Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: London

London – Southwark (Borough of) – Sun Wharf (New JD Wetherspoon)

A new JD Wetherspoon has opened at London Bridge station in what was formerly the London Dungeons. The entrance here is the former way into the London Dungeons, which was here between 1974 and 2013. This venue is a considerable project for the pub chain and it’s open for long hours, between 06:30 and 00:30 every day of the week.

As usual, I’ll take the pub’s history from their own website:

“Next to London Bridge station’s entrance, 48–50 Tooley Street are distinctive brick arches. Until 2013 (almost 40 years), this had been The London Dungeon. The arches were occupied by importers and provision agents, whose livelihoods depended on the warehouses opposite. Many have survived (Hay’s Wharf, now Hay’s Galleria). Fenning’s Wharf and Sun Wharf were replaced (in 1984/85) by the huge No.1 London Bridge complex. During that site’s redevelopment, a Bronze Age burial mound was unearthed.”

The bar which is bright and open.

Some of the brick arches and I can see why this was a suitable place for the London Dungeons. The rooms flow into each other, I like this sort of quirky thing.

The new coffee machine and there’s only hot milk, with no jugs for the cold milk.

There’s a bank of three coffee machines.

The unique carpet.

There’s a display about the carpet and why they’ve designed this one in this manner.

The menu.

Part of the support elements that I assume stop the building from falling down. The trains are evident running above both by noise and also because things vibrate a little.

This feels like a really well designed building, there is a choice of seating styles including low and higher tables. There are quieter areas, open-plan areas and plenty of power points. The team members seemed engaged, helpful and I saw numerous positive customer service interactions. As a conversion into a pub, this is one of the best that I’ve seen.

Although the venue has only been open for a few weeks, I thought I’d see what the few online reviews posted are like so far.

“Had had a lovely evening here but sadly the dessert menu isn’t clear enough – says “vanilla ice cream” as if it’s plain but it actually comes with sauce and the staff member wouldn’t switch it for plain despite asking. It’s a scoop of ice cream! Don’t argue the toss just switch it hahahah. Sauce was horrible by the way”

The printed menu and the online menu both mention toffee sauce and Belgian chocolate sauce. And then to give the venue 1/5 after a lovely evening….

“Told off for bringing in a fully wrapped Greggs Muffin.”

Probably best not to bring in a Greggs…..

No-one has complained yet that they can’t bring their dog in, but I imagine that’ll be coming soon. Anyway, this is a large venue that has lots of little smaller areas, something forced upon the chain by the historic nature of the building. It all felt well managed to me, spotlessly clean and evidently already popular with local office workers. All rather lovely.

November 12, 2025
London – City of London – Sir John Oldcastle Pub

As I had a couple of hours spare in London before my train from Farringdon, I thought I’d pop into the JD Wetherspoon operated Sir John Oldcastle which is at the end of the street. It’s not been one of my favourite pubs as it’s often very busy, but matters are more sedate on a Sunday early afternoon.

As usual, I’ll use the pub chain’s own history of the pub name:

“Named after The Sir John Oldcastle Tavern, which stood in the former grounds of Sir John’s nearby mansion, this was already long established by 1680. Oldcastle is thought to have been the model for Shakespeare’s character ‘Falstaff’.”

Not a vast amount has changed with the street layout here in the last 150 years, the pub is located just above the “EET” of Charles Street. The ward of Saffron Hill has now gone, which originally took its name as saffron grew around here. It’s also where Fagin’s den was located in Oliver Twist.

The bar area and coffee machines and today it was the £1.81 unlimited hot drinks that tempted me in here rather than beer. It all seems functional enough and it felt well managed.

Carpets in every JD Wetherspoon venue are unique, although this one isn’t necessarily the most decadent in terms of its styling.

The online reviews are pretty decent for a JD Wetherspoon venue, despite the challenges they must have here with having a small site and limited space in terms of facilities.

“I was so surprised when the staff said to me I can not paid by 50 in cash. No explanation why. The answer was “not because not”. This is absolutely disgusting and ridiculous. I asked about manager to explanation me this situation. He didn’t show up to speak with me. I will never back to this place. Higley not recommended.”

