Just a few photos (of no great significance) to give an indication of what Gdansk looks like at this time of the year. Incidentally, there appear to be very few tourists about, on my past visits to Gdansk there were lots of British and Germans conversations going on, but all quiet at the moment. I’m not sure it’s ever a packed tourist city in January, but it’s still quieter than I had envisaged.
This is the delights of Luton airport at 05:45 this morning, after the ten minute walk from the nearby Holiday Inn.
There’s the Wizz Air flight to Gdansk, with boarding information at 07:35. I didn’t fly with British Airways on this occasion as they have currently dropped the later flight to Warsaw and they’re dropped Krakow entirely. The Wizz Air flight cost a ridiculous £7.50 each way, which was another handy factor in this little arrangement.
The boarding information didn’t ultimately come until 07:50. Incidentally, the security process at the airport was efficient and I was airside within five minutes of entering the terminal building.
The boarding process was chaotic and ill-tempered, although I just let them get on with it. The boarding gate is on the lower level and so there is a flight of stairs between the corridor upstairs and the boarding gate, with customers waiting to join the queue. What is poor is that there are very few screens or boards to show customers that they’re in the right location as they’re going to their gate, this is in my view shoddy from Luton Airport, which feels a mismanaged set-up in general, as there were numerous confused customers about the place. I’m reminded just how well Heathrow T5 manage this.
The set-up here is that there’s a short priority queue and so the staff member called up to ask non-priority (people like me…..) customers to come down as there was a separate waiting area. A woman rushed down the steps, barged me out of the way and announced loudly “I’m priority, let me though” to the staff member. The staff member rolled her eyes and said “I called non-priority, I was very clear” which led to lots of muttering from the annoyed customer. There’s no real reason to need to rush to board, there’s plenty of space for bags and seats are already allocated.
There was an element of just bad planning here though, as we were in the holding area between the aircraft and the passports being checked for around thirty minutes. I found a seat and read a book on my phone, but there were no seats in the priority area, so those customers were all stuck standing up. It just felt muddled and there were three arguments between staff and customers over bags. I do like the drama to a degree, but some customers were getting quite het up. Oddly, the only customers getting het up seemed to be British, even though the vast majority of the customer on the aircraft seemed to be Polish.
We were finally allowed out to the aircraft, around twenty minutes later than scheduled. The aircraft is HA-LVI, a nearly new Airbus A321 Neo which has been used by Wizz Air since June 2020. The aircraft had a busy day, it came from Warsaw this morning, then went to Trondheim and back after it arrived in Gdansk. It’s off to Oslo tomorrow and I’m sure it’ll have a lovely time there.
The flight was absolutely fine. I hadn’t paid to reserve a seat and I was automatically given a window seat, but there was no-one in the middle seat as the aircraft was only about 60% occupied. The announcements from the pilots and cabin crew were polite, but broadly inaudible and the safety announcement was given way too fast to be of any use. However, the cabin crew were friendly and their service was efficient and unobtrusive, with the flight being perfectly relaxed and comfortable.
I had forgotten that it was winter in Poland, so this snow and ice everywhere was a slight surprise.
The disembarkation process was a little sluggish, with everyone taken to the main terminal by coach. I was in no rush and lingered about, which meant that I was one of the last people to get on the coach. So many people rush about and I can’t be doing with all that stress. By chance, it also meant that as I was the last to board, I was the first off the coach and I was the first person to leave the security area which was handy.
The member of security staff at border control was helpful, although he didn’t want to see my negative test I got yesterday, but he did check my Covid pass and my locator form. Although I could have got away without paying £32 yesterday for an LFT at Luton Airport, there are two reasons that I’m glad I got it. Firstly, I would have worried all day if I didn’t have it, and secondly, it’s just best to do things properly rather than risk being fined or deported.
And Gdansk airport terminal, safe and sound. I have to say that this was ridiculously good value for £7.50 and Wizz Air felt a safe and secure airline to travel with, with the cabin crew being friendly and the aircraft being clean. The boarding process was unnecessarily stressful for many customers, but I was quite happy with my window seat and bag near to me, all perfectly comfortable. I will no doubt travel with Wizz Air more this year, not least because of their range of destinations, but also because their flights are so often reasonably priced.
