Walking. Gossip. Travel.

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  • Cheshunt – The King James

    Cheshunt – The King James

    There appear to be no Good Beer Guide pubs in Cheshunt, so my first port of call instead was The King James. It’s an interesting location as part of a shopping arcade, being relatively small inside for a Wetherspoons. CAMRA note that “the pub takes its name from King James I, whose royal place – Theobalds – stood about 1.2km away”. I’m not sure when it opened, but it was around 2000, so not one of the earlier pubs operated by the company.

    There were no dark beers available, although the member of bar staff recommended this winter ale, which is Rosey Nosey from Batemans. It was well kept and at the appropriate temperature, but no real depth of flavour or interesting taste. I’d struggle to complain about the price though, as with my 50p off CAMRA voucher, a pint cost the grand total of £1.49. And when having a sample of the beer the member of bar staff also poured the best part of a third of a pint, so extra value was provided there…..It was entirely drinkable though.

    My usual go-to meal of southern fried chicken wrap and chips, costing the grand total of £4.69 including unlimited coffee. Pretty decent quality as well, the chips had some firmness to them, the chicken wrap was evenly filled and everything tasted as it should have done. Although I’ve never seen a coffee machine in Wetherspoons so rarely used, I only saw a couple of customers use it in the over two hours that I was in the pub. Anyway, everything was clean, the pub was organised and there was a relaxed feel to the location.

    Onto TripAdvisor….

    “To the staff who work there…you could not cut it, in a normal pub..sooner The James closes, the better. You arent up to JDW standards.”

    The above punter seemed displeased, although I thought that the staff were performing well as they smiled, made eye contact and seemed genuinely helpful. There are a fair few reviews complaining about other customers, but everyone seemed entirely well behaved to me.

    All in all, perfectly acceptable.

  • Norwich – Primark

    Norwich – Primark

    I try and avoid anything related to shopping whenever I can, but I needed a new belt and I didn’t know where else in Norwich might sell them. Well, I knew where might sell them, but at a price that was ideally less than £5. Norwich’s Primark re-opened in the week and I entered to be confronted with what can only be described as what I imagine walking through the Gates of Hell would be like. The store appeared to be full, with excited shoppers galore all over the place.

    Incidentally, this is where I heard one of my favourite quotes of the year:

    “We can’t steal in here, imagine getting banned from Primark for ten years, can’t risk it”.

    That’s one way of avoiding shop-lifting I suppose….

    In the distance, there’s a blue “pay here” light. That’s how long the queue was, around 45 people from what I could count. A poor member of staff was reduced to standing with a large sign saying “queue starts here” to bring some logic to the proceedings.

    Nearing the front of the queue…. In fairness, it took me nine minutes to be served, which is way too long, but since it’s a new store on a Sunday shortly before Christmas, I suppose that’s inevitable. The queue was well managed and the staff at the counters were all young, enthused and efficient.

    The prices here are ridiculous though, certainly a throwaway culture. But, it’s what people demand and the clothing is affordable and the quality looked entirely reasonable to my untrained clothing standards eye. They had hiking socks at prices so low that they were almost not worth washing and the stock range in the store was enormous. And, particularly important for me on this visit, they had a belt which cost £4. Most lovely.

    Anyway, that’s pretty much my entire clothes shopping blogging done for the year.

  • London – London Liverpool Street (Overground)

    London – London Liverpool Street (Overground)

    Heading to Cheshunt, I realised two things, that firstly there was a direct Overground service there and, also, that it departed from London Liverpool Street railway station. Network Rail, with their usual quality of customer service, didn’t seem to have much information on where I could catch this service from. Although, fortunately, it transpired to be much easier than I had expected as the Overground service uses the standard platforms.

    There is some Overground signage on the platforms, although it probably needs better signage around the concourse, with my train departing from Platform 1.

    The service got busier as we progressed towards Cheshunt, but not dramatically so. The carriages could probably do with an upgrade at some stage, but they’re clean and sufficiently comfortable given the short journey length.

    Disembarking at Cheshunt.

    And, here we are, the journey takes around 30 minutes and it ran perfectly to schedule. The journey is meant to cost £4 via London Overground, although it’s possible to go by train which is slightly quicker and also more expensive. I’m hoping that my Contactless card was charged the appropriate amount, with I assume the lower amount always being charged. Although, I’m unsure how that works exactly….

