Well, quite….
Category: London
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London – Tower Hamlets (Borough of) – Hackney Wick – Howling Hops
As an aside, I’ve been trying to ensure that my London posts get put in the right borough, rather than just putting London. It looks like by just a metre or two that this bar is in Tower Hamlets and not Hackney, not that it makes a great deal of difference to anything….
This was one of Nathan’s bar suggestions, the brewery of Howling Hops and their own tap room. There was a prompt and friendly welcome from one of the staff members when I arrived, with the menu available by scanning a QR code. Table service was then offered and the surroundings were all comfortable and on-trend. The place is just outside of Hackney Wick overground station and it’s well reviewed on-line.
The beer is poured from the tanks and they also have a wider selection of beer available in cans as well. I opted for the Soft Top, which is the brewery’s stout, and this was rather lovely, all the appropriate temperature and with a richness of taste. The brewery use the word decadent in their description of the beer, so that’s another selling point to me.
It wasn’t particularly busy, although it was the early afternoon and so I can’t imagine that it’s ever noticeable busy at that time on weekdays. The prices weren’t the cheapest, but my half pint of stout wasn’t unreasonable, and the surroundings are all suitably industrial for a brewery. Definitely one of Nathan’s better recommendations (although he always seems to be in the pub, so he should be good with suggestions).
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London – City of London – London Liverpool Street – Fur das Kind
I’ve wanted to take a photo of this numerous times before, but there have always been people sitting either on the sculpture or perched on the seat like thing next to it. Since London is suffering from a lack of visitors and workers at the moment, the railway station is quiet and there were few people around at all.
The sculpture is designed by Flor Kent and not by Frank Meisler as I had thought, although he designed the sculpture on the main concourse and the one in Gdansk. They commemorate the same thing though, the Kindertransport which saved thousands of Jewish children from death. Unfortunately, the transports were brought to a halt by the start of the Second World War, but the lives of 10,000 children were saved.
Originally this sculpture was placed on the main outside concourse of the railway station, but just the girl, which is a life size cast of one of the survivor’s grand-children. Along with the girl was a large perspex case of actual items that had been brought over by the children. Today, the figure of a child has been added and the case is no more, and they have been placed in the railway station as a reminder that this is where many children came on their rescue mission. I’m not sure that it’s best placed by the entrance to the underground station as it’s easily missed because of the people who often stand in front of it.
There are other similar sculptures across Europe which note other parts of the journey that children went on. It’s a very emotive piece and a reminder of what went on here.
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London – Hammersmith and Fulham (Borough of) – Ibis Earls Court
As I understand, this large Ibis hotel is usually busy with conferences and events, so these must be challenging times for them. I’ve never stayed here before, but their room rates are for obvious reasons low at the moment.
The reception area, all modern in appearance and it seemed welcoming. There’s a separate restaurant area, but this is also the bar area which is in operation throughout the day. The staff were excellent, both at reception and at the bar, so all positive first impressions.
This put me in a good mood, I wasn’t limited to a welcome drink of Budweiser. It’s lovely to get a welcome drink, but it’s nicer to have something different. I rarely have Leffe, it was better than I recall, so a decent option to have. I noticed afterwards that they also had London Pride, so they are making an effort not just to stock lagers.
The room, which might not be the most modern in appearance, but I’m more interested in functionality than design. As long as I have a bed, desk, plenty of power points, a window and a door then I’m relatively pleased. There could have been more power points in the room, but it’s probably something that will be addressed when there’s a refurbishment. There were coffees and teas in the room, everything was clean and there was sufficient desk space.
The bathroom, also clean and with a telephone should I need to contact anyone urgently.
The view from the window and I could see central London and Canary Wharf by peering out of the window and looking left. Always positive to have an extensive view and to see plenty of the city. There were no noise issues either within the hotel or outside it, so I was entirely satisfied with the night’s stay. I paid for this room with loyalty points, topping that up with 84p which was collected on my credit credit. Not bad at all….
