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Tag: London

  • London – Islington (Borough of) – Mikkeller Bar (Exmouth Market)

    London – Islington (Borough of) – Mikkeller Bar (Exmouth Market)

    There are now two Mikkeller bars in London, there’s one in Shoreditch, and there’s now this one at Exmouth Market (named after the Exmouth Arms Pub) which isn’t too far from King’s Cross. This visit is from early November, when a few of us gathered here before we went to meet Scott at King’s Cross railway station, which was very kind of us to meet him off his train. Mikkeller was founded in 2006 and it now has something of a global reputation, once a cuckoo brewery which brewed wherever it could, but now with its own locations which include this bar.

    The beer selection is chalked up behind the bar, but they’ve also got it listed on Untappd as well which is handy. They do have beers from other breweries, but they inevitably have a focus on the beers that they’ve brewed themselves. It’s inevitably all very on-trend, not just the beer selection, but also the location and the service style. I had absolutely no complaints about the balance of the beer selection either, there was an excellent range of different styles available.

    The food options at the bar, and the company said when opening that:

    “This is not a restaurant with a brewery, it is a brewery with a restaurant”

    I liked the menu, which was quite simple, but had some interesting options on it, including the ‘Ndjua Scotch Egg and the Nordic Summer Salad, a very firm nod towards the origins of the brewery. Decent mix of vegetarian and meat options as well, it’s actually quite a tempting little selection.

    I had three one thirds here, with all the drinks being brewed by Mikkeller. I went for the Can’t Say No 2 U (a stout), the Heliosphere (an IPA) and the Parasol Paradiso (a fruited sour). That last drink, and the lighter coloured one in the photos above, was beautifully decadent, a nicely balanced sour with strong flavours of mango and passion-fruit. The drinks were all served perfectly, in smart little branded glasses and everything was at the appropriate slightly chilled temperature.

    The venue was relatively busy, but seemed clean and organised. The service was attentive and polite, with the bar staff being knowledgeable about the beer options. If I’m being overly critical, the noise volume was a little higher than ideal, but it’s a busy bar in London and so perhaps that’s not an entire surprise (although Goose Island have better acoustics as far as I’m concerned). The on-line reviews are nearly all positive and glowing, which isn’t unexpected, and I’d quite happily return here and recommend it to others. All really rather lovely.

  • British Airways (Warsaw to London Heathrow T5)

    British Airways (Warsaw to London Heathrow T5)

    After a few weeks in Poland, it was unfortunately time to come back with a feeling of uncertainty of how the PCR test thing was going to work out in Heathrow. I left the Mercure Airport hotel at 08:45 to catch my flight at 12:45, expecting to get to the lounge at 10:00 sort of time (which is for me cutting it very fine). Everything went right with the train to the airport, there was no wait at the security area (indeed, there were no other passengers which felt really odd) and the customs check didn’t take long, so I was at the Bolero Lounge by 09:30. But more about that bit of today in another post.

    There it is, the BA847 service from Warsaw to London Heathrow T5 which was departing a little late due to being held up on the outbound flight to Poland.

    Arriving at the gate shortly before boarding commenting, I heard the gate staff call Groups 1 to 3 and I was the second person to board. Well, I should have been the second to board, but the staff member refused me boarding saying that my mask wasn’t sufficient for British Airways. To cut a long story short, this led to a rush to find a member of the airport staff to help me find a shop selling them, as the member of gate staff was absolutely hopeless in offering assistance.

    What actually happened here, which became apparent after I spoke to a member of LOT Polish airlines at the airport is that the staff member had got the rules wrong, as British Airways and LOT Polish (who have their hub at Warsaw Chopin Airport) have different mask policies. However, if I had gone to discuss that point I was in serious danger of missing the flight and likely being off-loaded for being unhelpful. I have no intention of being uncooperative at an airport, there are too many downsides…. Fortunately, the airport staff member and a member of shop staff managed to sell me the required mask. I was able to board, but only just and it wasn’t an ideal situation.

    After boarding, the crew member confirmed that my mask met the requirements of British Airways, but they handed out masks anyway on boarding to anyone who didn’t have one. I’ve spoken to British Airways  who have apologised for the gate staff. It doesn’t much matter now as these are challenging times for all staff at airports, but I would have been quite annoyed if I had missed the flight. I assume if I had returned to the gate without the mask that some other airlines I wasn’t flying with required then someone might have spoken to the crew to check the situation, but it’s not really worth risking that.

