In the poshest part of London you’ll find shoes fit for a Prince Regent. Strolling from the nearby Wallace Collection museum full of opulence of Louis 16th I passed these shoes in The Decadent Burlington Arcade and thought ‘nothing has changed’. You can get said Prince shoes polished for eight quid (£8) by an old […]
This innovative loo with a sink in the cistern can be found in the basement of The Guitar Social (26 Caledonian Rd, London N1 9DT) a bar/guitar rehearsal/performance/lesson crossover space. One person in my group said: “Too many different things that shouldn’t be in the same space… drinking your beer, washing your hands and using […]
Some child excitedly called ‘Mum! It smells like wee in there!’. Enjoy the sights and smells of an old fashioned Sailor Town. Part of the Museum of the Docklands. I come to a nearby health clinic for my yearly health checkup MOT and end up popping in here afterwards. I wonder if life was less […]
Sail around in a hot tub boat in Canary Wharf. BBQ boats are also available for those who don’t want to get their kit off. [Ad] Book a hot tub boat Nearest station is West India Key, otherwise it’s a confusing maze of tunnels from Canary Wharf. Sailor Town and Crossrail Roof Garden are nearby.
The Hidden Tap brewery offers beers and ales to paddleboarders and kayakers. Just ring the bell and they’ll lower them down. And a debit card reader presumably. Stand-up paddle boards (SUP) and kayak canoes can be hired from nearby YMCA Fairthorne Manor. Check the tide times, water craft can be hired from around and hour […]
Urban meadow, near the Thames. Pretty nice when it’s not full of druggies.
A lovely coffee shop. The sort of place you can buy a cup of tea and stay all day, working on a laptop or reading a book, perhaps from their book exchange shelf. Can be quiet, but also attracts various oddballs who can talk loudly and change the ambience. But what else would you expect […]
Platform 9 3/4 of King’s Cross Station is somewhat of a tourist trap for Harry Potter fans. Sitting actually to the right of platform 11, you can queue up to get a photo taken with the disappearing luggage trolley. Thankfully, there’s no charge to take your own photo, but I question if the queue is […]
God only knows how a rusted car made it into the middle of these woods. Burnt out mopeds can also be found, overgrown with greenery in a beautiful way, almost looking like an intentional sculpture park.
What I hadn’t expected was the birds singing in chorus and flying through this inside outside space. The whole place under the arches of this geodesic dome reminds me of a sci-fi future depicted in films like Silent Running. One day I popped to the Bupa health clinic in Canary Wharf to get a covid-19 […]
This photo says it all. For more local ways of South London see the Stone Circle. The Ecology Park is nearby and a lovely walk leads there under the road following the path of an old canal. There’s also a water sports centre here. In my experience it’s rarely windy enough for them to actually […]
Sir Christopher Marlowe, the playwright, was stabbed through the eyeball into the brain in a drunken row with a spy friend over the drinks bill in an illegal tavern. But stabbing in South London isn’t reserved to playwrights and spies, these days everyone’s at it. Marlowe, who wrote Doctor Faustus amongst other masterpieces, is now […]
More sky than you’ll find than anywhere else in London. It’s actually on a hill so the ground drops away gradually, creating a feeling of expanse you rarely find in the city. Not a townhouse in sight. The Point is nearby.
Myth has it that there are secret caverns below The Point dug in olden times to hide from the invading Danes. I heard the tunnels extend all the way down to the Thames and were used for smuggling wine by the Navy officers who lived in the picture postcard like cottages up here on the […]
The Old Mulberry Tree is said to have been planted in 1698 by ‘Peter The Great‘, a Russian Tsar who rumoredly came to Britain 300 years ago undercover and worked as a Royal Dockyard worker in Deptford to learn how to build a Navy. Apparently his disguise wasn’t very good, what with him dressing like […]
Update – 2022: It’s now closed. DIY Space for London, despite the name has nothing to do with DIY, or popping down to B&Q to nail some planks of 6 by 4. It is however quite DIY, thrown together, and haphazard. It’s actually a co-op community centre run by volunteers. We went to an open […]
‘Could this be the most emotional place in London?’ I thought, as piano played while long lost couples embraced each other. Someone had the bright idea of putting a piano at Eurostar International train arrivals in St Pancras Station. Anyone can plonk themselves down and play. The quality is surprisingly good, and the best musicians […]
Imagine a Rastafarian. In a tall turban serving vegan mutton curry. Standing in a shopping centre that feels like one you’d find on a year-off travelling the world… and you are not far off. The Zionly Vegan Restaurant in Peckham is run by the ‘Vegan Rasta’ who wears a variety of colourful turban head wraps. […]
The Queen’s House is an historic museum. In Netflix filming it sometimes doubles-up as a Queen’s House. Please note – this is not the actual queen Elizabeth the 2nd’s house. It’s not queen Elizabeth the 1st’s house either, despite it having a massive portrait of her above the mantelpiece (which cost a mere £8 million […]
A huge backpacker hostel that looks like Harry Potter’s castle. Which I imagine would be a cheap and pleasant place to stay if you were a French exchange student and a Harry Potter fan. It’s nearish Elephant and Castle Station, if you need somewhere to sleep, before getting woken up early by one of your […]
There are a few Burgess Parks around the place. So it took a little while to find this, the right one. Presumably the Burgess family were rich aristocrats and owned much of London back in the day, thus parks named after them. Burgess Park off the Old Kent Road is a beautiful spot. Lakes, fountains, […]
Once upon a time libraries were quiet places. Sadly those days are over. God knows how anyone can get any studying, or working done here, least of all read. Over my lunch at Canada Water Library Cafe (1300-1500 15/10/2019) I had three things to contend with: Luckily I had brought my noise cancelling headphones that […]
