Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: London

  • Flights – Heathrow T5 to Bucharest (British Airways)

    Flights – Heathrow T5 to Bucharest (British Airways)

    My flight today was the 10:05 BA886 service operating from London Heathrow T5 to Bucharest in Romania. I haven’t been to Bucharest before, although I’ve been to Romania when I visited Oradea a couple of years ago. The aircraft being used today was G-TTNC, an Airbus A320 which was acquired new by British Airways in June 2018. The aircraft had come from Toulouse this morning and after it had returned from Bucharest, it then flew to Brussels.

    The boarding process was well managed and the boarding by group was enforced. One of the staff was quite forthright in dealing with customers who tried to board before they were meant to, but if there’s going to be a policy on things like this, it may as well be enforced. I was surprised how many customers tried to ignore the instructions that the staff members were making and although some might have been lost in translation, there were a few customers with headphones who seemed just a little oblivious to everything going on around them and they just wanted to board.

    I had an emergency exit row seat, so there was plenty of space, and no-one was seated next to me either. I felt sorry for the crew, playing Jenga with bags to try and fit them all in the overheads. They had to put some bags in storage elsewhere on the aircraft and so they were perhaps fortunate that there were twenty or so seats which were unused. As I’ve posted about before, the amount of bags that are brought on board is going to have to be reduced at some point.

    The emergency exit row.

    This is the first short-haul BA aircraft that I’ve been on which has wi-fi availability. I can cope, well – just about, without Internet for a couple of hours, so I wasn’t tempted, but it’s a useful service.

    For those who do want to use it, the wi-fi service costs £2.99 per flight, which seems reasonable enough.

    The descent was quite bumpy, with one customer walking down the aisles stumbling somewhat, but the crew were on hand. The crew were always pro-active and helpful, offering a really friendly service which always felt efficient but unhurried. The flight arrived in around ten minutes before its scheduled time and the pilots offered useful and timely announcements. The flight wasn’t the cheapest at £66 return and it would have likely been cheaper with a budget airline, but the cost wasn’t unreasonable and I felt that £33 for each journey was entirely acceptable.

    Incidentally, the border process at Bucharest Airport was efficient, although the staff took quite some time with every incoming individual and so I’m not sure what they were checking. There were lots of signs about the coronavirus as well, with a fair few passengers wearing face masks. Anyway, what I was going to mention was just as I was being called forwards, a customer came from the back of the queue to ask the member of border staff to hurry up. He was ushered away by another staff member in what was a polite manner, but I have to say that any customer who is rude to border or customs staff is taking a huge risk….. I suspect that his request for a swift route through the border wasn’t granted.

  • Acton – George and Dragon

    Acton – George and Dragon

    This was the second Good Beer Guide pub that I went to in Acton, the other being the Red Lion and Pineapple. It was a strange first impression, as I entered the pub and the first room was empty (well, it had furniture, just no people), then the second room was the same and then the third room, which was the bar, was empty other than for a member of bar staff who seemed to be cleaning. It was one of those experiences whether I was wondering whether I’d wandered into a pub that wasn’t open yet.

    But, all was well, it transpired that the pub had just opened at 16:00 and I’d meandered in a few minutes after that, so they likely weren’t expecting many customers at that point. The staff member was friendly and engaging, willingly explaining that there was one dark beer option that met my requirements.

    This photo is of the main bar area, with fermentation tanks at the rear of the room, as the pub brews its own beer, trading as the Dragonfly Brewery. In 1958, the pub was advertising that it had opened a new ballroom and restaurant, which I assume would have been in this room. They also advertised “West End Cuisine at Moderate Prices” and this is clearly a location that has seen many weddings and functions over the decades. Like most pubs, the premises were also used to hold inquests into deaths, something which might be seen as a little macabre today. I’m not sure that the Queen of Iceni would be an ideal location to debate how someone had died whilst people are queueing for their unlimited refills of coffee.

    The pub actually has a screen which lists the beer, which is clear and well presented, although I didn’t see it at first as it’s only noticeable when leaving the bar.

