Death Of London

[Kurt Barlow]

1 hour ago, Popuplights said:

My daughter is just moving up to Stratford, but I am staying in her new flat for a few days in May. I love to seek out old pubs with nice glass and Victorian mirrors

WTF - Stratfordistan?

I was there today as I needed to go into my office went out at lunch and bought a Big Mac. Then proceeded to eat it while walking slowly past the Muzzer women lounging about on the seats in the Westfield centre. They were letter box types so I assume were fasting. 

[The Generation Game]

48 minutes ago, Kurt Barlow said:

WTF - Stratfordistan?

I was there today as I needed to go into my office went out at lunch and bought a Big Mac. Then proceeded to eat it while walking slowly past the Muzzer women lounging about on the seats in the Westfield centre. They were letter box types so I assume were fasting. 

I guess you were dishonourably discharged from the TA  (second one down the left column). 

 

Edited April 27, 2021 by The Generation Game

[Popuplights]

24 minutes ago, Kurt Barlow said:

WTF - Stratfordistan?

I was there today as I needed to go into my office went out at lunch and bought a Big Mac. Then proceeded to eat it while walking slowly past the Muzzer women lounging about on the seats in the Westfield centre. They were letter box types so I assume were fasting. 

It's not exactly Stratford, I was being obtuse. But yeah. 

[Bien Pensant]

12 hours ago, Frank Hovis said:

I used to live there and that was part of the appeal.  You pretty much had it to yourself on summer evenings and weekends.

Wandering around the old buildings, churches and churchyards of a Sunday was akin to having your own personal museum of architecture.  There was simply no traffic in a Sunday and barely any on a Saturday.

The Barbican Centre is actually very pleasant to walk around, especially the water gardens, you name me another council estate you can say that of.

 

[The Grey Man]

14 minutes ago, Bien Pensant said:

The Barbican Centre is actually very pleasant to walk around, especially the water gardens, you name me another council estate you can say that of.

 

I watched a video this last few weeks on the Barbican.

The inside, sheltered gardens, in the heat sink of London, were amazing.

[Bien Pensant]

1 minute ago, The Grey Man said:

I watched a video this last few weeks on the Barbican.

The inside, sheltered gardens, in the heat sink of London, were amazing.

I used to go for walks around it on Sunday evenings, as @Frank Hovis says, the city is literally dead on weekends.

The funny thing was that you could never hear any music as you walked between the blocks.

It is right in the centre of London yet the most peaceful place to be on a weekend.

[The Grey Man]

2 minutes ago, Bien Pensant said:

I used to go for walks around it on Sunday evenings, as @Frank Hovis says, the city is literally dead on weekends.

The funny thing was that you could never hear any music as you walked between the blocks.

It is right in the centre of London yet the most peaceful place to be on a weekend.

I had a few months to explore in my twenties when I worked in Bromley. My guide a friend from 'Ainault. My longest friend actually.

He sent me some pics in Feb showing  dead Oxford Rd. Surreal.

The  Barbican. To be honest, untill I watchted the video, I did not know of the gardens. To be ruthlessly honest...I thought it was just a tower and theatre! Pleasantly educated.

[King Penda]

11 hours ago, spygirl said:

https://www.google.com/maps/search/the+city/@51.5129718,-0.1329398,16.3z

Spent 3 months doing a building up on conduit street I’ve often spend an hour  on carnaby street a soho in general ie dinner time .and that’s when I was working when I squatted I’d spend more time there .people just don’t realise what carnaby street did to influence music not just the uk the world 

[eight]

8 hours ago, Bien Pensant said:

The funny thing was that you could never hear any music as you walked between the blocks.

 

You mean from the Barbican itself? It's massively sound insulated, to stop the noise of tube trains getting in.

[Austin Allegro]

15 hours ago, Popuplights said:

My daughter is just moving up to Stratford, but I am staying in her new flat for a few days in May. I love to seek out old pubs with nice glass and Victorian mirrors

The Princess Louise, 208 High Holborn is probably the best example of a high-Victorian 'gin palace' public house in London.

