From South Kensington Station, either follow the subway signposted to the museums or walk north up Exhibition Road. The College is on the left, beyond the Science Museum.
Take the first road, Imperial College Road, and walk to the end. You pass the Queen's Lawn and Central Library on your right.
Before you reach the metal gates, turn left and walk down the ramp. The entrance to the Flowers Building is on the left.
On Monday 19th March, the day before the main meeting, Imperial are also hosting a research talks on Programming Languages Formal Methods researchers on topics including language specification, program verification, etc. with a focus on research relating to the JavaScript language and ecosystem. We welcome anyone interested to attend (TC39 delegate or not) for any of the meeting and the evening drinks.
Further details here.
- Date: Thursday 22 March 2018 (last day of TC39 meeting)
- Time: 18:00--21:00
- Location: Facebook Offices, 1 Rathbone Square, London
- Organisers: Keith Cirkel (GitHub)
- Registration: free, open to all interested, (link coming soon)
- Food and drinks will be served at the event.
A chance for the TC39 community to engage with the London tech community in a free and open Q&A event.
The public transport in London is generally reliable and reasonably priced, and is the recommended method of travel.
Driving and car rental in the city are advised against due to congestion and lack of parking at hotels. Traffic in the area around Imperial can be heavy and slow moving at peak times of day. Black taxis can generally be easily hailed on larger roads, and ride sharing services such as Uber and Lyft are (still) available.
London has 6 international airports, spread at various distances and directions from the city centre.
There are a number of large public parks close to Imperial, so walking and cycling can often provide a quieter alternative method of travel.
Transport for London are the primary transportation operator in London, their website provides a journey planner. Journey planning is also available from other providers such as Google Maps and Citymapper.
Several types of ticket/payment methods can be used:
- All London public transport services accept Contactless payment (bank cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay) at the yellow RFID readers. The cheapest fare is always charged and multiple journeys are capped at a maximum daily or weekly rate. Most international bank cards should be accepted, but transaction fees may be charged by your bank, usually once per day.
- Oyster cards are smartcards which hold pre-paid credit for travel. The card costs £5 (refundable on return) plus the credit you initially load to it. Cheapest fares will be charged and fares are capped at a daily maximum. Any remaining credit less than £10 at the end of your stay in London can be refunded to you along with the £5 card deposit at a ticket machine. Zonal tickets "Travekcards" permitting unlimited travel for a week or longer may be loaded onto an Oyster card.
- Paper tickets. Single paper tickets are seldom worth purchasing, they are considerably marked up above the equivalent contactless/Oyster fares. Paper zonal tickets, "Travelcards", for a week are the same price as the contactless/Oyster equivalents.
Single journey prices can be found using the Single Fare Finder tool.
Buses do not accept cash fares, and always cost £1.50, including unlimited transfers between buses for an hour.
The same card or device should be used to enter an exit at ticket barriers, or on boarding a bus.
South Kensington and Gloucester Road are the nearest tube stations to Imperial, they are both on the District (green), Circle (yellow) and Piccadilly (navy blue) lines.
Tube Map. South Kensington is located to the south-west edge of the Zone 1 area.
There are two major bus hubs around Imperial College, routes via South Kensington and routes running along Hyde Park.
Bus services in London do not accept cash payment. Payment is via Contactless (bank card or Apple/Google/Samsung Pay), pre-paid Oyster card, or by showing the driver a paper travelcard ticket if boarding via the driver's door. Most services are boarded via the front door of the bus, although some routes permit boarding at any door.
Heathrow, Gatwick and Stanstead airports are a considerable distance from central London, and a taxi is not recommended for the whole journey. However, if you must take a taxi, establish the cost before you get in.
Public transport directions for the 4 major London airports follow.
Take the DLR to Canning Town, then by Underground, Jubilee line to Green Park and the Piccadilly line to South Kensington (journey time 40 minutes).
Heathrow Express, 15 mins to Paddington mainline station, then the Underground, Circle line to South Kensington.
Or, take the Underground, Piccadilly Line to South Kensington station (50 minutes travelling time).
Gatwick Express, 30 mins to Victoria mainline station, then by Underground, District or Circle lines to South Kensington.
Or take a national rail train to Victoria station (journey time 40 minutes) and then by Underground, Circle or District Line; westbound to South Kensington.
Stansted Express, 50 mins to Liverpool Street main line station, and then by Underground, Circle line to South Kensington.