I’ve never stayed overnight in Luton before (and let’s say here, this must be on the bucket list of any wannabe traveller), but I had an early morning flight from the airport and I also needed to get an LFT test the afternoon before to be allowed into Poland, so this airport hotel seemed a sensible option. It’s not cheap, it was showing as £65 per night on IHG’s site, but I had another free rewards night (so many hotel offers at the moment), so this was all without a charge to me. There was also the option of the Holiday Inn Express down the road about 50 metres, but I wouldn’t have been able to have the free breakfast as I needed to leave early, and missing out on something would have annoyed me (although I think they might offer an earlier takeaway breakfast at the HIE, but I didn’t want to overthink things).
The standard Holiday Inn interior and the bloody windows that don’t open. There’s no excuse for this sort of short cut, the Holiday Inn Express has windows that open so if it’s good enough for them…. The temperature in the room was OK, but the air conditioning isn’t good enough to get my ideal temperature (which is similar to the chiller room in a fast food chain). Otherwise the facilities were all working and the room was clean and organised, although the television wasn’t one of the smart ones that seem to be so common in Accor properties now. There’s a gym somewhere in the hotel, but I forgot to use it.
I will give credit to the staff giving me the room furthest possible distance away from the lift on the top floor, which is my favourite room in a hotel (unless there’s a bigger one, or a room with free beer in it). I noted that the signs in the hotel to get to the room take guests a slightly longer way than possible, but then I realised that no-one really cares that another route saved three seconds. I need to get out more…. Oh, also, there’s a 24 hour bar at the hotel, which is no doubt useful for those wanting a drink after a late night flight (or indeed a pre-departure tipple).
The decoration in the restaurant and bar, with all the staff being friendly enough as well which lifted things somewhat. There are numerous complaints on-line about how guests have got big bills for using the car park, but I suspect a lot didn’t follow the rules which look quite clear. It’s no surprise these rules have to be enforced here, as it’s so near to the airport and they charge drop-off fees and don’t allow stopping.
A perfectly adequate welcome drink, it’s not going to be stocked in Goose Island, but it’s sufficient for a hotel bar. I will comment on, rather than complain excessively, that the hotel didn’t bother provided the promised snack (ie, crisps or nuts) listed on the drinks voucher. I have no idea why hotels try and make shortcuts with things like that for the sake of 20p given the huge costs they have with the rest of their operation.
There was a little internal noise from the air conditioning making odd noises, which I wouldn’t have noticed if I could have had a lovely window that was open. The obsession that Holiday Inn have with sterile rooms, fortunately a relatively rare occurrence when I stay in Accor properties (I’ve realised I’ve started to go on about Accor more, sorry).
The reviews for the hotel are adequate, although not as high as the neighbouring Holiday Inn Express and that’s odd, as I think Holiday Inn should be rated higher. I was amused at this review:
“An employee brought our beers to table that were 2/3rd’s beer 1/3rd foamy head. Again, just a training issue I would think. My dinner guest happily showed the employee how to pull a pint.”
I bet the employee wasn’t happy, but there we go…. One customer complained that the taxi fare cost £10 to take them to the airport, but that must be a one minute journey and I can’t imagine the driver wants to wait in the long queue for many trips like that.
I think I’d be more inclined to use the Holiday Inn Express if I live the dream and stay again in Luton as they appear to have windows that merrily open and close to the heart’s delight of the average guest, and there’s also a free breakfast.
Back to my niche content…. A new rewards scheme from IHG was announced today, although there are nearly no details other than the above structure of the new scheme, and it doesn’t come into use until March. I’m not sure why a company would launch a rewards scheme during the calendar year as it appears to have even confused them in their own FAQ, let alone card holders. The reduced tier qualification recently announced and confirmed is now only in place until March, so if anyone is quick they can get their status before the changes take that reduced status away.
It looks like a muddled mess to me, not only have their increased their requirements in terms of nights (which I assume means they’re hopeful about the outlook for the hospitality industry for later this year), they’re encouraging people to get status without any clue of what that status looks like. There’s nothing here that looks exciting, but perhaps they’ll surprise and delight me and other card holders.
I wasn’t in Luton for very long today, but I had chance to pop to the JD Wetherspoon outlet as it’s listed in the Good Beer Guide. The company did have two pubs in the town, with the London Hatter being open between 2011 and 2016, but it couldn’t have done well for them given the short amount of time that it was open. The venue is still closed, clearly it doesn’t tempt any other operator either.