    Personally, I’d rather that this service was returned to the rail network as I can’t quite see what benefit Transport for London are adding by operating this journey. It was run by Abellio Greater Anglia until 2015 and there appears to have been nearly no investment in the service since. If it had continued to be part of Greater Anglia, then perhaps it would have received new carriages with power and more comfortable service.

  • Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    I’ve taken this journey from Norwich railway station to London Liverpool Street railway station many tens of times before, but this is the first time that I’ve had a ticket on my phone to show, rather than a simple paper ticket. I was hoping that it might be as advanced as the ones used by Deutsche Bahn, albeit theirs was hardly reliable, but instead it’s just a QR code. Functional, but not exciting.

    I got 10% off this journey as part of a promotion offered by Greater Anglia, with first class being just a few pounds more than standard.

    Travelling at 11:30 in the morning has the advantage of meaning the carriage was relatively empty. The train is comprised of something like eight standard class carriages and two first class carriages. However, due to the forthcoming replacement of these carriages, they’ve been using first class carriages in standard class, but have declassified so anyone can use them. Fortunately the crew made an announcement that customers in declassified first carriages might want to move to actual first class carriages.

    The crew members were all polite and helpful, with the train being clean and tidy. Other than the windows that is, these needed cleaning so that customers could actually see out of them. The wi-fi was broken on the train, although I don’t use it, but the power points were functioning and this was more important to me.

    First class means free drinks and snacks from the buffet car, with the snacks being very lovely, although the coffee was not exactly packed with flavour. Well, it was packed with a bland and bitter flavour, but not much else. Greater Anglia also apparently don’t stock sparkling water any more, so it’s just still water which is available. Greater Anglia need to do more here, especially since they don’t give them out any more at weekends as apparently customers abused them. By abused them, I suspect they meant that they asked for them. I’m not sure how much Greater Anglia really lost on biscuits, but there we are….

    The train left on time and arrived into London around four minutes late, due to some congestion near to London Liverpool Street. The fare for this journey was around £18, which I thought was entirely reasonable given the free snacks and drinks. It won’t be long before the new carriages are being used on the mainline, at which point the journey might become even more comfortable.

  • Wetherspoons – Cambridgeshire

    As I bored everyone with here, my travel has meant that I’ve managed to visit a lot of JD Wetherspoons over the years. So in an attempt to remember them all, I’ve decided to try and write about them. As explained elsewhere, other perfectly good pubs are also available and of course should be visited   🙂

    There are nine JD Wetherspoon outlets in Cambridgeshire, and one which has closed. I’ve visited seven of the nine open pubs and the only closed one.

    Figures: (which are more for me than to interest anyone else):

    Number visited : 7/9 (open pubs) 1/1 (closed pubs)

    Favourite pub in county : Sandford House

    College Arms (Peterborough) – The older looking red-brick section of this pub was formerly the County Technology College, hence the name of College Arms. Wetherspoons opened the building as a pub in 1996, making it one of the earlier pubs which the chain opened outside of London. I’ve encountered some of the friendliest of Wetherspoon’s staff in this pub and the environment is comfortable, with a usually quiet small upstairs section.

    Although I like the pub, the reviews aren’t particularly positive and they’ve suffered from the same debacle of poor quality 2019 Christmas meals that is littering the reviews of Wetherspoons across the country…. Not least:

    “Went to the Collage Arms today for a Christmas lunch ,the meal was very poor quality, they forgot to put the pigs in blankets and peas on the plate and had to take the meal away to add the forgotten items. The roasted seasonal veg were clearly reheated in the very thick salty gravy and not like roasted veg and hidden under the very processed Turkey roll, mashed potatoes had clearly been over microwaved and the pigs in blankets cremated in a deep fat fryer.”

    What completely surprises me is that there’s also a positive review of the same meal, so at least someone is happy with it somewhere in the country….

    This review of the pub though seems just a little harsh….

    “Smells of death and sick. Smells of men’s broken dreams drowning in tequila and death, with a side of sick. Gone to turtle bay.”

    Draper’s Arms (Peterborough) – I can’t wait to come back here for another exciting night of quizzing…. What I hadn’t realised on my visit a few weeks ago is that the pub was about to close until February 2020 for a £1.4 million refurbishment which will increase the space available to customers by moving the beer cellar into, well, a cellar rather than being on the ground floor and adding a rear extension. There’s also going to be a new roof terrace garden and hopefully they’ll fix up the toilets which are currently too small and just a little rickety and worn. CAMRA report that this was the first pub in Peterborough to go smoking-free, all the way back when Wetherspoons took it over in 2005, and after it was a drapery (hence the pub name) it became the Old Monk pub in 1996.

