Finally decent coffee in Holloway! They did a great job with the renovations (used to be an old pub). Really lovely decor that kept the cosy pub feel.
History geeks can occupy minutes of fun by trying to identify the various medieval monarchs depicted around the pub. Everyone else can enjoy a varied ents programme and a surprisingly cosy back room.
Britain’s first escalators were installed at this famous department store in 1898. Women were offered brandy at the summit in order to calm their nerves.
Harrods was bought in 1985 by Mohamed Al Fayed for £615 million, it covers 4 1/2 acres and holds over 300 department stores.
In 1991 an IRA bomb hidden in a bin in Victoria station killed one man and injured 38. This led to the removal of all litter bins from London stations.
A market at the southern end of London Bridge is first mentioned in 1276. In 1755 it was closed by Parliament for causing congestion, but soon reopened and is now one of London’s busiest.
Mrs Kings stall offering a pie with some serious heritage - a hand made pork pie produced in Cotgrave to a traditional recipe by Ian Hart and his family. Elizabeth King started the business in 1853.
To experience a literal taste of Dickensian London, go to Borough Market. Explore stalls of local produce including wild game, one feels like Oliver Twist himself. Kristin Knox, The Clothes Whisperer
The Golden Lyon tea and coffee house opened here in 1717, making this the oldest shop in Britain in the same trade on the same spot. They’ve also got the oldest corporate logo in the world, est.1787!
Upstairs, where they now have the comedy night, is where the Kinks had their first tryouts for the band. All day, and all of the night.
Established in 1890. Stepping in feels like travelling back in time. Dark atmosphere with candlelights and walls holding pictures of historical moments of the city. A tasteful selection of wines
You may be disappointed if you duck into Gordon’s in search of a respite from the London rain. But the water dripping from the cellar’s ceiling is simply part of the bar’s charm. Read more.
If you're very lucky you may catch a glimpse of the cellar beneath the main cellar, that leads via a tunnel to the Thames. or the series of catacombs behind the bar that lead... who knows where?
30 December: Drink wine for Rudyard Kipling's birthday. Gordon's is found in the subterranean cellar of a former warehouse that was home to Samuel Pepys in the 1680s and Rudyard Kipling in the 1890s.
I experience feelings of unease in this former cinema. The projector that is still housed in the centre is said to turn on unaided and terrify drinkers with unwanted screenings of Big Mamma's House 2.
The square here was laid out by Inigo Jones in 1630, on land once used by the monks of Westminster Abbey as a garden, but confiscated by Henry VIII during the Reformation.
‘Soho’ is thought to come from the hunting and battle cry of the Duke of Monmouth, a local landlord. He used it at the Battle of Sedgemoor where he was defeated in 1685, and later executed.
This Wetherspoon pub was originally the Savoy cinema. Designed by William Glenn, it opened in 1940 and was renamed the ABC in 1962, and then the Coronet in 1979, screening its last film in 1983.
Opening shortly after the Great Fire, this ancient pub was regularly visited by Dr Johnson when he was taking a break from writing the first English dictionary, at his home in nearby Gough Square.
This Fleet Street landmark was rebuilt back in 1667 ('in the reign of King Charles II'), and its seventeenth-century history is in large part responsible for its twenty-first-century appeal. Read more.
Much bigger than it looks, soaked in history, with lots of warmly old-fashioned rooms, cheap Sam Smiths beer, and a convivial atmosphere Read more.
The oldest pub in London, RE-built in 1666 after a lil fire- and it's barely been touched since. Twain, Dickens and Conan Doyle were regulars at various points and my late grandfather used to run it
The market began life in 1974 as a weekly crafts market, and now has about 100,000 visitors each weekend. The Stables Market is where the horses used to be kept for towing canal barges.
Recently refurbed (with every single horse statue in the world), the Stables retain the sense of being lost in a brick labyrinthine. A fun place to explore and, you know, maybe even buy something.
This was the nickname for Albert Bridge, which vibrated when lots of people walked across it. A notice still reminds soldiers from Chelsea Barracks to break step when marching across the bridge!
Look out for the many original heritage features such as the large attractive mosaics of the famous Tube logo or 'roundel', red terracotta facade and the extensive tiled wall finishes.
Built in 1915, Grade II listed Maida Vale tube station won a National Railway Heritage award in 2009, for modernisation of a heritage station.
Since 1994 this has been the home of MI5, Britain’s home security service. The building itself was completed in 1930, using land cleared after the 1928 Thames flood.
Built by Sir Joseph Bazalgette in the 1860’s as part of his scheme to provide a modern sewage system, this riverside development was a reaction to the Great Stink of 1858, and traffic congestion.
From 1235 until 1835, the monarch’s personal zoo was kept at the Tower, and it included many exotic animals given as presents by other monarchs, including polar bears, leopards and elephants.
It might look like it was built in 1920s Uzbekistan (then turned inside out) but, believe it or not, the Barbican is about to celebrate its thirtieth birthday. Read more.
The bridge had to close within days of its opening in 2000 because of a slight wobble, which caused people to walk in step with each other, causing the wobble to become much worse!
Have had a great lunch in a pub close to Big Ben. Found out two things that I did not know. First it is leaning, 2nd the stone used to build it supposedly contains traces of rare earth elements.
Hyde Park was a favourite venue for duellists in the 18th and 19th century, including the brutal 1712 duel between the Duke of Hamilton and Lord Mohun in which they hacked each other to death.
The first nude statue in London was erected in the South-East corner of Hyde Park in 1822. After the pleas from 'country women' a fig leaf was later added to save their blushes.
The glass and iron hall built here for the Great Exhibition of 1851 was nicknamed ‘the crystal palace’ by Punch magazine. In 1854 it was moved piece by piece to south London and rebuilt.
