- published: 29 Sep 2012
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This article describes the hotels in London, England. Hotels are an important part of London's tourism industry.
Before the 19th century there were few if any large hotels in London. British country landowners often lived in London for part of the year but they usually rented a house, if they did not own one, rather than staying in a hotel. Numbers of business and foreign visitors were very small by modern standards. The accommodation available to them included Gentlemen's club accommodations, lodging houses and coaching inns. Lodging houses were more like private homes with rooms to let than commercial hotels, and were often run by widows. Coaching inns served passengers from the stage coaches which were the main means of long-distance passenger transport before railways began to develop in the 1830s. The last surviving galleried coaching inn in London is the George Inn which now belongs to the National Trust.
A few hotels of a more modern variety began to be built in the early 19th century. For example Mivart's, the precursor of Claridge's, opened its doors in 1812 but, up to the mid-19th century, London hotels were generally small. In his travel book North America (1862), the novelist Anthony Trollope remarked on how much larger American hotels were than British ones. But by this time the railways had already begun to bring far more short-term visitors to London, and the railway companies themselves took the lead in accommodating them by building a series of "railway hotels" near to their London termini. These buildings were seen as status symbols by the railway companies, the largest businesses in the country at the time, and some of them were very grand. They included:
London i/ˈlʌndən/ is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans, who named it Londinium. London's ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its square-mile mediaeval boundaries. Since at least the 19th century, the name London has also referred to the metropolis developed around this core. The bulk of this conurbation forms the London region and the Greater London administrative area, governed by the elected Mayor of London and the London Assembly.
London is a leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transport all contributing to its prominence. It is the world's leading financial centre alongside New York City and has the fifth-largest city GDP in the world (and the largest in Europe). London has been described as a world cultural capital. It was the world's most visited city during 2011 and London Heathrow is the world's busiest airport by number of international passengers. London's 43 universities form the largest concentration of higher education in Europe. In 2012 London will become the first city to host the modern Summer Olympic Games three times.
In London - she must bd in London.
In London - she must have gone to London.
Just two weeks of harmony.
Days we spent so easily.
In London - she must be in London.
Hurry me - we fell in love in London.
Our love alive
swept in its tide
That city wide - London.
No street too long
our love belonged
Along the lanes of London.
Those afternoons
back in our room
Making love until the moon rose over london.
She's now alone in London.
Where to start - now that I'm in London?
Standing here this rainy day
So alone and out of place without her.
she must be in London.
Our love alive
swept in its tide