    I shall drink one extra beer in the British Airways lounge next time I’m in it to compensate for the situation as I’m petty like that. But it wasn’t British Airways staff who were unhelpful here, so they’re still my favourite airline. And LOT Polish Airlines, who I suspect the gate staff are usually working for, are part of Star Alliance anyway and I’ve only got eyes for Oneworld airlines.

    This was the British Airways aircraft I was struggling to board and its livery is certainly distinctive. It’s aircraft G-TTNA, A320neo which was delivered to BA in April 2018. It was repainted a couple of months ago as it was used in the COP26 talks in Scotland, showing the contribution of the airline industry to tackle the climate crisis.

    An Airbus spokesperson said at the time:

    “We’re delighted to be partnering with BA on this journey and feel proud BA has chosen one of our A320neos to highlight the importance of sustainability for the future of the industry.

    The aircraft has 20% less fuel burn & CO2 emissions compared to A320ceo and 50% less noise so it’s a great choice and I am looking forward to seeing the new livery in the sky. BA is committed to a sustainable future and contributing positively to climate change mitigation and adaptation. We will achieve the ambition of a net zero carbon emissions industry by 2050 through cooperation and collaboration and this initiative is a clear example of that.”

    It’s a nice concept, although it’s very hard to identify it as a British Airways aircraft at a distance and it puzzled me for a little while (not that that really takes much).

    I deliberately moved out of my exit row seat the day before the flight, as I find it more faff trying to fit my bag into the overhead lockers above those seats. That would have been especially true on this flight due to boardinggate, so I was pleased that I had put myself in an aisle seat near to the rear of the aircraft. I had forgotten how little leg room there is, but it’s fine for a short distance flight and there was no-one in the middle seat. Everything was I expected, other than the USB power at my seat wasn’t working, although I could have used one on a different seat if I had needed to.

    The free snack and water (I took the photo later, I didn’t have a pillow on board) which was offered. The crew were engaging, efficient and pro-active, another near perfect service from British Airways staff. The pilot, a bastion of professionalism (as they nearly always are) made appropriate and useful announcements, including telling us that we were arriving in Heathrow having made up most of the lost time. The aircraft was clean and the crew were handing out disinfectant wipes from a basket on boarding (the same basket that the masks were in).

    Anyway, another excellent flight from British Airways only impacted by the airport’s gate staff, but maybe that’s what Star Alliance customers are used to flying from the airport so that’s fair enough.

    Incidentally, I know some people have experienced long delays at the border at Heathrow T5, but I was through in under one minute, just ready to go and take a PCR test. After I managed to board, the flight and arrivals process was effortless, so all rather lovely.

  • London – Wandsworth (Borough of) – Holiday Inn Express

    London – Wandsworth (Borough of) – Holiday Inn Express

    I’m posting out of order again in case anyone wonders how I’ve gone so quickly from Warsaw to Wandsworth….. This is my stay at the Holiday Inn Express in Wandsworth, London from last week which was handily paid for by rewards points.

    I arrived a little early, at around 14:30, which is well before the 16:00 check-in, but I thought I could always sit and work in the hotel’s bar if the room wasn’t ready. I mentioned to the friendly member of check-in staff that I knew I was quite early and he said that a room probably wasn’t ready, but he’d have a look. I gave him my name and he replied:

    “Mr White, you’re a Platinum member, there’s always a room ready”.

    I don’t think I’d ever dare go into a hotel and say “I’m Platinum, I want a room now” as that might lead to a DYKWIA moment (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/2002071-dykwia-2020-21-edition.html) but handy to know. I suspect that I’ve reached Platinum status with one of the lowest spends possible, other than people such as my friend Richard who just bought their status (but he’s very decadent and would very likely go into a hotel and demand a room).

    The room, all to brand standard and spotlessly clean, so all rather lovely.

    The view from my window and that’s the Thames between the buildings. The windows opened so that I could hear the comings and goings of Wandsworth…..

    The beer choice wasn’t entirely ideal and I only realised that they had Goose Island IPA too late, the staff member didn’t list that as an option. This is Peroni, which I personally think is bland and a bit pointless, but that makes me sound like a craft beer snob who sneers at lagers, but there we go…..

    I like these, indications of when breakfast will be the busiest.

    Breakfast was busy, although I was able to take this photo during a lull in proceedings. It did get quite a bit more hectic and I didn’t think that things were entirely logically laid out. By that, I mean I kept getting muddled up, so I blame the hotel rather than myself.

