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

Beat the crowds when going down to Chinatown

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.

Posh hotels

Enjoy the sight of a pianist in a gazebo

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.

Curious virtual visitors can take a peek inside the kitchen at the Gordon Ramsay Group Savoy Grill...

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.

And even examine the meat fridge and check out the colour-coded chopping boards

Backstage pass

Ghostly members of staff can be found wandering the corridors of Television Centre with their ghostly trolleys of ghostly fizzy drinks

The residual glamour of working at the BBC is palpable

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.

"Anything on telly?"

Love a fire exit? Get clicking on the White City area of Street View

Bigger on the inside

Doctor Who travelled through space and time to get himself a £13.60 meal from Pret

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".

Powered by green strip lights and what look like household utensils glued to a board, the TARDIS is the cutting edge of technology

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.

In the wild

"It was this big!"

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.

Eagle-eyed browsers may be lucky enough to see a reflection of the lesser-spotted Google cameraperson

And sometimes the only sensible thing to do is run - before the giant scary penguin turns its dead eyes on its human prey (The Queen's Walk, South Bank)

Magical mystery tour

Sheds are handily labelled at Harrow Fencing Supplies

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.

Some of the items on display at Jerusalem Costumes in Putney

Wendy Taylor's Holland Park sculpture Tortoises and Time does what it says on the tin (or bronze) - a pair of the plodding shellbacks and a sundial

And a random click near Haggerston Railway Station is rewarded with this incredible night-time view

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

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail]