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  • London – Newham (Borough of) – Travelodge ExCeL

    London – Newham (Borough of) – Travelodge ExCeL

    This isn’t a good time for hotels in London, and I can’t imagine many times where Travelodge have been selling off rooms in the capital at under £20 just a couple of nights before the stay. So, this looked like a rather good price and the hotel is conveniently located next to a DLR station, and also next to where I stayed last week at the Holiday Inn Express.

    My expectations were frankly a little low, a room of £20 and some not great recent reviews didn’t fill me with confidence. In reality, it was all absolutely fine. There was no noise internally or externally, the room was clean and the staff member at reception was friendly and helpful. It was also useful that the staff member asked if I wanted a floor on a lower floor or at the top, so I went with my standard “top floor, away from lift” option. The room wasn’t enormous, but it was perfectly sufficient and there was free tea and coffee. Definitely hard to complain at under £20 per night.

    To my slight surprise, this was a slightly better built hotel than the Holiday Inn Express that’s next door. That hotel has been built with no individual air conditioning units and no facility to open windows. The Travelodge had gone for the approach of a window that opens to cool things and a heater to heat. I like such simple solutions, although it might be too hot in the summer (one reviewer said it was and they gave up with their room to sleep in the hotel’s bar). But I’m sure they offer fans then. The room could have done with some plug sockets near to the bed, but perhaps they’ll be put in when the hotel is refurbed.

    As an aside, one thing that annoys me slightly is the hotel’s response to reviews, which is pretty much always the same. There are all manner of reviews, from staff members bursting into a room when a customer was changing to a few allegations of theft and bed bugs, all with the exact same response from the hotel as they replied to someone who mentioned they found a hair on the floor. I like reviews from managers who just tell the truth, they’re more entertaining.

    Anyway, all rather good value for under £20.

  • London – City of London – London Mithraeum

    London – City of London – London Mithraeum

    A few years ago I went to the Cavern Club in Liverpool and was moderately disappointed to discover that it’s not quite in the same place as the original. In 1973, British Rail decided that they must definitely have the site of the Cavern Club (although they were prepared to build elsewhere if they were given some extra money to pay for their costs) and so they compulsorily purchased it, filled it in, then decided they didn’t want it. An attempt was later made to excavate the site which wasn’t entirely successful, so the current Cavern Club is sort of where the old one was with some of the same bricks.

    And, I mention this tangential story because this is what has happened to the London Mithraeum. Not British Rail this time, but Legal & General and the construction of their far from beautiful Bucklersbury House. It would have been possible to redesign the building and keep the Roman finds, but the Government announced it would cost £500,000 and they weren’t spending that. However, it shouldn’t be under-estimated just how interested Londoners were, it attracted unprecedented interest for historic remains and the site was being opened three hours earlier than anticipated in its last week, such were the number of people who wanted to see it. These were challenging times for London in the mid-1950s where much was still being rebuilt following the war, so there was a great deal of positivity when this Roman structure was being uncovered.

    The end result was that they shoved out the Roman remains into the street and called it a compromise. Perhaps less a compromise and more of a sell-out. There was talk of just destroying the site entirely, so the option chosen did at least save the stones. Anyway, Bucklersbury House has now gone and been replaced by a lovely new building designed by Fosters & Partners. And it’s in the cellar of that new building that this temple now resides once again.

    The hole that was dug for the Legal & General building. There’s a lot of history, including some interesting video of people there in the 1950s, at the official web-site at https://www.londonmithraeum.com/about/. Given the quantity of information there, I’ll just borrow a little of their text to ensure my history is correct.

    “The site lies over the course of one of London’s lost rivers, the Walbrook. Nearly 2,000 years ago when Londinium was founded by the Romans, this river marked the limits of their first settlement. In the 3rd century AD, nearly 200 years after the founding of London, a Roman Londoner, built a temple to the god Mithras on this reclaimed ground, next to the river.

