'''Woking''' is the other large town in Surrey apart from Guildford. Built around its large train station, it grew up in the Victorian era, but experienced a boom in the post war period when modern buildings, car parks and large retail outlets were constructed in the town centre.
In the original version of HG Wells' War of the Worlds, ''not'' the recent Hollywood movie, the woodland area north east of the town known as the 'Sandpits' (due to the presence of beach-like areas of golden sands, more formerly known as Horsell Moors of Woking were the location for the aliens' attacks on Earth!
Get in
By train
Woking railway station is served by fast trains from London Waterloo (26 minutes from London Waterloo direct service) and is on the line to Waterloo from Southampton and Portsmouth. The line divides at Salisbury and serves all stations to Exeter St Davids
By car
Woking is situated about six miles (9.6 km) off the M25 (Junction 11/ Wisley Interchange) and the same distance from the A3. Travelling northbound on the A3, turn off at either Painshill and follow the signs through Byfleet and West Byfleet, Burnt Common near Ripley and follow the signs through Send and Old Woking or further south at Burpham or Stoke both in Guildford.
By plane
Woking is well connected to both Gatwick and Heathrow airports: Woking Station runs a twice hourly RailAir coaches from the Main entrance (on the non- town side) to Heathrow taking between 45 to 50 minutes depending on traffic. Gatwick airport can be reached via the Gatwick express; however this requires travel to London Victoria station which can be reached by changing at Clapham Junction. Trains leave London Victoria every 15 minutes reaching Gatwick in under 45 minutes.
Get around
Woking town centre is very compact, and is nearly completely pedestrianised with several small walkways and passages such as Church Path which has several bijou establishments.
Woking is reasonably well served by buses to the surrounding villages and districts with buses leaving from Woking Station and Cawsey Way outside the Toys'r'us and Wolsey Place shopping centre. Areas with large areas of housing rather than traditional high streets such as Brookwood and Goldsworth Park are particularly well catered for.
The two main shopping centres; the Peacocks Centre and Wolsey Place both converge on the town square considered to be one of several 'central locations'. The others being the Bandstand on Cawsey Way and Commercial Way, a pedestrianised street that runs nearly 1,300 ft (400 m) to the Chertsey Road
See
Why not visit the underpass which has a mural detailing the '''alien invasion of H G Well's The Time Machine'''?
'''Henry VIII's Royal Palace''', off Carter's Lane ''no vehicle access'' ph: ''+44''(0)1483 743443 (''email:askus@woking-palace.org'') [http://www.woking-palace.org] Very interesting for the history. Henry VIII's grandmother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother to Henry VII, lived at Woking Palace, during the reign on Henry VII, though it stopped being a royal palace in 1620, when ownership passed from James I of England and VI of Scotland to Sir Edward Zouch.
'''The Shah Jehan II Mosque''' in Maybury was the first mosque to be constructed in the UK. Invested by the Begum of Bhopal, one of Bhopal's few female rulers in the late 1890's, it was in fact built by British architects who collaborated with the Oriental Institute to design the first religious building of its kind. The call to prayer can be heard in the surrounding areas of Maybury and Sheerwater, both of which have high numbers of Muslim families, mostly from the Indian subcontinent.
'''Woking FC''' Kingfield Road, Woking GU22 9AA. ph: ''+44''(0)1483 772470 [http://www.wokingfc.co.uk] Good, wholesome Conference football. Woking's "The Cardinals", so named from a reference to the Cardinal Red half of the team strip, are a non-league team that play in the Blue Square Premier (tier 5). The grounds, situated south of Woking Park in Kingfield, have a large stand for home supporters, whilst away fans have to make do with standing terraces. Each home game brings associated problems of parking with many cars parking the entire length of Westfield Avenue, which runs adjacent to the stadium, as there is no adequate parking inside the grounds itself.
Do
'''New Victoria Theatre and The Ambassadors Cinemas''' Peacocks Centre, Woking, GU21 6GQ ph: ''+44''(0)1483 545900 [http://www.theambassadors.com/woking] Good cinema and theatre complex.
'''Spirit of Brooklands''' Brooklands Road, Weybridge ph: ''+44''(0)1932 857381 (''fax +44(0)1932 855465, email [mailto:info@brooklandsmuseum.com]'') [http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/] Open every day 10AM - 4PM. The birthplace of British motor racing, and former World War 2 airbase. Museum is full of old racing cars and planes, detailing the history of Brooklands. One of the retired fleet of Concordes is being restored here, and there's even part of the original banked racing track from the 30s which you can walk (or pretend to be a racing car) along. If you're into cars, planes or even remotely interested in them, this will be a fun day out. __8 entry price.
