Back from London

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  • prowlaprowla Frets: 4896
    I'm working in London at the moment; of a Friday after work I leave the office and walk where it takes me; last week I went to Andy Baxter Bass (that was a bust) and then found myself at a Colombian restaurant at Elephant & Castle.

    Next time I go to that restaurant, I'm having a giant steak like the table next to me had!

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  • metalemetale Frets: 57
    This will be my last night from my second visit to London.

    As we all knew, expectations and exagerations from the first visit tend to cloud judgement and there was no way for this trip to meet such high expectations.

    Still... it did. Most of my check-list in terms of to-go was met, and I only didn't do more because I KO'ed my legs early on the first day (trying to walk more than I should instead of using public transport as much as possible). On the second day I had to throw the towel at 16h30...

    Still, positive trip, finally British fry-up, some pubs, saw Freddie Mercury's homes, Natural History Museum, Camden Town market, Soho, London Bridge, London Eye, Buckingham Palace, etc

    Some nice IPAs too.

    Cheera
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  • ShrewsShrews Frets: 2958
    I enjoy any visits to London but the people there are as foreign to me as going to Portugal, Spain, The States or any other country. Londoners talk different, dress different, behave different and think different to my part of the country and seem to treat life much more seriously.  Londoner's seem to talk about London, like the rest of the country doesn't exist!

    I've worked all over the country for years now and can honestly say that London is very different to the rest of the UK.  I feel like I'm on holiday when I go there in a 'nice to see something different' kinda way

    Would I like to live there ? Nope, too busy and people tend to put their heads down and get on with their lives too much for me, but I do like that it's different.

    To the OP, I would say if you come to England again then try and travel out of London to the Shires and to some hidden gems


    1. Shrewsbury - looking for Harry Potter pubs and streets and a Dickensian feel then look no further. Walk out of the railway station and you'll see a superb castle on your left, walk a 100 yards and you'll find the school (now a library) where Charles Darwin was educated. Cobbled streets, tudor buildings galore, one of the finest parks in the whole country and the meandering River Severn running through it.  The pace is much slower, the people tend to talk about local stuff rather than national stuff and whilst the people are a little snobby they're generally a friendly bunch.  There are pubs all over the place, most of them hidden, from the main street, so you have to go and find them.

    https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186368-d5279920-Reviews-The_Nags_Head-Shrewsbury_Shropshire_England.html#REVIEWS

    https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186368-d3370374-Reviews-Loggerheads-Shrewsbury_Shropshire_England.html#photos;aggregationId=101&albumid=101&filter=7&ff=53138458

    https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186368-d604244-Reviews-The_Old_Post_Office-Shrewsbury_Shropshire_England.html

    https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186368-d2633648-Reviews-Three_Fishes-Shrewsbury_Shropshire_England.html#photos;aggregationId=101&albumid=101&filter=7&ff=175407671

    2. Chester - highly original Roman town.  A day at the races there is a must in the summer.

    3. York - the only Cathedral I've ever been in where I've had a 'wow' moment. Another Roman town on a bigger scale to Chester.

    4. Ironbridge (Telford) - whilst in Shrewsbury a trip to the worlds first iron bridge in Telford is a must as is a visit to the museums and the Blists Hill Victorian Town. 

    https://www.ironbridge.org.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlbmjsOiJ3wIVL7ftCh0q0w2SEAAYASAAEgKmzPD_BwE

    5. Bridgnorth - whilst in Shropshire, this small town is a must. You will definitely get a feel of 'small town' English life here. Split into two, High Town and Low Town, the two are connected by the cliff top railway and Bridgnorth is also the end (or start) point for the Bridgnorth-Kidderminster Severn Valley steam railway

    http://www.bridgnorthcliffrailway.co.uk/

    https://www.svr.co.uk/Default.aspx
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  • NiteflyNitefly Frets: 4901
    @Shrews - nice to see a mention of the Old Post Office (OPO) - I was last in there in about 1982, when we used to live in Sutton Heights, Telford. I'm pleased to hear it's still going!

