OT Things to do in London

[ARW]

Brilliant.

I would never have considered that.

Cheers

[Nick Odell]

+1 on that. Forget the tourist boats: TfL run river launches at a reasonable price which you can swipe on and off with your Oyster Card.

Nick

[ARW]

That would though have been ideal, but as you say it's closed until March.

[ARW]

I like that idea but I am not sure she will.

[ARW]

My Oyster card (from a previous company I worked for) was still magically topping it's self up when I last used it in 2016.

[ARW]

That also looks like a good possibility.

Thanks to you and everyone else for the suggestions. And there were an awful lot of engineering ones:-)

[Bob Eager]

Just remember all the prohibited things you can't take in with you.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Something I've recommended to tech colleagues visiting London many times, and they've never been disappointed, are the London Transport Museum tours of disused underground stations. You need to book in advance (originally, months in advance, but that wasn't the case last time I sent someone in their direction).

The ones I've seen myself are:

1. Clapham South deep air raid shelter Massive shelter built under Clapham South station - one of 7 or 8 across London. They were built as large tunnels, the idea being to link them all together to provide an express route across London for regular surface trains after the war, but that never happened. After the war, it housed the Windrush immigrents when they arrived, and later became the Festival Hotel for putting up visitors to the Festival of Britain exhibition. It was closed after a fire in the Googe Street deep shelter, when the government decided they were not safe for public access. Since then, they have been used as record storage space, but that died out as computer technology took over.

1. Down Street Underground Station. This had already closed before WWII (it was too near Green Park, the Down Street entrance was too far from the platform under Piccadilly, so it had few customers). When the Piccadilly line was extended in early 1930's, they had to remove some existing stations to keep travel times reasonable. It became home of the government at the beginning of the WWII, before Churchill's War rooms were ready. What's left now is a mixture of an underground station frozen in 1932, combined with the remains of the war time installation, combined with services which London Underground has run through it since, and it's still an escape route from the Piccadilly line. Some of the rooms (Churchills bathroom IIRC) had a couple of inches of standing water and you need suitable footware if you want to go in those.

2. Euston Station. These are the old parts which closed in 1960's when the Victoria line was built. One of the most interesting parts for me was all the old adverts which are still on the walls, although decaying in the moisture. Much of it is now used as air ducting for the Victoria line, and we were lead through a giant air duct, from which we could see down through the grills on the roof of the Victoria line platforms. (I was quite surprised they took us into such area which was never meant to have any access except occasional maintenance, and had no footway, but very pleased they did.) This area of Euston Station was all due to be destroyed by HS2, so I'm not sure if it's still available.

For Down Street and Clapham, you need to be fit enough to walk down and back up staircases corresponding to something like 8-10 floors.

There are several more tours which I haven't done as yet.

Oh, and since I mentioned them, Churchill's war rooms are also quite interesting, but much more touristic (no wading through deep puddles).

Another one I went into on 2000 IIRC was King William Street underground station, but that isn't open to the public. The original entrance is under the basement of a building I worked in, and one of the other companies in the building used it as a records storage space. It was the original northern terminus of what became the Northern line with a dedicated tunnel under the Thames, which hasn't been used since. It closed in

1900, but has been used as an air raid shelter during WWII. It's no longer possible to go in there because it flooded and has HV cables routed through it.

[Pamela]

On 10:19 30 Jan 2019, F <news@nowhere> wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Last summer a duck boat sank in the US with many fatalities. :(

[Pamela]

On 15:26 30 Jan 2019, Peter Johnson [e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

IMHO this can be an excellent although I had to get tickets in advance from my MP. Didn't know no advance booking is needed. Best go for a big debate in which case th epublic gallery may be full.

[Pamela]

On 18:43 30 Jan 2019, ARW [e-mail]> wrote in news:jfm4E.264645$ [e-mail]:

Maybe she could visit St Paul's cathedral which is 5 minutes away while you watch the court in action.

[Pamela]

On 21:11 29 Jan 2019, ARW [e-mail]> wrote in news:rk34E.262106$ [e-mail]:

Live music?

A chamber music concert at the church of St Martin In The Fields off Trafalgar Square. You don't have to know your classical music because they play the big hits - sort of Classic FM's top 10.

Very stress free. No scrum. Good acoustics. Chill out in the basement cafe. Probably get tickets on the day at the door.

Alternatively see a up and coming rock band at the Borderline (top end of Charng Cross Road) before they make the big time. A sort of a smart pub more than a club. As it's around the corner from EMI and also London's tin pan alley, it showcases some good unknown acts.

http://borderline.london/about/

[S Viemeister]

Interesting. I'll suggest that to my daughter, next time she's in London.

[Pamela]

On 09:29 30 Jan 2019, Davidm <davidm [e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Both those are excellent but it helps to know some background history to really appreciate them.

[Mike]

Temple of Mithras, across the road from Cannon Street Station, free. Roof of One New Change, at the east end of Saint Pauls. Free walk across the not-wobbly-any-more bridge, free, to the Tate Modern, free, except special exhibitions. Walk upstream to the London Eye; lots of assorted street artists, free.

err... there's a theme emerging.

[charles]

they are really DUKW (a WW2 coding) but pronounced 'duk' (the W is silent)

[charles]

on Monday lunchtime, the concert is free - just turn up.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yup.

It's aimed at adults. A trip down memory lane. Although some kids do enjoy it.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Then rest assured. That would never happen.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Motorways are all rather boring, but of those which do go north, the M40 the least so.