Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: London

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – National Army Museum (Siege Bread)

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – National Army Museum (Siege Bread)

    This item is on display at the National Army Museum and it was kept by a soldier as a souvenir of war, displayed in what was likely originally a wooden packing case. The bread is from the Siege of Ladysmith which took place between 2 November 1899 and 28 February 1900, when supplies were short and so the bread was made from maize meal and starch. The museum also notes that the soldiers during this period would have also had the delight of eating horse-meat soup. It’s not known which soldier kept this little piece of bread, although the arms are that of the Army Ordnance Corps, but it makes for an interesting memento….

  • London – Westminster (Borough of) – White Horse

    London – Westminster (Borough of) – White Horse

    This isn’t a recent visit, I went to this Nicholson’s pub in Soho back in August, when things looked a little more hopeful for the hospitality industry…..

    I like pubs which have signs explaining their history, including why so many pubs have the name ‘The White Horse’. Incidentally, there are lots of pubs called ‘The Black Horse’, many of which are named after Dick Turpin’s horse because of the mystery and intrigue that caused. In short, this pub was rebuilt in 1939, replacing the earlier 1718 pub of the same name, and the exterior of the new building has some Art Deco features.

    Everything felt safe and there was a staff member at the front door welcoming customers and taking them to their seats. I visited in the early afternoon and it did get a little busier, although the outside seating area was always busier with customers people watching (on my visit I preferred sitting inside phone watching in case anything exciting was happening on social media).

    I have to add here that Nicholson’s gave this pint away to me via a promotion on their app, so I can’t much complain about the range of drinks. But, there were no dark ales and another customer later asked for the same, we were both told that they had Guinness and that was it.

    This was the Nicholson’s Pale Ale (made for the company by St. Austell Brewery), perhaps just a little unexciting, but drinkable with a depth of taste to it at least. Nicholson’s seem to have a habit of pushing drinks that aren’t beer, instead particularly advertising gins and other spirits, but they do have some marvellously historic pubs in their estate that are worth visiting in their own right.

    As an irrelevant aside here, I’m moderately confused why the pub has this on the front page of their web-site:

    “It’s only 12 minutes on foot from Bond Street Underground Station.”

    It’s also only four minutes walk (according to Google) from Oxford Street underground station, which is on the same line and around the corner from the pub. Strange…

    Anyway, most of the recent reviews are positive and the staff here were friendly and helpful. Food is a bit richly priced, but the White Horse focuses on their selection of pies which is part of the Nicholson’s aim to push a certain style of food in each of their pubs. I’m not entirely sure I’d return here as the beer selection isn’t really exciting enough (even before the current restrictions) in an area with plenty of competition.

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Brompton Cemetery (Ernest Wedgwood Harper)

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Brompton Cemetery (Ernest Wedgwood Harper)

    This is the grave of Ernest Wedgwood Harper, located at Brompton Cemetery in London.

    Ernest was born in Burslem on 21 May 1898, the son of Ernest (born on 11/04/1865) and Florence Mary Harper (born on 16/09/1872). He went to Middleport Council School and Longport Council School between 1911 and 1912 and he then went to Hanley Municipal Secondary School between 10 January 1912 and 15 July 1916. He took the Oxford Local Seniors Honours Exam (a system of external grading) where he received a third class award.

    At the 1901 census, the family were living at 179 Newport Lane in Burslem, an area of the city which has now been heavily changed and most of the residential properties demolished. At this point, he was aged two years old and he had a little sister who had just been born, Dorothy May.

    At the 1911 census, the family had moved to Grove Pit, Green Lane in Wolstanton, with the older Ernest working as a school teacher. There was a new addition to the family, Byron, who was aged 2 at the time of the census.

    Leaving school at 18 in Burslem, Ernest might have felt a long way from the military action when signing up. He joined the third battalion of the Grenadier Guards as a guardsman, service number 28840. It appears he did see some service in France in 1916, but there were medical problems with his heart and he was sent back to London and was admitted to Tooting Hospital. He was readmitted to his unit, but instead took on clerical duties and wasn’t going to be sent back to the front line.

    The story becomes endlessly sadder here, on 24 July 1918 Ernest shot and killed himself at his rifle barracks. An inquest found that he feared that he had spotted fever, but the doctors had told him that he hadn’t despite numerous tests. Florence, his mother, went to the inquest and told them how Ernest had been a clever boy and the family were very proud of him. The verdict was announced by the inquest of “suicide during temporary insanity in consequence of valvular disease of the heart”.

    One can only speculate about the mental challenges that Ernest went through, clearly scarred by the conflict and perhaps having no other way of dealing with the worries about his own medical condition. I’m not sure that his service records survive, but perhaps he experienced significant trauma in France and he would be one of many who did.

