Applying for Chinese Visa from London

Hi, my partner and I are long-term temporary residents in the UK and are travelling home via Asia in April. We have already purchased flights in and out of Beijing, via Guangzhou 5 days apart, heading onto SE Asia.
What is the best way of applying for our visas for China as we seem to have a similar issue to Bec, above?
Finally, if we are able to go through the Embassy in London, do we also need accomodation confirmation??
Many thanks for your help and time,
Kathryn