    The beer that I opted for, the Clout Stout from the Clouded Minds brewery. It might have been because the beer was served just a touch cold that I struggled to get many flavours from this stout, although it had a generally pleasant and refreshing taste to it. There are meant to be tastes of malts, cocoa, dried fruits and figs, although they went over my head (or over my palate, whatever is the most appropriate phrase).

    This is the second room that I mentioned earlier. There’s a lot of history evident in this building, something that I very much like. This was once a pub that was a stop-off for anyone travelling from London to Oxford, and they’re proud of their list of landlords dating back to 1759 which are on a board in the pub.

    And the first room, where customers enter from the road. It seems that this first room dates to the eighteenth century, whilst the second room is earlier, from around the seventeenth century. The building itself wasn’t mauled about in the nineteenth century, a fate which befell most other similar premises in the area, but was originally two separate houses when it was constructed in the seventeenth century.

    This is a communal table, a nice idea for when the pub is busy. There’s also a bit of a stage in this room, as there is live music offered, something which reading in old newspapers the pub has been known for over the last few decades. The pub also serves Thai food, although I didn’t see any menus, so that might start a little later on in the evening.

    I sufficiently liked this venue to make it my first candidate for my pub of the year….. There’s a quirky edge to the pub, which is clearly full of history, with a welcoming feel to it. All very lovely.

  • Acton – Red Lion and Pineapple

    Acton – Red Lion and Pineapple

    I had some spare time en route to Heathrow, so I had a little stop in Acton to visit a couple of pubs listed in the Good Beer Guide. This one is a JD Wetherspoon operated pub, which they took over in the early 1990s from Fuller’s. There seem to be different stories about this pub’s history, but it was the Red Lion until around the 1960s, when the Pineapple bit was added to prevent any confusion with other pubs with a similar name (of which there are no shortage). Part of the building is from an older pub which was mostly demolished to make way for a tramway project in the nineteenth century.

    That’s the story anyway, but an 1880s map shows that there was nothing here at all, but a pub was built in the 1890s which I suspect is the older part of the current pub. It was all one building by the 1930s, so the new pub building seems to be from the early twentieth century. Anyway, whatever the truth, it’s an interesting building and the main part of the pub has a large circular bar which dominates the interior.

    A sufficiently well balanced beer selection, with the Gothick Dark from Twickenham brewery having rather an attractive pump clip. The taste of it was a little less exciting, the faintest flavour of chocolate and not much else, although it’s something different at least. The staff member was conversational and engaging, so all entirely welcoming.

    Anyway, onto TripAdvisor, which is something I haven’t been able to do for over a month, as there are few ridiculous reviews on Polish bars, restaurants and hotels….

    “We went for a bottomless brunch nearby and here straight after. We bought a round of drinks and all was fine however, one of our party went to ask for tap water and they refused to give it as we had been to the brunch. Apparently police have asked them not to serve Aeronaut brunchers – but really? Water?”

    The Aeronauts is a nearby pub which offers unlimited alcohol for brunch. The pub’s management replied that there’s water on the bar (which there is) and no-one was refused access to it.

    “I too was in the group mentioned previously (in fact I bought the initial round of drinks which was a decent bit of business for yourselves and which, presumably, you would have foregone had you known we had committed the terrible crime of attending the Disney singalong brunch before attending your vile establishment).”

    Calling a pub vile because they were nervous about serving drunk people? I think it’s clear what’s happened here….

    Another customer questioned the management response, posting:

    “I think management have got our group confused with someone else as no-one was ‘shown where the water dispenser was’ or ‘helped bring water to our table’. I do understand previous people from the brunch may have caused trouble but when you can see a group of friends trying to enjoy your pub and not causing trouble a little more compassion wouldn’t go a miss.”

    But the entirely unnecessary “vile establishment” comment is hard to ignore….

    “I felt i was been badly patronised by a team of youngsters who, put togheter, would have reached the age of 70y.o so,as i felt hungry,discretelly,i went accross the road and i got myself a portion of chips”freshly done”. I m sitting in the pub having my beer and a proper portion of chips till the extremelly young table service boy comesto my table and start telling me off about the chips,i explain that what i ordered and what i was served wasnt the same thing and he kept on repeating what he had already told me. This went on three times at which point i decided to make a fuss and asked to speak to the manager(probably around 20y.o)i explained what happened but,obviously,her experience in dealing with customers amounting only to speaking to drunken sods(and there were a few of them around the room).”