But back to the White House, which I think is a marvellous name for a pub given my surname (I’m easily pleased). It’s a cavernous venue with two different bars, both of which were staffed when I visited just before lunchtime. As for the reason for the pub name, this is what the company say:
“In the late 19th century, the Crown & Anchor Brewery stood on the site of this Wetherspoon pub, a short walk from the site of Luton’s first brewery. Founded by Thomas Burr, in 1780, it stood next to his family home, known as The White House.”
The brewery isn’t noted on this map from the late nineteenth century, the pub is located just above where the PH is indicated on the map, so it’s nice that the site is still used by a beer selling venue.
This is an odd JD Wetherspoon insomuch that the toilets aren’t upstairs, as they’re usually tucked away in the furthest corner of the pub. Despite being a modern building, there’s been some effort with decorative features and I liked the number of power sockets that were available. Plenty of books on the shelves upstairs as well, they add character to pubs and I approve.
I went for a half a pint of the Devon Darkness from Hanlons Brewery who are based in Exeter, the same place that Tim Martin lives (I mean the city, not that the owner of the company lives in a brewery). The beer was well kept and at the appropriate temperature, and keenly priced at £1 for a half so there’s nothing much to complain about there. There was nothing of particular note about the beer, but it was an acceptable enough dry stout.
The pub has about the same review score as the average JD Wetherspoon outlet, so it seems to be running as efficiently as most others, and I felt that the staff were friendly enough. There was a good choice of real ales, seven different ones across a variety of beer styles, all keenly priced. There’s nothing exceptional that I can note, but the pub seemed to be well managed and I can see why it’s been listed in the Good Beer Guide.
I got a ticket to see the third episode of the Apprentice – You’re Fired being filmed and this is the delight of the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. I managed to stand in the wrong queue last week when waiting to watch the Unbelievable Truth being recorded as I should have been in the priority queue, but here there was just one queue and that was something that confused a fair few people who tried to walk straight to the front of the queue. I didn’t walk to the front of the queue as I’m not that brave to check such things, but I was impressed at the nerve of those people who did. Although they then looked sheepish walking back again.
There were thorough checks here unlike in other things I’ve been to recently, they needed to see proof of vaccination and proof of a negative test, hence the delay in proceedings to get everyone in. It was all efficiently managed though and the staff were keen to be helpful to everyone, which boded well.
Before the recording started it was fine to take photos, but after the floor manager gave an introduction to the process then phones were entirely banned from proceedings. There were some dire warnings made if anyone tried to use their phone during the recording and I didn’t see anyone brave enough to try and break the rules. We then got to watch this week’s episode of the Apprentice before the You’re Fired show was recorded.
And the rest I can’t say anything about as the episode doesn’t broadcast until Thursday, but it was interesting to watch how the programme was made. I was at the end of a row and the crane camera was very near to me when it panned across, so my hope of hiding in the background probably won’t have been met, but there we go….. I was told that I could wear my usual face mask if I wanted (my LDWA branded one), but I opted for a medical mask so I looked slightly more in keeping with most other people in the audience. One man was told twice to put his mask over his nose, but he ignored that and there wasn’t much they could do when filming had started.
Incidentally, I noted a few people tried to take the Hired and Fired card, even though they asked everyone not to. I think they managed to reclaim a fair few of them from leaving the studio and I decided a photo of it was all that I needed. The filming was a bit laborious in places, but they met the time schedules we had been given, so everything remained professional. An interesting experience and I’d go again in the future if I got chance, although you can only be in the audience for one episode per series.
This is a Greene King pub, so I obviously didn’t come here for the beer, but instead because it’s listed in the Good Beer Guide and it was designed by Norman Shaw. There’s also the bonus that this was a building that Nikolaus Pevsner thought was “especially attractive”, so what could Greene King possibly mess up? Firstly, they make no effort to mention the history on the pub’s page on the Greene King web-site, the usual lack of effort they make in so many ways.
There’s a corridor type entrance, with doors to the left and right. Food is served throughout the day and there’s a menu board visible on entry, next to the rather nice pillars. CAMRA have some information about the pub’s history on their Historic Interiors pages.
That’s the other side of the door that’s on the left in the previous photo. There’s a Wikipedia page about the pub at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tabard,_Chiswick#Pub.
