Google Street View: The unlikely London sites you can see from home

Transport for London (TfL) and Google Street View have joined forces to capture 360-degree images of many of the capital's Tube stations.

By next year, 30 stations will have been panoramically photographed and will be available to visit virtually.

TfL and Google have said the plan is to improve travel for people who aren't used to the Underground, as routes can be planned, exits spotted and toilets and help points noted before the anxious traveller need leave their home. However, some people will simply like having a nose about.

There are already plenty of places in the capital where a mosey around merely needs a mouse. Here are some of the ones you might not ordinarily come across.

If popping along to the Savoy or Connaught exceeds the budget, it is possible to live the high life through a screen.

Famous for its afternoon teas, the Savoy's Thames Foyer is a "stunning glass-domed atrium that radiates natural light and sociable warmth".

"An impressive gazebo takes centre stage where a pianist plays during the day, creating an enchanting atmosphere."

All very nice - but with the cheapest option bearing a £92 price tag (no Champagne, one person), why not enjoy it from home?

Admittedly, pixels do not taste as nice as pastries. Therefore, you could always prepare some appropriate sandwiches (smoked duck on a multigrain bun, for example, followed by a bergamot and pear dome), click on the map and drink tea with your little finger in the air. An enchanting atmosphere is optional.

Fans of stainless steel and being shouted at might prefer to have a look around the kitchen at the Savoy Grill. Eerily empty, the shiny clinical surfaces call to mind a mortuary - or at least a mortuary featured in a TV drama - and curious virtual visitors can examine the meat fridge and check out the colour-coded chopping boards.

The images of the Gordon Ramsay Group Savoy Grill were taken in 2018 - and include a wall of announcements, vacancies, thank-you letters from replete customers, print-outs of Trip Advisor reviews, and a poster encouraging people to become #GORDONGRAMMERS.

"GET SNAPPING!" the edict bellows.

Television Centre in White City, west London, was the headquarters of BBC Television between 1960 and 2013.

Now fans of programmes such as The News, Play School and Grandstand can prowl through the deserted corridors, catching glimpses of members of staff strangely spliced by the cameras.

The canteen, dressing rooms, studios and newsrooms are all there to snoop through, along with grimy alleys at the back of the building, close-ups of wires, a water-based paint disposal area, and some absolutely fascinating fire escapes.

This is one of the Street View excursions better done online than in person - as cybertourists can actually enter the TARDIS outside Earl's Court Tube station, while real-life people will have to be content with a police box's humdrum interior.

At its most elaborate, the furnishings of the real-life wooden box consisted of a chair, a small heater and a first aid kit.

London Underground assembled it at their nearby depot and installed it outside the Tube station in 1996 in an attempt to prevent loitering "drunks, drug pushers, pimps and prostitutes".

It was decommissioned in 2000 and is now a tourist attraction for current-day fans of the Timelord - although those drunks, drug pushers, pimps and prostitutes who gather to swap intergalactic tales might like to know there is a CCTV camera perched on top.

London Zoo in Regent's Park is one of the places virtual sightseers can spot an exotic animal - or a pair of lads in the wild, bragging about the size of their catch as they attempt to "sneak up like a tiger" as per the sign.

Just in shot is another notice - a drawing of a tasty lump of meat with a stark warning not to cross the safety barriers: "THIS is how our tigers see you."

Maybe a collaboration with the Savoy Grill is on the cards? Must keep that fridge stocked.

Sometimes the beauty of Street View is just clicking somewhere for no particular reason.

Occasionally an unfamiliar formal park will appear - other times a befuddling array of fancy dress costumes.

Happy travels - and if you see the Street View camera, remember to put your best blurred face on.

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