Both banks of the river
E14 and around: twelve districts, with the minutes between them
This desk covers a wedge of London running from the Square Mile east to City Airport and south across the river to Greenwich. Twelve districts, each with its own page, each written outwards from the platforms rather than from a brochure.
The map has a logic. Everything on it is within about twenty five minutes of Canary Wharf, which is where most of our evenings begin or end.
Where the desk sends
01London Bridge
3 companions work from here, and the rest reach it inside the same window.
SE102Greenwich
3 companions work from here, and the rest reach it inside the same window.
SE1003City of London
2 companions work from here, and the rest reach it inside the same window.
EC2, EC3, EC404Bank and Monument
2 companions work from here, and the rest reach it inside the same window.
EC3, EC405Canary Wharf
4 companions work from here, and the rest reach it inside the same window.
E1406Isle of Dogs
2 companions work from here, and the rest reach it inside the same window.
E1407Limehouse
2 companions work from here, and the rest reach it inside the same window.
E1408Wapping
2 companions work from here, and the rest reach it inside the same window.
E1W09Royal Docks and ExCeL
2 companions work from here, and the rest reach it inside the same window.
E1610Stratford
2 companions work from here, and the rest reach it inside the same window.
E20, E1511E14
2 companions work from here, and the rest reach it inside the same window.
E1412City Airport and ExCeL
2 companions work from here, and the rest reach it inside the same window.
E16The Docklands core
Canary Wharf is the middle of it. South across the footbridge lies the Isle of Dogs, north west sits Limehouse, and the three together make up E14, which has its own page as an index. Wapping is the next district west along the river, in E1W, and the only one with warehouse walls.
East along the dock
Royal Docks and ExCeL and City Airport share E16 and are the only two districts on this site that carry a fare, quoted in writing before you agree to it. Stratford is nine Jubilee minutes north of the Wharf, and Greenwich six DLR minutes south under the river.
West into the City
Bank and Monument sits at the centre of the financial district, with the wider City of London around it across EC2, EC3 and EC4. Over the river, London Bridge is eight Jubilee minutes from the Wharf. Every district page carries its own stations, walk times, hotels and questions, and the one ladder behind all of them starts at £250 on rates.
How these pages are written
Each one starts from the platforms and works outwards: the real postcodes, the stations with their lines and walk minutes, the hotels guests actually use and an honest estimate of how long she takes to arrive. No hotel named anywhere on this site has an arrangement with this desk. Where a journey is slow, the page says so.
Send the room and the hour
Write the district, the time and the length of the booking. The desk answers with a name and an arrival window, and the evening is set.