    George Hotel (Whittlesey) – It’s a while since I’ve been to the fine town of Whittlesey, it dates back to the late seventeenth century when it was named the George & Star. Formerly a hotel, although no longer, it’s a large venue with plenty of space.

    I’ve heard this complaint a few times over the years:

    “I don’t understand how I can have fried egg but i cannot have poached egg?? He said we have run out??? Do you realise how easy it is to make one?”

    I don’t dislike that Wetherspoons bring in poached eggs which are just reheated, at least it leads to them nearly always looking the same and being appropriately cooked.

    Anyway, that’s about as far as I can go about the George, primarily since it’s so long ago that I’ve visited, I can’t remember much about it…

    Hippodrome (March) – I recognise that Wetherspoons is, by its nature, a generic chain in some ways, but they have a real ability to transform buildings and this is no exception. Formerly a cinema which opened in 1929 and could seat 900 people, it later became a bingo hall before finally closing in 2009. Wetherspoons reopened it in 2011 and also turned part of it into a hotel, with the whole refurbishment being sympathetic to the building itself. It’s a very well reviewed pub and I remember it being clean and organised, with particularly engaging staff.

    I like reviews like the one below, as often this is my sort of pub….

    “Shame they haven’t got a music license as it can become abit boring and the atmosphere in there well is rubbish!”

    This is the entirety of a 1 out of 5 review, I hope it made more sense to the pub…

    “Thursday curry John chicken balti Michael lamb durriage it cold we had 2 sweets its cold custery cold. i stroke sorry”

    Regal (Cambridge) – This was apparently once the largest pub in UK, although I’ve never been entirely convinced by that, although it’s a bit irrelevant now the Wetherspoons in Ramsgate has opened. It’s spacious, although it’s still not always that easy to find a seat in. There are two bars which makes things easier, although I keep forgetting that the upper bar is there and stand like an idiot waiting at the lower bar.

    Anyway, onto TripAdvisor:

    “My partner and I went to one of the bodyguards to ask where we can leave our jackets to which he impolitely answered ‘no where’. My partner then answered that it’s crazy they don’t have a clock room open in such a big place so we were kicked out of the bar.”

    I like the idea of Wetherspoons supplying bodyguards, and I’m also intrigued as to whether any of their outlets in the country has a cloakroom…

    And, the review below probably has a really interesting back story, shame the pub didn’t reply to the customer’s comments as I like reading about dramas such as this.

    “Was sitting with a good friend of mine, enjoying our time, some food and all, at one point the friend goes to toilet. Upon coming out the toilet he is met by Theo, a Duty Manager who accuses my friend of doing ‘naughty things’ in the toilet and that he needs to leave. Keep in mind that the friend is smartly dressed, and a lecturer at one of the universities here, in his 30s. Very rudely tells me to ‘shut up’, and tells us that someone reported he’s been doing… ‘cockaine’! Friend offered to be searched by said Theo, upon inspection finding NOTHIN”

    Given the number of students in Cambridge, I’m surprised there aren’t once again two Wetherspoons in the city, but maybe in the future…..

    Sandford House (Huntingdon) – This is my favourite pub in the county and is another really well converted building, half from a former chapel and the other half from solicitor’s officers, with a new connecting area between them. A combination of modern design with old buildings, it’s open and bright with plenty of space for customers. There’s also a hotel element to the operation and it has a more relaxed feel than some other pubs, with the manager saying on one review that “Since opening, no one has ever failed to find a table”.

    I also like the pub’s review to one customer and their side of the argument seems more likely to me….

    “On looking into this matter, I can say there are always two sides to a conversation. Our managers and staff always try to give perfect customer service. You may not always like the outcome but we all follow our company policies.”

    Swan & Angels (St. Ives) – Never been here…..

    [Closed] Tivoli (Cambridge) – This pub, formerly the Graduate, was once a cinema which was open from 1925 until 1956, before being used as a warehouse. It was turned into a pub in 1995, the Fresher & Firkin (what a horrible name) before Wetherspoons transformed it into one of their outlets in 2010 at a cost of over £1 million. Then a little incident happened and the damn thing burned down in March 2015, less than five years after it opened. And, it has never re-opened since. Wetherspoons have now sold the still fire damaged pub and plans were submitted in early 2019 to open it as a student orientated pub with crazy golf. A shame that it hasn’t survived as a Wetherspoons, but hopefully the new owners will ensure what is left of the art deco design can be maintained.