    The mysterious cult of Mithras first appeared in Rome in the 1st century AD. It spread across the Empire over the next 300 years, predominantly attracting merchants, soldiers and imperial administrators. Meeting in temples which were often constructed below ground, these were private, dark and windowless spaces. The mythological scene of Mithras killing a bull within a cave, the ‘tauroctony’ is at the heart of the cult, and its full meaning is subject of much speculation.”

    But, going back in this story a little bit, there’s a ground floor entrance to the new Bloomberg Building which gives access to a museum and public space. The first surprise was seeing my friend Steve, who had coincidentally booked the exact same time to visit the same location. And there was one other person (who we didn’t know) booked for this time, as although the tickets are free, they need to be pre-booked at the moment. And we chose the right day to book our tickets to visit, as changing tier restrictions meant that this was to be its final day of opening for the moment.

    This is the first part of the experience. I’m not sure they call it an experience, but it’s a word that perhaps adds an extra dimension to a visit, so I’m using it. The staff member who welcomed us gave a spirited explanation of it. The other person vaguely looked at it and walked off, whereas Steve and I decided we would make an effort to look at it and pretend to understand it. I’m not sure that we did, and I did think this would be a handy spot for a cafe. I’m not sure that’s what the artist had intended me to think, but there we go.

    Some of the finds are now on display, although 14,000 items were found, so I’m not entirely sure where the rest are. Going downstairs, and before getting slightly lost, we found the second part of the museum, where there are some screens giving more of the site’s history.

    And, this is the centrepiece of the attraction located down another flight of stairs. I understand there’s usually some form of audio-visual experience for visitors before entering here, but for reasons unknown, the current health situation makes that impossible.

    And another photo of the Roman remains with visitors being able to walk around the outside. I couldn’t help be distracted by the neatness of the stones, it all felt too polished and modern. And the reasons for this are clear, namely that when they moved it to an outside location and slightly crudely rebuilt it, much of the original was lost in terms of the mortar and indeed its authenticity. Eric Morecambe’s line is often quoted, but there’s an element of truth to say that “there are all the right stones, but not necessarily in the right order”.

    There’s an article in the Sphere on 23 October 1954 with a photo of a wall being built, subtitled “workmen are rebuilding the lower walls with the stones made by Roman masons”. I’m not convinced that there was complete archaeological rigour going on with the rebuilding, although this seems to have been glossed over a little in the telling of the temple’s story.

    But, I have no complaint with the efforts made by Bloomberg, they’ve restored some dignity to this site after some rather casual and off-hand treatment of it over the last few decades. The web-site they’ve created is informative and useful, with the reviews of the museum nearly all veering towards the very positive. And there’s been some magic put back to these stones, in whatever order they’ve been relaid. A visit isn’t likely to take much more than thirty minutes, but I’m glad that I got to see this site at Walbrook.

  • 2020 Pub of the Year – How Exciting

    2020 Pub of the Year – How Exciting

    OK, before I start this, I’ll explain very clearly that I’m doing this to primarily remind myself of the best pubs that I visited in 2020, I don’t expect the Guardian to publish a story on it. It feels a bit self-aggrandising if I don’t mention that straight away.

    Although having noted the entire irrelevance of this post before I’ve started, the wonderful Tony from the Hop and Vine did do this board last year. That encouraged me following my 2019 Pub of the Year post   🙂   And, I’ve revisited this marvellous pub in Hull this year and it’s just as good. But, my friend Nathan told me that the Hop and Vine couldn’t win my award every year and I suppose that he has a point. So, they were excluded in 2020, but anyone going to Hull must go there. And I’ll be back in 2021.

    I’ve also had far fewer pub visits than expected this year due to the health situation that has engulfed the world, which has also made it more difficult for staff to engage and welcome customers in the same way. Although in some ways this has improved matters in terms of a staff member usually being there to welcome customers at the entrance to a pub.

    What I am ideally looking for is a welcoming environment, an excellent beer selection and a desire to recommend the pub to others. The guiding principle is that if I was someone who had just moved into the local area and went to the pub, would I be really pleased with what I found?