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  • ShrewsShrews Frets: 2958
    Nitefly said:
    @Shrews - nice to see a mention of the Old Post Office (OPO) - I was last in there in about 1982, when we used to live in Sutton Heights, Telford. I'm pleased to hear it's still going!

    Yes, many of the old pubs still going, some gone and some replaced with wine bars and chain pubs but on the whole it's kept its soul!

    Back in '82 The OPO used to have a small bar/lounge with a restaurant out the back that nobody ever went in. Some time in the '80's it all got knocked into one. It survived the smoking ban era because people could sit outside in the cobbled courtyard and is still popular today with plenty of live bands and a comedy club.

    Back in '82 I think an old friend of mine ran it - Bob 'Wobbly Bob' Veysey - who has sadly died, but was certainly running it in 1983 when I first started drinking in town at 16!
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  • 57Deluxe57Deluxe Frets: 7329
    metale said:
    Hi everyone.
    I was in London this past weekend, my first time in the UK (I'm from Portugal, by the way). I was in Frankfurt last October and really liked it. I was hopping to like London too. That turned out to be an understatment.

    I became officialy in love with London. I absolutly adored the city. Each corner I turned I was in awe with the architecture and the 'feel' the city transmites. Every tube ride became the fix to an addiction. Some pretty cool stations too! My favourite was probably the Westminster one.

    Being in the big cosmopolitan city it is, turning a corner and suddently being in a Charles Dickens tale - priceless.

    The small restaurants in Soho, the odd vinyl store, the overwhelming King's Cross train station, the bunker-likeness of some tube stations, Denmark Street.... and the snow! We don't have snow here, so it was definitly a highlight for me. I was feeling like a child, filming with my phone and laughing my butt off.

    Still, so much left to do. I wish to return when I can. On my to-do list:
    - See the Big Ben clock tower without the construction stuff warped around it;
    - Hyde Park (get inside it);
    - Buckingham Palace;
    - London Tower;
    - Take a Jack The Ripper tour;
    - Go to a Pub;
    - Have a fry up;
    - See at least one ghost :lol: 
    - Meet wish Ash from Oil City for a beer;
    - Alot more subway! :+1: 

    All in all loved London and need to experience more of it. Cheers
    this reads like a blatant piece of propaganda from TFL and the Mayor's orifice...
    <Vintage BOSS Upgrades>
    __________________________________
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  • deanodeano Frets: 622
    Shrews said:
    I enjoy any visits to London but the people there are as foreign to me as going to Portugal, Spain, The States or any other country. Londoners talk different, dress different, behave different and think different to my part of the country and seem to treat life much more seriously.  Londoner's seem to talk about London, like the rest of the country doesn't exist!

    I've worked all over the country for years now and can honestly say that London is very different to the rest of the UK.  I feel like I'm on holiday when I go there in a 'nice to see something different' kinda way

    Would I like to live there ? Nope, too busy and people tend to put their heads down and get on with their lives too much for me, but I do like that it's different.

    To the OP, I would say if you come to England again then try and travel out of London to the Shires and to some hidden gems


    1. Shrewsbury - looking for Harry Potter pubs and streets and a Dickensian feel then look no further. Walk out of the railway station and you'll see a superb castle on your left, walk a 100 yards and you'll find the school (now a library) where Charles Darwin was educated. Cobbled streets, tudor buildings galore, one of the finest parks in the whole country and the meandering River Severn running through it.  The pace is much slower, the people tend to talk about local stuff rather than national stuff and whilst the people are a little snobby they're generally a friendly bunch.  There are pubs all over the place, most of them hidden, from the main street, so you have to go and find them.

