Westminster is where London's visitors stay, and that's where most of our bookings here start. A hotel lobby in Mayfair at 7am, with twelve guests and their cases heading for Heathrow. A theatre group in Covent Garden at 10:30pm, waiting for a ride back to Kensington. A family from overseas who want to see the sights without walking six miles. Minibus hire Westminster customers book is built around hotels, theatres and tours, with plenty of corporate work in between.
Our base in SE1 is just across the river, ten to twenty minutes from most of the borough at a quiet time.
Hotel pickups and airport runs
Westminster has more hotels than anywhere else in London, from the big names on Park Lane to smaller places in Bayswater and Pimlico. Most of our work here starts or ends at one of them.
Hotel forecourts vary a lot. Some have space for a minibus at the door. Others are on red routes, where the driver can only stop briefly or not at all. Give us the hotel name and we'll check in advance. Often the answer is a side entrance or a quieter street round the corner.
For Heathrow, the run west along the A4 from Hyde Park Corner is usually around fifty minutes to an hour outside the rush. Paddington's Heathrow Express is quick for a couple, but for a group with luggage, a minibus from the hotel door is simpler. For Gatwick, it's about an hour and a quarter from Victoria by road.
Minibus hire Westminster for theatre nights
The West End's theatres are spread through Soho, Covent Garden and the Strand, and the shows tend to finish around the same time, often around 10 to 10:30pm. When they do, thousands of people come out onto streets that were never built for traffic.
So we agree a pickup point a short walk from the theatre, away from the busiest crush. You'll get the exact location by text. Walking there as a group, rather than waiting for the last person to finish at the bar, makes all the difference. Matinees are easier. A 5:30pm pickup is far quieter than the 10:30pm crush.
In December, the Christmas lights on Regent Street and Oxford Street bring huge crowds, and the roads around them slow right down. Allow extra time for anything in the West End in the weeks before Christmas.
Before the show, a minibus for a group dinner then the theatre works well, as long as the dinner isn't too far from the theatre. A restaurant in Mayfair for a show at the Lyceum is fine. A restaurant in Notting Hill makes the timing tight.
Tours, sights and the Congestion Charge
Westminster has most of London's famous sights. Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery and Hyde Park are all here. For visitors who want to see them in a day, a private tour with a minibus and a driver is far easier than the tube.
Stopping near the sights is tightly controlled. Around Parliament Square and Buckingham Palace, the driver will drop you at a set point and wait nearby. For a few sights close together, walking between them is often quicker than driving.
The whole of Westminster sits inside or close to the Congestion Charge zone, and the charge applies during charging hours. It goes on the quote.
Corporate and government work
Westminster isn't only tourists. Offices around Victoria, St James's and Marylebone book us for away days, client dinners and conferences. The QEII Centre, opposite Westminster Abbey, hosts big conferences with strict rules on vehicle access nearby.
For those, we'll plan the drop-off around the venue's arrangements and the day's security. Some events, especially around Parliament, have extra restrictions at short notice.
From Pimlico up to Maida Vale
Westminster runs from Pimlico and Victoria in the south to Maida Vale and St John's Wood in the north, and from Bayswater in the west to the Strand in the east. Each of those neighbourhoods gets its own page, covering what groups there tend to book.
St John's Wood has Lord's, so cricket days change the traffic. Marylebone has the clinics of Harley Street, and patients sometimes need transport for family groups. Paddington has the station and the hotels around it. Victoria has the coach station and the Gatwick Express. Groups arriving at Victoria Coach Station from elsewhere in the country often need onward transport with their luggage, and a minibus waiting nearby is the easy answer.
The honest caveat
Westminster's roads are some of the slowest in London during the day, and stopping is harder here than anywhere except the City. Minibus hire Westminster groups book works best when everyone is ready to board at the agreed point when the driver arrives. A group still in the hotel bar when the minibus pulls up on a red route will cost everyone time, and sometimes a ticket.
For minibus hire in Westminster, call 020 7183 0567.