If you're tired of London- get out

Every single person I know who lives or works in London is aiming to get out of the city for the duration of the Olympic games so I am now wondering if I’ve made the right decision to stay put.

This struck me particularly last night when Thames News showed the planned road closures and TfL warned us that roads in central London will be as congested as it is in the run-up to Christmas.

I am not sure why this is.

London normally copes quite well with an influx of people for major sporting events and school holidays mean that 25% of families traditionally leave London in late July and early August. So even with 80,000 members of the Olympic family arriving, there should be fewer people in the capital than normal. 

Of course, as well as ‘the family’ there are tourists but who are they exactly?   

If they haven’t already been deterred by the lengthy immigration queues at Heathrow, the exorbitant prices being charged for London hotel rooms means a lot of visitors have been put off from coming to London. Summer bookings are down by as much as 30 per cent for some tour operators, according to travel agents.