    Astoundingly, managers aged 20 can be incredibly good….. This customer wasn’t satisfied with his chips he purchased from the pub, so instead of asking for them to be recooked, he got some from the chip shop across the road. Which seems pretty passive aggressive to me, but each to their own….. It’s hard to imagine many more non-violent ways of making more fuss than bringing in food from another establishment…..

    “Male staff seem to focus on serving the many elderly, single men who frequent this place and ignore female customers”

    I have no idea whether this customer comment is true or not, but it’s the first time that I’ve ever heard a complaint that male bar staff ignore female customers…. I’ve heard the reverse complaint very many times.

    Anyway, the pub was all clean and organised, with an interesting choice of beers. My beer was £2.25 (or £1.75 with the CAMRA voucher) which is excellent value…..

  • Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street (New Trains)

    Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street (New Trains)

    This is the first time that I’ve had chance to go on the new train between Norwich and London Liverpool Street, I seem to have caught the older rolling stock over the last couple of months. The train was the 11:30 from Norwich, which seemed relatively quiet, even though it was taking passengers from the 12:00 service which had been cancelled. The new train has twelve carriages, and they’ve been made by Stadler in Switzerland.

    A screen showing customers where everything is on the train.

    It’s possible to see all the way down the train, but there are closeable see-through doors along the carriages. The design of the seats is clunky and rushed, the heater unit on the side is in the way of customers, as is the table’s central support which is just where knees might otherwise go. There is now just one power point between two people (unless one has a USB) and for reasons that I cannot comprehend, plugs don’t fit into many of the power sockets as the base of the seat is in the way. I was able to plug my laptop into the power sockets under the seats on the other side of the table, but only because there was no-one sitting there. It’s an unfortunate bodged job from Greater Anglia, arguably unacceptable given the price increases that they’ve introduced which should have meant they had more than enough money to do this properly.

    This slightly irritated me, some idiot putting their feet on what are nearly new seats. Fortunately, it also irritated the guard who politely, but firmly, told the passenger to stop this behaviour when he saw her.

    And safely into London Liverpool Street, all on time.

    The old rolling stock on the left and the new rolling stock on the right.

    Taking everything into account, I prefer the older train. It’s more comfortable, it’s better designed and I think it’s more functional. However, there are two caveats with that, the older train isn’t easy for those with disabilities and it also doesn’t hold as many people as the new train, so these are two big advantages with the upgrade. It’s all very nice that money has been spent on new trains, but I’m hoping that they’re taken in for an interior refit soon to try and give the finish a slightly classier and more functional edge.

  • Heathrow T5 – British Airways B Gates Lounge

    I’ve written about this lounge before in more detail here, but there have been a few new food developments….

    I haven’t seen this before, and although I’m not sure garlic is an ideal ingredient before customers board an aircraft, I very much like black pepper chicken.

    It was absolutely delicious, the chicken was tender and there was a peppery taste to the sauce.

    I’ve seen this before, but only recently, which is the carrot cake. Very nice…. Moist and flavourful….

    But, my favourite addition to the lounge food are the pork pies with piccalilli. I don’t like pork pies with lots of jelly, so these meet my requirements in terms of their overall taste and their lack of jelly.

  • Flights – Heathrow T5 to Warsaw (British Airways)

    Flights – Heathrow T5 to Warsaw (British Airways)

    This was the clearest photo that I could get of today’s BA850 service from London Heathrow T5 to Warsaw Chopin Airport in Poland. The aircraft was G-EUPH, an Airbus A319, which British Airways have owned since April 2000 when it was new. These A319 aircraft are gradually being withdrawn from service, but they’ve served the airline well.

    As I was at B Gates lounge I asked the staff member if she could see where the flight was departing from before it was announced, to save me walking back if the departure was at B Gates. It was at Gate A23 in the main terminal and I was the first to arrive there, primarily since the gate number hadn’t otherwise been announced.