    On that basis,

    So, after apologising to the Hop and Vine, my favourite pub (well, more a bar, but it doesn’t matter) is……

    WINNER : GOOSE ISLAND

    I’ve visited this bar four times this year, and for a pub in a busy area near to London Liverpool Street, it absolutely shines. It’s on-trend, it has intriguing beer options and everything feels professional. The staffing is also way above average, not only engaging and conversational in style, but they’re fiercely knowledgeable about beer. But, never to a point where they’ve made it exclusive or sneery, this bar welcomes people.

    Visit 1 | Visit 2 | Visit 3 | Visit 4

    Above are the links to my four visits, with nothing negative to report on any of them. The staff’s enthusiasm for beer, the cleanliness of the location and the sheer beauty of some of the beers that they sell is rather a joy to behold. And, if someone goes in alone, they’re treated with just as much of a welcome as groups. This place understands customers in a way that such a busy venue shouldn’t perhaps find so easy. And, when I return to their home of Chicago, I look forwards to going to their brewery there.

    And certainly for anyone nearby to London Liverpool Street, this is an essential place for anyone who likes beer to visit. So very lovely.

     

    RUNNER-UPS (1 in Romania, 3 in Poland, 3 in the UK)

    La 100 de Beri, Bucharest – this bar is located in Bucharest and my quick visit turned into two hours. The member of bar staff was clearly slightly sceptical about British drinking habits and perhaps with good cause from when I’ve seen British stag groups abroad. Once his initial scepticism cleared, he was engaging, conversational and very proud to show the sorts of beer that he had available. This was not a busy bar, so I was on my own with the staff member for much of the visit, but the environment was welcoming, quirky and without any intention to do so it was magically on-trend.

    Hoppiness, Warsaw – this is the bar I’ve visited most in Warsaw, something of a cafe bar style with no shortage of excellent craft beers. The burgers are delicious, and the spicy option was certainly that to say the least. The welcome is polite, but I’ve just got a level of excitement when visiting here and their Facebook posts are a constant inspiration for me to return to Poland.

    Hercules, Lambeth – this is a Fuller’s pub and it changed my mind about that brewery, which I thought had some rather generic pubs. The staff here were hugely proud of their beer options without my even initially asking, something I was very pleased to experience. Although I was the only customer in the pub during my lunch-time visit, there was still a comfortable atmosphere and the engagement from the staff lifted my spirits as they say…. And the beer selection was excellent, well above what I expected. I have no idea how this place isn’t in the Good Beer Guide.

    Same Krafty Multitap, Warsaw – I’ve moderately reassessed this place on reflection to like it even more. In Warsaw’s Old Town and with a potential to be too touristy, the prices are a little higher, but the pizza was marvellous and the beer selection suitably intriguing. And the staff were engaging, with the pub having a bit of a community feel to it.

    George and Dragon, Acton – this was one of the first pubs that I visited this year, with a rather quirky atmosphere, but still welcoming. There were certainly a range of styles in terms of the interior design, and this was at a time when I could explore the building as there was no virus and also no other customers. Staffing was friendly, the only slight issue was that I thought the beer was served just a little too cold and that impacted just slightly negatively on the flavour. But, nonetheless, I liked this pub a lot.

    Pułapka, Gdansk – meaning ‘trap’ in Polish, I could think of far worse places to have to stay for a long time. A blackboard full of craft beer delights, an engaging service and a bar that I intend to return to when next in Gdansk.

    Swiss Tap, Castleton – this pub had a community feel running through it and it was an interesting concept from the B&B to try something a little new. The service here was warm, welcoming and authentic, and as a bonus there were some marvellous food and drink products with Richard being very taken with the Snyder’s Pretzel Pieces.

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Ibis Styles Kensington (Eighth Visit)

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Ibis Styles Kensington (Eighth Visit)

    This blog wouldn’t be complete without yet another post about this hotel in Kensington…. I still like the hotel, the welcome is friendly, the hotel is clean and the prices are highly competitive. Not only have I managed to post here multiple times about this hotel, I’ve also bored friends with it as well and one of them also happened to be staying here for the weekend.

    I was upgraded to a larger room and I think this is one of my favourites in the hotel. Spacious and with numerous seating options dotted around the place.