It seems that the reviews from others are a bit mixed, perhaps the rooms become noisier when the hotel is busier, although many complaints are just guests thinking that the hotel decor is a little tired. I can’t imagine that the hotel is going to be able to afford to start on renovation works in the current climate, but at least what they have seems clean. Anyway, I liked this hotel and that’s the main thing to me 🙂
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c2c : Basildon to Upminster
How beautiful Basildon’s railway station looks from the exterior…. It’s a relatively new railway station, opened in 1974 on an existing railway line to deal with the increasing number of people living in the new town of Basildon.
I’ve seen more beautiful railway stations. I couldn’t buy this ticket on-line using GWR, who I usually purchase from (I get Nectar points), it said that the journey wasn’t valid. There must have been some timetabling issues, but I was able to buy a ticket from the machines as Basildon. It’s quite an expensive ticket at over £6 for the short journey, but there’s no other public transport that I can see that made this journey.
The train wasn’t particularly busy and nor was it very clean either, with a fair amount of litter around. I’m entirely reliant on Wikipedia to work out what kind of train this is, but it’s apparently a Bombardier Electrostar Class 357.
And arriving into Upminster on time. The train was getting a little busier by this point, although there were plenty of seats still available. From here, the train goes into London and arrives at Fenchurch Street in the city centre.
Upminster railway station isn’t really the most beautiful in the world either, with this section of the station being added in 1932. The railway station itself though dates from 1885 when it was built by the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway.
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London – Havering (Borough of) – Upminster – Heritage Trail
I do like a nice heritage trail and this was a perfect length for a walk before the pubs opened, just over one mile long. There’s also an optional extension, which I didn’t do, which goes up to the Tithe Barn and Upminster Hall. The trail includes:
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London – Havering (Borough of) – Upminster – Former Workhouse
This property was built in 1751 as the workhouse for the area, being extended in 1783. As the need for workhouses increased, a new building was necessary as this could only hold just over twenty inmates. After a new workhouse was constructed in Romford, this building was turned into a row of cottages.
Now known as Ingrebourne Cottage, the frontages have been quite modernised, although the buildings retain some historic charm.
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London – Havering (Borough of) – Upminster – Clockhouse
This is the former stable block to the manor house of New Place, now demolished, and it’s known today as the Clockhouse. It’s been turned into flats now, although the gardens behind the property can still be accessed. The building was constructed in 1775 and the clock is from the same period, designed by Edward Tutet. A weather vane was moved from Woolwich Arsenal to the building in 1775, with this vane from 1700 now stored somewhere inside the building.
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London – Havering (Borough of) – Upminster – The Old Chapel
This chapel is part of the Upminster Heritage Trail and is located on St. Mary’s Lane. It was first built in 1800 and was remodelled in 1847. It was used by the Plymouth Brethren until 1989, when it became used by the Sacred Heart of Mary Girls’ School. In normal times, it is open to the public at weekends and has been restored inside.
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Pret – Coffee Subscription (unimpressed….)
I cancelled my Pret coffee subscription after one month, which was the one that they gave me. Anyway, since I’m in London and they have lots of branches here, I thought that I’d resubscribe. The account process is terrible, it’s fiddly to log-in and I know other people are just making up new e-mail addresses to get free coffee, so they probably haven’t had vast amounts of people manually resubscribing.
Anyway, with code in hand, the store at Moorgate refused the transaction suggesting that my payment hadn’t gone through. My payment had gone through, but these things happen. I heard the store manager say “nothing we’re prepared to do about it”. I contacted Pret and the problem, which was theirs, was immediately fixed. It might have been easier for them to just give me the coffee they’d poured and ask if I could resolve it with Pret customer service, but it’s possible they get too many people trying it on. As it wasn’t busy, a “do you need any help, or a contact phone number for Pret?” might have been really useful though.
I was more annoyed by having to go back ten minutes later and then I ordered again and they forgot to pour that one entirely (I don’t think it was because they were annoyed at me, they forget an order from another customer as well). The service was polite and the coffee was fine and these things do happen, but it’s the “nothing we’re prepared to do about it” means I’m not prepared to renew….. Disappointing, as I very much like Pret.
NB, and as an addendum written the next day, things improved 🙂