    https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186368-d5279920-Reviews-The_Nags_Head-Shrewsbury_Shropshire_England.html#REVIEWS

    https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186368-d3370374-Reviews-Loggerheads-Shrewsbury_Shropshire_England.html#photos;aggregationId=101&albumid=101&filter=7&ff=53138458

    https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186368-d604244-Reviews-The_Old_Post_Office-Shrewsbury_Shropshire_England.html

    https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186368-d2633648-Reviews-Three_Fishes-Shrewsbury_Shropshire_England.html#photos;aggregationId=101&albumid=101&filter=7&ff=175407671

    2. Chester - highly original Roman town.  A day at the races there is a must in the summer.

    3. York - the only Cathedral I've ever been in where I've had a 'wow' moment. Another Roman town on a bigger scale to Chester.

    4. Ironbridge (Telford) - whilst in Shrewsbury a trip to the worlds first iron bridge in Telford is a must as is a visit to the museums and the Blists Hill Victorian Town. 

    https://www.ironbridge.org.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlbmjsOiJ3wIVL7ftCh0q0w2SEAAYASAAEgKmzPD_BwE

    5. Bridgnorth - whilst in Shropshire, this small town is a must. You will definitely get a feel of 'small town' English life here. Split into two, High Town and Low Town, the two are connected by the cliff top railway and Bridgnorth is also the end (or start) point for the Bridgnorth-Kidderminster Severn Valley steam railway

    http://www.bridgnorthcliffrailway.co.uk/

    https://www.svr.co.uk/Default.aspx
    Interesting @Shrews. My daughter is a medical student at Keele University and either next year (Yr 4) or the Year after (Yr 5) she will have to work/study at the hospitals and GP's in and around Shrewsbury, so I will pass on the info you have posted.

    Is there a Harry Potter connection, because she is a massive fan (as am I), and we have seen quite a few of the sites used in the films? If she could tick a few more off whilst she is down that way it will please her no end!
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  • ShrewsShrews Frets: 2958
    No connection (as far as I know), but the town is very Potterlike and the Severn Valley Railway in Bridgnorth very Hogwarts Express. There is a dedicated Harry Potter shop in Shrewsbury called Labryinth

    https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186368-d12853347-Reviews-Labyrinth_brings_Harry_Potter_To_Shrewsbury-Shrewsbury_Shropshire_England.html

    The town was used in the 1984 edition of 'A Christmas Carol' starring George C Scott and Edward Woodward, where many scenes were filmed in and around the town centre.  In the graveyard of St.Chads church, still lies the grave of Ebenezer Scrooge!  It was also used in the John Cleese film 'Clockwise'


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  • metalemetale Frets: 57
    57Deluxe said:

    this reads like a blatant piece of propaganda from TFL and the Mayor's orifice...
    Ups, you got me, that's what I really am  :#
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  • deanodeano Frets: 622
    Shrews said:
    No connection (as far as I know), but the town is very Potterlike and the Severn Valley Railway in Bridgnorth very Hogwarts Express. There is a dedicated Harry Potter shop in Shrewsbury called Labryinth

    https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186368-d12853347-Reviews-Labyrinth_brings_Harry_Potter_To_Shrewsbury-Shrewsbury_Shropshire_England.html

    The town was used in the 1984 edition of 'A Christmas Carol' starring George C Scott and Edward Woodward, where many scenes were filmed in and around the town centre.  In the graveyard of St.Chads church, still lies the grave of Ebenezer Scrooge!  It was also used in the John Cleese film 'Clockwise'


    Cheers. I'll let her know about the shop.

    Incidentally if there are any HP fans out there (like me and my daughter), the real Hogsmead station is at a place called Goatland on the North Yorks. Moors. That's where they filmed the station scenes (it is also where they filmed Heartbeat). You can have a shufti around for an hour or so, then head into Whitby for fish and chips!

    The Hogwarts Express is now at the Harry Potter Experience at Leavesden Studios.

    Anyway sorry for the thread diversion. I will stop now.
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