    Weeping Ash (St. Neots) – Never been here…..

    Wheatsheaf (Wisbech) – Not the most visually appealing either internally or externally, but entirely acceptable in terms of the food and drink. Since I’ve written about this pub recently, I’ll just link to that page  🙂

  • Wetherspoons – Suffolk

    As I bored everyone with here, my travel has meant that I’ve managed to visit a lot of JD Wetherspoons over the years. So in an attempt to remember them all, I’ve decided to try and write about them. As explained elsewhere, other perfectly good pubs are also available and of course should be visited   🙂

    There are eight JD Wetherspoon outlets in Suffolk, and another three which have closed. I’ve visited seven of the eight open pubs and two of the closed three.

    Figures: (which are more for me than to interest anyone else):

    Number visited : 7/8 (open pubs) 2/3 (closed pubs)

    Favourite pub in county : Willow Tree

    Corn Exchange (Bury St. Edmunds) – Located on the top floor of the town’s corn exchange building which opened in 1862. There was a burst of these openings in the 1850s and 1860s following the change in the Corn Laws, but most started to fall out of use by the late nineteenth century, although many of the buildings have survived. The building was split into two floors in 1969 and it opened as a JD Wetherspoons in 2012, despite some ridiculous plans in the 1960s to entirely demolish the structure.

    Incidentally, Wetherspoons have a minor issue with customers using the app to buy things for people at other tables, which is a potential nuisance if a table ends up with 13 pots of peas. Unfortunately, they’ve also had an incident where someone sent a customer a banana, which raised all sort of race-related issues for the company. Anyway, this review is where the pub thought something was a joke and wasn’t….

    “Ordered a banana waited 45 mins went up to the bar for the staff member to tell me they didn’t bother bringing it because it’s normally a joke. Awful attitude why have it on the menu if you won’t bother bringing it.”

    Cricketers (Ipswich) – This large pub has been a Wetherspoons for some time, a 1930s building formerly known as the Town House and Millars (or at least according to CAMRA that’s what it was called, I’ve known it as the Cricketers since I first went there in 2004).

    It’s quite a vibrant pub, although I note a complaint was made on TripAdvisor by a customer who was with her children and was asked to leave in the evening because that’s a requirement of the pub’s licence. The woman then went to take photos of staff at the bar, which she admitted doing, although this seems like erratic behaviour for someone out with their children. Anyway, the pub responded and added “you have since returned on Saturday 22nd June 2019 at around 10am where you physically assaulted on our shift managers by throwing a glass in his face”. I feel more than sorry for the poor staff involved in this, I hope the police took action.

    Although I’m also surprised that the pub charges for extra gravy at 75p, I’ve never encountered that at any Wetherspoons, although I’m sure it happens frequently as I don’t tend to go about asking for extra gravy that often.

    Drabbet Smock (Haverhill) – This pub has more of a cafe bar feel, comfortable although perhaps a little soulless, although that’s perhaps primarily as it’s a conversion from a former butcher’s shop and shopping unit rather than a grand historic building. And a Drabbet Smock is a form of clothing which was made locally, a pub name that I rather like.

    I love this review on TripAdvisor, primarily as there’s a photo of the broom which has been thrown down.

    “I cannot believe it, now having dinner and the rude staff literally just cleaned the floor and the table next to us and without any hesitation just threw his broom down next to us and walked outside for a social without hatting an eyelid, blocked my passage of getting up and left all the stuff there, im disgusted and outraged and not an apology in sight.”

    [Closed] Golden Lion (Ipswich) – I only went in here once, in around late 2004, with my memory of the pub being very hazy. This was one of the Wetherspoon outlets that was closed down, perhaps because it was just a little small to be viable (I say small, I can’t remember quite how big it was, but I always got the impression it was small), despite a handy central location in the town. Last time I walked by, the building was closed and no-one has yet to take it over, a shame as I’m sure it could work well in some sort of slightly large micro-pub (I accept that’s not actually a thing though) type arrangement. I have no recollection of note about the interior, but there’s been a hotel at this site since the sixteenth century, when it was originally known as the White Lion.