    At the time of his death, Ernest was part of no.8 company, 5th reserve battalion of the Grenadier Guards, with his parents living at The Grove, Wolstanton, Stoke-on-Trent. It must have been a traumatic event for his mother to travel to Westminster to attend the inquest. Ernest’s family didn’t have any connection with the area, but he was buried at Brompton Cemetery because he had died at the nearby Chelsea Barracks.

    As an aside, Ernest’s little brother Byron was married in 1934 and their parents were there at the marriage ceremony. As was Ernest’s sister Dorothy May, who was the bridesmaid to the bride, and I wonder how much they thought about the one member of the family who hadn’t made it. Byron lived until 1988, remaining in the Stoke-on-Trent area.

  • London – Hammersmith and Fulham (Borough of) – Hammersmith Bridge

    London – Hammersmith and Fulham (Borough of) – Hammersmith Bridge

    This is from my visit to London a couple of weeks ago and there’s something of a debacle about this whole Hammersmith Bridge arrangement. The bridge was first constructed here in 1827 and was paid for by tolls, with these charges finally being removed in 1880. All looked rather well for the local denizens, they had their bridge and they didn’t have to pay to use it. So, all rather lovely.

    Anyway, then a boat ran into the bridge in 1882, so it was thought that it had better be replaced. Joseph Bazalgette, best known for his construction of the London sewers, designed a new bridge and this sat on the same pillars as the previous structure.

    The bridge has struggled to cope with the weight of traffic placed on it throughout the twentieth century, it was never designed to deal with such volumes. It also hasn’t helped that the IRA have tried to blow it up in 1939, 1996 and 2000, all of which hardly helped with the structural integrity of the bridge.

    In 2014, the bridge was temporarily shut to motor traffic because of concerns about the safety of the structure, with this temporary closure effectively becoming permanent. A single bus was allowed to go over at any one time, but then Transport for London decided to remove its staff who were monitoring this, before an agreement was made. There has been a lot of arguing between Transport for London and the local council about this whole matter and who is paying for what, which seems to be the real reason for the delay. Cyclists and pedestrians were allowed to keep using the bridge, but then on 13 August 2020, this was then banned as well.

    The Government announced it was going to come up with a solution, but to cut a long story short, it announced that motor vehicles won’t be returning until at least 2027. I’m not sure how it takes that long to fix a bridge, but then I’m not a civil engineer…..

  • London – Newham (Borough of) – Stratford – Goldengrove

    London – Newham (Borough of) – Stratford – Goldengrove

    There aren’t many photos of my visit to this JD Wetherspoon pub last week, as I must admit to popping in solely to benefit from the 50p half pints of real ale that were available. However, I’ve now realised that the pub is in the Good Beer Guide, and so that’s another one for my list….

    I’ve visited here before several times over the last decade, it’s a large pub which goes back further than its frontage might suggest. The pub name is a bit niche, it’s from the poem Spring and Fall by local man Gerard Manley Hopkins. Before it became a pub, the building was being used as a clothes shop.

    As for the 50p half pints, I did have six of them over the course of the night, which was a little excessive, but I knew that pubs were closing for a month…. They were the Cowcatcher from East London Brewing Company, Old Hooky from Hook Norton Brewery, Black Stallion from Arundel Brewery, Pure UBU from Purity Brewing Company, Gold from Exmoor Ales and Hobgoblin from Wychwood Brewery. The Pure UBU was the one that I liked the most, but it’s an interesting selection across different beer types and all of the ales were well-kept. I can imagine the annoyance that JD Wetherspoon had in having to get rid of all of this at 99p, but, as they said in their signage, it saved it from being thrown away.

    This photo is from a previous visit, the London Thunder which is a chocolately porter from Rooster’s Brewery.

    And, just for another photo, a chicken wrap that I’ve had here on a previous occasion. On that point, I’ve always thought that this feels like a safe pub, although there was an argument between a customer and a staff member last week, but that all adds to the drama and excitement. The pub was opened by JD Wetherspoon back in 1993 and things have changed substantially for the area, with the construction of Westfield around the corner and then the Olympics, as well as the company, which is now much bigger.

    The reviews are pretty much average for a JD Wetherspoon outlet, although several complaints are for when service is slow during football match days. West Ham moved to their new stadium in Stratford from the Boleyn Ground in 2016, shifting trade from the Millers Well pub to Goldengrove for those fans who wanted a cheap pint. At least the app makes ordering somewhat easier for customers, so although there might be a wait it does avoid standing at the bar getting annoyed when other customers are served out of turn.

