Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Kensington

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Windsor Castle

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Windsor Castle

    This pub is listed in the Good Beer Guide and is named because when built it was possible to see Windsor Castle from here. It’s no longer possible to do that….. Anyway, it’s operated by Mitchells & Butlers and its foliage packed frontage is hard to miss.

    The interior is of historic interest and it’s a pub on the CAMRA list of nationally important historic interiors. The pub was busy when I visited and they were one of those locations where they had numerous empty tables for reservations later on, but didn’t allow customers to sit on them until those times. Everything seemed clean and organised at the pub and there’s usually a list of craft beers for customers to peruse. But not on my visit. The staff were friendly and efficient and there was a vibrant, but safe, feel to the environment. I went into the rear beer garden which was relatively sizeable for a city pub and, fortunately, nice and cool in terms of the temperature.

    There was nothing else particularly exciting when I visited, although some more interesting beers were marked as being on soon. Left with Timothy Taylor’s Landlord, which was adequate but unexciting, there was nothing else of note I could mention. Which is a shame, as I’ve noted they have sold beers from Moncada here before, my favourite of breweries. So, all rather average, but their beer selection is in usual times seemingly quite innovative. Given how busy the pub was, this seems like a popular community local though.

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – The Union Tavern near Westbourne Park

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – The Union Tavern near Westbourne Park

    This is the Union Tavern, near to Westbourne Park underground station and it’s a Fuller’s pub which has embraced craft beer. I was perhaps unfortunate that I seemed to arrive at the only time during that part of the afternoon that a table outside wasn’t available (I nearly always avoid outside, but it was very humid), although I hadn’t booked and I didn’t return to the bar to see if I could move to be fair.

    The temperature inside was way too hot for me, so I made this visit relatively brief and didn’t sample as many beers as I would have done. Track and trace was in operation though, the staff member was polite and everything was clean and tidy.

    A well thought through selection of beers, by far and away the best I’ve seen at a Fuller’s pub. I also liked that they made the effort to print these sheets out for customers, they were very useful. I went for a Cambrian Root by Vibrant Forest Brewery and this was well-kept with a rich taste of chocolate. There’s a focus on beers from London, but there are some other options as well, and their web-site mentions occasional meet the brewer sessions.

    This is a really good canned beer list, with Siren Craft, Tiny Rebel and Brew York amongst the choices.

    That’s all I can write about the pub, it was potentially a joy, but the heat drove me away much quicker than I had anticipated. But, from all accounts, its position in the Good Beer Guide seems justified from what I saw with a welcoming vibe to it.

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – The Italian Job

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – The Italian Job

    I’ve never written a blog post like this.

    But, I walked out as I felt unsafe.

    I hope I never have to write another blog post like this again.

    Anyway, they are a company which has a few outlets, so I’ll try another one out of a sense of balance. And, as an update, I did, and it was much better. Which makes me feel much better about them, so all is well with the world again…

  • London – Ibis Styles – Kensington (Second Visit)

    London – Ibis Styles – Kensington (Second Visit)

    I stayed at this hotel a couple of weeks ago and thought that for the money, it was entirely reasonable. Clearly, as I booked to come back, and I have another reservation here next week and two friends have now booked the hotel as well. On my last visit, the hotel was clean, although there were elements that suggested to me that things hadn’t been checked, such as an empty shower gel dispensers.

    This time the hotel kindly upgraded me to a family room, which was room 16, the Mozart Room.

    Interesting theming on the inside of the door, Ibis Styles remains my favourite of the Accor brands.

    And the room was absolutely spotless, and I had no reservations here about the cleanliness. The bathroom was also clean, although perhaps needed a little modernisation. However, this was a lovely room, although the view was a little limited. Not that that’s a complaint, it was much better than the room I’d paid for.

    My view that more Accor hotels should offer a craft beer option is unchanged, but I was willingly given the Bud as a welcome drink. And, on this note, the staff members I encountered were friendly, engaging and really welcoming. Customer service here isn’t a problem, it’s a comfortable environment to be in.

    The breakfast bag, with coffee available in the basement as it was before. Perfectly acceptable under the current circumstances.

    And, overall, this proved to be excellent value for the money I paid. Especially since I got a bonus 500 points from Accor (worth €10) and with other discounts, this managed to take the room price to just over £20 including the breakfast. Quite marvellous.

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Rushmore Hotel

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Rushmore Hotel

    I’m using up the numerous Rewards Nights that I have with hotels.com and this accommodation option was keenly priced at under £40. It’s located around the corner from Earl’s Court underground station and easy to find. I was fortunate that a staff member was leaving the door just as I arrived as I’m not sure that the reception was routinely manned, although I was the only guest checking in that day so the process was all quick and easy.

    The stairs have a protective covering on, I assume due to decoration work which is going on.

    The room is small, although that was apparent when booking, but spotlessly clean. Indeed, a real effort has been made with the cleaning and I assume that it has been refurbished recently, as it’s in a good state of repair. The power points along one side of the room don’t work, although the ones on the other side do. The bathroom felt a little older in style, but it was just as clean, although the shower was quite small. But, everything worked and the toiletries provided were of a decent quality.

    I’m not a huge fan of keys like this and the process for getting in and out of the hotel seems to be a bit convoluted. I assume that the staff are usually around and so pressing the doorbell is sufficient, but if I had wanted to arrive back at 02:00 then I’m not sure what would have happened.

