I was on the train between Norwood Junction and London Bridge and I said "this is quite a long way isn't it?" "Longer than most," they said. "I wonder what the longest journey between stations in London is?" I said. "That sounds like the sort of thing you'd blog about," they said. So I'm blogging about it.
London's longest non-stop train journeys (both ends of the journey must be inside London)
12.2 miles: London Paddington to Heathrow Central [16 min] Heathrow Express 11.7 miles: London Bridge - Orpington [15 min] Southeastern 11.0 miles: London Waterloo - Surbiton [17 min] SWR 9.6 miles: London Euston - Harrow & Wealdstone [11 min] LNWR 9.6 miles: London Victoria - Bromley South [18 min] Southeastern 8.9 miles: London Bridge - East Croydon [13 min] Thameslink 8.5 miles: London Marylebone - Harrow-on-the-Hill [12 min] Chiltern 8.3 miles: Stratford - Romford [10 min] Greater Anglia 7.6 miles: Clapham Junction - Surbiton [11 min] SWR 7.4 miles: London Bridge - Norwood Junction [12 min] Southern 7.4 miles: Barking - Upminster [8 min] c2c
The longest non-stop journey entirely within London is aboard the Heathrow Express. It's 14.2 miles by train from Paddington to Heathrow, but for tabulation purposes the measurement I'm using is "as the crow flies" which is 12.2 miles. The longest regular non-extortionate journey is London Bridge to Orpington at 11.7 miles.
At time of publishing London Bridge to Norwood Junction is in the top 10 but I've probably forgotten something so it may not stay there. London Bridge to East Croydon is obviously longer. I should say I'm only including regular trains here, not weekend weirdness nor special one-off services that do strange things at 5.30am.
13.2 miles: London Bridge - Chelsfield [21 min] Southeastern (Peak Only) 12.2 miles: West Ruislip - London Marylebone [18 min] Chiltern (0836 Weekdays) 10.8 miles: West Ham - Upminster [13 min] c2c (Peak Only) 10.4 miles: South Ruislip - London Marylebone [16 min] Chiltern (3 morning journeys) 8.1 miles: London Bridge - New Eltham [16 min] Southeastern (Peak only) 7.8 miles: Harrow & Wealdstone - Shepherd's Bush [23 min] Southern (Late Evenings) 7.8 miles: Ealing Broadway - West Drayton [13 min] Crossrail (Peak only)
Technically the longest non-stop rail journey entirely within London is 13.2 miles between London Bridge and Chelsfield (one stop beyond Orpington). This journey only happens four times a day in each direction, so maybe it's a bit rare, but if you were making a video called 'I Made The Longest Non-Stop Rail Journey Entirely Within London' this is the journey you'd film. Unless you know different.
Below are some of the other non-stop journeys I checked to make sure they weren't in the top 10.
over 7 miles: Clapham Junction - East Croydon over 6 miles: Denmark Hill - Bromley South over 5 miles: London Marylebone - Wembley Stadium, Paddington - Ealing Broadway, St Pancras International - Stratford International, Liverpool Street - Tottenham Hale, London Bridge - Hither Green
One practical use of this is that if you were thinking of moving to an Outer London suburb with fast connections to the centre, Orpington, Harrow, Bromley and Croydon would appear to be a good bet.
"Is this pub open?" I asked. "It looks closed. The doors and windows are all covered up."
"Google says it doesn't open for another hour," they said. "Yeah but who says Google's right?" I said. "I was here last month and I swear it was open then, I remember seeing a cleaning lady in the window."
We tried to check The Kenley Hotel's website but they don't have one. We checked their Facebook page but that was last updated in 2019. I eventually discovered on the CAMRA website that "this Pub is Temporarily Closed 14/07/2025 and is expected to reopen on or before 01/10/2025. Closed until a new licensee can be found." That's good news for pubgoers in Kenley, assuming it ever opens again.
But what it actually made me wonder is "Why do so few hospitality businesses have an online presence?"
It could be a website, even an incredibly basic one, just enough to show opening times and a taste of what's on offer. But so many pubs and shops and restaurants don't bother, they just assume you'll turn up and see for yourself. Many have a Facebook page instead, which is fine if you're a member but locks a lot of the rest of us out, or only able to scroll down briefly. Many younger businesses only have an Instagram account - great for posting lovely photos of food but again not always accessible to everyone, nor indeed answering the crucial question "when are you open?"
And many businesses have nothing searchable, no presence at all, or else some lingering account last updated several years ago that's as good as saying "sorry we're probably extinct". Advertising yourself online or on social media is effectively free, so it always looks remiss when a business has made no effort whatsoever. Does it actually matter, or are they losing trade from potential customers who simply wanted to ask "but are you open?"
There were some boisterous schoolboys on the bus, except they weren't at school because they'd broken up. "Have all the schools broken up yet?" my questioning companion asked. "I'd have to look that up," I said. So I have.
I checked the websites of all 33 London boroughs and can confirm that they have very similar summer holiday dates, but not identical.
The last day of the summer term Friday 18th July: City of London Monday 21st July: - Tuesday 22nd July: the 24 other boroughs Wednesday 23rd July: Barking & Dagenham, Bromley, Enfield, Newham, Waltham Forest Thursday 24th July: Tower Hamlets Friday 25th July: Brent, Ealing
The City of London only has one maintained school so you can ignore their date as a one-off. Three-quarters of boroughs broke up on Tuesday - I remember walking past a mother gamely holding onto her daughter's toilet roll castle, probably thinking "I wonder how long before I can bin this?" Five boroughs hung on until Wednesday because that's their prerogative, term dates aren't centrally set.
And Tower Hamlets, Brent and Ealing do something the other boroughs don't do which is provide leeway for extra days schools can choose to use for religious festivals. In Tower Hamlets for example schools may choose to close for Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha, and if they do then pupils have to come in for two extra days at the end of the summer term. Tower Hamlets schools that don't close for Eid instead get to break up on Tuesday like the majority of other schools. Brent and Ealing allow three extra days, again with a notional end date of Tuesday if schools don't use them.
The first day of the autumn term Wednesday 27th August: Bromley Thursday 28th August: - Friday 29th August: - Monday 1st September: the other 31 boroughs Tuesday 2nd September: Hillingdon
Bromley are weird because they drag their children back in August and nobody else does. That said they also have a two week half term at the end of October which nobody else does, so maybe the Bromley way is the better way. Meanwhile Hillingdon stretch out their summer holiday by one extra day compared to everyone else (but of course grasp it back elsewhere).
I should say most schools use the notional 'first day of term' as a staff training day instead, so children are very unlikely to be back in the classroom on Monday 1st September. I also checked a few councils round the country and 1st September is by no means ubiquitous - Leicestershire go back on 26th August while Nottinghamshire wait until 4th September.
I should also say that private schools tend to have shorter terms so several of them broke up weeks ago, while academies can do whatever the policy wonk in their MAT hotseat decrees, which may be really quite off-piste. There's nothing standard about school holidays.