And the same door, but my phone’s wide angle makes it look much wider. The central bar is visible at the rear, just behind my well travelled bag. The atmosphere was a bit excitable for my liking with staff members singing away, but there’s nothing wrong with that as this is a pub which is keen on its music.
The beer was half a pint of the XX Mild from Greene King, which was served too warm, I think because of the temperature of the glass. The beer was adequate, about as good as Greene King manage to churn out. The service was verging on rude at first with staff members just standing about talking, but the staff member who served me was friendly and helpful enough.
This building is exceptionally interesting and there’s even a theatre on the first floor. I can understand why it’s in the Good Beer Guide as it’s an historic pub and that makes it worth visiting in itself. There were five different real ales available, mostly generic and none that particularly interested me. However, it’s nice to see a mild, so I’ll credit that with being the most exciting option that they had.
The reviews of the pub on-line are a little below average, mostly about unfriendly staff and food that didn’t surprise and delight. That probably seems to fairly sum the pub up, but they do respond professionally to all reviews that I’ve seen, so it’s positive that they’re keen to engage. I can’t help but feel that this pub would be lifted if it wasn’t operated by Greene King though, this is something that Fullers or Nicholsons would handle a lot better, but ideally it could perhaps do with an independent operator.
What an appalling photo, but it’s what I have of the exterior of the Cinnamon Tree and so I’ll have to go with it. Richard was on one of his decadent business weekends to London, so we popped to Mikkeller at Exmouth Market as not enough people take me there and it’s one of my favourite bars. We had thought about eating there, but that plan fell apart as they weren’t serving food. I found that on TheFork (TripAdvisor’s booking system which keeps annoying me) the Indian restaurant over the road had 20% off food, so that seemed as good an option as any other.
We made the 30 second walk to the restaurant and there was a friendly welcome from the staff. It isn’t the largest Indian restaurant, but they had a couple of tables free. Richard is still wearing his Christmas jumper, even though it’s mid-January, but I didn’t say anything. We limited ourselves to just two poppadoms each instead of our usual three as it’s important to eat healthily. The quality was fine, nothing exceptional, but they met my expectations.
I’ve decided that any Indian restaurant that doesn’t serve a mango lassi is probably going to be disappoint me in general. The one here was a little expensive, but suitably rich. Richard went for a white wine which he didn’t think was exceptional, but I’m not a wine person so I wasn’t really that engaged with worrying about that. I noted the beer menu was generic though, they could just walk over the road to buy some cans from Mikkeller to give more options but I accept that it’s not always about the beer. Actually, I don’t accept that, it’s like an apology from Boris Johnson, a fake comment. Anyway, I mustn’t get engaged with politics on this blog, that’s not my aim…..
Another inadequate photo, this isn’t ideal. Richard had the salmon mach bahja which he was content with, whilst I had the chicken bhutako. I had never heard of that dish, but it transpires nor has Google, as my searches simply found the menu for this restaurant. It was similar in taste to jalfrezi and the chicken was tender, the sauce had a depth of taste to it and I thought it was perfectly decent. We shared a coconut rice that was acceptable, but not as deep in flavour as I’ve had before. The peshwari naan was suitably almondy, I enjoyed that. Everything was also at the appropriate hot temperature and it took around 12 minutes to be served after ordering. But, the food wasn’t as complex in flavour as I’d ideally like, there was a touch of the generic about it, although it was sufficiently tasty for me not to be disappointed.
The service was always timely and efficient, so the welcome felt authentic. Although three different people served us, there was no duplication of service, so everything felt well managed. I liked that they just lifted off the white tablecloth to reveal another white tablecloth underneath, which Richard had managed to stain as well. The staff didn’t say anything though….. I wonder why Indian restaurants bother with all this linen, it must be a bloody nuisance to keep sending off to be cleaned.
One review I noted, although it’s from 2016, is from a customer who went as a single diner and wasn’t welcomed. This is now incredibly rare, but I hate hearing about it (and hate how TheFork often don’t offer discounts for single diners) and hopefully that’s not their practice now. The review was titled about being an unhappy solo diner, noting:
“Despite restaurant being nearly empty insisted on seating me on a table next to door and at top of stairs by toilet. No sooner had fork touched the table each side dish mid meal was literally whisked away. Clearly just wanted you fed, paid up and out the door to clear the way for bigger parties.”