    Onto the matter of staffing, the welcome was authentic and genuine, there were no problems with the customer service here. The personable staff members gave the hotel a comfortable and informal feel, so it was all rather agreeable. I didn’t pay extra for breakfast, although this is available for those who want it. I’m staying, it seems quite frequently at the moment, at the nearby Ibis Styles, but I’d happily stay at this hotel again.

  • London – Ibis Styles – Kensington

    London – Ibis Styles – Kensington

    This is my first stay in an Accor hotel since March, with an offer rate of just over £25 per night including a basic breakfast. I’m not sure that I’ve seen that rate in a relatively central London hotel operated by Accor, so it seemed appropriate to take advantage of it.

    The bar area, located next to reception. I think I encountered four staff members during my stay and I’d say that they were all friendly, welcoming and engaging, so that was rather lovely. Check-in was swift, informative and polite.

    The sign at reception explaining what’s changed. Cleaning is now only offered on the third day and breakfast has been switched to a bag offered at reception. I had guessed this, but it’s perhaps inadequate that Accor don’t make this clear. Accor’s press office says that every hotel offers the same breakfast (I had wanted to ask numerous hotels what breakfasts they were doing, something they’re communicating badly), but this is a complete nonsense and their PR agency does no-one any good by suggesting it is. They didn’t offer the same breakfast before, so why they should be now, I have no idea. Anyway, I digress.

    The wall decoration in the reception area, a really quite nice and decorative map of the local area.

    There’s a Japanese theme to the hotel. I’m not sure why and it seems a bit of a half-effort, but I do like Ibis Styles themes.

    This is the single and small room, a feature of many hotels in the Kensington area of London (and many other areas of the city as well). In terms of cleanliness, it met my expectations, but I saw no evidence of a deep clean for a few reasons, such as the staff hadn’t realised there was nearly no soap left which I’d suspect would be obvious if everything was spotlessly cleaned and checked. But, expectations have to be a little measured given the room price and how many staff they have to clean the rooms. I thought the cleanliness was fine, just not perfect.

    That floating ‘l’ annoyed me. Not in a big way, but just a little bit.

    The breakfast, which remained the same every day other than on my final day when they mixed it all up by swapping the Coco Pops for a Frosties bar. It’s a nice effort, I thought the hotel did fine on this.

    The drinks voucher was offered, the welcome gift wasn’t. In normal times, that is rare for an Ibis Styles, but my expectations were more measured given everything going on.

    There was a choice of what I would considered to be three bloody awful beers and this was the best of a bad lot. It’s fair to say though that most people aren’t as bloody awkward about beer choices as I am (although I can name one). But, having said that, Ibis Styles is meant to be an on-trend brand, it’s time it moved on from rubbish beer like other hotel chains have done. Well, some hotel chains.

    In normal times, this was the breakfast area.

    The coffee machine, alongside spare coffee sachets and tea bags, was kept in action for those who wanted to venture down to the basement.

    So, all told, I thought that the hotel was doing really well. The staff seemed happy, they were engaging and friendly, the hotel public areas were kept clean and there were no noise disturbances. The air conditioning was better than in some hotels, but it never really chilled the room to the temperature that I like (frozen). There’s nothing essential that I thought that needed changing (a better beer selection would please me, but it’s hardly critical), so the value for money was excellent given what I paid.

  • London – Kensington – Natural History Museum (Snake…..)

    London – Kensington – Natural History Museum (Snake…..)

    I’m sure I saw a snake just like this last year when walking near to Hoveton….. They’re everywhere….

  • London – Kensington – Natural History Museum (South Shields Sunday Stone)

    London – Kensington – Natural History Museum (South Shields Sunday Stone)

    Not all rocks are old…. This exhibit at the Natural History Museum was formed in a coal mine in the 1800s, when the white mineral barium sulphate met coal dust. This only happened when miners were at work, so there’s a wider gap on Sundays, or “a calendar in rock” as the museum calls it.

  • London – Kensington – Natural History Museum (Megatherium)

    London – Kensington – Natural History Museum (Megatherium)

    A plaster cast of Megatherium, one of the largest mammals that has lived, and it’s effectively just a giant ground sloth. This cast was made in 1848 from two different skeletons and it’s been on display in the museum since 1850. I’m sure that, even at this large size, it still looked quite adorable and the animal could be as long as six metres in length from head to tail. They were found in the Americas and one of the reasons thought for their extinction around 12,000 years ago is human movement into the areas where they lived.

  • London – Kensington – Albert Memorial

    London – Kensington – Albert Memorial

    This is the subtle little memorial that was constructed in Kensington Gardens to honour Prince Albert, following his death in 1861. I’m not sure that many people have had a monument that took ten years to build and cost the modern equivalent of £10 million, although at least that was partly paid for by public subscription. The monument was unveiled by Queen Victoria in July 1872 and it was influenced by the thirteenth century Eleanor Crosses (here’s the one I visited in Waltham Cross).

    The statue was originally covered in gold, but this had worn off by the early twentieth century. It wasn’t replaced until relatively recently, in the late 1990s when the regilding was completed. I think it’s all a bit much, but it is a hugely impressive monument. The frieze at the base of the monument has 187 carved figures of various painters, poets, musicians and architects, although the public aren’t allowed that near to it to look at it properly.