    Golden Lion (Newmarket) – Popular with those working in the racing industry, or at least there always seem to be horse related conversation every time that I’ve been in, this is a slightly smaller Wetherspoons, albeit with a large pub garden. It was once the Golden Lion Hotel, and there was an ad in the Sporting Life on 3 February 1900 when the entire premises were up for sale. The advert read:

    “An exceptional opportunity to purchase this old-established hotel public, which is in the market for a short time only, owing to a leading firm of brewers having purchased the same, and only wanting the beer trade, which is comparatively small to the large and very profitable wine and spirit trade that is done. As is well known, it is one of the leading hotels in this flourishing town, with a billiard room, and accommodates some of the leading sporting and other gentlemen and trainers, also having very extensive stabling, which are always readily to let to them. The property is leasehold and requires a cash of around £3,000.”

    And, a little pop over onto TripAdvisor amused me (I’m so easily pleased it’s untrue):

    “I waited 10 minutes overall to hopefully buy 2 coffees. By this time my husband who had been watching this unfold signalled to me to go back to our table and said ‘Look I need to speak to the manager as the staff are not serving properly or fairly. On returning to our table he was horrified as when he spoke to the ‘manager’ to say the service was unacceptable the manager rudely said ‘Oh all right. Goodbye then‘. Not the thing to say to a customer.”

    I’ve long since muttered privately to myself, and indeed posted on this blog to the two people that read it, about slow service, but I’m not sure I’ve ever got a manager and told them that it’s unfair. Anyway, I was amused that the pub replied and said they were sorry and that it was actually a customer who said “goodbye then” and not a staff member…..

    Grover & Allen (Sudbury) – I actually thought that I’d been here, but it transpired that I had muddled it up with the Haverhill pub. So, at some stage in 2020 I might manage to make my way here….

    Joseph Conrad (Lowestoft) – Situated opposite the town’s main railway station, this always seems to be one of the cleanest Wetherspoons, although no doubt it has its moments as well. Named after the Polish/British author, I’ve heard a few people accidentally call this pub the “Heart of Darkness”, which is one of Conrad’s books. The pub also seems to fare better in terms of reviews than some of their other outlets manage, perhaps they just have a competent manager, unless the people of Lowestoft aren’t very demanding.

    Although, to be fair, this customer wasn’t pleased on TripAdvisor….

    “went in for a couple of beers and was told by a staff member what do you want customer service gone out of the window will not go back”

    A staff member asking a customer what do they want doesn’t strike me as worthy of a 1 out of 5, but there we go. And another review is titled “Homophobe and Chips” and I’m sure there’s some likely quite exciting back story to this:

    “A recent visit with family brought a surprising appearance in the shape of the duty manager.His purpose to inform me i was on their most wanted list of banned customers !The reason? I am allegedly a homophobic. I duly asked for the police to attend, because it was a false accusation.”

    And another customer complained about a manager not committed to customer satisfaction. The pub’s reply tells me all that I really need to know.

    “After our discussion I am very sorry that you disagree with our policy on drinking responsibility however as I said the staff are only doing their job and trying to ensure the safety of yourself and other customers.”

    King’s Head (Beccles) – I remember this pub from before it was a JD Wetherspoons, and it was a much less interesting affair then that did have a tired feel. The pub has several hotel rooms above it, although there’s a limited space for customers for dining and drinking, so finding a table can be difficult at times, although I think that an extension was completed in 2019 to provide more space. The pub appears to me, if I may generalise in such a manner, to have a much more middle class customer base than some of the other pubs in the chain and it’s also in one of the higher price bands for food and drink.

    My favourite TripAdvisor review for this pub was a customer who was livid as they had found grass in their meal and claimed that the pub had tampered with their food as they had complained about their meal.

    “My Daughter found some grass, actual grass with little roots, in her salad, I have attached a picture taken of the said grass. Never before have I experienced anything quite like this.”

    The pub were polite in their response, but it really doesn’t look like grass to me, it looks like mixed leaves. But, the photo is on TripAdvisor for those who want to make their own minds up about whether a staff member rushed outside to find some grass to chuck in a meal.

    [Closed] Robert Ransome (Ipswich) – For a time this was the third Wetherspoons in Ipswich, although they’re back down to one as this and the Golden Lion both closed. This was a Yates before 2009 and they took it back in 2017, but it always seemed a strange purchase to me as Wetherspoons have the Cricketers located opposite, although I assume they wanted to operate this as more of a student venue. The building was once a carpet shop and it seemed to be quieter than the Cricketers when Wetherspoons operated it, which is perhaps why they closed it. But, I’m sure Ipswich could do with another outlet of Wetherspoons though, just one seems a little low at a time when the chain is looking to expand again.

