Some central London positivity….
Category: London
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London – Camden – Old Street Sign on Heathcote Street
I’m sure there are many older examples of street signs, but I’m still impressed that this one remains. The WC postcode was scrapped in 1917 and replaced with WC1 and WC2. Or, more precisely, it was a postal district back when it was created in the mid nineteenth century, as postcodes are more modern. But they’re of a similar principle.
The Heathcote Street sign mentions that it leads on to Mecklenburgh Square, Doughty Street, Caroline Place and Guilford Street. The sign has lasted longer than one of the streets, as Caroline Place has now become part of Mecklenburgh Square, likely because there’s another Caroline Place in the city.
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London – Camden – British Museum (King’s Library)
I didn’t get to see this room last time I was in the British Museum, which was just after it re-opened, either because it wasn’t open or I got muddled up with signage. Probably the latter. It’s the room which housed the King’s Library between 1827 and 1998, with the books now moved to a new display area at the British Library at its new site nearby.
It held the library of books that were collected by King George III and which were given to the nation by his son, King George IV. It’s suspected he did this mainly to avoid paying to maintain them, but either way, the nation benefitted from this legacy. He made the demand that the collection must be kept separate from the rest of the library’s volumes, which has been honoured. Unfortunately, a few hundred books were destroyed during air raids in the Second World War, but most of the collection has survived the last 200 years.
The room is used today by the British Museum as an “Enlightenment Gallery” which is interesting, although there’s not a great deal of linkage to literature. But, I suppose, that’s the job of the British Library now. Anyway, it’s a beautiful room and the bookshelves have all been left in situ.
A drawing (© The Trustees of the British Museum – https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_2003-0227-1) by Eugene Armand Roy from 1851 and it’s the earliest known colour representation of the old King’s Library in the British Museum.
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London – Camden (Borough of) – Goodenough on Mecklenburgh Square
I’ve been meaning to use up one of my hotels.com reward nights for some time, which was a free hotel stay up to the value of £53. That meant I had to find a hotel that cost at least that much to get value for money, with this one coming in at around £60, so it only cost me a few pounds. It’s the hotel attached to Goodenough College and the building stretches across five town houses, most of which were used as nurse’s homes after the Second World War.
The grand entrance to the building, with an air of formality about the hotel, but the member of staff at reception was friendly and engaging.
The single room, which I struggled to find, because the hotel numbering system gives each one of the five buildings a number, so a room number beginning with 4 is in the fourth building and not on the fourth floor. It was all a bit complex for me….. The room was clean, compact and at the appropriate temperature, with a modern bathroom. I dread to think how much this cost to convert the building, but it has been done tastefully and sensitively. There isn’t though a lift, as no doubt the building would never have been able to accommodate that, so there was a fair amount of walking up stairs, all useful training for the LDWA 100.
The hospitality tray in the cupboard.
There was a choice of breakfast, either a simple continental breakfast served in a bag outside the room, or a cooked breakfast at the college opposite. The man at reception said that I couldn’t possibly get lost and that the cooked option was best.
After I got lost and had to get a staff member to show me where to go, this is the Great Hall of Goodenough College, one of the nicer breakfast surroundings that I’ve had. There was no-one else around, other than for a personable and helpful manager and a member of serving staff, both of whom offered another friendly welcome.
The breakfast quality was a bit marginal in terms of the ingredients, but it was pleasant enough and I liked the dining environment. Not at all bad given that the breakfast price is included within the room rate and it isn’t far to walk.
I’m not sure that the hotel normally has room rates this low, circumstances have rather forced lower prices upon them. Often used by academics and students at the college, the hotel probably doesn’t usually have such availability, so this was a useful time to try somewhere new. Anyway, all rather lovely.
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London – Merton (Borough of) – Wimbledon – Two Fat Ladies
This eight foot high sculpture is known as the ‘the two fat ladies’ locally and was designed by Andre Wallace. There was a near riot amongst the local denizens when it was removed in early 2012 from its previous location outside of the railway station, but, fortunately, it was just being moved whilst work was undertaken on the forecourt. The sculpture is officially known as “Walking Women”, so I’m not sure what the sculptor thinks about all of this. Hopefully he likes that the public have connected with it….
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London – Central London (Photos of St. Paul’s)
Just photos, I quite liked the colour of the sky because of the heavy rain which was just passing by.
