3 top London markets!

15 August 20117 November 2018Leave a comment

My 3 favourite markets in London are Camden, Portobello and Spitalfields. They have a different feel and are in different parts of London but beware, don’t ever try to do more than one in a day or you will have a severe case of market overload!
Let’s go to Camden first. It’s in north London and is made up of several markets that cover a huge area around the Grand Union Canal’s lock which is why you’ll see many references to the lock and this can be another name for the markets. Camden market grows every time I visit and has mushroomed from being some stalls around the canal area to the massive redeveloped Stables area which is full of huge bronze horse statues as it was once a stable and horse hospital. There is always something new and one area which burnt down a couple years ago has been rebuilt and incorporates a fun cafe of Vespas (see photo)
One thing hasn’t changed in all the years I’ve been coming, is Camden fashion’s love of black and leather and outrageous visuals. There are tons of food stalls, clothes stalls, jewellery stalls but most of all clothes stalls. My last visit was rather sad as the news of Amy Winehouse’s death spread through the crowd while we were there and as fellow local, the stall holders felt a great affinity with her.

Camden is full-on over the weekend when they reckon 100,000 people visit, especially on a Sunday, but you can visit during the week tho’ don’t try going in the morning as no one is up! The streets leading to the market are amazing too, trading on the image of Camden of black leather and tattoos – see photo
Photos are: the lock and the market; Vespa cafe; classic shop entry!; Camden fashion; and, the street leading to the market.

Next we are off to east London to Spitalfields market where Sunday is the big day, tho’ again there are some markets during the week but unlike Camden, they are much smaller. On Sunday the square is humming with stalls manned by new designers just starting off with their creations – mostly clothes but other items too. They are always keen to tell you about their work and tell you about the creative process. Of course there are the food stalls and stalls with stuff you’ll see elsewhere but there is still a good selection of one offs. This market has grown recently and is now surrounded by large shops and well known restaurant chains but it has kept its buzz and is a great Sunday out.

There has been a market on this site since 1638 when fish, fowl and roots were sold here. The original market, specialising in wholesale fruit and vegetables was moved to new premises out of central London in 1991 and now it is at the centre of a busy market area. Close by is Brick Lane, Petticoat Lane and Truman Brewery so on a Sunday you can wander from one to the other and experience the amazing range of cultures and styles in London.

A key landmark in the area is the beautiful Christ church built in the early 1700s which is the first photo. The others show the busy market trading .

Our final stop today is my favourite market because it is round the corner from where I live – Portobello Market. In fashionable west London this market is best visited on Saturday, as the other days of the week are a shadow of the bustle of the main day. The market lines both sides of Portobello Road and it changes character as you move down from antiques at the beginning, to fruit and veg, to general items, to a new designers section, a major second hand clothing section, a farmers market (with a seasonal pop up cinema!) and finally to the north African/Portuguese/Spanish section as you get to Golborne Road. The area where the antiques are is where you see the classic views of the brightly coloured houses that typify the road.

Portobello Road was the setting for Notting Hill the film and we still get lots of visitors trying to find the famous blue door and the travel bookshop. The market is also famous as a favourite Saturday activity for Paddington Bear who lived locally! Trading however dates back to the early 1900 when it was mainly fresh food with the antique traders arriving in the late 1940s and 1950s.

Photos are: busy market day ; a quieter day with the food stalls and the Electric cinema; the beautiful coloured houses; and, the famous travel bookshop.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my favourite London markets – there are loads more, but that’s for another day.

Bye for now,
Sue
itsyourlondon.co.uk

What a performance!

11 August 20118 November 2018Leave a comment

It’s been a difficult week in London with the riots in several areas of the capital but we are really hoping these disturbances have finished now. Londoners are carrying on as usual as much as possible – it’s the way we do things here!

I’ve been going to the theatre several times recently and there are some great performances to tell you about. Firstly there was the trip to Shakespeare’s Globe, the extraordinary building which is a faithful representation of the original Globe where Shakespeare’s plays were performed in the early 1600s. The American actor Sam Wannamaker launched an amazing campaign to build this theatre on the South Bank as he was astounded there was nothing to mark the site of the Globe. After overcoming major battles the work started although it was not completed in his lifetime. The result is wonderful from the outside and also as a place to perform – only the sound of passing planes disturbing the sensation of being back in history. You can sit in the wonderful galleries or stand as a ‘groundling’ for just £5.