    The standard Holiday Inn Express breakfast options were available, which were the four hot items of baked beans, sausages, bacon and scrambled eggs, alongside pastries, yoghurt, cereals, toast and the like. Breakfast is included in the room rate of Holiday Inn Express outlets and it’s entirely serviceable.

    Given that this stay was free with rewards points, I’m not entirely sure what it usually costs, but I think it’s usually somewhere around the £70 per night mark, which is rather too decadent for me. However, it’s easy to get to by public transport and it took me just over an hour to walk to Victoria Coach Station the next morning. The staff were friendly, the hotel was clean and so all was well.

  • National Express : London Victoria Coach Station to Bradford

    National Express : London Victoria Coach Station to Bradford

    I’m posting out of order again (as in not in date order, I’m not being any more controversial than usual) as this was my National Express journey from London to get to the LDWA groups’ weekend being held in Haworth.

    This is the National Express coach that departed from Gate 14 at the always cramped Victoria coach station in London. I was the first to board, not least as I was keen to get to my emergency exit row seat to get about an extra 2.5 centimetres of space. There was a friendly welcome from the drivers, who were switching around at Milton Keynes or somewhere similar given the distance.

    Here we are after having boarded, with the coach being clean and comfortable. National Express seem to be one of the companies who are doing their best to keep their transport clean given the current health crisis.

    And then we sat there for a while….. The driver made an announcement at the departure time that the coach was going to wait on a delayed coach given that there were connecting passengers. He had been told by the control room that the passengers were at the coach station and would be boarding soon, but after numerous delays the driver came on about 15 minutes after departure time and said “control said that we can go without the other passengers”.

    That put us 15 minutes behind, but London was busy and the coach crawled out of the capital slowly and clearly getting behind schedule. I’m surprised that National Express make these schedules so optimistic, as there was nothing that the driver could have done and I’d have thought it’s better to err on the side of caution and expect delays rather than to expect the coach driver to storm the vehicle up the M1. The coach was meant to take just over five hours to get from London to Bradford, but it transpired to be nearer to seven hours by the time that it got there.

    The coach was quiet until Milton Keynes, when it became pretty packed. It was still comfortable enough though and the air vents and power worked as expected, so the temperature was appropriate. The driver did make regular announcements about the delay, so he did what he could and kept everyone informed.

    I was getting picked up at Bradford Interchange to get a lift to YHA Haworth, but it transpired that it was better for me to get off at Leeds and my lift picked me up from there instead. That was handy as it gave me chance to walk to a Head of Steam that I haven’t visited before, but meant I didn’t get to go on the coach all the way to Bradford, and incidentally nor did nearly anyone else and this seemed primarily a service used by customers going to Leeds.

    I would have preferred to get the train from London to Keighley, which is the nearest railway station to Haworth, but that would have cost at least £70 which was just too decadent. This coach journey cost £10 and that seems pretty decent value to me.

  • London – Islington (Borough of) – Travelodge Farringdon

    London – Islington (Borough of) – Travelodge Farringdon

    Not to be confused with the Travelodge King’s Cross Royal Scot, which is located about a two-minute walk down the road, I’ve stayed at this hotel for £24.99 per night over the last two Sundays. It’s about a ten-minute walk from London King’s Cross and a little further from Farringdon station. That situation was particularly ideal as my train into London was arriving at King’s Cross, avoiding me needing to cross London in the late evening. I like walking, but there are no shortages of buses going down the road for anyone with luggage or accessibility issues.

    The double room which was spacious as it had a separate seating area and it was clean, although the carpet in places looked like they’d picked it up out of a skip. Plenty of teas and coffees, a modern looking television (although I didn’t turn it on) and a working air conditioning unit which I think is really quite impressive for a budget chain such as Travelodge. It was easy to control the temperature and I was pleased to make the room nice and cold, with no real noise disturbances internally or externally that couldn’t be expected from a central London location.

    The view from my room, with those windows to the right being the corridor, it wasn’t possible to look into the rooms of other guests. It wasn’t herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically across the plain in terms of the view, but I’ve had worse.

    I didn’t realise at the time, but last Sunday I had booked a single room, whereas for the same price this week I had a double room. This size room was fine for me though, but I preferred the larger amount of space.

    Anyway, a perfectly decent hotel with friendly staff, a clean environment and a need for some refurbishment, although I think that this process is now underway. Really though for £24.99 in central London, it’d be hard to expect anything more (well, I suppose they could have given me a Twix, but that’s not something I expected in a Travelodge) so I was really quite pleased with the whole arrangement on both visits.