    And here’s the packed waiting area, although it soon got much busier. The staff were pro-active in trying to get customers with two bags to put one of them in the hold, as the flight was nearly full. Some people refused and so a different staff member, who was more forthright to say the least, went round and politely told customers that it wasn’t really an option. The amount of bags that customers are taking on board is becoming ridiculous, something will need to be done at some stage about them.

    The boarding process was otherwise orderly and well managed, with groups called forwards carefully and customers were despatched back to the seating area if they tried to jump the queue. I like organisation.

    I had an exit row aisle seat and there was no-one next to me, so it was a comfortable flight in terms of the space available.

    We were delayed on take-off, partly as the inbound flight had been a few minutes late, but primarily as the crew had problems trying to fit all the bags on. Some customers, mostly those who were trying to bring on a bag the size of a small hippo couldn’t find anywhere to store them. At one stage there were eight customers standing in the aisle of the aircraft with bags not fitting in anywhere, but the crew did their usual jenga tactics of moving and restacking bags, with another going into storage elsewhere.

    The flight eventually arrived into Warsaw twenty minutes late, so no real problem, with the crew members being conscientious with their announcements and updates. There was a buy on board service which went up and down the cabin, but I saw only a few customers buy anything from it. The fare was £55 return plus 2,500 Avios, although I get 1,350 Avios back with this flight.

  • Heathrow – Ibis Heathrow

    Heathrow – Ibis Heathrow

    I’ve stayed at this Ibis hotel near the airport a few times and written about it before. It’s a short free bus journey away if using TFL buses and there’s car parking available for those who insist on driving everywhere.

    This is one of the Accor hotels which persists in this habit of welcoming customers from the customer side of the reception desk. I don’t much like the practice, they’re often leaving screens open with names of other guests, and I’m pleased more Accor hotels are ditching this policy.

    The check-in process was relatively quick, but they missed my free drink voucher, although it was provided quickly enough when I very politely hinted about it.

    I’ve only once been given a welcome amenity by this hotel, and Accor themselves have told me to mark this hotel down for failing to do so every time. That seems a little harsh, but consistency is probably in the hotel’s own interests. The room was clean and well presented though, with a most lovely view of the car park. Everything was well stocked and worked properly, with the wi-fi being fine, albeit with a couple of drop-outs. They still have the anti-theft devices on their towels that I mentioned last time.

    The room this time didn’t have an information card about breakfast times, contact details and the like, but it now has a menu instead.

    The hotel is asking guests to pay £1 per bag they want stored during the day, which is donated to charity. I’ve never stored bags here, but I’m not convinced that charging for a service that guests would expect for free is an ideal solution here. I thought Accor hotels were meant to organise separate events to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust rather than this, but it is a marvellous charity to raise money for.

    This was provided after I queried where it was….

    The bar area, with two members of staff, one of whom was competent and welcoming, the other was, well, not. Bar work really isn’t an ideal role for those with misanthropic tendencies.

    The London Pride was off, just for a short while, so I went for the Goose Session IPA as I haven’t had it before. Slightly generic, but it’s an interesting additional option for the hotel to offer as nearly every customer I noticed order beer went for the Stella option….

    And served in a branded glass and at the appropriate temperature.

    The breakfast buffet arrangements, with the food placed on two large tables in the centre of the restaurant area. There were plenty of seating available and the manager was making continual efforts to keep everything clean and tidy. There didn’t seem many customers going for the breakfast option, but it starts early and runs late to cater for those with strange flight times, so perhaps it’s rarely overly busy.

    The croissants were particularly nice, although the muffins were the usual bland Ibis affair which the company must provide. The sausages were delicious and flavoursome, with the bacon either served slightly firm (my favourite) or with raw fat on it (my least favourite) which required some dexterity to get the piece I wanted. The ham lacked some colour and seemed quite grey, as if it had been out for a little while, but everything seemed organised and well presented.

    I had a look at TripAdvisor to amuse myself and the hotel was left this ridiculous review.

    “When I arrived at just gone 11am, which I have done on MANY occasions, I was expecting maybe a short wait to get into my room as 11 is a little early, what I wasn’t expecting was to be told the hotel was fully booked the night before & I would have to wait until TWO pm to check in UNLESS I paid an extra £20.00 & then low & behold a room would miraculously appear clean & ready for me.”

