About the Area for SilverDoor Serviced Apartments in London - Holborn

London is the capital of England and of the United Kingdom. On 6th February 1952, Elizabeth Windsor became Queen Elizabeth II upon the death of her father King George VI and Buckingham Palace in Westminster remains her principal home. London is also home to approximately 7.5 million people and until the early 20’s was the most populous city in the world.

London was established as a civilian town by the Romans about seven years after the invasion of AD43, however there is evidence of prehistoric settlement in London dating from at least a thousand years before that. The name Londinium is thought to be pre-Celtic in origin and although there has been no academic consensus, it probably means "the flowing river".

During London’s 2,000 years of recorded history, it has experienced plague, devastating fire, civil war and two world wars; yet, it has still grown to become one of the most important business, financial and cultural capitals in the world.

The city is a major tourist destination, with four world heritage sites and numerous iconic landmarks such as the Houses of Parliament, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye amongst its many attractions, along with famous institutions such as the British Museum and the National Gallery.

London is made up of 32 boroughs, plus the City of London borough, and about 22 per cent of London's population were born outside of the UK, which is what makes it such an ethnically-mixed and culturally-diverse city.

Travel around London on public transport is easy and frequent. The London Underground (more commonly known as “The Tube”) serves 275 stations and there are hundreds of bus routes serving the city and suburban areas. London has five main train stations:-Waterloo, Victoria, St. Pancras, Paddington and Euston, with trains running to all of Britain’s major cities. Waterloo station is also the terminus for the Eurostar train to Paris.

With a large port and five international airports, London is a major international transport hub. Its main airport at Heathrow carries more international passengers than any other airport in the world.

Holborn is home to Hatton Garden, the centre of the diamond trade which was leased to a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, Sir Christopher Hatton at the insistence of the Queen to provide him with an income. This is a thriving business area located close to St. Paul’s Cathedral, Trafalgar Square, and Covent Garden making it an area which is rich in history, with comfortable pubs, and many boutique-style entrepreneurial ventures.

The area is to the north of the old stamping ground for journalists in Fleet Street, and of lawyers in the Inns of Court at the Inner Temple and Middle Temple. The most northerly of the Inns of Court, Gray's Inn, is in Holborn, as is Lincoln's Inn. It is also the location of Barnard's Inn, the current home of Gresham College, the first college in London.

In the eighteenth century, Holborn was the location of the infamous Mother Clap's molly house.

Nearest underground stations:

Chancery Lane,

Covent Garden (direct link to Heathrow, Cannon and Liverpool St. Stations.),

Holborn (direct link to Heathrow, Cannon and Liverpool St. Stations.),

St. Paul's.

Nearest rail stations:

King’s Cross,

Euston,

St. Pancras.