It's run by Spoons now I think (or possibly Sam Smiths) , but very nicely restored. Nowhere near Stratford though.

[Austin Allegro]

11 hours ago, The Grey Man said:

I had a few months to explore in my twenties when I worked in Bromley. My guide a friend from 'Ainault. My longest friend actually.

He sent me some pics in Feb showing  dead Oxford Rd. Surreal.

The  Barbican. To be honest, untill I watchted the video, I did not know of the gardens. To be ruthlessly honest...I thought it was just a tower and theatre! Pleasantly educated.

The public library in the Barbican is excellent - particularly their collection of vintage detective stories.

The City IIRC has the biggest number of churches per resident of any area in the UK - something like one church for every 200 people I think - although most of them are closed on Sundays. Wednesday lunchtime is normally when they have services. Some are really beautiful, and there's one, I forget the name, which is a scaled down version of St Paul's Cathedral, which Wren built to check that the dome would stand up ok.

Edited April 28, 2021 by Austin Allegro

[Yadda yadda yadda]

11 minutes ago, Austin Allegro said:

The Princess Louise, 208 High Holborn is probably the best example of a high-Victorian 'gin palace' public house in London.

It's run by Spoons now I think (or possibly Sam Smiths) , but very nicely restored. Nowhere near Stratford though.

Sam Smiths. Nice pub.

[Yadda yadda yadda]

49 minutes ago, Not-An-Echo-Chamber said:

Great boozer. Only serves own brand from their brewery in Todcaster (I think), including own label (presume white-label) spirits and crisps

Their Alpine later is wonderful

They have another pub in Argyle Street Soho and I think a third but can't remember where

Substantially cheaper than anywhere else in the west end

They have quite a few in London. There is one on Fleet Street, The Cheshire Cheese. The Cittie of York, Holborn. Chandos at Trafalgar Square. Several others. I don't know of any with a beer garden so they're all still shut.

[Snake Plissken]

16 minutes ago, Yadda yadda yadda said:

They have quite a few in London. There is one on Fleet Street, The Cheshire Cheese. The Cittie of York, Holborn. Chandos at Trafalgar Square. Several others. I don't know of any with a beer garden so they're all still shut.

The Angel down from Tottenham Court tube station had a small beer garden not sure if  reopened yet.

[Bricks & Mortar]

31 minutes ago, Yadda yadda yadda said:

They have quite a few in London. There is one on Fleet Street, The Cheshire Cheese. The Cittie of York, Holborn. Chandos at Trafalgar Square. Several others. I don't know of any with a beer garden so they're all still shut.

Captain Kidd, in Wapping.  Was Sam Smiths when I last visited, (about 5 years back), and has a beer garden on the Thames. 

However, we only stayed for one, then on to the Prospect of Whitby just along the street.   To be honest, I can't remember much about the Captain Kidd, and have much stronger memories of the latter.

[The Generation Game]

39 minutes ago, Yadda yadda yadda said:

They have quite a few in London. There is one on Fleet Street, The Cheshire Cheese. The Cittie of York, Holborn. Chandos at Trafalgar Square. Several others. I don't know of any with a beer garden so they're all still shut.

There's another on Fleet Street (or is it The Strand on the other side of Aldwych?) called the Lyceum Tavern. 

Seems it is The Strand. 

[Bien Pensant]

15 hours ago, eight said:

You mean from the Barbican itself? It's massively sound insulated, to stop the noise of tube trains getting in.

Nope, I mean just walking around on the concourses outside.

What I'm trying to say is that a) the residents are probably a cut above your usual tower block dwellers and b) it seems that the Corporation of London runs a relatively tight ship (they actually have, rather old fashioned looking, phones on the walls, all over the complex, which link directly to the City of London Police).

