Microsoft London, Paddington

Find us

2 Kingdom Street

By car

There is very limited parking available at Microsoft. Parking at Kingdom Street will be provided on a first come first served basis, bookable through facilities. Please contact reception.

The closest NCP car park is in London Street which is off Praed Street.

Another NCP car park is located at Colonnades — Porchester Terrace, Bayswater, London, W2 1AA (Phone: 020 7221 8020). Car Parking is also located on Church Street and Bishops Bridge Road (Opening Hours: 08:00-20:00 hrs, Mon — Sat, closed Sun).

By tube

Paddington is served by the Circle, District, Bakerloo, and Hammersmith & City Underground lines.

By bus

Local bus route numbers 7, 15, 23, 36 and 436 all go to Paddington Station.

By train

Paddington Station is a major international transport hub with Heathrow Airport just 15 minutes away on the Heathrow Express.

By foot

From Paddington Station: Walk along Platform 8 about 100 metres and up the right-hand set of steps. Turn right along the walkway following the Paddington Central signs that leads you alongside a towpath with the canal on your right. Before you reach the footbridge over the towpath, turn left between two large buildings.

From Bishops Bridge: Sheldon Square can be accessed directly from Bishops Bridge.

From Little Venice: Walk towards Paddington Station along the towpath following the Paddington Central signs.

From Harrow Road: Walk across the new pedestrian bridge alongside the Porteus Road subway and the Travis Perkins Yard into the development.

By site service vehicle

Site service vehicles are not permitted to access Microsoft from Bishops Bridge and should use the A40 Harrow Road.

If you are travelling from the east, exit the A40 after crossing the A5 Edgware Road. This will bring you down onto a large roundabout on Harrow Road. This roundabout has gardens in the middle of it and half of it is under the A40. Ahead you will see Bishops Bridge. Keep this on your left, pass Travis Perkins builder’s merchants and take the next exit rising up under the A40. You will then arrive onto another roundabout. Take the second exit, with the cream coloured Monsoon building on your left. This will lead to the entrance road onto the site.

If travelling from the West, exit the A40 signposted for West London, cross Westbourne Bridge, you will see the Microsoft site on your left, take the next left into Bishops Bridge Road, cross Bishops Bridge to the roundabout with gardens in the middle which will be facing you. Turn left passing Travis Perkins builders’ merchants which will be on your left and follow the directions as above from this point.

The View From My Window: Our Three Local Heroes

Like all of us, I’m housebound. In a bid to allay cabin fever and death by boredom, I’ve taken a front-row seat by the window. With a tip of the chapeau to Colette, who wrote Paris de Ma Fenêtre (Paris from My Window) from her apartment on the Place du Palais Royal during the German occupation of WWII, I’ll begin my random musings on the city from one small corner of London during the `occupation’ by the coronavirus COVID-19.

My husband Mike Rothschild and I live in a mid-Victorian three-storey terrace house in Bow in East London. It is well-situated. To the north, it backs onto to the Hertford Union Canal linking the Regent’s Canal and Lee River just below Victoria Park. To the south are the towers of Canary Wharf. If I crane my neck and turn east, I can just about see the former Olympic Stadium and the Orbit. As I walk to the bus stop, the Gherkin and several other City buildings peek out from the west.

Steve Fallon looking out the window on Chisenhale Road, Bow, East London. Photo Credit: © Steve Fallon.

The house was built in 1872 and, according to the 1881 census, it and the other terraces along Chisenhale Road were home to men `at the docks’, `scholars’ (boys and girls till at least the compulsory school age of 10) and women engaging in all sort of odd-sounding occupations: button polishing, ribbon cutting, feather dying. The docks would last for almost another century, but these cottage industries would die a quick and sudden death, to be replaced with small factories making lead soldiers, shoes and board games like Bagatelle. A veneer factory just down the road would go on to produce Spitfire cockpits during WWII.

In the recent past, time was too short for me to tarry in the bedroom; the chair by the window overlooking Chisenhale Road served as a repository for unironed shirts or a place to tie my shoes in a hurry. Now (and for reasons that need not be explained here) time weighs as heavily as it does awaiting a washing cycle to end in a laundrette. Now I can sit and watch, with no distractions.

