Margo, companion in Bank and Monument, London, portrait in soft light

Outcall only, by appointment

Royal Docks and ExCeL

18+ adults only

Royal Docks and ExCeL, E16: the hour after the halls close

The exhibition halls shut at 18:00 on a show day and thousands of people walk the same dockside path to the same three hotels inside twenty minutes. By 19:15 the boulevard is quiet again and the bars are full. That ninety minute pattern shapes every booking we take in E16.

Below: the platforms and their minutes, the hotels on the dock, what a fair week actually looks like, the companions who come east for it, the districts next door, and the one thing about E16 that is added to a figure.

Doors she arrives at

E16 1ALRoyal Victoria Dock
E16 1FRRoyal Victoria Dock
E16 1AARoyal Victoria Dock

Nearest stations

Custom House2 min walkDLR, Elizabeth line
Prince Regent4 min walkDLR
Royal Victoria6 min walkDLR

Nearest to it

Nearest to Royal Docks and ExCeL

Nobody on the roster works from Royal Docks and ExCeL itself, so these 6 are the nearest to it, ordered by how few streets lie between her door and yours. Any of the 28 in the desk can be asked for by name instead.

Custom House, and the Elizabeth line effect

Custom House serves the DLR and the Elizabeth line and stands two minutes from the western exhibition entrance. Prince Regent, DLR, is four minutes from the eastern halls and the closer platform if your hotel is at that end. Royal Victoria, also DLR, is six minutes from the western end of the dock and the footbridge.

The Elizabeth line changed the arithmetic out here. Custom House is three minutes from Canary Wharf and thirteen from Bond Street, so a companion living in the West End can reach the dock faster than a guest can walk out of a hall. From a confirmed booking, plan on forty five minutes to an hour, less during a fair week when several are already east.

Hotels on the dock

One hotel at E16 1AL sits at the Royal Victoria end, five minutes from the footbridge. Another at E16 1FR is built into the exhibition structure itself, so a hall to lobby walk runs under three minutes. A third at E16 1AA is next along the boulevard and takes the largest share of the conference trade.

They appear on this page because that is where guests are, and for no other reason: not one has an arrangement of any kind with this desk. The dockside apartment blocks behind the boulevard are covered too, and a flat is booked precisely as a room is.

Fair weeks and what they do to timing

During a major show the boulevard hotels run full and the car queue at the western entrance can reach half an hour at 18:30. The practical answer is to book for 20:00 rather than 18:30, by which time the rank has cleared and the restaurants have turned over once. Maude keeps the exhibition calendar and will tell you which week you have landed in.

Between shows the Royal Docks is one of the quietest places in London after dark, and a booking here feels nothing like the same address in May. Three hours at £700 is the commonest length on a show night, because it covers a dinner and the crowd. Ninety minutes at £400 is the between weeks option.

Who works the docks

Laura and Roxi are both anchored in the Royal Docks and know which of the boulevard kitchens is still serving at ten. Nora and Vanessa cover the City Airport end of E16 and cross over without ceremony. Lea comes down from Stratford in about twelve minutes.

Six to eight names are listed here and the full twenty eight on the desk. During a fair week, write earlier in the day than you otherwise would; the dock empties the diary faster than any other postcode we cover.

The Zone 3 line, and what is next door

E16 is the one part of this map sitting outside Zones 1 and 2. Her fare both ways is worked out for the hour and the starting point and written into the confirming message as a single figure. You see it before you agree, it does not move afterwards, and it is the only thing on this site ever added to a rate.

City Airport is two DLR stops east, four minutes. Canary Wharf is one Elizabeth line stop west, three minutes. Stratford is twelve minutes north by DLR through Canning Town, and Greenwich fifteen minutes south by road through the tunnel. The ladder is on rates and the order of events on booking.

The Tape

Two pages worth reading for Royal Docks and ExCeL

The Tape6 min readThe runway that rests from Saturday until Sunday lunchNo scheduled flight uses the E16 runway between Saturday and 12:30 on Sunday. What that does to a weekend in London, and how to plan one back from the last departure and forward from the first arrival.Read it The Tape5 min readSay which Canary Wharf you mean: name the exit, not the stationThe DLR, the Jubilee line and the Elizabeth line each keep their own Canary Wharf, minutes apart in separate buildings. Why a first meeting needs a named exit, and the four meeting points that work.Read it

Before you write

Asked about Royal Docks and ExCeL

Will she come out to the dock for a single hour?

In a quiet week, yes, at £250, though it is a long way for a short evening and she may prefer ninety minutes. In a fair week the desk usually asks for two hours or more, simply because she cannot make that journey twice in one night.

How much is the fare, roughly?

It depends where she starts and how late it is, which is why it is quoted rather than published. It reaches you as one figure covering both directions, inside the message that confirms the booking, so there is nothing to work out at the door.

I am at the hotel inside the halls and my stand closes at seven.

Then 20:00 is the right start. The hall to lobby walk is three minutes, which leaves you an hour to stop being a person who has been standing since eight. She will be in the lobby at the minute agreed, and not before it.

Is there anywhere to eat that is not a hotel restaurant?

A short row along the boulevard and the Royal Victoria side, most of it stopping around 22:00. For a proper table, the Wharf is three minutes on the Elizabeth line and has forty of them. Plenty of E16 evenings are booked exactly that way.

Do you cover the halls themselves, for an evening reception?

Companions attend private dinners and receptions as your guest, dressed for the room and briefed on how you would like to be introduced. Four hours at £900, booked as a dinner date, is the usual length. What she will not do is work a stand.

E14 And Around

One message is enough

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.

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