    Anyway, all rather lovely during my visit (although the toilets probably need more reconstructing than cleaning), and JD Wetherspoon did well to start shifting their stock early to avoid it needing to be destroyed.

  • London – Newham (Borough of) – Stratford – Tap East

    London – Newham (Borough of) – Stratford – Tap East

    This is the only Good Beer Guide listed pub in the Westfield Centre at Stratford, with the only other in the area being JD Wetherspoon’s Goldengrove in the town centre. It’s bright, open and slightly hard to find for those who aren’t used to Westfield. I’d add that I visited just before the second lockdown, they haven’t found some exemption to stay open.

    The beer list with a suitably interesting range of beer types. It’s not the cheapest, but it’s also not unreasonable and the unit that they’re located in can’t be the lowest priced either.

    A moderately decadent choice, this is the Export Stout Raspberry from the Kernel Brewery. This was rich, beautifully fruity and slightly bitter, but very moreish. Given the price, I limited myself to half a pint, but it was smooth enough to last for some time. This is the second beer I’ve had from this brewery, I had the Dry Stout Centennial Mosaic when I visited Mikkeller Bar. I preferred this one, the raspberry gave it that extra edge.

    Service was timely, friendly and welcoming, so this was a relaxed environment. It’s not the largest location and I’m sure that this must get busy at times, but there were sufficient tables inside and outside when I visited. They have a fair few bottles and cans in the fridges as well for those who want more choice. There’s a food menu, which looked quite tempting, with hot dogs and the like available.

    It’s all slightly quirky as outlets like this aren’t normally available in shopping centres, not withstanding the Craft Beer Co outlet at the Broadway Centre in Hammersmith. But, they’ve been going for a few years and have won several awards, not least being mentioned in the Good Beer Guide. Since it’s at the side of the shopping centre, it’s not too loud, it’s a helpful hideaway for anyone who needs to escape the retail demands of the rest of the site….

  • London – Hammersmith and Fulham (Borough of) – Margravine Cemetery (Thomas Austin)

    London – Hammersmith and Fulham (Borough of) – Margravine Cemetery (Thomas Austin)

    This is the grave of Thomas Austin, located at Margravine Cemetery in London, which looked interesting due to the mention of Queen Victoria.

    He was born in 1816 and joined the army, although there’s lots more information about him (and a photo) at https://www.soldiersofthequeen.com/OldSoldiers-YeomanoftheGuardThomasAustin.html which it’s easier for me to just link to….. But, in short, since his army records are on-line, he served in the Coldstream Regiment of Guards, joining on 16 September 1833 and being given military service number 1666.

    Thomas died at the age of 79 on 17 February 1895, with his wife Frances Ann being buried at the same spot on 17 December 1903.

  • London – Hammersmith and Fulham (Borough of) – Margravine Cemetery

    London – Hammersmith and Fulham (Borough of) – Margravine Cemetery

    This London cemetery was laid out in 1868, designed to relieve pressure on churchyards in the area, and the first burial took place here on 3 November 1869. It has also been known as Hammersmith Cemetery and there was an area for Church of England burials and another area for non-conformists.

    Burials continued here until 1951 and at this point the site was taken over by the council who termed it as a ‘garden of rest’. What this really meant is that the council took down a large number of gravestones and buried them, leaving what I think looks like a slightly disjointed and confused cemetery, albeit it in beautiful surroundings.

    The friends of the cemetery seem quite active and their web-site has an interesting take on the history of the site. They mention how sluggish the borough were in opening their burial ground, but an outbreak of cholera in the area speeded things up somewhat. The friends also note that the cemetery saw:

    “A superintendent’s drunken foul mouthed wife upsetting visitors and creating “a crowd” on Christmas Day 1879, belligerent gravediggers demanding higher wages and having fist-fights in the tool house, the nonconformists’ objections, the battle with Sir William Palliser and a fair amount of wheeling and dealing when acquiring or exchanging land”.

    Although I didn’t find his grave, George Wimpey of construction fame is buried at the cemetery. There are 83,000 burials at the site, although when it opened the cemetery was only designed to hold 12,000.

    This squirrel followed me for quite some time, but annoyingly was unwilling to pose for photos.

    There were a large number of dog walkers using the cemetery when I was there, but there’s plenty of space and it looked generally well cared for. Well, other than for the empty beer cans dotted about the site.

    The cemetery’s chapel, which was designed by the local architect George Saunders, who was also responsible for pretty much everything at the site. There was a second chapel at the cemetery, but this was demolished in 1939.

    I visited shortly before the cemetery was due to close, so my meandering was limited and I missed the “ghoulish” Victorian reception house. This building, where bodies were laid to rest, has now been listed and is the only one of its kind left in London. I’m not sure why Historic England thought it was ghoulish, it’s a place to store bodies in a cemetery before they were buried, but there we go….

