Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: London

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Gordon Ramsay Burger at Harrods

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Gordon Ramsay Burger at Harrods

    As someone who considers my occasional £20 per month Pret subscription as an arguably unnecessarily decadence, it’s not like me to pop to Harrods for lunch. Indeed, I don’t pop to Harrods for anything.

    After getting lost in the store (as a spoiler for someone who hasn’t been, the store is ridiculously big and maze-like), I found Gordon Ramsay’s burger restaurant on the fourth floor. To be fair, I did know it was on the fourth floor, but I still had to hunt around for it when I got to the right level. I had pre-booked as part of The Fork’s promotional offer which is really ridiculously generous, but which in short gave me £50 to spend here.

    Back to the restaurant, I really don’t like those tables by the rope in the above photo, that’s in the middle of the women’s clothing department, which doesn’t feel a great fit (excuse the pun). Fortunately, I wasn’t seated here, but was shown to a table in the main part of the restaurant and I suspect that these external seats are used only as a last resort. They should be better sheltered from the corridor in my view, but there we go.

    Service here was friendly, efficient and engaging from the start. There was an immediate welcome, my booking was found and I was shown to my table. The timing was well measured throughout and I was never left waiting for service. The training here is clearly professional and the staff were always engaging.

    This isn’t a cheap place to visit, although it’s also not off the scale in terms of the cost. There are burgers, hot dogs and salads, but although the hot dogs sounded tempting, I thought it appropriate to go for a burger. The restaurant only cooks them medium well or well done, so I went for the former but I would have preferred something more medium. There is an £80 Wagyu burger on the menu for those who want to lift their experience even more, or just if they want to spend a lot of money. I didn’t.

    That’s a very poor beer list and it transpired that they didn’t even have the Curious Brew, with a manager coming over to apologise that I had been able to order it. Although I accept that people don’t necessarily come here for beer, there’s no excuse to not have a couple of decent craft beer cans available on hand.

    The 1849 Premium Lager, which is made by the Bavarian brewer Hofmark Brauerei KG. It was perfectly acceptable and had clean flavours, a suitable middle of the road lager. Despite the fancy branding, this isn’t that exciting a drink though, although it was served at the appropriate chilled temperature.

    The meal was brought out promptly, after around 12 minutes. The portion sizes all veered towards the generous side and everything was at the appropriate hot temperature.

    The burger itself was nicely presented and the tomato was of a good quality, the pickles and onion added texture with the relish adding some extra flavour. There was some lettuce which never does much to anything. This was a nice burger which had a meaty flavour and was suitably seasoned, but it didn’t stand out as being anything beyond the sort of food I’ve had at decent pubs. I can’t fault the restaurant for serving a burger that I enjoyed, but it wasn’t quite as marvellous as I expected, but maybe my expectations were a bit high.

    The fries came with a lovely homemade ketchup and they were evenly salted, firm on the exterior and nicely seasoned. The onion rings weren’t that good at all though, they were the weak part of the meal. They were too doughy, the batter lacked flavour (they were beer battered, but I suspect they’ve used something like Greene King IPA) and the bottom onion ring was burnt. Personally I wouldn’t have had the Parmesan coating on them, but each to their own. They came with a pleasant chipotle ketchup, although the ranch dressing was a little strong in flavour for me and wasn’t like the ones I’ve had in the United States.

    My bill totalled £1.69 and it’s fair to say that I was pleased by that arrangement. I’m not sure I’d ever come here and pay full price as it’s all a bit too expensive, but for an experience at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant in Harrods the menu pricing felt reasonable. The food would be better served with a beer that complemented it better, and a rich stout here would have lifted things somewhat. Perhaps I shouldn’t view things from the prism of craft beer, but if a restaurant is going to do something, it should do it properly. The onion rings also weren’t really that good, which would be a disappointment if I had paid £9.50 for them.

    This was a rather pleasant way to spend New Year’s Eve lunchtime though and the dining environment was clean, comfortable and relaxed. The turnover of customers was quite swift, but I didn’t notice any customer being hurried and I was never rushed anywhere. I would though recommend against being seating in the aisle of the department store, that isn’t ideal and takes away somewhat from the experience, so I was glad they didn’t try and put me there. The staff engagement was high which made for a nicer visit and there were no issues with my £50 The Fork payment credit.

  • London – Central London – Tower of St Elsyng Spital

    London – Central London – Tower of St Elsyng Spital

    Located on London Wall, the road named after the Roman defensive wall, this is all that remains of St Elsyng Spital church. It was part of the structures built by William Elsyng, a wealthy London merchant, as a hospital in 1330 to help the poorest members of society in medieval London.

    Clicking on this image will make it larger and it’s the site in around 1900 and next to it, what there is today. Reconstruction following the Second World War saw much of this area swept away, but the remains of the church were kept. The landscape has changed substantially though, London Wall now ploughs through this part of London and the area has been opened up to the public. The little cursor on the map on the left is where the remains of the tower stand today.

    Through the central arch would have been the main part of the church, the choir and then the nave.

    The hospital section of the site was the first to be constructed, with the priory church being completed in 1340. This was later turned into a parish church in 1536, following the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Much of the rest of the site was damaged in 1541 and some of the buildings were turned into a private house, which all became part of Sion College in 1630. There was substantial damage caused by the Great Fire in 1666, but the College remained here until 1886 when they moved to a new site in Victoria.