Disgusting that a venue won’t accept a £50 note? Hmmmm. Seems quite reasonable to me given the number of forgeries.

“I’ve just been kicked out of here, because I had the audacity to bring a Costa Coffee in; even though I’d just ordered and paid for breakfast. They’d rather refund my breakfast purchase; than let me have a Costa with it. If their machine coffee was better; I wouldn’t have had to in the first place.”

Why not just bring in your own food as well?

“Good interior. Ordered porridge. I went to the toilet and when I came back some waiter had taken it away. I hadn’t eaten any of it. I found it was thrown away! Another diner’s beer was also taken away by the same waiter undrunk.”

Very efficient service, it’s good to keep the tables clean.

“If you want to sit and read a paper or a book, this is the place for you. If however, you want to have a laugh and giggle with friends, go to the castle pub instead.”

I’m with the pub, this group sounds needlessly frivolous.

“Leffe. £3.49 a pint in most Wetherspoons. John Oldcastle £5.49 some might say different location BUT McDonalds do not have this issue.”

It feels inevitable to me that a pub in central London will be more expensive than one in Swindon.

“Asked to leave when we were causing no trouble…”

I suspect another side to this story….

Anyway, once again I digress. I thought the pub looked relatively clean, although the toilets probably need more rebuilding than cleaning, with the team members seeming friendly enough. And the coffees and other assorted hot drinks tasted as expected, so a rather peaceful couple of hours.

November 2, 2025
London – Alex Dilling at Hotel Café Royal (2 Star Michelin Restaurant)

Richard does some very sensible things sometimes, like going to a charity auction, having too much to drink and then bidding on a five course tasting menu with champagne at a two star Michelin restaurant. So that’s why I was here. I haven’t yet won the lottery.

The restaurant is located on the first floor of the Hotel Café Royal, one of Oscar Wilde’s favourite restaurants.

Overlooking the hotel reception where rooms start from £700 per night. I had booked the £38 Travelodge at ExCel though, I know my place. Richard compromised and was at the Novotel ExCel at nearly £100 a night, but he has aspirations of grandeur.

It’s all quite decadent. I think that would go without saying though.

We were seated at a table overlooking Regent Street, it was like sitting in a calm and suitably chilled observatory looking out onto a hectic street.

The champagne, which was Bollinger and which tasted like every other champagne to me, but I don’t claim expertise here. I didn’t expect otherwise, but I wasn’t surprised and delighted at the beer list, so I stuck to the free sparkling water, but Richard splashed out £120 on the wine pairing and spent the evening beaming like he had purchased a stake in a vineyard. I would have gone for a craft beer pairing, but although this is becoming more common, it’s still not treated in the way that wine is.

The menu for the evening which was swept away soon after, but not before I took this photo of it.

I think that they expected diners to have one roll each, but Richard had three, so I did the same. And then asked for another one later on, so that was four delicious rolls. The chorizo one, which is the fluffy puff pastry roll on the left, was really quite glorious and bakery certainly isn’t just a side show here.

The amuse bouche.

This is the aged Kaluga caviar. I’m not sure I understand the mystique of caviar, this was clearly a rather decent one with a creamy and buttery flavour, but I don’t understand why it has the luxury tag attached to it other than its rarity. But, hippo is quite rare, and they wouldn’t serve that. Anyway hippo matters aside, the sweetcorn retained some bite and the prawns added some texture to the arrangement.

This is the John Dory with brown crab and lovage, which proved to be my favourite dish of the evening. I like John Dory, it’s light but flavoursome, delicate and easy to bully, but it was the crab on the side that I thought was the decadent and rich tasting element to this dish. The presentation was rather fine as well, with a range of tastes and textures running through it.

A little mango based palate cleanser. Richard was struggling to keep up with his wines, as he had one per course. I was busy keeping up with my rolls.