    Willow Tree (Stowmarket) – Although this is probably my favourite of the chain’s pubs in the county, it’s also the one that I’ve seen the most arguments and the most abuse to staff in. And they’ve had flooding issues when it rained on two occasions when I visited, but otherwise it’s a cheap and cheerful location which is spacious and is rarely as rammed as some other pubs.

    The pub opened in 2012 and the building is entirely new, with the former offices that were on the site having been demolished in 2008. Just as Lowestoft and Beccles seem to be well reviewed on TripAdvisor and similar sites, the Stowmarket pub seems to be struggling in comparison, although maybe their locals have higher expectations.

    And, on the matter of TripAdvisor, this lovely customer gave 1 out of 5 and wrote:

    “Only me at bar 16.00 on Friday… No staff, then one appear to say having a drink because allowed. Dont argue that, but these ignorant specimens need to remember who pays there salary. On that, it will be a long time before I set foot in this worst managed WS in the country.”

    The pub had a look at the CCTV and reported that the customer actually waited only 53 seconds. Unforgivable….

    [Closed] Wolf (Bury St. Edmunds) – This was one of the earliest Wetherspoons outside the capital, but it had a relatively short life span as it only operated from 1996 until 1998. I had always assumed that it closed as the company opened the Corn Exchange, but it seems that there was a bit of a gap between the two events. The building has been used for various purposes since Wetherspoons left, but it re-opened in early 2019 as the craft beer bar, Tavern at St. John’s.

  • Bonn – Haus der Geschichte (Willi Schulz Shirt)

    Bonn – Haus der Geschichte (Willi Schulz Shirt)

    According to Nathan, who studied this shirt in some detail (I’m not really into looking at old clothing), this is quite important for those interested in football. And, I must admit, it’s an interesting display item to have, which is a football shirt which was worn in the 1966 World Cup Final. It was worn by Willi Schulz, a German, er, footballer, who would have run up and down the field whilst wearing it. That’s all I can really write about football if I’m being honest.

    I was interested to read though that eight of the eleven England football players who received a winning medal felt the need to sell it to raise money. Certainly different times in terms of how much players received in wages. And, also, the majority of players seem to have suffered from Alzheimer’s, it’s suggested that might have been linked to how players used to head what would have been an heavier ball than is used now.

  • Bonn – Haus der Geschichte (Ballot Box)

    Bonn – Haus der Geschichte (Ballot Box)

    In an attempt to be topical since today is a General Election, here’s a ‘wahlurne’, or ballot box, which was used in German elections on 20 April 1947. After the years of Nazi rule, it must have been something of a relief to be able to vote once again in a democratic election.

    And that’s all I’m going to say about today’s General Election…..

  • Bonn – Haus der Geschichte (1714 State Crown of King George I)

    Bonn – Haus der Geschichte (1714 State Crown of King George I)

    I had wondered why there were so many staff at the UK exhibition at the Haus der Geschichte, but having seen the exhibits, I’m sure that many were actually security guards. Given some other little incidents at German museums recently, this seems a very wise precaution. HM Queen Elizabeth II has lent this 1714 State Crown from the Royal Collection, first used for the crowning of King George I. This is of course highly relevant to the museum, since King George I was German, the first Monarch from the House of Hanover.

    Only the empty gold frame of the crown now remains as the stones were used in a lighter replacement for Queen Victoria, so King William IV was the last to use it as his Coronation. The crown was discarded by the Royal Family and it somehow came into the hands of the Amherst family who placed it on long-term loan at the Museum of London. Later acquired by the Prince of Brunei, it was returned back to the Royal Collection as a generous donation, with apparently an estimated value of a little over £500,000, but it’s of a much more important historical value.

    The crown is usually on display at the Tower of London, where I assume it will be returned after this temporary exhibition ends. But what a rather lovely item to send to Bonn, although its importance was perhaps not as clearly described as it could have been on the small information panel at the museum.

  • Bonn – Haus der Geschichte (Fawlty Towers)

    Bonn – Haus der Geschichte (Fawlty Towers)

    Part of the exhibition on British-German relations at the special UK exhibition being held at the Haus der Geschichte. The curators seem to have amused themselves in finding cultural references to how the British view the Germans and vice versa.

    The light-hearted approach from British and German newspapers…..