  • London – Southwark (Borough of) – Cloudwater Tap Room

    London – Southwark (Borough of) – Cloudwater Tap Room

    I tried to come to the Cloudwater tap room on the Bermondsey Beer Mile last year, but it was only open as a take-away and so I got a couple of beers then for whatever hotel I was located in. However, I got the opportunity for the first time to pop in last weekend.

    The beer list which is located on a chalkboard at the end of the bar. Service was warm and welcoming, with the staff member being knowledgeable about the various beer options. This felt a friendly location, all very on-trend.

    This is the Canal at St. Mark’s which is Cloudwater’s own imperial IPA, coming in at 8%.  This was really rather lovely, such a depth of flavour and beautifully tropical. It’s described as ‘dank’ which I wasn’t quite sure of the definition in beer terms, but apparently it’s referring to “very hoppy, cloudy IPAs”. I suppose it was dank FWIW….

    But then there was something even better, the I Know You Know We Know beer, also from Cloudwater, although it’s a collaboration with the Three Chiefs Brewing Co. of Los Angeles from the beautiful state of California. This was insanely good and is one of the best beers that I’ve had, with initial hits of chocolate and fruit, but with an aftertaste of rose water which made it taste like a Turkish Delight. If that wasn’t enough there was also some raspberry in there, like a chocolate Quality Street treat. I noted that the brewery toasted my Untappd check-in to this beer when I was in the bar, perhaps they were standing nearby (not that it much matters). Definitely a world class beer in my mind, I was very pleased with this decadent treat.

    The bar was moderately busy, but when a group of six men in fancy dress came in they were asked to leave, with the manager saying that fancy dress was prohibited by their licence. I think he’s right, but his comment that the group probably wouldn’t be served anywhere else on the Beer Mile didn’t turn out to be right, as they seemed to be served everywhere else. Either way, I liked the policy, a bar of this quality deserves to be revered…..

    I was very pleased to get to come here at last and the quality of beers didn’t disappoint. The service was friendly, the pub was clean, it was a comfortable environment and they served me one of the best stouts that I’ve had. All really rather lovely. Cloudwater also have a tap room in Manchester and I want to go there now…..

  • London – Southwark (Borough of) – Hiver Beers Taproom

    London – Southwark (Borough of) – Hiver Beers Taproom

    This was a new location to me when meandering along the Bermondsey Beer Mile, Hiver Beer Taproom, a brewery which focuses on honey in their products. It’s located on Stanworth Street and I think is worth the slight diversion to go and visit.

    Scott looks like he’s having a lovely time here….. Anyway, this photo isn’t really of him and his very bright coat, I was trying to take a photo of the bar and the interior. There’s a small upstairs area in the bar, although it was full when we visited with a group celebrating a birthday or something similar. There was just one large table left on the ground floor which was reserved, but the staff said that we could have it as it wasn’t needed for another hour or so. It’s not a large venue, but there’s some external seating as well and I usually avoid that in case bees attack me, but that might be quite appropriate here (the bees, not being attacked).

    I went for the Hiver Blonde Beer and thought it was a perfectly good honey based Belgian Blonde. It’s not really a beer style that I’d particularly head towards, but I wasn’t disappointed and the honey flavour was clearly evident. Pricing was reasonable and like pretty much every venue on the Bermondsey Beer Mile, they accept cards.

    It’s a pleasantly laid-back environment and I liked the engagement and enthusiasm of the staff, they were good ambassadors for the brand. For those who want to, the bar allows customers to bring their own food in from nearby takeaways to eat as well, which looking back might have been a useful option for our group.

  • London – Southwark (Borough of) – The Rake

    London – Southwark (Borough of) – The Rake

    As my friend Richard was staying at a decadent hotel in London on Sunday (whilst I was in a cheap Travelodge) we thought a quick drink in a venue that we hadn’t been to before would be a good idea. This is the Rake bar located on Winchester Walk, situated next to Borough Market.

    The keg and cask beer selection is visible on the DigitalPour app (which I had never heard of before, but downloaded in advance of a visit here) and also on a screen inside the bar. The location is relatively small, with just a handful of tables inside, although there are several external tables in the garden and this was relatively busy. There were a range of beer styles represented here, with a number of interested options.

    The service in the bar was friendly and the staff member was knowledgeable, so that was rather lovely. The bar area with its rustic feel is in the above photo. I wasn’t convinced by the suitability of the tables though as they weren’t entirely level.

    The uneven tables was a problem when a drink is poured like this (I had to use the window sill instead), although I appreciated the Goose Island glass. I went for the Anastasia’s Stout from the Ascot Brewing Company and the Infinite Cerise from Solvay Society, both of which were entirely acceptable, if not having exceptional depths of flavour.

