Bank and MonumentEC3, EC4 · outcall only
Bank and Monument, EC3 and EC4, after six on a weeknight
Seven roads meet at Bank, and for ten hours a day the junction is one of the busiest places in Britain. Then, quite suddenly, it is not. By half past seven on a weekday the crossings are empty, the alleys behind Lombard Street are lit and silent, and the only people about are walking to a hotel or a table. That two hour hinge is when nearly every booking the desk writes in EC3 and EC4 begins.
This page is about that hinge: what the desk can do inside it, how the hotels sit around the junction, how long a companion takes to arrive, and why weekends here are a different proposition. An hour is £250 and the ladder is on the rates page.
Landmarks on the arrival note
By postcode, never by name- EC2R 8AJCity of London
- EC3N 4AJTower Hill
- EC3N 4DJTower Hill
- EC3A 7ABCity of London
Nearest stations
Walking time- Bank1 min walk
- Monument2 min walk
- Cannon Street4 min walk
Luna and Tina give Bank and Monument as the district they set off from most weeks, and the 6 above are the nearest the desk can reach tonight. Any of the 28 on the register can be asked for by name instead.
The desk · 02
The two hours either side of seven
Messages from this postcode cluster between half past six and half past eight, and the pattern is always the same. Something finished later than expected, the colleagues have dispersed, and what is left of the evening is worth using. The desk is set up for exactly that: a written reply in minutes, a companion named, a window given, and the whole thing settled before the second drink.
What the desk will not do is pretend the timing is easier than it is. A companion crossing from west London at half past six is in evening traffic; from Shoreditch or the Wharf she is not. Cordelia says which case yours is and writes the window accordingly, and if the honest answer is nine o'clock rather than eight, that is what appears in the message.
The desk · 03
Where EC3 and EC4 actually are
EC3 runs east and south from the junction: Lombard Street, Gracechurch Street, Leadenhall, Fenchurch Street and down to Tower Hill. EC4 takes the ground west towards St Paul's and south to the river at Cannon Street and Blackfriars. Between them sit the Royal Exchange, the Mansion House, Leadenhall Market under its painted ironwork, and the Monument itself, which is exactly as tall as the distance to the bakery where the fire began.
It is dense, old and confusing on foot. Alleys change name twice in a hundred yards and several streets exist mainly as passages between buildings, which is why the desk asks for a hotel name or a full street address rather than a landmark.
The desk · 04
Hotels around the junction
A hotel stands in the old Midland Bank building at EC2R 8AJ, a minute from the crossings and busy enough that nobody notices anyone. One occupies the former Port of London Authority building at EC3N 4AJ near Tower Hill. A third is at EC3N 4DJ with the castle in the window, and a tower sits at EC3A 7AB on the Bishopsgate side.
None is a partner of the desk. A companion arrives as any guest does, goes to the lift and to the room, and no name is left with anyone. The one practical note is that City hotel lobbies are at their busiest between six and eight, which is a help rather than a hindrance.
The desk · 05
Bank, Monument and Cannon Street on foot
Bank station serves the Central, Northern and Waterloo and City lines and the DLR, and is about a minute from most of the addresses around the junction. Monument, on the Circle and District lines, is roughly two minutes and connects underground to Bank. Cannon Street, which adds national rail, is about four minutes towards the river.
A companion travelling from a central district reaches EC3 in thirty to forty five minutes on a weekday evening; from the east it can be half that. The desk writes the range into the confirmation before you agree to it, and updates you while it is happening if anything slips.
The desk · 06
Weekends here, honestly
From Friday night until Monday morning this district empties almost completely. The hotels stay open and companions travel exactly as usual, so a weekend booking is entirely possible and pleasantly private. What closes is everything else: many restaurants around the junction shut for the whole weekend, and several of the best rooms open only for lunch on a Saturday.
So the desk will tell you the truth rather than the convenient thing. If your plan needs a table on a Saturday night, EC3 is the wrong postcode for it and the desk will suggest starting somewhere else. If your plan is a quiet evening in a hotel room with the City empty outside the window, it is one of the best in London.
The desk · 07
Luna and Tina
Luna has dark auburn red hair, no fear of heights at all, and a real weakness for a City sunset from a high room; storms are a bonus and a walk down to the bridge afterwards is usually her idea. Tina is 158 cm of energy with espresso brown hair and a genuinely good head for this district, happy with a drink in one of the arcades, an alley walk and an early start the next day if you want one.
Both travel in rather than living here, which the desk allows for when writing the window. Anyone in the register can be sent to EC3 or EC4 on the same fees.
The desk · 08
What adjoins the junction
North and west the ground runs straight into the wider Square Mile, which has its own page and its own hotels. Fifteen minutes north on foot, past Liverpool Street, the evening begins all over again in Shoreditch. London Bridge is across the river to the south, Aldgate lies east past Fenchurch Street, and the DLR from Bank reaches Canary Wharf in a little over ten minutes.
Service Log
Two notes worth reading for Bank and Monument
Service Log7 min readFive o'clock on the highwalk, and three better ways outWhen the Barbican's conference halls empty, most delegates follow the crowd down to Moorgate. The highwalks lead elsewhere: west to Smithfield, south to St Paul's and the river, and into an evening worth keeping.Open the page
Service Log7 min readInside the zone or out of it: the charge, the clock and the evening carThe charge runs by the day, not the hour, and only some of the desk's districts sit inside it. Which ones, when the cameras stop counting, and why a car hired for the evening is often the dearer choice.Open the page
Before you write
Bank and Monument, asked and answered
01Can a booking start at six in the evening?
Yes, though it is the hardest hour of the day for the journey. Write earlier in the afternoon if you want six o'clock, and the desk will name a companion who can genuinely be there rather than one who might be.
02Is a Saturday booking in EC3 worth doing?
For a hotel evening, very much so: the district is empty and private. For an evening built around a restaurant, no, because most City kitchens close at the weekend. The desk will tell you which of the two you are planning.
03How long does she take to reach Bank?
Thirty to forty five minutes from a central district on a weekday evening, less from the east. The window is written into your confirmation, and you hear from the desk while it is slipping rather than afterwards.
04Do I give the room number before or after confirming?
At the confirmation stage, along with the name the room is booked under. It is used to get her to the correct door and is not kept afterwards or repeated to anyone.
05What does an hour actually cover here?
An hour of her time and company, at £250, with her travel inside Zones 1 and 2 already counted in. It suits a late drink after a long day. For anything with dinner in it, choose three hours at £700 or the four hour dinner date at £900.
One street either way
Next along from Bank and Monument
Shoreditch
EC2A, E1, E2Same ladder · same windowcompanions near Canary Wharf
E14Same ladder · same window
Your turn
One line is enough
Write the district, the hour and the number of hours. What comes back has a name in it, a time in it and a figure in it, and nothing moves after that.