We went to see Ann Boleyn, a riveting play which kept us royally entertained and made us forget the strain of standing for 3 hours! Incredible performances from all the lead characters and a fascinating telling of a familiar tale. By standing you are so close to the stage you really feel you are in the action. Before the performances start, you can take a tour of the Globe to learn more about its history and workings and I took one a few weeks ago which was fascinating, especially to hear about the awful conditions of the groundlings – open to the elements and no toilets!! I’ll say no more… You can also see the actors warming up for the performance, testing their voices and positions on the stage which is a real treat.

Photos are: the evocative exterior of the Globe; the wonderful galleried seating and standing areas; the actors warming up and a scary noose (!); and, the stage set for Ann Boleyn,

Performance is not just theatre! I was invited to a private evening of performance typewriting – how amazing is that! The talented Keira Rathbone was doing live typing of people’s eyes – you just sit in front of her and using an old manual typewriter she will skillfully and rather mysteriously manage to type your eye so you can recognise it. She also does more substantial work such as a triptych of Hammersmith Bridge or whole faces. Have a look at the photos showing Keira at her typewriter in front of a subject and an eye emerging on the typewriter from the flying fingers.

Some theatre is staged in the most unlikely settings and this was certainly true when we set off to see an outdoor performance of The Tempest in Coram’s Fields. This is no ordinary park and during the daytime you must abide by the sign which says ‘ Coram’s Fields is not a public park and adults may only enter if accompanied by a child’! Thomas Coram was shocked by the state of children in London and in 1739 set up the Foundling Hospital to care for their health and education. The site of the hospital is now a huge 7 acre space is the park which is also used for theatrical performances and a makeshift set of tents became the backdrop for Shakespeare’s The Tempest, although the cast also ran around the park and at times through the audiences by climbing over the seats. Photos show the stage before and during the performance which was full of fun.

One more performance to tell you about, but without photos this time, is War Horse. This is the story of a horse and a boy who trains him and what happens to both of them in the First World War. It is amazingly told using moving models as horses – a small one for the pony and a huge one for the fully grown horse which is strong enough to carry riders. The life sized model has people within it so it can move around the stage and they make the horse noises too. It’s a sad and shocking tale of the horrors of war but well worth a visit for the brilliance of the horses which really get to you. Tears have been known all around the audience…

Bye for now,

Sue

itsyourlondon.co.uk

Standing on the home turf of cricket

4 August 20118 November 20182 Comments

We had a special treat this week thanks to a friend who is a member at Lord’s – a trip to the famous ‘home of cricket’ and a chance to nose around the private members’ areas.

It was Ladies’ day and Middlesex were playing Derbyshire and it must be said, the match was a bit one sided in favour of Middlesex. However, we were excited to be there and have a tour around this iconic sporting venu. The day started with champagne in the outdoor garden area and then we were allowed to walk onto the hallowed turf, once play had stopped for lunch! It was amazing to walk around and see the ground from pitch level and get very close to the wicket. These first photos show you what we saw: the very proud score board; the wicket with the amazing JP Morgan media centre behind; and, the original Victorian stand – built in the shade as those good folk were so heavily clothed they couldn’t manage any direct sunshine!
After a spot of lunch we had a wander around and even got to see the famous ‘Long Bar’ where I took a quick photo as I’m not sure it’s really the done thing…… Until relatively recently the only women allowed in were the Queen and the cleaners but things have moved on, not least thanks to the lure of lottery funding, and since 1999 as long as you have a member is there to sign you in, women can wander freely! We stood on the balcony which is reputed to have the best view of cricket anywhere in the world and also has the bell which starts the play. Have a look at these photos: the Long Bar (quick snap); the great view of the ground; a match in play – bowling and batting; and, yours truly ringing the bell (almost)!