Black taxis may be easily hailed from several of the streets around Imperial, and other busier roads in London. All taxis accept card payments at no extra charge.
Most ridesharing services are licensed in London. Uber are still licensed to operate in London (even though several media stories reported them as banned, their license is still operational pending the outcome of a court appeal).
Red cycle hire stations are available throughout central London. A £2 daily access charge permits free bicycle hires for 30 minute periods, with supplements charged for longer periods of use beyond that.
The Imperial College accommodation service offer a free service to all visitors to make a booking at a local hotel on your behalf at a College-negotiated rate. For a list of their recommended hotels within 10 minutes' walk of the South Kensington campus please see: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/visitors-accommodation/local-hotels/10-minutes/
Lunches and refreshments will be provided at the meeting.
A few local cafes serving breakfast options:
- Fait Maison, 50 Gloucester Road, west of Imperial College. Opens 7am. British and Arabic style breakfast options. (map, Trip Advisor)
- Cafe Deco, 62 Gloucester Road, west of Imperial College. (map, Trip Advisor)
- Comptoir Libanis, 77a Gloucester Road, near Gloucester Road tube. Breakfast Menu comprises of Lebanese cooked breakfast options. Opens 8am. Map
- Paul, 73 Gloucester Road, near Gloucester Road tube. [Breakfast Menu] comprises of filled French pastry options. Open 7am. Map
- Raison d'Etre, 18 Bute Road, South Kensington, SW7 3EX. Near South Kensington Tube. Opens 7.30am. Menu, Map.
- Carluccio's, 1 Old Brompton Road, South Kensington, SW7 3HZ. Italian restaurant with breakfast options. Opens 7.30am. Breakfast menu, Map.
- Le Pain Quotidien, 15-17 Exhibition Road, South Kensington, SW7 2HE. Opens 7.30am. Belgian cafe. Breakfast menu.
Below are some local restaurants; alternatively, the Time Out guide carries reviews for most restaurants in London and will allow you to search by cuisine, area or price.
There are many restaurants in the areas surrounding Imperial College. Areas to consider are around South Kensington and Gloucester Road stations, Kensington High Street and along Kensington Church Street to Notting Hill, along Bayswater for a number of Chinese restaurants, and a huge range of choice in London's West End which is 20 minutes by bus or tube.
Here's an incomplete list of recommended restaurants within 20 minutes of Imperial:
- Ognisko, £££, Polish cuisine, 55 Prince's Gate, Exhibition Road, London, SW7 2PG, 020 7589 0101
- Da Mario, ££, Italian restaurant, 15 Gloucester Road, London, SW7 4PP, 020 7584 9078
- Apero, ££, Mediterranean inspired, 2 Harrington Road, SW7 3ER, 020 7591 4410
- Amaya, ££££, Modern Indian, Halkin Arcade, Motcomb St, SW1X 8JT, 020 7823 1166
- Zuma, ££££, Japanese cusine, 5 Raphael Street, SW7 1DL, 020 7584 1010
- Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, ££££, Modern British, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, SW1X 7LA, 020 7201 3833
- Maggie Jones’s, £££, British classics, 6 Old Court Place, W8 4PL, 020 7937 6462
- Ffiona’s, £££, British classics, 51 Kensington Church Street, W8 4BA, 020 7937 4152
- The Shed, £££, Modern British, sharing plates, 122 Palace Gardens Terrace, W8 4RT, 020 7229 4024
- Il Portico, £££, Modern Italian, 227 Kensington High Street, W8 6NA, 020 7602 6262
Several of the large London museums are located near the college, all are free to visit.
- Science Museum -- Exhibition Road, South Kensington, SW7 2DD, open 10:00-18:00. The Information Age and Mathematics galleries on Level 2 are particularly recommended to visit.
- V&A, Art and Design Museum -- Exhibition Road, South Kensington, SW7 2RL.
- Natural History Museum -- Exhibition Road, South Kensington, SW7 5BD.
The Royal Albert Hall and Royal College of Music are adjacent to Imperial, and regularly hold daytime and evening recitals.
Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens are to the north of Imperial and together form 615 acres of green space in this part of Central London.
Note that the United Kingdom moves to British Summer Time (from UTC+0 to UTC+1) at 01:00 (UTC+0) on Sunday 25th March 2018. Please ensure you take this into consideration if travelling on the Sunday after the meeting.
This gist will need to be moved to the agendas repo so TC39 has it available for archival purposes.