This is the quail with courgette, anchovy and Parmesan, also being Richard’s favourite dish of the evening. I don’t get to eat quail very often, it’s not something Greggs pop in their selection of bakes very often, but it was gamey in flavour and also tender. The anchovy packed a salt punch through the dish, with the ingredients all complementing each other to give a real depth of flavour, with the Parmesan giving it that suitable umami feel.

The presentation here is quite special, with the meringue at the base being punchy and the sorbet being smooth and sweet.

A final trio closed proceedings, my favourite being a little praline number with a whisper of gold and a pleasing roasted-nut finish.

The atmosphere in the restaurant was inviting and comfortable, with a quite modern selection of music playing which I hadn’t anticipated. But, the aim appears to be to have a welcoming and informal dining experience, rather than a stuffy and unnecessarily upmarket one. There’s not much point in having a beautiful restaurant if no-one is comfortable in it though, so I felt that the design elements were all appropriate and in keeping with their aspirations. There was always a touch of theatre in the presentation of the food and plating elements at the table, but that never became intrusive. The restaurant was quieter earlier on, but got steadily busier so it was nearly full by the time that we left.

Overall, this was a rather lovely decadent experience, with the service being impeccable throughout. We were never rushed, but the pace of the dine was constant and appropriate, although it of course felt that it was over too soon. The quality of the food was as expected high and Richard was beyond excited about his wines, with the servers busily clearing crumbs off the table from my excessive consumption of rolls. I thought a lot of the dishes were quite understated and I reference that in a positive way, there was a competence rather than a desire to surprise by being quirky. The only problem Richard has now is that he’s decided this is the way he needs to live, so I expect to see him at all manner of Michelin restaurants over the coming few months….

August 29, 2025
London – Tower Hamlets (Borough of) – Edith Cavell and the Royal London Hospital

Although I know a good deal of Edith Cavell’s story because of her links with Norfolk and her burial at Norwich Cathedral, I hadn’t realised that she had trained at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. She had applied in 1896 to be a nurse practitioner at the hospital at the age of 30 and she trained under the leadership of the hospital’s matron Eva Luckes. This was Whitechapel in its gritty Victorian prime, all soot-stained streets, overcrowded housing, and the lingering reputation of Jack the Ripper’s handiwork still hanging in the air. It wasn’t exactly the sort of place you moved to for its charm and craft beer options. She was known for being conscientious, which in nursing terms usually means ‘worked twice as hard for half the recognition.’ Her superiors noticed, and so did her patients. She remained at the hospital until 1901 when Luckes nominated Cavell for the position of night superintendent at St. Pancras Infirmary.

The plaque on the building, which is now used by the London Borough Council of Tower Hamlets and I won’t go on about the integrity of its mayor, Lutfur Rahman, and I will instead let Wikipedia do that. It’s perhaps hard to find a greater contrast of the morals of public service than Edith Cavell and Lutfur Rahman, but this isn’t a political blog and so I will limit myself.

July 22, 2025
London Craft Beer Festival 2025

My friend Simon mentioned last year about going to the London Craft Beer Festival, but I wondered if it was a bit expensive and so I didn’t get a ticket to join him. By chance, he mentioned last week that he knew someone selling a ticket at a much lower cost of £30, so I was there without much hesitation. Here’s the walk to Magazine, where this year’s event was being held.

There’s Susie and Simon, with the former’s efforts somehow getting us to the front of the queue. I hadn’t let myself get too excited about the event in case the ticket didn’t come to pass, but all was well and it’s fair to say that the excitement soon started when I had the wristband safely around my wrist.

Well, that’s exciting straight away.

The first beer of the day. The concept here is that all beers are free of charge and I won’t list here what I tried, but I did ensure that my Untappd remain updated for anyone who is interested.

We grabbed a table outside, but it soon became apparent that there was large amounts of seating, so this wasn’t an issue. Inside there were also fans and air conditioning, they didn’t want their beer drinkers over-heating, and I was happy to drink to that forward-thinking philosophy.

One of the two internal halls.