    I’m often one of those people who checks in early, but 11:00 is very early for a check-in…. £20 for early check-in seems reasonable to me, although it’s free for most under the loyalty scheme anyway.

    “You either have NO rooms available full stop because the hotel is booked OR you put your prices up on your website & on booking.com to reflect how much you are ACTUALLY going to charge people to get into their room at a reasonable time.”

    14:00 seems reasonable to me…. They definitely had a room, ready and waiting for those who wanted to pay…. This is the problems that hotels face, they try and help customers by giving them something they’re not entitled to, such as an early check-in, only for the customer to throw it back at them later on with a 1 star review when they don’t get the same favour.

    Overall, I can’t much complain (although I seem to end up doing so on here….) as the room, including breakfast, came to just over £30. For the convenience of Heathrow, this was ideal, plus I’ll get some points back on the new Accor Limitless loyalty scheme.

  • Heathrow – Free Travel Zone

    Heathrow – Free Travel Zone

    I’ve been aware of the free travel zone at Heathrow for some time and it’s a useful way of getting to the airport from Bath Road without having to pay for the Hoppa Bus. I stay relatively frequently at the Ibis Heathrow which is marginally outside of the zone, but it’s only a three-minute walk to the next bus stop that’s within it.

    For some reason (probably because I don’t think as much as I should….) I’ve always got the buses to the central bus terminal and then got the underground or Hex to T5 (both free for changing between terminals) from there. But, I realised today that there’s the 423 bus which goes straight to the delights of T5, so there was no need for me to go to the central bus terminal.

    It wasn’t the busiest bus that I’ve ever seen, although it picked up a few more passengers en route to T5.

    Image result for hal free travel zone

    And here’s the free travel zone in its entirety…. For anyone staying on the Bath Road, unless they’re at a strange place along it, getting the TFL bus is a handy saving on the otherwise quite expensive charges of the Hoppa bus.

  • Stoke Newington – Rectory Road Railway Station

    Stoke Newington – Rectory Road Railway Station

    This railway station doesn’t look particularly exciting, perhaps primarily as it’s a modern building. The station was originally constructed by Great Eastern Railway in 1872 as part of a new branch line which went down to London Liverpool Street. It took its name from, well, the street called Rectory Road, which is now known as the A10.

    In 1878, the owners of Manor Tavern, which was on the corner of Church Road and Rectory Road, advertised their property by writing “no neighbourhood in London is developing more rapidly than this. Since the opening of the station, building has been pushed on most extensively, and it is quite certain that within but a short time this house will be doing an immense trade. With these prospects it has also the solid present advantage of a large and lucrative business, everything being sold at the fullest prices”. The rent was £100 per year, which is only around £8,000 per year today, so quite a bargain in modern terms. The pub is still standing, but it’s now flats as it closed as a public house in the early part of this century.

    The footbridge over the top of the line, which has the road behind it, isn’t likely to win many awards for architecture. All of this was built in 1975, replacing the previous more basic structure with a more solid brick construction.

    Looking down the track, away from London.

    This line was operated by Greater Anglia, but it’s now run by TFL.

  • London – Fourex Machine

    London – Fourex Machine

    I’ve never seen one of these machines, but it appears that the company operates around 75 of them, primarily in London, but also at some transport hubs. They’re a way for customers to place in foreign coins and notes and get back out UK pounds, or another currency. They even accept pre-Euro currency, so an opportunity to get rid of some old French francs.

    The rates aren’t though the best. 1,000 Polish zloty are currently worth just over £200 (which is good, as they were lower a few weeks ago and I’m off there next), but this machine would pay £175 (or just £120 if coins were paid in). Looking at companies who provide buy-back, they give back from £195 at best (currency on-line group to £181 at worst (RBS). However, for convenience, the rates aren’t too bad in the scale of things and the banks don’t generally accept coins at all.

    It’s a marvellous idea though and I might look at my little currency reserves, which are very small, as there doesn’t seem to be a minimum transaction size. A very good idea and the transparency of having the rates on their web-site is also useful.