    The bar is generally well reviewed on-line, some people complaining about the pries, but I felt that they were relatively moderate given the quality of the bars and the location of the premises.

    All told, I liked this venue which is located in a touristy part of London, but which had a feel of a local bar with its own community. There are also cans and bottles which add to the selection available, but there was plenty of choice with the draft options. I wasn’t entirely convinced by the decor in the bar, which seems reliant on graffiti to add character, but I suppose it’s different and quirky.

  • London – Southwark (Borough of) – Original Site of Globe Theatre

    London – Southwark (Borough of) – Original Site of Globe Theatre

    I’ve walked in this area around London Bridge railway station hundreds of times, but I was never aware that the original site of the Globe Theatre is partly marked out. The theatre was first constructed in 1599, but was destroyed by fire in 1613 (a cannon misfired during a performance of Henry VIII, which wasn’t ideal), before being rebuilt in 1614. The Puritans ordered theatres to close in 1642 in case anyone might dare enjoy themselves, with the building demolished between 1644 and 1645.

    That was really that for the theatre, until 1988 when construction in the area found some of the building’s foundations. The area has been heavily built on over the last few centuries, not least the listed building at 67-70 Anchor Terrace. It’s not possible to dig more without taking the Anchor Terrace buildings down, but there are likely some foundations from the theatre present under those properties.

    The location of the former theatre is on the South Bank of the Thames and is marked out with a cursor on the above map (clicking on the image makes it a little larger and easier to see) from the early twentieth century, at a time when they weren’t aware of the foundations being there. The Globe was rebuilt in a modern form in 1997 (although as true to the original as they realistically could and it’s the only building in the city of London which is thatched and they had to get special permission for that), but is on a site a little further west, around 250 metres, along the Thames.

    There are a number of information boards at the site, including this easy to understand map of the site, which helped place things in the modern built-up environment. For anyone interested in the history of theatre and similar things, I’d say that it’s worth a little meander here to have a look, and it’s also known that Shakespeare lived nearby so that he could be at the theatre on a regular basis.

  • London – Thames Rocket Speedboat

    London – Thames Rocket Speedboat

    The Admiral of the Wild Seas

    Mostly photos in this post from when four of us had a little ride on the Thames Rocket in London last weekend, something I got with some Virgin vouchers I needed to spend (well, got for my friend Liam and I, the others paid separately as I’m not that generous). After a slight debacle on timing where we got muddled up and had to rush our breakfast in the Liberty Bounds pub (Scott dithered, luckily I had been served first so I didn’t have to rush), we arrived a little early at the pier in front of the London Eye. There’s plenty of clear signage about where to go, even though the pier is used by several different companies.

    There was a friendly welcome from the staff member dealing with ticket checking and we were given life-jackets, but it was mentioned that no-one had yet managed to fall out of the boat. We hoped that Scott would fall out to provide us with some extra entertainment, but unfortunately he remained firmly seated throughout. There were 12 spaces on the boat, but only 8 passengers, although they were sending out another full boat at the same time, so it was still busy. Two of the passengers were a father and youngish son, with it being evident that the father was having a lot more fun than the son.

    The journey lasted for forty minutes, which included a moderately paced sail to the river down to Tower Bridge before the pace stepped up (apparently the local maritime rules prohibit speedboats from rushing along in the central area of the city). It was never overly scary, although Liam sat there looking at his phone whilst I held onto the bit of metal in front of me, primarily as I’m more risk averse than he is. Scott kept taking videos which required me to look casual and calm, which is never an easy thing when forced upon me…. I took photos on the sedate part of the journey, but I absolutely wasn’t using it when the boat driver was doing twists and thuds (or whatever the nautical terms are) as Liam would have had to spend his afternoon diving in the Thames to recover my phone (I’m sure I would have tried to convince him that this was a sensible idea in that eventuality). The music wasn’t ideal I thought, they could have done with some Wurzels, but it was a different way to see the Canary Wharf stretch of the river.

    After the speedy bit of the adventure, there was a tour back down the river to the Houses of Parliament and I thought this was interesting, and I found out some things that I didn’t know about the city’s history. I’ve now forgotten what they were, but I was engaged with the whole thing at the time. I thought that this was a rather lovely way to spend a lunch-time in London and I rewarded myself by taking everyone along the Bermondsey Beer Mile for the afternoon.

    Oh, and it was agreed by me that I was the bravest.