This was all so much bigger than I expected. There were some issues with the delayed opening where we left in the sun and that was sub-optimal, but once the event got going, it all felt well organised. There were maps dotted around of where all of the breweries were, but I’d need more than one afternoon to really visit every one that interested me.

I was impressed that there were no real queues at any of the brewery stands, you could get served nearly immediately.

There was a separate American beer bar and the list of options here was much wider than I had expected. As I’m not planning to visit the US for a while, this was an opportunity to tick some beers off.

One of the bar staff modelling a bottle of beer for my Untappd photo.

There was free water available of the sparkling and still options.

That path was what Liam and I walked on the Capital Challenge a few weeks ago…..

There’s Simon chatting away about Brazilian beer. I was pleased that the glasses were made of plastic, rather than, er, glass. So we had branded plastics, which means I could keep it without fear of it getting broken on the aircraft. Susie picked up a heap of free merchandise, which I’m merrily carrying around Portugal now, including baseball hats, t-shirts, lanyards and stickers.

I like a bit of Vault City, I should be visiting their new tap room later in the year.

A free ice cream and a beer slushie from Vault City which made me love them even more.

Simon wanted to go to the Vault City tasting, which was a marvellous idea, and this beer was handed around at the end of the session before.

One of the beers from the Vault City tasting.

Overall, I really enjoyed this evening and the atmosphere was informal and friendly throughout. There were no issues of anyone over-indulging, despite the large amount of free beer that was available. The organisation was better than I had expected, the scale of the event was broader than I had realised and the speed of service was faster than I had anticipated. I was very much surprised and delighted, so I think that I might just be back for next year’s event….

July 20, 2025
London – Giant Stickers on Elizabeth Line to Tackle Unexpected ‘Backprint’ Problem

I thought that it would be a marvellous idea for Liam and I to go a slightly convoluted way back to the hotel after the LDWA Capital Challenge to see these new stickers that TFL had put at some stations along the Elizabeth Line last week. The stickers have the moquette design that is used on Elizabeth Line trains, with a total cost of £30,000.

The sleek, pale wall panels, admired for their minimalist aesthetic, had instead become rather unintended canvases for human outlines which was seen by TFL as sub-optimal. TFL said that they would ensure that the stickers blended in and added:

“The Elizabeth Line has been hugely popular, and with high footfall comes unexpected wear. These stickers are a simple, cost-effective way to maintain the appearance of the stations while reducing maintenance needs.”

Liam pretended he was really excited at this piece of infra-structure development.

April 22, 2025
London – Tower Hamlets (Borough of) – Sand Pit at East India Dock

As another one of my random asides, I often stay at the Travelodge at Docklands and it’s located in the top right of this map from the 1870s. One thing that I saw yesterday, which is a new addition, is a sand pit which is located to the bottom left of where the dock was.

I mean, what could possibly go wrong with this?

As an aside, what the dock area looks like now and there are already lots of residential properties and more are being constructed. There’s a new restaurant opening soon and a new Tesco Express, what more could a community want?

April 11, 2025
Flight Back from Luxembourg 🙂

[I originally posted this in May 2018, but I’ve reposted it to fix the broken image links]

The trip to Metz and Thionville came to an end with a rather delightful trip in Club Europe from Luxembourg to London Heathrow on British Airways.

I usually opt for an aisle seat, but I was allocated seat 1F and stuck with it. I was glad I did, as I got some unusually clear photos (well, unusually for me) of London as we descended.

And the UK coastline 🙂

March 10, 2025
London – Camden (Borough of) – The Seven Stars (Good Beer Guide)

I’m slowly, but steadily, working on my project to visit every pub in the Good Beer Guide. This building, located on Carey Street near to the Hunterian Museum, is thought to have been built in 1602 although the bar is mostly Victorian. There’s no shortage of history to the pub, which was originally called the The League of Seven Stars in a nod towards Dutch geography (the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands). I didn’t go up to the toilets in the pub, but they are noted for their steep stairs and a sign which requests customers not to swing on the rail. It’s located near to the Royal Courts of Justice so they are treated to a considerable amount of trade from the legal profession.