I should add, I don't think there's any insulation. I think that's what the fountains are for. The Underground line that runs under the Barbican is the Metropolitan so it's a cut and cover, rather than a deep level 'tube' so they can actually be quite noisy (you hear them sometimes in the basement of shops and I used to go swimming in a pool where you could hear them under water). And, the Barbican is built on platforms above the normal road level and as soon as the fountains are shut off at night you suddenly become very aware that you're basically perched on a traffic island. Still, the City is dead after office hours so it's not much worse than being in a village, surprisingly.

I generally don't like collectivist architecture - the playthings of social engineers who like to try and turn people into ants in their ant farms and then blame them for abusing their "machines d'habitation". But, the City of London, as rapacious capitalists, seem to have made it work.

Edited April 28, 2021 by Bien Pensant

[Stuey]

I'm still not sure if cities being trashed by WFH was part of the plan or an unintended consequence. 

[Austin Allegro]

15 hours ago, Yadda yadda yadda said:

They have quite a few in London. There is one on Fleet Street, The Cheshire Cheese. The Cittie of York, Holborn. Chandos at Trafalgar Square. Several others. I don't know of any with a beer garden so they're all still shut.

Sam Smiths are IMO the best choice for session drinking in London. They are relatively cheap but are a cut above the Spoons clientele.
Once you get over everything being the same brand, they're quite good. IIRC they even had their own brand of ciggies years ago.

[Agent ZigZag]

Just now, Austin Allegro said:

Once you get over everything being the same brand, they're quite good. IIRC they even had their own brand of ciggies years ago.

Never knew that. Love little pieces of history like that.

My favourite  Sam Smiths was Town Wharf Isleworth.

[Agent ZigZag]

13 hours ago, Bien Pensant said:

I generally don't like collectivist architecture - the playthings of social engineers who like to try and turn people into ants in their ant farms and then blame them for abusing their "machines d'habitation". But, the City of London, as rapacious capitalists, seem to have made it work.

Social engineering implemented by Governments, Planners and Architects have pock marked more urban spaces in towns and cities throughout the land than the Luftwaffe ever managed to achieved. 

Our architecture since post war has been in my opinion heavily influenced by socialistic philosophies with our homes and workplaces looking very boring drab and mundane boxes of clean lines. The right of centre thinking,  in architectural terms, again in my opinion, favours the classical orders seeking individual design and embellishments both internally and externally, 

[onlyme]

16 hours ago, Bricks & Mortar said:

Captain Kidd, in Wapping.  Was Sam Smiths when I last visited, (about 5 years back), and has a beer garden on the Thames. 

However, we only stayed for one, then on to the Prospect of Whitby just along the street.   To be honest, I can't remember much about the Captain Kidd, and have much stronger memories of the latter.

Prospect of Whitby is well old, amazing Pewter topped bar, great little spot.

[Stuey]

1 hour ago, Austin Allegro said:

Sam Smiths are IMO the best choice for session drinking in London. They are relatively cheap but are a cut above the Spoons clientele.
Once you get over everything being the same brand, they're quite good. IIRC they even had their own brand of ciggies years ago.

Their Taddy Stout is still one of my favourite dark beers 

 

[Hail the Tripod]

3 hours ago, Austin Allegro said:

Sam Smiths are IMO the best choice for session drinking in London. They are relatively cheap but are a cut above the Spoons clientele.
Once you get over everything being the same brand, they're quite good. IIRC they even had their own brand of ciggies years ago.

The clientele at the “Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese” are entirely interchangeable with those at “The Knights Templar” on Chancery Lane which is a Wetherspoons pub. 

[Austin Allegro]

2 minutes ago, Hail the Tripod said:

The clientele at the “Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese” are entirely interchangeable with those at “The Knights Templar” on Chancery Lane which is a Wetherspoons pub. 

True...but you don't get many real 'Wethermen' in either of those pubs, in my experience. Knights Templar is not a typical Spoons pub as it seems rammed full with bankers and lawyers whenever I visit.