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Category: London

  • Bromley – The Richmal Crompton (JD Wetherspoon)

    Bromley – The Richmal Crompton (JD Wetherspoon)

    I had a rail connection at Bromley South railway station today to get to Kent, so I thought that I’d meander over the road to the JD Wetherspoon operated Richmal Crompton which I’ve visited a couple of times before. The sun was shining, the pub had a beer garden and it was just too hot. But, I didn’t complain to myself about the extreme temperatures.

    The chain explains the reasoning for the pub name:

    “This is named after Richmal Crompton, the author best known for her ‘William’ books. William Brown first appeared in a series of short stories written in Richmal’s spare time, while she was a teacher at Bromley High School for Girls. She lived in Bromley for 26 years, first in Cherry Orchard Road and later in nearby Oakley Road.”

    It’s cavernous and not overly interesting as a building. It got busier at lunchtime, but the chain also has a pub just a short walk away, the Greyhound. Incidentally, and I write this without having a view either way, but this is one of those venues where customers queue in a line to order rather than wait along the bar. There’s an area which feels like a dining area off to the left, although the tables were all in long lines and it wasn’t clear whether they were expecting groups of 24 to turn up, or they had just crammed them in there. There were bookshelves to the rear of the pub and I thought that added to the arrangement. It’s all affordable and reliable, spacious and predictable.

    My obligatory carpet shot.

    In terms of the beer, the prices were moderate as usual and they had a selection of craft cans alongside six real ales, with beers from Thornbridge, Adnams and Theakston.

    I decided to get unlimited coffee for £1.85 rather than anything beer related, although they had run out of milk and didn’t bother replacing it for the two hours that I was there. I decided raw coffee would just have to do.

    The online reviews are about average for the chain and I couldn’t resist having a little look….

    “Came in for a quick bite to eat with my dog who’s sitting outside and I’ve been told by every bar staff in here dogs aren’t even allowed on the premises that means even outside the door , Food is absolutely disgraceful as you can see from the photo, The manager with the wonky eyes said I need to get out as soon as I’ve eaten my food absolute joke stay clear unless you’re on a budget”

    I suspect that JD Wetherspoon would be pleased that a customer who insults their staff like that goes elsewhere….

    “We reserved an area for our wedding reception, no help in moving tables was offered, on the day there was glass in the reserved area that hadn’t been cleared prior to us arriving. We appreciate we had a large party but we waited ages for our meals, and drinks. Having booked in January for September plenty of notice had been given that we’d require food. They’d ran out of chicken nuggets, and the large mixed grill, and this was only early afternoon. When the steak came up and we asked which was medium rare, the waiter said that they’d all been done to the same (medium) even though we’d asked for different. We had one waiter serving almost 30 of us and it took almost an hour for tables to be cleared of plates. Me and my wife met in this wetherspoons 2 years ago but we will not be returning unfortunately.”

    I’m not wholly convinced that JD Wetherspoon pubs are usually well equipped to deal with entire wedding parties….

    “On top of that, after we left a pub, I came back to go to the toilet, it was around 23.00. On my way to the toilet i have been stopped by the waiter saying that ‘I’m banned in this pub and I have to leave’ after my statement that I AM PREGNANT AND I NEED TO USE A TOILET he insisted me to leave. How comes pregnant woman cant use a toilet in such a big pub? What policy are you based on? Of course I will proceed with further excalations and highlighting this situation everywhere possible as IT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE TO NOT ALLOW A PREGNANT WOMAN TO USE A TOILET.”

    The customer was refused service for allegedly being drunk, they left the venue after an argument and then are furious that the venue wouldn’t let them back in. I like a bit of drama to be fair….

    “Being Xmas everyone was having a great time and we were playing a game with an I top, a harmless tabletop game . When we were laughing and jeering eachother on ,the staff came over and told us to keep the noise down. What happened to the good old days when they had juke boxes in pubs and everyone singing along to Xmas songs and having a great time.”

    Good, there’s no need for frivolity even at Christmas….

    “Bar staff and management told us to leave because we were being to loud and noisy we were having a laugh we weren’t being rude or we were having a laugh. But we had to leave all because we were having a laugh”

    Reassuringly peaceful, I like it.

    “Not worth posting a review”

    I think that’s a review.

    Anyway, I digress enough. It seemed like a perfectly serviceable pub, although they rather abandoned the coffee machines, but in fairness I didn’t say anything to let them know. It was all clean, the team members were friendly, it was value for money and it wasn’t too loud. All really rather lovely.