The current venue has been the home of the MCC since 1814. MCC stands for Marylebone Cricket Club and the ground is called Lord’s after Thomas Lord who established the private ground for them although this was originally where Dorset Square is now. The MMC set the laws of cricket for the world and still retain this role The wonderful Victorian pavilion dates from 1890 and the ground has seen many developments since then including the JP Morgan media centre in 1999. I’m sure they are already looking forward to celebrating an incredible two centuries on the present site in 2014!

You can have your own tour of Lord’s by contacting them directly on www.lords.org – tho’ yours won’t be a free visit with champagne – sorry!
Bye for now,
Sue
itsyourlondon.co.uk

Outdoors London: going to the ball and a huge flower show!

18 July 20117 November 2018Leave a comment

It’s mid July and outdoors London is in full swing even if the weather is not keeping up but I’m hopeful it will improve very soon. I was at 2 major outdoors event last week – a live screening in Trafalgar Square from the Royal Opera House and Hampton Court Flower Show – both good fun and luckily we escaped without getting rained on at all!

A really big screen was put up overnight in Trafalgar Square for a live screening of Massenet’s Cendrillon (or Cinderella as we know her) from the Royal Opera House. This was in panto style with great costumes, sung in French with subtitles. Although it would be wonderful to be in the Opera House, the outdoor version does have 2 great advantages: it’s free as the Opera House can be very pricey; and, as it’s televised you get some great close ups. They followed the story pretty closely and in the tradition of panto the principal male role was played by a woman which was rather strange as it resulted in soprano wooing soprano, where the spoken voice is less obvious, this was unexpected especially as the Prince looked like a young KD Lang!
The Square was completely packed with a lively crowd all sitting on the hard floor but eased by free blow up cushions courtesy of the sponsor BP. We enjoyed the show and look forward to next year already.
Photos take us through the first half of the event as we saw them on the screen (with Nelson’s Column in the background): the intro from Deborah Bull with crowd in the Square behind her; the ugly sisters before and after they are dressed up for the royal ball; our first view of miserable Cinders who has to stay home; Cinders and the Fairy Godmother after she has waved her wand; the wonderful carriage with horses (Carosse in French); Cinders arrives at the ball in her dazzling white dress while everyone else is in red; and, finally, the first kiss.

Hampton Court Flower Show is a major annual event in the gardening calendar and also for those who like a good day out! We were kindly invited by friends who had a stall in the massive Country Life tent where you could buy a huge range of lovely things – none more so than on their stall of course – Floreat was best! This show is absolutely enormous and you could spend all day walking round without going back on yourself and some of the tents were the size of the centre court at Wimbledon! We saw show gardens, amazing flower displays, everything you could ever need in your garden, and everything you will never need in your garden! As we were there on the last day, there were great bargains to be had as they began to close up and they pulled the show gardens and sold the plants off for a few pounds. As a result people were struggling out with huge plants and it’s a long way to the car or train station so goodness knows what state the plants and their owners would be in by the time they got home!
Photos show: Hampton Court’s Long Walk with tents all around; flower displays; a garlic garden(!) ; fabulous colours x2; blue and white agapanthus; and, a cactus garden, looking a bit like a cake stall!

Bye for now, Sue

http://itsyourlondon.co.uk/ @itsyourlondon

Hyde Park, a great place on a Sunday morning

5 July 20116 November 2018Leave a comment

It’s summer in London, it’s a lovely Sunday morning, my sponsored half marathon is looming so what could be better than a full circuit of Hyde Park? It turned out to be an excellent idea and I zoomed round taking in all the sights in no time.
I saw the work going on to completely reinvigorate Kensington Palace and give it a grand garden entrance; the wonderful formal fountains on the north side of the park; people take a horse ride around the park, those jogging and more unusually those ski-ing! The Horse Guards were returning to their barracks and the Albert Hall and Albert Memorial were looking at their best. The photo in the order listed here and you can see what a wonderful morning it was!