A range of Greene King and Adnams beers is not what I was hoping for as they’re so common in East Anglia, but it’s something perhaps slightly different for London. I went for a pint of Broadside which cost £6 and was well kept and tasted as expected. There are some reviews which mention, quite grumpily, that the pub doesn’t offer tasters and that is highly unusual. Anyway, the service was friendly and engaging, so the atmosphere felt inviting.

The slightly infamous pub cat visible in the background. It’s said that Shakespeare might have visited the building given that his plays were performed at Middle Temple, although that’s perhaps a little fanciful. More likely is that the pub was used as the inspiration for The Magpie & Stump featured in Pickwick Papers. The building is listed in CAMRA’s list of outstanding interiors of national historic importance and they note:

“The frontage bears the date 1602 but the building itself probably dates from “only” the 1680s, and was extended into the building on the right in 1878. The core of the pub is the part with doors embellished with etched and gilded glass, declaring ‘private counter’ (on the left) and ‘general counter’ (right). These names are probably unique, certainly in the experience of the writers, and correspond to the more commonly used ‘private bar’ and ‘public bar’. So there were evidently two separate areas fronting on to a common servery and divided, no doubt, by a timber screen. The counter (a plain affair) and bar-back are Victorian and the coloured advertising panels in the head of the latter are typical of the period around 1870-1890. The pub further expanded into the building on the left hand side in relatively recent years to form a cosy drinking area called the ‘Wig Box’.”

A rather better cat photo than my efforts.

I did try though.

I couldn’t quite understand these chairs, as one customer tried to sit on them and nearly fell off before meandering to one of the tables. The tables have table-clothes on so it wasn’t entirely clear to me whether drinkers were allowed to sit at them. The pub is primarily food led and there’s a blackboard which is chalked up with the daily menu. I must admit, the whole arrangement felt a little uncomfortable so I wouldn’t want to linger, but it’s a popular venue. Most surfaces were sticky which made it a little challenging to find somewhere to stand and not stick to something, but the food is very well reviewed and I’m sure it’s marvellous. Anyway, another Good Beer Guide venue ticked off.

November 28, 2024
London – Greenwich (Borough of) – National Maritime Museum (John Hawkins Painting)

[I’ve reposted this post from February 2021 to fix broken image links and also because I have more ‘riveting’ content coming about the National Maritime Museum.]

When I visited the National Maritime Museum a few weeks ago, there were numerous signs on how they were modernising the displays to be more representative and inclusive. This is an interesting interview (in.doc format) which took place last year with Daniel Martin, the Head of Collection Services at the museum and they seem to be pragmatic and forward thinking.

This painting of John Hawkins (1532-1595), in the gallery which is being reviewed, is going to present the museum some problems in terms of its interpretation. Depending on your viewpoint, this is either one of the greatest English naval commandeers that there has been, or he’s one of the men most responsible for starting the slave trade. Which doesn’t even cover that it’s Hawkins and his crew who brought tobacco back, thereby causing no end of addiction issues over the centuries.

There was a Royal Navy cruiser between 1919 and 1947 which was named after Hawkins, which does reflect that his naval prowess likely enabled England to fight off the Spanish Armada. The town of Chatham was so proud of Hawkins that they named a flyover after him, which has only recently been demolished. I’m not sure that flyovers actually need to be named after anyone, but there we go.

There was a book, Devon Seadog, published about John Hawkins in 1907 written by Robert Alfred John Walling and this condemned Hawkins for his involvement in the slave trade (although it made passing note that this often benefited the slave in some ways, which isn’t necessarily an argument that might be pursued today with such vigour) so there has long been condemnation of some of his actions.

Martin mentions in the above interview that it’s not possible to put every viewpoint in 150 words or so, which is challenging with individuals like this. The museum has though made an attempt on its web-site, where it has more space, to tell the story of Hawkins from different perspectives. I’m not sure I envy though the museum in its attempt to tell the story of Hawkins, as it can’t just ignore him as he’s an important naval figure and they’re a maritime museum, but they need to add context as well as to the impact that he had on the world.

September 5, 2024