  • Royal Air Force Museum Hendon – First World War German Air Raid Poster

    Royal Air Force Museum Hendon – First World War German Air Raid Poster

    I’m not sure how I get from writing about bar billiards to writing about German air raid posters from the First World War, but yet here we are. Back in the medieval period, people had a genuine fear of being attacked where they lived, but war evolved to be much more about front-line conflict. That was until the development of aircraft that had the ability to bypass the troops on the front-line and strike fear into the hearts of everyone.

    This poster reads:

    “Hostile aircraft can see you here! Vehicles must not stop here.”

    A combination of the Government needing to warn people of the new threat, but this must have been terrifying to people living in Germany when they realised that aircraft could attack them in their homes. The number of actual attacks was relatively low and the British never attacked Berlin by air, the first planned raid would have been in November 1918, but the armistice saw the end of that.

  • Royal Air Force Museum Hendon – Ruins at the Eden Hotel by Julius Stafford-Baker

    Royal Air Force Museum Hendon – Ruins at the Eden Hotel by Julius Stafford-Baker

    Julius Stafford-Baker (1904-1988) painted this view of the Eden Hotel in Berlin on 20 July 1945. He was particularly drawn to ruined Germany, which in artistic terms was understandable and I suppose there’s optimism that can come from the chaos. Although it was painted only weeks after the war in Europe ended, it belongs to that slightly odd period when the fighting had stopped but the consequences were still sitting in full view, impossible to tidy up with slogans.

    The Eden Hotel itself had once been one of Berlin’s grand establishments, it was built in 1912 and it was situated on the Kurfürstendamm before it was destroyed in the war. It had become infamous in 1919 as it’s where the military who killed Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg were based, and the executions took place outside the hotel.

    Stafford-Baker, eldest son of the illustrator, Julius Stafford-Baker (1869-1961), worked for the RAF Public Relations Directorate and he remained working as an illustrator after the war.

  • Royal Air Force Museum Hendon – Promissory Note from the First Gulf War

    Royal Air Force Museum Hendon – Promissory Note from the First Gulf War

    I’d never much thought about this (like many things) but this is a promissory note that service personnel fighting in the first Gulf War were issued with. If anyone was shot down or otherwise caught in enemy territory, then the Foreign Office would give £15,000 to anyone who returned them to safety. They each have a serial number so that they could be verified.

    Also known as a Safe Conduct Pass, they had been used in the past but as more of a demand that the member of service personnel was properly treated. This ultimately was more of a demand that may or may not be met, but the offer of money was a much more tempting arrangement.

  • Royal Air Force Museum Hendon – Fabric Skin from Richthofen’s Aircraft

    Royal Air Force Museum Hendon – Fabric Skin from Richthofen’s Aircraft

    This fragment of fabric skin from Manfred von Richthofen’s (1892-1918) Fokker Dr.I does look rather modest, but it underpins something of a dramatic story. It was removed from the wreck of the triplane following the crash on 21 April 1918 by Corporal Harry Potter, part of the salvage team although souvenir hunters ended up with various bits of the aircraft.

    The importance is Richthofen himself and the making of the Red Baron myth. He was not merely a successful German fighter ace, but one who understood, whether instinctively or otherwise, the value of visual identity. By having his aircraft painted red, he turned himself into something more than a pilot and more into a symbol of bravery and leadership. As the war progressed, the idea that one aircraft was painted red was seen as a little sub-optimal as it made Richthofen a target, so more planes were painted the same colour.

    I like little survivals like this and because there were souvenir hunters, bits of the aircraft’s fabric skin are in museums around the world, not just here at the Air Force Museum, but at locations such as the Australian War Memorial museum. And, as another minor point that intrigued me, Richthofen was born in what is now Wrocław in a part of the city which is where I stay when visiting. I wonder what he would have thought about his birth place now being part of Poland.

  • Royal Air Force Museum Hendon – Downed Halifax

    Royal Air Force Museum Hendon – Downed Halifax

    This is a Halifax Mk II Series 1, serial W1048, built in 1942 and flown by No. 102 Squadron and No. 35 Squadron. On 27 April 1942, during its first operational mission, it took part in an attack on the German battleship Tirpitz in a Norwegian fjord. Damaged by anti-aircraft fire, it came down on a frozen lake where it eventually sank, which does rather explain its current look.

