Things to do in Paddington…

If you decide to take your escort on a trip outside of London, then Paddington is the best station to leave London from as it offers trains to some of Britain’s beautiful countryside in Devon and Cornwall. If you want to go further afield and fly abroad with your escort to some intimate hideaway in the sun, then you can start your journey here on the Heathrow Express, which is only 15 minutes from the airport.

Paddington lies in the City of Westminster and is known for three essential landmarks. The first is Paddington Station, one of London’s important transport hubs for trains to the South West. It was designed by the renowned Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and opened in 1847.  Have some fun by looking for the statue of Brunel, which is within the station, but also look for a statue of the fictional children’s character Paddington Bear; the writer Michael Bond adopted its name after finding a lonely-looking toy bear in a shop and feeling sorry for it brought it back to his home next to Paddington Station.  

St Mary’s Hospital is also in Paddington, one of the great teaching hospitals in London. The hospital is the site of many significant medical breakthroughs in the past – this is where Sir Alexander Fleming first discovered penicillin- your escort might be interested in visiting the Alexander Fleming laboratory, which has been restored to its original condition. 

This is also where Edward Wilson, the physician on Captain Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the South Pole, had also practised as a doctor. She will also be fascinated to hear that this is where the royal princes William and Harry were born to Princess Diana.

Paddington is also known for its high-security police station at Paddington Green. Indeed, Paddington has several original Roman roads on its boundaries, including Watling Street, later called Edgware Road and the Uxbridge Road, which subsequently became Bayswater. Both were toll roads in the 1700s and critical routes into London from the country's West and North.

Why not go and see the famous Grand Union Canal? It was built in the early 1800s and is a fascinating insight into Britain’s and London’s industrial revolution. You can even try to take your adventurous London escort on a canal boat and glide through to Little Venice, which has two canal junctions and was reputedly named by the illustrious Victorian poet Robert Browning. However, other sources believe Lord Byron gave it its name.