    There was a bath, as well as a separate shower (that isn’t in the photo), all very decadent.

    There is a balcony as well, but they’re locked that off.

    This was the view on Sunday morning. Rain. Not ideal…..

    There was no Tiger left, so this was my welcome drink choice. It was free, so I won’t complain.

    My obligatory breakfast bag photo…. I did go down in the basement to get a coffee, although it seemed to be measuring out rather small portions, albeit delicious tasting small portions.

    So, once again, all was fine and nothing exceptional happened that I feel the need to mention. And, this is good in a hotel, I don’t want too much drama. Incidentally, I hear that Richard had lots of drama in his two hotel visits this weekend elsewhere in the country, it’s a shame he doesn’t have a blog….

  • London – Westminster (Borough of) – National Gallery (Christ and the Woman taken in Adultery)

    London – Westminster (Borough of) – National Gallery (Christ and the Woman taken in Adultery)

    This cheery little number doesn’t belong to the National Gallery where it is currently located, it’s usually in the collections of the Courtauld Gallery which has been closed for a couple of years due to renovations to the building. They probably chose quite a good time to get the work done, assuming that they’ve been able to progress with it at all this year.

    Anyway, it’s by Pieter Bruegel the Elder and it was painted in 1565. The grey nature of the artwork is deliberate, it’s in the Grisaille style and this is one of the best known paintings which have used this style of having multiple grey colours. The painting shows a number of Jewish sect members who have brought a woman accused of adultery to Christ so that he could condemn her to death by stoning. Instead, he asked if anyone amongst them was without sin, then they could be the first to throw a stone at her.

    It’s the only painting which the artist passed down to his son, Jan Brueghel the Elder. The painting was then passed down to his son, Jan Brueghel the Younger who loved it so much that he flogged it off. It was sold at Christie’s in 1834 and then again in 1952, but was donated to the Courtauld Gallery in 1978. Someone then pinched it in 1982 and that wasn’t entirely ideal, particularly since it wasn’t recovered until 1992.

  • London – Westminster (Borough of) – National Gallery (Visit 2)

    London – Westminster (Borough of) – National Gallery (Visit 2)

    This is my second visit to the National Gallery under the current restrictions, as there was just too much to see during my first visit. It’s free to get in, although tickets have to be pre-booked and they do enforce that, although someone did try and just sneak in when I was there. As can be seen in the photos below, this wasn’t the busiest of locations, although it got a bit busier during the early afternoon when I was leaving.

    As an aside, this is now rated on TripAdvisor as the top thing to do in London, number 1 out of 2,339 places, which is a pretty impressive effort. Although I noticed a few times on this visit and my last one that the staff struggled to answer questions that other people were asking, and although the staff were polite, I did wonder whether some of them were interested in art at all. I’m not quite sure if art knowledge is part of their required job role and how much of their role is ensuring the security and the safety of the gallery, perhaps that’s their only function. I had no such issues, I have the Internet to answer my questions…..

    Anyway, all rather lovely, more posts to come on this.

  • London – Ryan Taylor

    London – Ryan Taylor

    And in quite a complete departure from my usual boring drivel about museums, long distance walking, gossip, beer, American food and old things, this is Ryan Taylor. He’s the most famous YouTuber I’ve met with over 2 million followers. That is slightly higher than my blog readership.

    I was vaguely aware of a connection between Ryan and Ally Law, the latter of whom I would recognise immediately (primarily as some media really don’t like Ally), and I do follow Nightscape videos. I was also aware of Ryan entering the Big Brother house using methods that weren’t quite within the rules, but sorry to Ryan for being slow on the uptake and not recognising him (although he at the time had his face nearly entirely covered)…. I’m a bit old (only just) for all this, so my knowledge stops there….. Anyway, he’s a really nice guy and it was an interesting 30 minutes or so.

    To cut a long story short, there are PS5s in that bag, and he was on a YouTube / Instagram adventure to give them away to his fans. Hence why he was hiding, and why I’ve taken a couple of hours to post about this. I thought at first he was a delivery driver who had managed to give someone the wrong food and they were chasing him, which is why I didn’t object to his joining my table.