    Seen from the front, what survives feels less like a machine and more like evidence. Sensibly, no attempt has been made to flatter the thing back into glamour. The aircraft was recovered from the lake in 1973 and it eventually made its way to this museum. In what must have been a slightly odd reunion, members of the flight crew came here in 1983 to be reunited with the aircraft when it was installed here in this exhibition.

    It must have been rather sub-optimal for the RAF to lose W1048 on her first mission, but at least there was a controlled landing and no-one was killed, although there were injuries. The crew members were:

    Pilot Plt Off Don P MacIntyre (a 24 year old Canadian)

    Observer Plt Off Ian Hewitt (Also operated as bomb aimer and Navigator, had been commissioned 23 Mar 42; posted to No.35 Squadron 31 Mar 42; later received the DFC and became a Squadron Leader navigator with the Pathfinder Force; a chartered accountant in later life, he died in June 2015, aged 94)

    1st WOP/AG 908781 Sgt Dave Perry

    2nd WOP/AG R56057 Sgt Pierre Blanchet (Mid upper gunner. A Canadian)

    Tail Gunner 633143 Sgt Ron Wilson (A London cabby in later life)

    Flight Engineer 524209 Sgt Vic Stevens

    It was thanks to the Norwegian resistance that these crew were able to make their way to neutral Sweden and then safely back to the UK. I won’t recount the entire story, but it’s at http://www.archieraf.co.uk/archie/1048tls.html and it shows just how challenging it was for the airmen to get back home. It’s still hard to comprehend how difficult it must have been for them to try and get back to some sort of a normal life after the Second World War ended.

  • Royal Air Force Museum Hendon – Strike Hard, Strike Sure

    Royal Air Force Museum Hendon – Strike Hard, Strike Sure

    “Strike Sure, Strike Hard” is one of those wartime mottoes that sounds blunt, confident and entirely uninterested in moral hesitation. Indeed, this is something that the museum does confront, the sheer damage caused by the British bombers. The promise that violence, properly directed, could produce victory and scare the German population into surrender.

    I think it’s fair to say that being a member of aircrew during the Second World War was not going to be a quiet back office job. Of those on a tour of 30 operations, over half were killed and a quarter became prisoners of war, with just 16% surviving unhurt.

    Although it is now controversial, the bombings of German cities was seen as essential at the time in regaining the upper hand. Arthur Harris (1892-1984), later known as Bomber Harris, became the most famous advocate of that thinking, and Cologne was central to it. The city was the target of the first thousand bomber raid in May 1942, a deliberate and highly symbolic demonstration of overwhelming force. And this was particularly relevant to me as I had spent three days in Cologne a few days before visiting this museum.

    The “Strike Sure, Strike Hard” was also the name of this whole exhibition about the Second World War. I thought it was all quite balanced, not focusing entirely on military might and destruction, but also on the more complex and nuanced matters of war in general. But the museum was very sure to mention the bravery of those involved and quite rightly so.

  • Royal Air Force Museum Hendon – Anthony Gross and the Quiet Machinery of War

    Royal Air Force Museum Hendon – Anthony Gross and the Quiet Machinery of War

    Anthony Gross (1905-1984) was not so much interested in the glamorous end of war, which is probably just as well, because glamour tends to be in rather short supply in a medical facility, known as the advanced dressing station. His 1942 watercolour ‘The Battle of Egypt – Advanced Dressing Station Interior’ shows men waiting, resting and enduring, with one figure seated in the middle of the picture while others lie around him in a scene of fatigue and exhaustion rather than triumph. These are the human consequences of war, just a waiting room of pain and I’m still not sure that I can really comprehend how frightening this whole process must have been.

    In early life Gross lived in Dulwich and Camberwell, apprenticed at the LCC School of Photo Engraving and Lithography, then studied at the Slade and in Paris, which gave him a rather serious artistic grounding before the Second World War arranged more urgent subject matter for him. The information panel at the museum notes that he was one of four official war artists commissioned to record the Middle East theatre of war, in this case focusing on the people patching up the wounded in conditions that look deeply sub-optimal, while everyone tries not to think too hard about what comes next.

    And, something which interested me more than it probably should have done, but it was Anthony Gross who created the artwork for the first edition of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.