The 20% off food was taken off the bill, although a 10% service charge put on and the whole bill was hazy in its adding up so it was difficult to check. It came out at £20 each, which seems to be the fairly average price for a meal at an Indian restaurant, so that was fine. I’m not sure that I’d head here again as there was nothing exceptional here that I could think to mention. There was nothing wrong, but it just felt like so many run of the mill Indian restaurants about, and they need something to lift the experience. On the bright side though, we did get a chocolate each with the bill.
Located near to the motorway and about a 40 minute walk from the town centre of Warwick is this IHG hotel. Visible in the photo to the right is what was until relatively recently a large Harvester restaurant, but it’s now been turned into a McDonald’s.
The check-in process was all efficient although there was a weird set-up where the cheapest room rate was only available for twin rooms. I asked about that at reception and they didn’t know what had caused that, but just changed the room booking to a double. I might as well have the extra space….
And the room, all to brand standard as usual. It was clean enough, with the exception of the “rest assured” cleanliness card to show that the room was clean, which itself was dirty. That’s not an ideal situation, they’d be better off dumping the cards or at least putting new ones into the room each time. Anyway, all else was well and I had my usual room location of on an upper floor and nearly as far away from the lift as possible.
The welcome drink selection was as dreadful as ever for an IHG hotel. In what seems to be some form of brand standard, Holiday Inn Express hotels offer Stella on tap which is a completely dreadful choice as the sole beer, alongside Bud, Corona and Peroni in the fridges, all what I consider to be generic rubbish.
The breakfast area, which was never that busy, although I did go down every morning nearly as soon as it opened which is usually the quietest time.
The drinks section on the left, toast and muffins in the middle. What amused me about the set-up is that they’ve hidden all of the plates around the corner. There’s some logic here, that they’ve tried to create a customer flow and they think that the plates are easily noticed. I watched one morning as all eight guests struggled to find the plates, and add to that me the morning before. I accept that it’s not grand entertainment, but there’s a limited amount of other exciting things to watch at 07:00 in the morning.
The hot food selection on the right, consisting of the minimum brand standard of sausages, bacon, baked beans and scrambled egg. There were also croissants, muffins, cereals, yoghurts and the like, all included in the room rate.
The selection of teas on the left, orange juices on the right.
Not entirely healthy perhaps, bacon and sausages, alongside a croissant. The food was the usual basic brand standard from Holiday Inn Express, nothing there beyond the minimum. The coffee cups weren’t the cleanest which wasn’t ideal and I had to pick out the crispiest bits of bacon amidst the rest which looked like it had vaguely been wafted over a naked flame for a few seconds.
I have no idea what this was in the gardens of the hotel. I couldn’t work out whether it’s a small folly to add excitement to the gardens, or whether there was some building here before. I’m fairly sure it’s a a miniature folly as some sort of homage to Warwick Castle just down the road, but I have no idea.
For the price of just over £30 per night including breakfast, this was a rather agreeable set-up, even though it was a slight traipse into the town centre every day. But walking is healthy and all that, but I was particularly pleased that there was a pavement all the way given that the road was quite busy. The staff were friendly, the room was clean and there were minimal noise disturbances. There’s a charge for the car park which annoyed at least one customer, but since I didn’t drive there, I decided not to let that worry me.
There’s further information about the hotel here.
I thought that this was the highlight of the collections in Warwick Museum, the Sheldon Tapestry which dates to the 1580s. There were four tapestries commissioned by Ralph Sheldon (1537-1613) to hang at his grand house in Weston and they were based on the surveys of Christopher Saxton. The four tapestries were of Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Oxfordshire, with substantial sections of three of them remaining, but only the Warwickshire one still being intact. The map is sizeable, six metres wide and four metres tall, and it’s in good condition, although was subject to a major conservation effort about ten years ago.
There’s Warwick in the centre, and it’s noticeable that there are a fair few liberties taken with where places actually are on the map. Warwick Castle is visible on the tapestry, as are the town’s two churches. The whole set-up is a bit more confusing as it isn’t a north to south matter, the original tapestry makers must have felt that the county fitted in best on its side.
The area around Solihull, known at the time as Solyhill.
And what is now Stratford, known at the time (or on this tapestry at least) as Stretford, particularly interesting perhaps as this is the town as William Shakespeare (1564-1616) would have seen.
All very interesting, and a remarkable survival through the centuries, especially given its size and the material from which it was made.