'''Basingstoke Canal''' The 32 mile (52 km) long canal goes the heart of Woking and as well as the obvious option of boat rides activities such as cycling, camping and fishing are well practiced. There are also a wide range of pubs located along the canal and it connects up to River Wey Navagiation adding further scope for journeys. There is also a visitor centre further along the canal in Mytchett
'''[http://www.wokingrotaract.org.uk Woking Rotaract]''' is a well established local social club aimed at 18 to 30 year olds, also attracting numerous members who are new to the country or simply passing through. The club has a very varied calendar, including volunteering and fundraising opportunities alongside more conventional events such as cinema trips, paintballing and meals out.
Buy
Woking has a large shopping area which consists of the Peacock Centre and the Wolsey Place shopping malls. Most major UK High Street shops can be found here including Debenhams in the Peacocks Centre which occupies 3 floors of retail space replacing Allders which went into liquidation in 2004.
'''Wolsey Place''', [http://www.wolseyplace.co.uk/]. A single level precinct that runs from the Bandstand Mall, next to the Telewest Tower (still known locally as the BAT building (British American Tobacco))to Commercial Way at two separate entrances and Mercia Walk at the Town Square and Christ Church. The centre recently experienced significant and surprisingly pleasant refurbishment, including a small cafe in central square, in the previous two years though there have been questions raised as to whether the centre could be redeveloped again as a series of pedestrianized walkways with a more conventional street atmosphere. Wolsey Place has over 65 retail outlets including Boots, a fairly large Sainsburys, Topshop/Topman and WH Smiths.
'''The Peacocks Centre''', [http://www.peacocks-centre.co.uk]. Constructed in 1992 encompassing three floors of retail space in over 80 outlets. Built around a food hall (serving mainly fast food) on the lower concourse the shopping centre has an all glass ceiling providing light and warmth with all levels except level one having panoramic galleried floors looking down. The Peacocks Centre has a number of well known stores including HMV, Virgin, Marks and Spencers, NEXT, River Islands and Monsoon. The precinct is also famous for its Christmas displays in which the atrium above the food court is extravagantly decorated with moving models, lights and decorations such as tinsel and banners. Occasionally the food court plays to musical and artistic productions run by local schools, organizations and groups.
The rest of Woking has other smaller shops most notably north of Commercial Way and the High Street towards the canal, though much of this are has unfortunately been taken up by the rapid expansion of estate agents where the Commercial Way market was once held.
Eat
Woking is renowned for its plethora of Curry houses crowding Chertsey Street the High Street and Broadway. There are seven long established curry houses in the town centre and over 15 in the surrounding villages.
Woking also has a good amount of Italian and French cuisine establishments as well Chinese restaurants and takeaways dotted aroaround nd the outskirts of the town centre.
'''Peter's Palace''' 48 Chertsey Rd, Woking GU21 5BG, ph: 01483 770605. CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE JUST BEEN THERE! All you can eat Chinese buffet. Very reasonable price, and very good food. Be warned that it can get quite busy in the evenings, especially on Fridays and Saturdays, but as the place is so big it is never quite full!
Food can also be sought at many of Wokings' public houses lining Chertsey Street.
Drink
Woking's major drinking spot is based on Chertsey Road with several pub chains such as Wetherspoons operating pubs. Eight pubs and bars can be found on this street alone, with two or three others situated on the south and west side of the town. However drunkenness and bad behaviour can all too often be found here due to increased alcohol intake on 'pub crawls' and 'benders'. This has improved in the past five years with increased policing and ID requesting though the fault rests entirely with the young adult drinking population.
Woking's clubs include Chameleon, a small bar with a packed dance floor, playing mainly pop and hip-hop music, Chameleon (also known as Chavmeleon) is seen as the trendier bar by many and as a right dump by others. The bouncers are reported to be violent. On the other side of the block is Quake. A larger establishment, with three floors of space plays mainly classic pop music and hip-hop though occasionally it is used more appropriately with outside DJ's visiting, something which hopefully will grow in future years.
RSVP bar plays mostly urban and is popular with Wokings' Asian and newly growing African and Caribbean populations.
The Bed on Church Path is an chic restaurant, night club and bar, which is newly refurbished.
Sleep
Due in part to the presence of a large consulting company in Woking, a large corporate Holiday Inn is located in the centre of the town. It's expensive but more comfortable than your average Holiday Inn. There is also a Premier Travel Inn located on the edge of the town. There are bed and breakfasts dotted around some of the villages though these are hard to find.
Get out
'''London''' is just under 30 min. away by train (London Waterloo to Woking non- stop).
'''Portsmouth''' is 50 min. away by train (Woking to Portsmouth fast service)
'''Windsor''' is just under 40 min. by car.
'''Farnham''' is under 40 min. away by train.
'''Guildford''' is 15 min. away by road
Woking also has fine countryside and is extensively wooded with forests and copses beginning within 1-2 miles of the town centre. Woking Park to the south east has two large greens, flower beds and a miniature golf course as well as tennis and cricket facilities. There is also Horsell Moors, the Hoe Stream, and the Basingstoke Navigaton System which reaches the villages of St Johns, Brookwood, Woodham, Sheerwater and New Haw