    The cloisters and cemetery would have been off to the right, under what is now London Wall road. The church was damaged in a First World War air raid and part of it was reconstructed in 1919, but the nave was removed in 1923. This wasn’t an entirely destructive process in terms of the history, as the nave of the building only dated to between 1774 and 1777 when it was rebuilt as the old church was falling down, but they did keep the original tower. Following the demolition, the tower and porch were turned into a small church of its own, but this was in turn damaged during an air raid during the Second World War, with the area being comprehensively redesigned.

    The stone steps into the tower remain, although are gated off. The steps aren’t easily visible due to the assorted litter that has collected up here.

    There’s now a walkway to get a better view of the church and in the centre is where the stone steps come out.

    The remains of the church in their new post-war surroundings in what is a decent public space, with numerous interpretation boards explaining the history of the site. Although the medieval street plan has been lost here, the tower is now more visible than it would have been in previous centuries since all of the buildings around it have been removed. I’m sure that there have been many times in the past when planners thought that it would just be easier to remove this section, but it’s now an important part of the local landscape.

  • London – Central London – Postman’s Park

    London – Central London – Postman’s Park

    This park is a short walk from St. Paul’s Cathedral and was once three separate churchyards before being merged together in 1880 as a space that the public could use to exercise and relax. It’s a relatively sizeable space for such a central area of London, but it had long since struggled to deal with the number of burials that were needed at the site. With London’s central churchyards being not only full by the 1840s but also a dangerous health hazard where diseases spread, the idea was to open up cemeteries around the city (the Magnificent Seven) and turn sites such as this into public spaces.

    This map from the end of the nineteenth century also gives a clue to the reason for the park’s (named as the recreation ground) name, simply that it was commonly used by staff from the General Post Office.

    The park is made up of three different churchyards, those belonging to St Botolph’s Aldersgate church, Christ Church Greyfriars and St Leonard Foster Lane. Only the former is still standing, with Christ Church now being in ruins due to bomb damage during the Second World War and the third was lost in the Great Fire of 1666. Some of the ruins of the latter church remained until the nineteenth century, but they were destroyed during the construction of the General Post Office in the nineteenth century.

    The former Christ Church churchyard entrance.

    Looking across the park to St Botolph’s Aldersgate church.

    A rather large tree that has been here for some considerable time, with some graves which were once in the churchyard of St Botolph’s Aldersgate, but which were shoved against the wall in the late nineteenth century when the park opened.

    A rather lovely little water feature.

    The St Botolph’s Aldersgate church entrance to the park.

    Also in the park is the Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice.

  • London – Central London – Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice

    London – Central London – Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice

    Located in Postman’s Park and on the site of the former graveyard of St Botolph’s Aldersgate church is this memorial to those brave individuals who have died through acts of great self-sacrifice. This is the idea of George Frederic Watts, a painter and sculptor, who wanted the bravery of ordinary men, women and children to be remembered for generations to come. The memorial opened in 1900 and most of the tiles were produced by William De Morgan (later on Royal Doulton produced the tiles), but the project slowly ground to a halt and by 1931 only 53 of the planned 120 tiles were in use. The church has recently started adding more tiles again, bringing the original concept back to life.

    There was a memorial held in the church in December 1905, a year after Watts had died, which was attended by the Bishop of London. A statue of Watts was unveiled and the Bishop referred to the “humility of character and simplicity of life” of the former painter.

    Some of the names on the memorial, with some tragic stories amongst them.

  • Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    I’m used to the journey from Norwich to London Liverpool Street, but it’s rare for me to be getting the 07:00 train as that’s normally an expensive commuter service. Today though, it was £12.50 which I thought was reasonable all things considered (namely how expensive some other Greater Anglia services are which are of a much shorter destination).

    Norwich railway station wasn’t packed with people, but there were a few services about to leave, including the service to Liverpool Lime Street, so it wasn’t entirely quiet.

    Here’s the London thunderbolt that would hopefully get me into the city at 08:51. I boarded and had a carriage to myself, which was rather lovely. I then had a woman come up to me and she said that I looked strong (can’t fault her logic there) and could I open her bottle of water for her. This sort of scenario isn’t ideal, as if I can’t open it then I look ridiculous. Fortunately, I gave the impression of huge strength since I opened the bottle immediately. That’s a decent start to a journey.

    What wasn’t a decent start was seeing that the train was marked as delayed, with no announcements made about it. I’m not sure what caused this, as the signs soon lost their delayed status and the train was ready to rock and roll at 07:00 as expected. The announcements made by the staff were all friendly and informative, with a guard checking tickets. This process didn’t exactly take him long and to my slight disappointment (as I like watching drama unfold) everyone seemed to have a valid ticket.

    Here’s the packed carriage. I also managed to sit at the only block of seats on the train that didn’t have working power, so had to move to the seats opposite. This wasn’t the only technical problem on board, as the shutter at the cafe had broken and jammed, so the staff had to walk up and down the train with the trolley. The service though arrived into London on time, so no complaints there. It didn’t get much busier either, just a handful of people on the entire train.

    This is London Liverpool Street at commuter time, but on a morning between Christmas and New Year’s Day, which is perhaps never going to be packed with hordes of travellers. Nonetheless, it was still quieter than I expected.

    And outside London Liverpool Street station, with a calmness in the air.

  • 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.