Boats moored along the Hertford Union Canal, Bow, East London. Photo Credit: © Steve Fallon.

When I look down, sometimes I see a street alive with groups of children in vintage clothing jumping rope and playing hopscotch. Other times its residents setting up tables and hanging decorative bunting, images somehow distorted and `stretched’. They’re not my memories, but images taken and etched into my mind by the surrealist photographer Nigel Henderson, who lived three doors down for nine years from 1945. If I squint, I can just see him and his best friend, the artist and sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi, again sitting on chairs in the middle of our road.

When I gaze to the east, I might spot a woman dressed in comic-book Victorian garb – all bonnet and bustle – hobbling along the street. That would be Harriet Beecher Stowe, the American novelist and reformer, whose 1851 anti-slavery novel is memorialised for all time on a plaque at No 8, a terrace called `Uncle Tom’s Cabin 1860’. Stowe visited England in 1853, where she was lionised by the public – more than a million copies of her novel had been pirated here and were selling for 6d – and received by Queen Victoria. She returned twice in the same decade. Was the builder of the terrace a fan? An abolitionist? A displaced American? We would love to know.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin Victorian terrace, Bow, East London. Photo Credit: © Steve Fallon.

And if I look through the back window and across the canal to Victoria Park, I can just make out the top of the pink-marble Angela Burdett-Coutts Memorial Drinking Fountain and its cherub fonts, financed in 1862 by the eponymous heiress to provide poor East Londoners with clean drinking water. She also funded causes as diverse as trade schools for former prostitutes and Charles Babbage’s `calculating engine’, a prototype of the computer. For these reasons and her somewhat racy later life (she married a 29-year-old American in 1881 at age 67), she is idolised in East London.

A trendsetting photographer. An anti-slavery novelist. A reform-minded philanthropist. They’re just three people within my ken, helping to remind me once again that it’s not all so bad, great people do great things, that – to borrow a line from that old poem `The Desiderata’ so popular in the late 1960s – `despite all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.’

Angela Burdett-Coutts Memorial Drinking Fountain, Victoria Park, Bow, East London. Photo Credit: © Steve Fallon.

This is London from my window. Look out yours from time to time. You’ll be astonished at what you see.

Read all 10 posts from Steve Fallon’s London lockdown series:

A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Steve can’t remember a time when he was not obsessed with travel, other cultures and languages. He lived in Paris as a student, taught English in Poland before the Berlin Wall came a-tumbling down, worked as a journalist for a dozen years in Hong…

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The View From My Window: The Source of Memories & Dreams

Time is weighing heavily as I sit at my window, sewing. Yes, buttons. Has it really come to this? Every once and awhile I’ll lean forward to wave or nod to a friend or a passing acquaintance. The window washer, the Baptist preacher, the local councilwoman, the `kids’ next door (who are now adults) … We know everybody. But truth be told, it didn’t get off to a good start. My husband Mike Rothschild and I moved into this house in Bow in East London at the end of the first year of the new millennium. Almost immediately we flew to the USA to visit family before returning to begin a massive renovation of our new home.

The British Library in London: The World’s Collective Memory

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14 Places With The Best Views Of London

Big cities are almost always best viewed from a high, vantage viewing point offering panoramic views of the city and London is no exception when it comes to that. This is particularly so as summer approaches and the number of daylight hours increases.

The best times to get a good photograph, of course, is just as the sun begins to set as you can get the brilliant sunset and get amazing night time photos, too.

(I’ve covered tips on night-time photography , – though, this cheat sheet should help too; as well as this blog post clearly explaining camera jargon that everyone needs to know .

Right, now that we’ve covered the essentials, here are the 14 best places to get amazing views over all of London (in no particular order).

1.) The Shard

Get a ticket and head up to the View from The Shard for an amazing view across all of London.

It covers a 360 view so this is easily one of the most impressive places to see all of London.

Price: around £30 for adults (discounts available). Book your tickets here.

Address: 32 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9SG

2.) Big Ben

You need to be resident in the UK for this one but basically, you get to climb up Big Ben for free if you are (contact your MP about this) and when you do, the view from the top is definitely worth it! Especially from such a historic site.

Price: Free, though due to current restoration work, you might not be able to grab an invite.

