Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: UK

  • Basildon – Premier Inn Basildon Festival Park

    Basildon – Premier Inn Basildon Festival Park

    This Premier Inn at Festival Park was keenly priced and isn’t too far away from the beating heart of Basildon town centre. I say beating heart because it’s nice to be polite.

    The welcome at the hotel was friendly and the room was clean and well-equipped. I liked that they had a large fan, although this is because there’s no air conditioning of note. Everything was well maintained in the room, although the fan in the bathroom sounded like an Airbus A380 taking off.

    The problem Premier Inn have, or as far as I’m concerned, is that they’ve skimped on the construction costs of their hotels. I’ve experienced before the problems they have with internal noise, and this hotel suffered badly from noise from all sides, let alone guests shouting. A lot of this problem is cheapness of the internal fit-out, a shame given that the room itself feels like it’s had some money spent on it.

    Internal noise in hotels annoys me far more than external noise, as I like the sound of roads and city outside the window. But creaking doors from other rooms and it sounding like people are rearranging furniture above can feel a bit intrusive. I’m probably one of the few people who is excited by a room next a busy road or railway station, so I’m not that demanding in this regard. In other regards, I’m a nightmare, but that’s a different matter.

    Anyway, all was OK with the stay overall, but buildings like this could perhaps do with being knocked down and rebuilt. I suspect that Premier Inn and Whitbread might not be sure of that sort of strategy though. But, for the first time I’d say in the best part of a decade, I do get the impression that Travelodge are moving back ahead of Premier Inn. That’s not borne out by customer reviews on-line, but the difference between the two is now very narrow and a few years ago, Travelodge was a country mile behind.

    I struggle not to think of Alan Partridge and his big plate, but that might just be because I live in Norwich….

  • London – Havering (Borough of) – Romford – Golden Lion

    London – Havering (Borough of) – Romford – Golden Lion

    I didn’t go inside this Greene King pub, but it’s worthy of some note as it’s claimed that it’s the pub which has been in the longest continuous use as an inn in the country. It’s known to have been trading since the early fifteenth century, which is one hell of a heritage to have. It’s located on the High Street in Romford, which was once the main road which went from Colchester to London. This meant it was an ideal location for a coaching inn and the building of the turnpike gave them a suitable boost in trade. It has generally kept the same name throughout its history, although was known as the Red Lion for a period during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

    The side of the pub. Staggeringly, as recently as the 1960s there was discussion about knocking the pub down to help build the new road system around Romford, but this was fortunately avoided.

    It’s a sizeable location, which I assume once had space for tens of horses. As an aside, this property was once owned by Francis Bacon (as in the philosopher and not the painter) and it might have been where Will Kemp stayed when he was morris dancing from London to Norwich.

  • London – Havering (Borough of) – Romford – Travelodge Romford Quadrant

    London – Havering (Borough of) – Romford – Travelodge Romford Quadrant

    At just over £20 for a night’s stay, I wasn’t entirely hopeful about what this Travelodge might offer. The exterior doesn’t look the most exciting for a hotel either.

    My first impressions weren’t great with the state of this carpet.

    But, appearances can be deceptive. The staff member at reception was warm and personable, with plenty of information being provided. The room, which was a little smaller than some other Travelodges, was clean and comfortable. There were also no noise issues either internally or externally.

    And, some significant credit should go to Travelodge for their Samsung air conditioning unit. Sometimes hotels have the same heating/cooling throughout, they pump warm air through in winter and cold air through in summer. It’s usually insufficient and gives the individual no ability to choose how warm they want their room. In other hotels the air conditioning is either limited or just doesn’t work. However, here, it worked very effectively and allowed me to get the room to my preferred temperature of cold.

    Some work was probably needed on the state of the old windows.

    All told, this stay represented excellent value for money, I was very impressed. It’s also in the centre of Romford for anyone who wants to treat themselves to a day there (I’m sure that there are some) and it’s easy to get to central London using TFL trains.

