Places Of Interest In London
Travel London was a bus operator in London which was initially a subsidiary of the National Express Group. In the year May 2009 the company was sold to Ned Railways. In the year October 2009, it was rebranded as Abellio. Travel London came into survival in its current guise when National Express bought Connex Bus (established in UK in 1996, a division of French owned transport corporation Connex) in 2004. Paradoxically has taken over an existing operator Limebourne Buses which had actually taken over the original Travel London when that was sold. In 2005 NEG expanded again with the takeover of the London Bus operations of Telling-Golden Miller as well as 15 Surrey County Council contracts. Travel London is the sister corporation of Travel West Midlands and Travel Dundee.
Next the acquisitions of Limebourne, Connex Bus, Telling-Golden Miller, Wings Buses and Link-Line, Travel London had a wide operating area within Greater London and Surrey. The corporation operated contracts on behalf of Transport for London (TfL), Surrey County Council, and Kingston University. Operations are dividing between three registered companies. From early on September 2007, the Surrey routes operated from by fleet under the Travel London (West) license depot were re-branded as Travel Surrey. On 11 November 2007, National Express Group announced tactics to re-brand their UK bus service companies under the National Express identity. The innovative name National Express London was meant to have be unveiled in 2008, however the plans never materialized before the sale.
In year February 2009 there were news reports speculating that the National Express Group were in negotiation to sell Travel London to Singapore based ComfortDelGro Corporation, the parent company of Metro line, which has substantial London Buses contracts in North and West London. Assumption continued fuelled by the fact Travel London won some significant TfL route contracts, which could have been gained on a low price with the idea the buyer would have to run the routes. In the year May 2009, it was announced that National Express Group had agreed to sell Travel London to Ned Railways, a subsidiary of NS Dutch Railways, for a price of £32 million. The deal includes 66 bus routes in total, 36 TfL tendered services in London and 30 Surrey County Council and Kingston University routes. All vehicles and premises used were sold, and all staff will transfer to Ned Railways.
Several other large hotels were built in London in the Victorian period. The Langham Hotel was the biggest in the city when it opened in 1865. The Savoy, perhaps London’s most well-known hotel, opened in 1889, the first London hotel with en-suite bathrooms to every room. Nine years later Claridge’s was rebuilt in its current form. One more famous hotel, the Ritz, based on its even more celebrated namesake in Paris, opened in 1906.The upper end of the London hotel business continued to grow between the two World Wars, boosted by the fact that many landowning families could no longer afford to maintain a London house and therefore began to stay at hotels instead, and by an increasing number of foreign visitors, especially Americans.