  • Colindale – Moon Under Water

    Colindale – Moon Under Water

    Apologies for the slightly sub-optimal image quality here, but this is the Moon Under Water in Colindale, which is also listed in the Good Beer Guide. Using the venue’s own history:

    “Several Wetherspoon pubs have ‘moon’ in their name, linking them with the ideal pub described in detail by George Orwell. The highly regarded author named his fictional pub ‘Moon Under Water’. This one was purpose built as a branch of the Woolworths chain. It opened in early summer of 1939, serving a fast-growing suburb. Woolworths traded here at Varley Parade for 45 years, closing in 1984.”

    There’s a really interesting site about the history of Woolworths (I know I should get out more) and they have an old photo at https://wooliesbuildings.wordpress.com/2021/10/12/hendon-woolworths-store-750/.

    This is the rear area of the pub, which feels more like the dining area. The service was friendly and timely, with the venue having a laid-back and comfortable feel to it.

    This venue is on the cheapest price band which made this meal and drink under £6, which feels very reasonable to me. Although goodness knows what they did to the eggs. A perfectly decent arrangement with the non alcohol Guinness.

    My now obligatory carpet photo.

    This is the more lively front bar and as I was in the venue for quite a time and they had a special offer on the curry, I accidentally ordered one of those as well. Anyway, this was hot and tasted as expected, alongside my non alcoholic Erdinger.

    I like looking at the reviews of JD Wetherspoon venues and I was once again tempted by that here. The venue is rated towards the higher end of the scale nationally and I must admit, I rather liked it here and didn’t rush to leave. But that’s evident as I had two meals.

    “After driving 4 hours from Belgium with my 17-year-old son, we came here for a proper meal. I ordered a beer for myself and gave him a tiny sip with his meal — perfectly legal under UK law. The manager (pictured) didn’t even approach us himself — instead, he sent a waiter to tell us we had to leave. When I asked him directly why, he offered vague excuses and no real explanation. Our meals were shoved into cartons, and we were shown the door with no respect or courtesy.”

    This reviewer has decided to post photos of the team member which seems entirely out of order to me. And he gave alcohol to an underage person which is against the policies of JD Wetherspoon and he wondered why he got thrown out?

    “Shocked when I had to speak to this branch manager this evening. My 18 year old ordered on the app for a Manchester Moon under water – correctly selecting the Manchester location 0.3 miles from her. The app sent her order here??? 155 miles away Why no one knows?”

    I think everyone knows, she ordered it to the wrong venue. The downside of JD Wetherspoon having about thirty pubs with this name.

    “Awful experience, the assistant ‘manager’ who barely looked 21 took great pride in saying as two of our party did not have their IDs that they could not stay past 9pm. He then tried to say it’s the law, which it clearly is not and when asked to provide proof it was the law, he was unable too, then said it was the branch policy. Probably made his night being spiteful and nasty to customers. Thing about Wetherspoons, there is little point in complaining as they specialise in being cheap and could not give a monkeys about their customers.”

    Challenge 21 is almost certainly in their licensing requirements, but might as well mock how old the team member looks.

    “Need to retrain the chefs. Went in twice for tea as we was working away from home. Both times the food was terrible. Everything was over cooked. Even the fried eggs. If a chef cant cook an egg then its time to give up.”

    I have some sympathy with the egg comment.

    “Typical moons pub, grotty and full of Not trendy people, I only went because it was a works drink. Had one drink and had to leave.”

    Hmmmm, those blasted non trendy people…

    I was slightly disappointed to discover that there weren’t any negative reviews from customers who weren’t allowed to bring their dog in.

    Anyway, I liked it here and it’s the first time that I’ve visited. There were six real ales available as well as a number of craft beers, all enough to justify their place in the Good Beer Guide.

  • Royal Air Force Museum Hendon – Taylorcraft Auster and the Art of Looking Down

    Royal Air Force Museum Hendon – Taylorcraft Auster and the Art of Looking Down

    The Taylorcraft Auster Mk1, used as an Air Observation Post from 1942 to 1946, seems like a practical little machine. Its intentions were simple, get into the air, find things on the ground and help artillery hit them with greater accuracy than might otherwise have been the case. It rather feels like the drones that are currently being used in Ukraine and Russia.

    Around 100 of them were built and in 1944, the Royal Air Force trained members of the British Army to fly them. I’m not sure whether that was because they weren’t exotic enough for the RAF pilots or were just incredibly easy to fly. There are a fair few of the later versions of the aircraft still about, but it seems there are only a couple of the Mark 1 versions, this one and another at Historic Army Aircraft Flight charitable trust. I think I like understated things, so this was one of my favourite aircraft in the museum, as who needs huge firepower?