Banishing cars from the streets and handing over control to pedestrians is becoming popular. Bristol is in the middle of its second summer of Make Sunday Special, when city centre roads are closed to traffic once a month and people come out to play. We even had a giant water slide earlier in the year!

Now London's Regent Street is grabbing a slice of the traffic-free action. Sundays in July became pedestrian-only zones in July and we took a trip to the capital to check it out.

Regent Street is huge so there was a lot going on. With fashion shows, a Pimms bar on a bus and energetic bands; the famous shopping street was turned into one big party!

We're not anti-car, but there's something very special about walking in an area that's usually packed with vehicles, particularly one that's so iconic as Regent Street.

We spent an enjoyable few hours checking out the sights and sounds before wandering down a side street in search of lunch. To our delight we discovered Carnaby Street Eat, a one-day street food festival. It was hard to decide what to pick, but me and Virginia settled on a gorgeous Lebanese platter, and our little one had her usual hot dog!

After recharging the batteries, we set off back down Regent Street and towards the river. With our eight-year-old joining us, we ticked the tourist box by letting her have a climb on the famous Trafalgar Square lions.

After dodging the camera-wielding visitors on Westminster Bridge, we hit the South Bank, one of our favourite parts of town. The area is currently awash with colour for its annual festival. This year it's the Southbank Centre Festival of Love, with the giant triple slide a big highlight! 

We fancied a drink and found the best place to have it in the form of the roof garden on the top of Queen Elizabeth Hall. It's an oasis of calm in the hustle and bustle of the busy South Bank. While we were there, it started to rain but that didn't dampen spirits. A group of people near us even burst into song (although that may have had something to do with the wine they were drinking!)

We continued our massive walk, and headed down towards St Paul's Cathedral taking in the view of the Shard, where we were heading the next day for lunch on the 32nd floor! More about that in another post soon.

Another such an epic day, we caught the Tube back to our home for the weekend, Travelodge Covent Garden. The hotel has a brilliant location on Drury Lane, in the heart of London's theatre district and minutes away from Covent Garden. It's the perfect base for visiting the sights of central London. 

Thanks to the team at Travelodge for the stay. The hotel chain is currently running the Get Up and Go campaign to encourage people to take a Great British getaway. To read guides to great places around Britain, click here.

Words: Dan
Images: Virginia

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