    I admit that cycling isn’t quite my thing (makes me tired), I love the adrenaline rush of the LDWA 100, but I really like the concept of getting youngsters (in his case I mean, not mine) getting out and about in whatever form they want. All good physical and spiritual engagement.

    Anyway, nice to be part of his adventure, and thanks for the selfie (I might upload that later). It seems the Daily Mail don’t much like Ryan, so that’s another plus on his side as far as I’m concerned   🙂

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 247

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 247

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

    Penthouse Nab

    This phrase is defined by Grose as “a broad brimmed hat”, although there’s an interesting (well I think there is) history to the word ‘penthouse’. The original meaning of this was some sort of outbuilding, usually shoved onto the side of a building, sometimes nothing more than a shed. Then there was a move in what the word meant, with reference to a building which sloped, and often the top of a building would slope at the top, which evolved into meaning the apartment or space at the top of a property.

    In recent years, the word has become used much more frequently and a penthouse is now seen as a desirable place to live. It’s usually the grand residence at the top of a building which has more space, extensive views and is most certainly not some old shed stuck onto the side.

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Victoria and Albert Museum (Figures From Bristol High Cross)

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Victoria and Albert Museum (Figures From Bristol High Cross)

    These are two of those random items at a museum, in this case the Victoria and Albert Museum, that might not look overly exciting at first glance, but they have a rather exotic heritage. Well, sort of. They date to around 1400 and were part of the Bristol High Cross, located in the heart of the city. Unfortunately, it was so central that it got in the way of traffic and so in 1733 it was taken down, in a forerunner to many similar decisions from councils in the centuries that followed.

    So, after the council faffed about with the bits of their High Cross for a few years, it was moved to College Green in 1736. And here it is above, located near to Bristol Cathedral, well out of everyone’s way. Then people complained again, it was in the way of how they wanted to promenade around the area, so they took it down in 1762 and shoved the bits in the cloisters of the Cathedral.

    Then, an overly generous Cutts Barton, the then Dean of Bristol, gave the city’s entire High Cross to the banker Henry Hoare II for his country estate at Stourhead. I’m not convinced that this was for the many and not the few, but there we go. A century later, the Victorians wanted to get their High Cross put back in Bristol, but it was now thought to be too badly damaged. After much faffing about, there is now a replica in Bristol which has been moved on numerous occasions to deal with the latest wave of complaints.

    Until 1980, all of Bristol’s High Cross still remained at Stourhead, now a National Trust property. This is when the four statues were sent to the Victoria and Albert Museum, although the rest of the cross is still there. And here they are today, likely representing four Kings who it’s thought might be King John, King Henry III, King Edward I and King Edward III.

  • London – Brent (Borough of) – Wembley – Ibis Wembley (Third Visit)

    London – Brent (Borough of) – Wembley – Ibis Wembley (Third Visit)

    Once again, this post is more for me to remember another night in Wembley rather than any extra use that a third report on the same hotel can offer anyone else. There’s not much useful I can add about the welcome, the staff member was friendly and the check-in procedure was painless. Certainly nothing negative to mention.

    The room, on the fourteenth and top floor again. All clean and as it should be, although it doesn’t have a television like the first time I stayed where I could cast my phone to it. I managed to get by without such decadence. I did note that the desk had been fixed, by use of supports, from what looked like when a previous guest had sat on it or similar…

    The Government’s new rules means that hotel bars can stay open if customers order a substantial meal with their alcohol, or if they just have soft drinks. The hotel rules do though allow customers to take alcohol to their room, so that’s what happened to my welcome drink. Not really ideally poured, but I was just pleased that the drink option was still available and that Goose Island Midway Session IPA was still there.

    The view from the room over the Borough of Brent. There’s no shortage of construction work going on around here, I assume primarily residential as it’s quite an easy location to commute to and from for those wanting to work in the capital.

    And the view over Wembley in the morning, although I think I prefer the night-time view. Anyway, all was quiet in the hotel, they have windows that open to allow for ventilation, the temperature was perfect and I have nothing negative to say. How very lovely.