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London – Merton (Borough of) – Wimbledon – Wibbas Down Inn
After a half-hearted attempt at the Wimbledon Heritage Walk I had a little look at what Good Beer Guide pubs there were in the area. There were none in the centre of Wimbledon, which was moderately disappointing. There was though a JD Wetherspoon, so that had to do. It’s name comes from an old spelling of Wimbledon and it’s located in a former Tesco, which is much better than a pub turned into a supermarket.
It’s a large pub, with an entrance from both sides of the building.
I splashed out 85p on half a pint of Shepherd Neame Bishops Finger, so no expense was spared here. A staff member came over with this pint and apologised that they had over-poured it and did I want it as a pint for no extra money? I did. Anyway, the beer was fine, at the appropriate temperature and with some fruit flavours to it.
The pub handily has lots of plug sockets, so I got my 85p worth (even though to be fair I had already received that with a pint) by charging my devices up. I’m not entirely sure that I contributed much to Wetherspoon’s profits here, but there we go…. The reviews on TripAdvisor aren’t great, but I’m amused with reviews which start like this:
“Known for its cheap, end of line, short shelf life beers”
It isn’t and the rest of the review continued in this vein, ending that they left “in some fear for my well being”. Hmmm.
This sounds more exciting though:
“Our table was dirty so I tried to get someone to clean it, there were loads of staff that I could see but they were chatting in a corner behind the bar and a few at a table on their break. One member of staff walking around went over to the group at the table to talk to them, put one knee on a stool and proceeded to stroke her own bottom repeatedly for the next few moments whilst we are still waiting to get someone to clean our table! I eventually managed to get another person to clean it, whilst everyone else is still chatting and fondling themselves!”
The pub didn’t reply to that one unfortunately. Although it was more entertaining than the customer who posted as their entire review on Google “went for the free water”.
Anyway, it was all clean and organised, the staff seemed sufficiently friendly and I got a pint for 85p.
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London – Camden (Borough of) – Holborn – The Holborn Whippet
This pub in Holborn has an interesting name and, more importantly, is listed in the Good Beer Guide. As an aside, the 2021 edition is out next week, so I might be visiting locations that have already been removed from it. Such is the jeopardy I live with…. Or something like that, but anyway, I digress.
There’s a focus on small craft breweries, with the prices being reasonable given the central London location. I opted for the Railway Porter from The Five Points Brewing Company, a small brewery from Hackney. It was a solid porter with a richness to it and plenty of chocolate flavour, although the aftertaste was a bit limited. Still a decent option though.
The pub wasn’t particularly busy and drinks were brought to the table with customers asked to scan a QR code to order. Service was polite, but perhaps routine, and it felt a comfortable location to be in. This was previously one of the small chain known as Father’s Study, a slightly bizarre concept which didn’t last long. Before then the location was used as a cafe called Yum Nation.
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London – Havering (Borough of) – Upminster – Upminster Park
I’m not usually too engaged with parks, but this one has an interesting backstory which is explained on this information board. In short, this was formerly land belonging to St. Laurence’s Church and the monies from this supported the parish. As the town of Hornchurch was increasing in population size exponentially from the 1920s, the authorities thought that it was probably best to get some space sorted out for a park.
The information board suggests that there was a little argument between the Church Commissioners and the town when the sale was talked about in 1927. However, in 1929, the sale was completed and Hornchurch had a lovely new park. It was kept open during the Second World War and some air-raid shelters were constructed, although these were taken down in 1948 to build an ornamental garden.
And the park today, it was being used by numerous sports teams, dog walkers and individuals when I meandered around it.
This is what the area looked like in around 1920 when it was still glebe lands, it’s the square area which conveniently (for the purposes of this post) has the word Upminster in it.
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London – Havering (Borough of) – Hornchurch – Old Buildings on High Street
This post isn’t of the greatest excitement I’ll admit, but this is the main street of Hornchurch and some of the historic buildings which have remained. The main building in the centre-right of the photo is 197-201 High Street and this dates from the seventeenth century. The smaller building in the centre-left of the photo is 195 High Street, a former residential property which was also built in the seventeenth century. The building in the left of the photo is now Prezzo, but was formerly the King’s Head Inn, again dating from the seventeenth century. It was only converted into a restaurant in the last few years, with this row of buildings being some of the oldest in Hornchurch. I’m moderately survived that this range of buildings has survived given the urban development that has taken place around here over the last century.
This map is just over 100 years old and even then Hornchurch still resembled a village. The whole of this area is now built on, with the population being under 11,000 in 1920 and over 130,000 in 1960.