After completing a full circuit I decided to treat myself to a visit to the annual Serpentine Gallery Pavilion. Each year this fine gallery holds a competition for the best design for its summer outdoor pavilion – this year’s competition was won by Peter Zumthor, a Swiss architect, with his design Hortus Conclusus, meaning Enclosed Garden. It has a plain dark exterior with several doors through to an interior garden and cafe via interior dark passageways. The garden is conceived as a peaceful place which is enclosed and protected. The cafe bustle somewhat disturbs the peace but it is an impressive and interesting structure. Here are some photos: of the Serpentine Gallery itself; the Pavilion exterior with people entering and a view taken further back to give more perspective; and, the interior garden.

London has great night life so I should mention a visit to a venue completely new to me – the Bush Hall in west London. As part of the inaugural London Blues Festival Ray Gelato was playing a set here and it was a great night. Ray was born close by but has had a long and illustrious career playing with many bands as well as his own Giants so he can put on a really fun show as the singing and saxophone playing lead man in a band with plenty of good brass. The hall itself is a star – a small ex theatre decorated in a wonderful Victorian music hall style and I’ll definitely keep my eyes open for future events there.

Bye for now

Sue

http://itsyourlondon.co.uk/

@itsyourlondon

Music and laughter in London!

29 June 20116 November 2018Leave a comment

Afrocubism is a show I’d been waiting for ages to see. This combination of Cuban and Malian music was the original concept by Nick Gold that became the Buena Vista Social Club, just half the idea, because the Malian musicians couldn’t get visas to travel. I love that record so was very excited to the full line up at last although time has taken away most of the Cubans and Eliades Ochoa is the key survivor of the original line up. He was joined with the cream of Malian music: Bassekou Kouyate, Kasse Mady Diabate and Toumani Diabate. They won a Songlines award which was presented by Carlos Acosta, the ballet dancer, a fellow Cuban It was a brilliant evening of music and made me wonder what would have happened if those visas had come through!
Photos are: Royal Albert Hall, the band, Eliades Ochoa, Cuban trumpeters and Carlos with the band.

Sometimes in London you can stumble across music without any plan or expectation. Last week I found myself with a spare hour before it was time to meet up with friends for a theatre trip. I was on the South Bank and it was about to rain so I dipped into the Royal Festival Hall to revisit the Festival of Britain 1951 exhibition. I heard some music and it turned out to be an indoor busking session (they’d moved in due to the rain) and I was lucky enough to see She Keeps Bees followed by the excellent Guillemots. They played for about half an hour, it was free and there was a good, very appreciative crowd. A great. unexpected treat!

Comedy is very popular in London and any night you can find great comedians all over town. June and July are especially good times as many of the top performers are trying out new material for the annual Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Festival. One recent Friday night we booked in to see a comedy gala in aid of Anno’s Africa a development charity and great cause. They lined up a great evening of laughs from the following: Daniel Kitson (host), Stewart Lee, Simon Munnery, Jenny Eclair, Simon Amstell and Miles Jupp – to name just my favourites. To top this fun evening off there was a raffle with the prizes awarded by Hayley Mills and my friend won a golfing trip to Ireland (with me of course!).

Photos are Hayley, Stewart Lee, Simon A, Jenny, Miles, Simon M

Bye for now, Sue

http://itsyourlondon.co.uk

@itsyourlondon

Wimbledon fever!

24 June 20119 November 2018Leave a comment

It’s the last week in June so of course our annual Wimbledon fever has hit! Us Brits go mad for tennis for two weeks a year and put immense pressure on all of our home tennis players but mostly on Andy Murray!

Apart from the tennis, Wimbledon is famous for its queue so I decided to give it a go. My thinking was: it’s day 2, only the first week so there will be plenty to see on the outside courts and it’s a dry day so why not join the queue and hope for the best. Well, I was not alone, it felt like half of London had exactly the same idea. We joined the snaking line at 1.30 only to be told we wouldn’t get into the grounds before 5.30! Rather bad news but being Brits we stuck it out and it wasn’t that bad – we finally got in at 5.10! We passed the line of tents for the people already camping out for the next day to see Nadal on centre court! The queue is well behaved as you get a numbered ticket on arrival so any attempt to jump to the front by joining friends who were there earlier is stamped on – good news for proper queue-ers!

