around Norfolk Square
and Sussex Gardens (pictured above) is the Paddington
hotel district. Nearly every building here is a small hotel, the
only large chain hotel being the Hilton at the station.
Almost adjacent to the station is St Mary's Hospital, a large NHS
hospital staffed by 3,500. As well as being the general hospital for
the area, it is a major teaching and research hospital of world class.
As you go south from the station you enter the district of Lancaster
Gate, with its own Underground Station only about a 10 minute walk.
This is a nice area of relatively spacious avenues and picturesque
mews streets. Hyde Park is a great asset here too. |
Popular
Paddington Accommodation
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