  • London – Havering (Borough of) – Romford – High Street Old Bridge

    London – Havering (Borough of) – Romford – High Street Old Bridge

    This plaque is on the external wall of the former Star Brewery building, which is now Havering Museum. I didn’t understand the relevance of why it was here, but a map helps to make sense of this. They knocked down the bridge in 1906 and it’s been partly covered over now. It’s the River Rom and the brewery had incorporated it into their brewing process, clearly deciding that the High Street no longer needed a bridge.

    The former location of the bridge is more obvious in this map. The Latin inscription on the stone notes that the bridge was rebuilt during the reign of King George II, and although the date of the rebuild wasn’t listed on the stone, it was likely in 1737.

  • London – Havering (Borough of) – Romford – Romford Brewery Company

    London – Havering (Borough of) – Romford – Romford Brewery Company

    The Brewery in Romford today is a shopping centre and entertainment complex, but this was once a brewery that operated over a large site.

    To be fair, the brewery seems to have taken up most of central Romford. It was founded at the beginning of the eighteenth century and was initially part of the Star Inn pub. Makes sense to run a brewery if you have your own pub to sell it in. It was also handily located next to a river, the River Rom which the town was named after, as well as having good transportation links.

    The brewery traded until 1993, but the site was redeveloped and re-opened as a shopping centre and entertainment complex in 2001.

    Housing has also now been constructed on the site.

    The frontage of the brewery on the High Street, which was historically the main road that went through Romford.

    The former entranceway to what was known as the Star Brewery for much of its life (due to the pub it was once attached to), with some interesting photos at http://breweryhistory.com/wiki/index.php?title=Ind_Coope_Ltd.

    The old brewery gates have been cleaned up and kept, a permanent reminder of what was once here.

  • London – Havering (Borough of) – Hornchurch – Towers

    London – Havering (Borough of) – Hornchurch – Towers

    I couldn’t quite work out why on earth Lidl had put the word ‘Towers’ outside their supermarket, but it looked interesting so I took a photo. Wikipedia has the answer here though for me, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towers_Cinema, this was a cinema between 1935 and 1973. It was in the art deco style and looks an impressive building, operated by Odeon for most of its time as a cinema. It was then turned into a bingo hall, before closing in 2015.

    Unfortunately, the building didn’t survive despite the efforts of locals. This is a shame, I suspect they’ll regret the demolition of these art deco buildings over the next few decades. Wikipedia note, so it may or may not be true, that Everyman Cinemas tried to buy the building, but Lidl won through and wanted it demolished. Shame that such a beautiful building was lost for such a generic supermarket design, but they kept the Towers lettering and placed it outside.

    As a piece of art design, Lidl’s idea to place the lettering here seems a good one, a reminder of what once stood here.

  • London – Havering (Borough of) – Romford – Cosmo World Buffet

    London – Havering (Borough of) – Romford – Cosmo World Buffet

    It’s a few years since I’ve been to the Cosmo at Romford Brewery, but I thought I’d have a decadent treat as they’ve re-opened this weekend. Being a self-service buffet, these have been challenging times for them, but they seem to have put a fair bit of work into making things operate safely and efficiently.

    The table-mats now operate as instructions for how to move around the buffet. A staff member also gave me a comprehensive introduction to the service arrangements and how to move around.

    The interior of the restaurant, which was moderately busy, but by no means packed. The service was efficient and payment is now taken during the middle of the meal, which is an interesting time to take it. The unlimited soft drink offer remains, but the staff now get drinks for customers. Cosmo have also temporarily surrendered their alcohol licence for the time being, although their drinks selection in this regard has never surprised and delighted me. So I stuck to Vimto.

    The buffet arrangement, with the usual high levels of choice. The roasts section was a bit depleted, but otherwise everything seemed well stocked. The one minor difficulty that I had was the gloves that they ask customers to use, as I found them challenging to open, but they’re a good idea. I had wondered whether Cosmo would revert to a system of staff serving customers, but that would have required a change of equipment and design, so wasn’t really viable.

    I think it’s fair to say that I could enter Masterchef with presentational skills such as this.