However, once inside all that waiting faded away and I roamed around the outside courts in the sunshine seeing loads of tennis action very close up. Many of the players were new to me but the better known included Bhagdatis, Nalbandian, Tsonga, Webley-Smith (Brit). It’s amazing how close you get to them and 3 and half hours of great tennis and the wonderful Wimbledon atmosphere was a good reward for all that queueing. Yes, it would have been brilliant to have centre court tickets to see the Federer and Djovovic matches I could only hear the shouts for but I recommend taking all your good queueing skills and giving it a go next year.

Photos – where we started at 1.30 with a handy sign so you know you are in the right place!; the tent city; beautiful outside court; one to show just how close you can be; the backdrop of the wonderful centre court; and, an action shot of the brilliant Tsonga.
Exhausting work so that’s all for this week!

Bye for now,

Sue

www.itysourlondon.co.uk

@itsyourlondon

London’s largest roof top bar!

14 June 20119 November 2018Leave a comment

This week’s highlights were a massive bar opening, a black cab tour and nosing around some beautiful private gardens – the usual great mix!

The Trafalgar Hotel (on Trafalgar Square of course) have revamped their rooftop bar and it is now the largest in London so they threw a brilliant party to celebrate its opening. The weather was a worry as it had rained on and off during the day but we were lucky and the clouds held off raining but gave us dramatic skies. The views over Trafalgar Square and toward the London Eye and Houses of Parliament are exceptional and add to that a great bar, lots of heaters, big umbrellas, a covered area with a second bar, it all adds up to a great venue. We were treated to champagne all night and a special performance by the lovely Beverley Knight in the stage/DJ area. Ice sculptures, dancers and fire throwers all added to the party atmosphere. What a great night!
Photos are: the ice sculpture; Trafalgar Square view; the outside and mobile bar!; Houses of Parliament and Big Ben; the London Eye and a gathering storm; Nelson’s column almost at eye level; sunset over London; and, the lovely Beverley Knight – yes I was in the front of the crowd!

As a special treat for a great group of London bloggers, John the Cabby (as he’s known on twitter @Johnthecabby) took us round his tour of London for a couple of hours. It’s always fun travelling in a cab and John has his own commentary as we pass by the great sights of London. Given the combined knowledge in the cab (the other 4 are masterminds – Laura, Ian, Tom and Matt), John’s challenge was to find something new to us all. He really excelled and even found a doorway which he’d not seen before – the entrance to a 17th prison just by Parliament! Thanks John for a brilliant morning!

Photos: yours truly pretending to be a cabby; the real thing!; and, the plaque giving the details of our new find.

It was Open Garden Squares Weekend so we set off with our trusty Oyster card and a £7.50 ticket giving us entry to every garden and tried to work our way through a list of gardens not normally open to the public. We strolled around: the residents’ gardens by Regents Park with a famous underpass formerly used by posh nannies looking to get their charges to sleep; a tiny garden at the Academy Hotel; a Japanese roof top garden at the University of London; a strip of garden along a side street trying to make the most of a precious piece of inner city green; a perfect garden square in Bloomsbury; a tranquil oasis just by the Mall; the palatial lawns at Marlborough House (with a royal pet cemetery!) and, the spacious private gardens of Cadogan Place. The last one was our favourite and not just because they had a jazz band and were serving freshly made Pimms! We bare touched the surface of the list of 200+ gardens but felt we’d poked our noses into some new areas and seen loads of wonderful plants and expertly cared for gardens.

Photos are: The Academy Hotel garden; the Carlton House gardens; Marlborough House lawn and royal pet cemetery; and, the jazz tent at Cadogan Place.

Bye for now , Sue

http://itsyourlondon.co.uk/

@ityourlondon

Fun in the sun at Somerset House

7 June 20116 November 2018Leave a comment

You may have heard already and it’s true, we are having great weather this year in London and this spring has been the warmest and driest on record. Londoners really know how to make the most of any bit of sunshine and my trip to Somerset House last week gave me the chance to see a perfect example of this. That visit was topped with a trip to the theatre to take in a new play.