Address: (Really? 😉 Okay, then…) Westminster, London SW1A 0AA

3.) The London Eye

The view from the London Eye is particularly great for Westminster and the St Paul’s area.

One bit of advice I’d give is to get a spot near the window as soon as you get in so you don’t have to struggle for a view with other people on your pod. The view is pretty good from all angles.

Price: Around £25+ (discounts available). Book your tickets, here.

Address: London SE1 7PB, right across the river from the Houses of Parliament.

4.) Vertigo 42 Champagne Bar

Yes, the prices at Vertigo42 Champagne Bar are at a premium but if you think of it as paying for admission to a place with amazing views across all of London, it starts to make sense. Plus you get to enjoy this view while chilling out on a comfy sofa in a warm environment so there’s always that too.

This is an ideal, pre (or post) dinner venue but remember to make a reservation in advance as they fill up quite quickly.

Price: Prices start at around £12+ for a glass of wine and £14+ for cocktails.

Address: Level 42, Tower 42, 25 Old Broad Street, London EC2N 1HQ

5.) Duck and Waffle

Duck and Waffle is a lovely restaurant with an amazing view of London. Perfect for sunrise or sunset as they’re open 24 hours.

Price: A meal can cost upwards of £20-30

Address: Heron Tower, 110 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4AY

6.) Primrose Hill

This offers amazing views of London for free from one of London’s Royal Parks.

It might not necessarily be the most amazing or most impressive view of the lot but it sure looks great with the backdrop of the park that leads up to the view of London.

Price: Free

Address: (Same as the name – Primrose Hill)

7.) Tower Bridge

You can either pay or do this via your MP but the view from the top of Tower Bridge is make that extra sweet by getting to see the exhibition in the Tower and actually be inside such an iconic part of London and city’s heritage.

Address: Tower Bridge Road, London SE1 2UP

8.) Oxo Tower

The OXO Tower is most definitely food with a view. Pretty much everyone who’s been here loves it and so my guess is that you probably will too! 😉

Price: Starting at around £21.50 for a main

Address: Oxo Tower Wharf, Barge House Street, London, SE1 9PH

9.) Sushi Samba

Sushi Samba is actually next to Duck and Waffle and also offers amazing views over all of London.

The food isn’t the cheapest (as you can imagine) but one of those cases where it’s definitely worth it. It’s delicious and there’s the view so.

Price: Starting at £15+ for plates

Address: Heron Tower, 110 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4AY

10.) Sky Garden

Covered this already in this post but to recap, it’s there is an amazing view from the Sky Garden all over London. Best of all, it’s free.

Just make sure to book your free tickets, here.

Price: Free

Address: 20 Fenchurch Street, London EC3M 3BY

11.) St Paul’s Cathedral

Climb to the top of the iconic London landmark for amazing panoramic views of London. St Paul’s really has some gorgeous vantage points over the city.

Price: £18+ (discounts available). You can book St Paul’s with a gorgeous meal.

Address: St. Paul’s Churchyard, London EC4M 8AD

12.) Up at the O2

Climb the O2 and be rewarded with a fantastic view of Canary Wharf.

Of course, the view of Canary Wharf means that it’s harder to see other parts of the city but it’s a nice fun activity to do in London and definitely worth checking out.

Address: Peninsula Square, London SE10 0DX

13.) ArcelorMittal Orbit

This sculpture made for the Olympics in London back in 2012 offers amazing panoramic views of London from the East End. You can even slide down from the top!

Reception (to the way it looks) was initially mixed when it was unveiled in London but takes nothing away from the amazing view (and brilliant photos) you will get from the top of the sculpture. (More details available here). Plus, who can resist the slide down?

Price: Around £15+ each. You can book your tickets, here.

Address: Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, 3 Thornton Street, London E20 2ST

14.) Emirates Air Line

This is a cable car that crosses the River Thames (in Greenwich, where the O2 is) and is another great way to get a brilliant view over all of London.

Of course, it’s not free but it only costs £3.30 for Oyster cardholder (half for children) so it’s easily one of the cheapest options of the paid-for ones above.

Price: £3.40 with Oystercard (£4.50+ without – discounts available)

Address: Emirates Cable Car Terminal, Edmund Halley Way, London SE10 0FR

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