  • London – Newham (Borough of) – Stratford – Kotch!

    London – Newham (Borough of) – Stratford – Kotch!

    My friend Richard had come to London for the evening to escape Norfolk, so we decided after visiting Wetherspoons for their 99p pints of real ale (well, I had that, he had decadent and expensive gins) to go for a restaurant meal. Incidentally, the evening had started off well as I discovered Richard’s hastily booked room wasn’t as large as the one I had at the Holiday Inn Express at Stratford, so that was some positive news for everyone.

    Being a millennial (well, I’m not, but I pretend to myself that I am) I try to avoid using the phone, so Richard phoned up the restaurant to check if there was space. The restaurant is small and got busier as the evening progressed, so having the reservation was quite useful. The service was attentive, polite and friendly, so all positive there. The restaurant was clean and it had quite a homely feel to it. There’s a toilet at the rear of the restaurant and I’m grateful that the staff members noticed there was a problem, which was that it had locked itself, as otherwise I’d have been standing outside the door for some time waiting for a non-existent person to leave.

    Richard’s pizza, which looked horrible but was apparently delicious, is at the rear, whereas the much nicer Ndjua sausage pizza of mine takes pride of place in the photo. It was cooked in a woodfire pizza oven that’s visible from the seating area, giving the food that nice blackening to the sides. The base was thin and had a decent crunch to it, with the sausage having a pleasant slightly spicy taste. I liked that there wasn’t too much cheese (unlike Richard’s cheese ridden affair) and was more tomatoey, which is all more authentic Italian in my view. Since the dough wasn’t too thick, it also meant that the meal was light and not too stodgy.

    There are difficult times ahead over the next month for restaurants, although at least this Italian should be able to do plenty of takeaways and deliveries. The reviews for the restaurant are positive (which is why we went there), it was relaxed and the staff were friendly. All very lovely.

  • London – Islington (Borough of) – Brewdog Clerkenwell

    London – Islington (Borough of) – Brewdog Clerkenwell

    I’m slowly working my way around the Brewdogs of the world, although unfortunately my attempt to go to Brewdog in Gothenburg this month has rather fallen through. So, I visited the one in Clerkenwell instead.

    This isn’t a great photo, the layout makes it a bit difficult to take photos without walking about and that’s not an ideal situation given the current health climate. It’s a spacious Brewdog which is split over a couple of floors, with the usual range of different seating types.

    This is two thirds of a pint of Breakout Space from Full Circle, although I only ordered a third. I did query that, since this is an expensive beer, but they kindly just gave me the extra third. I suppose since their beer stocks will be thrown away on Thursday, it perhaps matters a little less. The bar didn’t have as many darker options as they usually would, so I veered into this hoppy IPA and it was quite decadent for this beer style. Very fruity, smooth, slightly sweet and an aftertaste of pineapple, this is about as tropical as I’ll be getting for some time.

    Since Brewdog were so gracious with the free third of a pint they ended up giving me, I ordered their own doppelbock of Weizen Up (which was also over-poured, although that’s a useful side benefit of ordering thirds). I’ve never quite understood what the difference is between a doppelbock and a dunkel (my friend Nathan will tut, as he’ll find that obvious no doubt) so I’ve finally looked it up, and apparently “with alcohol concentrations of 4.5% to 6% by volume, dunkels are weaker than Doppelbocks, another traditional dark Bavarian beer”. So with that mystery now solved, back to the beer, which had a caramel and toffee taste, it was likely being back in Germany. Well, without the McRibs.

    I had noted that Brewdog were doing this as it was featured on Untappd and it seemed an interesting collaboration with that many breweries taking part. Unfortunately, that weekend is now lost for Brewdog, but hopefully they can do something similar in the future.

    I had a look on TripAdvisor and this bar has done well to only get two very low scores over the years that it has been open, one which was about it being busy when football was on (the manager seemed confused as the bar doesn’t show football) and the other complained he wasn’t asked if he wanted fries. I’d say that they’re doing pretty well if that’s all people can complain about.

    The staff here were friendly and pro-active, although it was very quiet on a Monday afternoon. They were serving food, although I’m not sure they were selling much, but the bar environment was clean and everything seemed ordered. It’s not the cheapest location, but the range of beers is usually well balanced and there are also some decadent and tempting options in the fridges. Slightly strange to see that Wetherspoons are selling off pints of Brewdog Punk IPA for £1.50, whilst they were nearly £6 here, but such is the strange world of alcohol retailing….

    Anyway, I liked this outlet of Brewdog, calm and welcoming. Goodness knows when I’ll next be in a Brewdog though…