Somerset House is an amazing place, dating from 1801 and is most famous to Brits as where all the birth certificates were kept. It was also: the nation’s Stamp Office where every newspaper was stamped before distribution; where the Royal Academy of Arts began; and, the home to various government offices. It still houses government departments but it is more famous for its wonderful courtyard (which was once just a car park!) and fountains, its restaurant, its exhibition and the events in the courtyard. Currently in the courtyard is an amazing exhibition by Ai Weiwei, the famous Chinese artist who was behind the Olympic Birdsnest stadium in Beijing and the Sunflower Seeds exhibition of 100 million pieces in the Tate Modern. Sadly at the moment he is in prison in China but his work speaks out for him. Here we have 12 massive bronze animal heads depicting the traditional Chinese zodiac called Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads. This is his first major outdoor exhibition in London and Somerset House’s first outdoor modern sculpture display.

The day I went to see them was very warm and sunny so we could enjoy the heads while families enjoyed themselves running in and out of the fountains. People of all ages couldn’t resist running through the changing fountains and the kids stripped off to their swimmers and there was no stopping them! We however enjoyed a light lunch at Tom’s Kitchen within the main building and remained fully clothed!

Another good reason for visiting Somerset House is the Courtauld art gallery where you can view a wonderful collection ranging from some of the most famous impressionists and post impressionist work – Van Gogh, Manet, Renoir, Degas – and some more modern pieces – Bacon, Hepworth and Nicholson – and many older pieces too – Ruebens and Brueghel. For a mere £4.50 entry to what is termed a small museum, you can treat yourself to a journey through some great art.

Photos are: a view of the full courtyard; various shots of the zodiac heads and people playing in the fountains.

This week’s theatre trip was to see Butley at the Duchess Theatre, a piece by set in the world of academia in the 1970s. The undoubted star of the play was Dominic West, playing the once great professor whose decent into drink has lead him to rail against the world and those closest to him. We were treated to a question and answer session with the whole cast afterwards which was great as we were in the front row for this and I was reminded of my close up moment with Dominic West when he was at the Donmar so here’s our photo!

Bye for now,

Sue

itsyourlondon.co.uk

A royal palace and a fairy tale hotel

30 May 20118 November 2018Leave a comment

If you hop on a train for a mere 20 minutes you can see a royal palace turned art deco glory and back in London, a wonderful railway hotel has been returned to its former glory and it’s magical (well it was in Harry Potter!)

The royal palace is Eltham Palace which was home to many King Henrys including Henry V111 and his daughter Elizabeth 1st. This magnificent medieval building then fell into disuse and the great hall was used as a barn for animals at one stage! Luckily people saw sense and a renovation project was funded by the government in the early 1900s. Then the Courtauld family bought the site and built a wonderful art deco mansion onto the great hall. No photos are allowed inside the building but trust me the art deco touches are amazing and the whole place takes you back to another era and one that was full of luxury and style. The Courtaulds held grand parties the great medieval hall and when they moved out after the Second World War, the armed forces used the place for a training venue – what a place to be posted! Luckily now it’s back to its art deco best and well worth a visit. There are fabulous grounds too and you can even see the London skyline to prove how near you are!

The photos are: the entrance to the art deco home; the beautiful gardens, the medieval hall; and, the view back to the London skyline.

May saw the opening of the wonderfully refurbished St Pancras hotel, formerly the Midland Hotel which was built in 1870s. It fell into decay and was another fine building almost lost and was nearly demolished but a feisty band of campaigners including Sir John Betjemen fought to keep it safe. It’s been under development for as long as I can remember and we’ve waited in anticipation as first the station opened and now finally the hotel and restaurant. It is a mad gothic masterpiece with all the luxury you’d want from a top hotel. As a Londoner it’s wonderful to see it as a working building again sitting proudly among London’s fine sites. The restaurant does it justice with top chef Marcus Wareing cooking up great British food and there is a bar as well as a foyer lounge where you feel close to the action of the station with the design themes of St Pancras carried through. After lunch (well I had to try it out didn’t it?) I went for a wander around but you can also book guided tours.

Photos are: the magnificent exterior of the hotel (x2); the restaurant entrance; view from the hotel across the station with the Olympic rings and the champagne bar; the amazing interior staircase; and, the Gilbert Scott restaurant.