So I turn left at St Pancras Church into Upper Woburn Street and walk for no more than ten minutes until I arrive at Tavistock Square, somewhere I had heard of but never been, and I wasn't disappointed. On a sunny morning its a nice place to sit with a sandwich or a drink away from the hustle and bustle of Euston Road. There is a statue of Gandhi in the middle of the garden by Fredda Brilliant, 1968, to mark the impending centenary of Gandhi's in 1869. He studied law at University College London nearby from 1888 - 1891 There are other statues most notably of the writer Virginia Woolf who lived here between 1924 and 1939 and Louisa Brandreth Aldrich-Blake who was a pioneering surgeon and one of the first British women to enter the world of modern medicine. There is also a large rock with a plaque dedicated to peace.
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Pall Mall, Whitehall and Northumberland Avenue make up the pink properties, the next set on my journey around the monopoly board. Originally I was planning/hoping to complete each set in a day but the moment I left Old Kent Road to go to Whitechapel I realized this was unlikely, especially with some of the more 'scenic' routes that I have taken and the fact I do quite a lot on foot. So this was to be the case with the next part of the journey as I set off on Shank's pony from Euston Road to Whitehall.
Since completing the light blue properties and the journey to them I have been back to Broadway Market. I decided to take a walk from the beginning, or the end depending how you want to look at it, of the Regents Canal at the Limehouse Basin and stopped at Broadway Market for a rest and a pint. I chose The Dove which apparently stocks over a hundred Belgium beers, however I opted for a pint cask Pale Ale, which at £4,40 is the second cheapest pint I have had in London. They have a pretty decent food menu which consists of some old school classics with a new school twist, prices are reasonable which I intend to try next time that I am in the area. Friendly staff. http://dovepubs.com/about Something else I came across recently was a Twitter post from the Londonist, 'Things to do during the day in Islington', mostly centered around Angel, some of which I would like to go back and check out sometime. https://londonist.com/london/things-to-do/things-to-do-during-the-day-in-islington?fbclid=IwAR0stVvVRd2xDO3cZFCL9zM04hEKN-cKcms4wq_L_FlqKQtEpF0EJd8E2iI I would also highly recommend this site for everything connected with London even go as far as to say that it is essential reading , they cover everything and there is something for everybody. I have also been back to The Fudge Patch in Greenwich a great little find on my first day of 'the journey' Old Kent Road to Whitechapel. Fantastic fudge. I forgot to link their website last time so here it is. https://www.thefudgepatch.co.uk/ Second set of properties and first station completed, and unlike the first set these were all next to each other with Kings Cross Station on Euston Road. However I still managed to take a long scenic route which in most cases, like the first, the more interesting places were the places in between the properties or in this case before I got to them. Saw a lot of new places and in the case of Brick Lane saw an almost transformed Brick Lane, a place I first visited in the very early 90's. The main mistakes I made here was not checking the days the two markets I went to were actually open! I will definitely go back to Colombia Road and Broadway Market, open Sunday and Saturday respectively.
I leave the British Library, cross over the road and continue down Euston Road I pass St Pancras Church which is opposite Euston Station, which is not on the monopoly board. I didn't go into the church but did rake a couple of photos, one from the front and one from the back.
Whilst chatting to the man at Outsider tart the woman on the next stall recognized my accent and we got chatting. I told her that I was doing a blog based on the monopoly board and she suggested going to The British Library which was close by on the Euston Road, so I did. It was a couple of minutes walk away. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a good photograph of it. I did however take a couple of pictures of a large sculpture outside by Eduardo Paolozzi. The Library itself is the National Library of the United Kingdom and based on the number of items catalogued, is the largest library in the world. It was previously part of the British Museum but was detached from the museum in 1973. The present location was officially opened by the Queen in 1998 and is a classified as a grade 1 listed building of exceptional interest for its architecture and history. As well as being a major research library, with items in many different languages and in many formats, both print and digital, it hosts various exhibitions throughout the year. During my visit I was lucky enough to come across 'Imaginary Cities' by Michael Takeo Magruder. The highlight for me was a virtual reality cityscape based on New York city which is generated anew each day to reflect the live, ever-changing visitor data of the historical map on Flickr Commons. This was my first virtual reality experience. Although the exhibition is no longer there here is a link to it, certainly makes for good reading. https://www.bl.uk/press-releases/2019/april/imaginary-cities http://www.takeo.org/ https://www.bl.uk/ http://www.artnet.com/artists/sir-eduardo-paolozzi/ I could have written so much about the library, Eduardo Paolozzi, Michael Takeo Magruder and Imaginary cities but that could have been a lifetimes work, so instead I put in some links, all well worth a look. So I am now on Euston Road, the last of the light blue properties, heading towards Kings Cross station, the first of the stations. Not a great deal to report, its busy, traffic and pedestrians. I arrive at Kings Cross Station, a station that seems to play second fiddle to its bigger, grander relative Kings Cross St Pancras. Today there is a food market, which I learn is open Wednesdays to Friday 12.00 - 1900, selling lots of different foods which all look very good. After a good look around I find a cake stall doing fantastic cakes and buy myself Nutella cheesecake brownie which is there best seller and after eating it I can see why. So impressed with it I go back and buy a cookie dough topped brownie, it was the other one I had my eye on. The stall is actually owned by a bakery/ restaurant in Chiswick Outsider Tart which apparently serves authentic American Soul Food. No idea what the food is like but the cakes are fantastic, highly recommended. https://outsidertart.com/ Pentonville road is a main road that takes you to or from Angel depending on your journey, and with my journey from Chapel Market it took all of 5 minutes with very little of interest or anything to write about. Something of interest I did find was that poet John Betjeman's parents ran a cabinet makers at 34 - 42 Pentonville Road. Not sure if a shop still exists or if there is a commemorative plaque there.
I come to a pub The Lexington and pop in for a pint. The Pub has an old school look about it and a very well stocked bar. The specialize in American Whiskeys and have over 50. I had a pint of Pale Ale which was decent and only £4.50, which by London prices is good http://www.thelexington.co.uk/ They also do food and have live music, and its often a calling point before nights at Scala just down the road https://scala.co.uk/. I leave the pub and continue down Pentonville Road until it becomes Euston Road my next destination which also completes the light blue properties. |
AuthorLouis Mogg. Archives
March 2020
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