    And a selection of desserts, which weren’t particularly exciting, although this has never been a strong area for Cosmo in my view. Anyway, it’s perhaps not the most upmarket of restaurants, but it was all organised and well-managed, with the Norwich outlet of their chain also re-opening this weekend. I assume that they’ll be taking out a lot of their tables in Norwich, as otherwise customers end up being just too close to each other.

  • London – Havering (Borough of) – Hornchurch – JJ Moons

    London – Havering (Borough of) – Hornchurch – JJ Moons

    This JD Wetherspoon outlet opened in 1993 and it’s the only pub in Hornchurch which is listed in the Good Beer Guide.

    It’s relatively sizeable inside, this is at the back of the pub and the bar is located towards the front. All relatively clean and organised, with the health precautions being taken seriously.

    A quick chicken wrap without chips, all entirely acceptable, although slightly unusually the food arrived before the drinks. I had a half of the Dodge City Delta from Kansas Avenue Brewing, quite a floral beer and it was well-kept. There was another customer holding court loudly about Brexit, but it made a change from listening to people angry at how the Government are dealing with the health crisis.

    I had a quick look at TripAdvisor and the pub has some mixed reviews, although I liked this one:

    “We visited most Thursday or Saturday for breakfast. Only TWICE in the last year did we enjoy our meal enough to thank the chef. Food was either look warm, congealed looking, ville tasting or rolls covered in oil…….horrible
    Today, we visited. I had a new dish… Shepherds Pie……once again almost cold.”

    So, someone visited just over 100 times and had good food only twice. I have to say, it’s surprising to say the least that they kept going. But each to their own. There’s also a photo of someone’s breakfast which shows toast which is burnt. Often the customer seems to be exaggerating, and I quite like toast which is on the well-done end of the scale, but the photo that the customer uploaded shows toast which is pretty solidly black. Perhaps not the best day in the kitchen.

    Anyway, all was well with my visit, there were around six real ales on although no dark beers, and I can see why the pub is in the Good Beer Guide.

  • London – Havering (Borough of) – Upminster – Upminster Windmill

    London – Havering (Borough of) – Upminster – Upminster Windmill

    There are some more rural parts to Upminster that I had expected and this is a mill which was constructed between 1803 and 1805. It was badly damaged during storms in 1899 and the costs of reconstruction were thought to be too high, but members of the public donated half the cost of repair. The mill then stayed in usage until 1934 and there were plans for the site to be turned into housing. These plans didn’t come to fruition due to local opposition, with Essex County Council taking over the site just before the Second World War.

    The council didn’t do a great job, they left the outbuildings to fall into disrepair, requiring them to be demolished in the 1960s. They also lost some of the equipment, but in the 1970s volunteers started work on a project to restore the mill. It was fully restored and complete, but there’s a current restoration effort which has meant the top section has been temporarily dismantled.

    And an information board at the site. The mill is occasionally open to the public, although not until 2021 due to the current health crisis.

  • London – Havering (Borough of) – Upminster – Crumpled Horn

    London – Havering (Borough of) – Upminster – Crumpled Horn

    As a slight declaration of interest, I received a free drinks voucher for this pub, hence why I thought I’d pop in. The pub is run by Marstons and the voucher should have been for a free pint of any ale. I can’t really complain that they didn’t have any, since I was taking their free gesture anyway, but Marstons are a big brewer and it isn’t ideal they had entirely run out.

    The welcome was very personable, with the staff here seeming particularly friendly. There was an elderly customer that they spent some time on, it all seemed a pub that the community could call their own. The pub was also clean and the staff were taking the health situation seriously.

    I could have had a pint of Fosters, but that thought really didn’t appeal, hence the free white wine. I bought the crisps and they were rather lovely. I’m not really a wine person, but it tasted OK, that’s about my limit of comment on that. The pub is reasonably well reviewed, but there are a few comments running through that they’re offering no craft beer and their choice of real ales is either weak or not there at all. Unfortunately, this is a lager-led pub, but then again, if that’s what keeps them busy, I guess that’s working for them. But, for decent beer, I’d recommend the Upminster Taproom.