Walking from Bermondsey to Southwark

It has been an absolutely mad couple of weeks but I am happy to say that I survived! I’ve completed the handover between my old and new positions and from tomorrow, I will no longer be working in Southwark but permanently in the centre of London near Charing Cross.  In the five years that I have been in Southwark, I have fallen in love with this historic, quirky little area which was the stomping ground of none other than Charles Dickens and the Bishops of Winchester.  It is home to Southwark Cathedral, Borough Market, Guy’s Hospital, the Cross Bones Cemetery, Red Cross Way, the St George the Martyr Church and, of course, the Shard. I spent some time exploring this area but for some reason, I never really ventured east and into Bermondsey.  That might have something to do with me getting hopelessly lost there one lunch time back in August 2007 but nevertheless, it is an equally historic area. 

Bermondsey was once a notorious slum and it is the area where my favourite of all Charles Dickens’s works, Oliver Twist, was set.  Bermondsey was famous for its tanneries and trade in leather, hides and wool.  There are parts of Bermondsey which are still not very nice today but overall, there is a great deal of regeneration and renewal going on and some areas are looking pretty trendy.

Aware that my days in Southwark were numbered, I recently took a walk through Bermondsey and Southwark to see what I could see.  All photos were taken on my iPhone 4GS.  Do click on the photos below for enlargements.

   

I started my walk underneath The Shard and for just a little way, that was the most interesting thing to see.  Instead of heading straight through Guy’s Hospital, I turned left into St Thomas Street and was soon pleased at my change of route.  It is the strangest thing, even when I don’t really feel like walking and exploring, I remind myself that I’ve never once regretted one of my adventures and I am walking more and more each day.

I soon noticed an abandoned warehouse on Vinegar Street which had a ghost of a ghost sign on the facing walls.  I wasn’t able to find out much about the history of this warehouse but did find out that locals are fighting against its demolition and the erection of three smaller Shard-like skyscrapers. The fight has been going on for almost 2 years so they must be putting up a good one!

 

   

I turned into Bermondsey Street and noticed the intriguing door above.  It says “temporary door” and I couldn’t quite figure that out!  Anyway, it is part of the headquarters for the Wine & Spirit Education Trust who specialize in educating people about wine and spirits and offer courses and wine tastings.  Hmmm, maybe an idea for a meet up?

Next door was The Tanneries on Bermondsey Street, a historic Victorian building that has been recently redeveloped.  It is currently home to Shiva Limited, a property investment company.

   

Across the road was the old Wool Yard, a development of offices and workspaces.  Everywhere you looked there were ghost signs and evidence of the history of the area but I soon decided to turn off the main road and head through Leathermarket Gardens and Guy Street Park.  I saw the ridiculously overpriced Leathermarket Court residential complex, which I presume are on the site of the old Leathermarket.  The gardens were actually quite peaceful and extremely well kept, although the Bermondsey Village Hall looked like it could do with a cash injection.

   

I think it was when I crossed the road between the two parks that I crossed from Bermondsey into Southwark, although it is all vague anyway as Bermondsey and Southwark both fall under the London Borough of Southwark. 

   

Nevertheless, Southwark did feel different.  It was less trendy and commercial and more residential.  The Courages Fine Ale & Stout sign above left is actually a ghost sign because the pub below has long since been converted into flats.  The Britannia was just a couple of doors down and seemed to be doing a roaring trade.  There were photos of the Queen, Union Flags and bunting everywhere so I bet they are pretty excited for the upcoming Jubilee weekend!

My last stop was Plantain Place which has intrigued me for years.  I can’t find any history on this area but it is obvious from the signage and the street name that it is of significance .  I wonder if it isn’t an acknowledgement of the rich Caribbean history and culture in the area?  If any locals read this, please do shed some light on this tiny pocket of trendy apartments in the middle of Southwark. 

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I'm not too sure yet how serious this is, but I cannot switch my PC on this morning. Le Husband thinks it might be the graphics card and I am trying not to worry but all of my music and photographs are on that PC. I also only have Photoshop on that PC and can’t run it on the laptop.  I last backed up the photos at the beginning of the year so I wouldn't have lost everything anyway but this is the reason for another iPhone / Instagram post! I refuse to worry about it just yet.

I've written an article on blogger jealousy which has been featured over at Ben Barden's Quick Blog Tips.  Check it out: 10 Tips to Transform Jealousy into Blogging Success.

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Winner Announcement: Thomas Cook Olympic Games Break

The Thomas Cook Games Break competition ended today at 6pm and after painstakingly listing and numbering the participants and selecting a random winner via random.org, I can announce that we have a winner.

The winner is Anni who entered by commenting on the original blog post, saying that winning tickets to the Olympics would be a chance in a lifetime.  Congratulations Anni!

Thank you to everybody that took part in the competition.  I enjoyed this so much and I really wanted everyone to win!  I’ll definitely be hosting giveaways in future so make sure that you keep up to date either on the Emm in London Facebook page or by subscribing to updates via email.

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Exploring Little Venice and Grand Union Canal

Following a glorious autumn and the mildest winter in living history, Londoners could be mistaken for believing our luck was in with an early spring in February and March.  Alas, it was not to be as our luck turned at the end of March and the weather has been positively miserable ever since. 

This would explain why, two days before our proposed tour of Little Venice, Mela and I sat huddled over hot cups of chai tea, discussing possible alternative arrangements should the weather be too horrible to go ahead with our plans. 

Preparing for the worse, we set out bright and early last Saturday morning and we were blessed with perfect walking weather: bright and sunny in parts but not so much so that it makes walking unpleasant.

We began our adventure in Maida Vale, stopped for lunch in the Indo-Chinese restaurant Banana Tree and then strolled through posh neighbourhoods to Warwick Avenue where we arrived at Little Venice.

We were amused to see the “Borough of Paddington” sign above.  This borough existed from 1900 to 1965 but was then merged to become part of the City of Westminster.  Still, with such an ornate Victorian crest, I can see why they would want to keep it there.

The area where we joined the waterways is known as Browning’s Pool and is named after the poet Robert Browning.  It is here that the Regent’s Canal meets with the Paddington arm of the Grand Union Canal.  We had decided to walk down Grand Union Canal that day, through the Paddington basin and beyond.

In the photo at the top, you can see the Waterside Cafe which is a gorgeous little riverside cafe where you can enjoy afternoon tea on board the canal boat or seated beside it. We hadn’t quite burned our lunch off though and decided to keep going instead, with a promise to return one day.

Well, there is nothing left to do but join us as we wander along Grand Union Canal towards Paddington.

Naturally, there were countless canal boats.  I absolutely love the idea of spending a summer aboard one of these boats.   I can imagine myself reading a pile of books (of the paper, non-electronic variety, even) and sipping tea above board.  I wonder what the canal boat above is used for these days?  The Grand Union Canal Carrying Company was around during the heyday of England’s canal ways and closed down in 1948.

One of the reasons we chose this particular route was to spot some of the installation art in the area.  This is Sean Henry’s “Standing Man” (2003) and he was incredibly lifelike as he faced another standing man.

I loved the name of this canal boat and wondered who Bob and Mary were and whether they were still so in love.

We soon found ourselves behind Paddington Rail Station in the area known as Paddington Waterside.  There was suddenly a lot more concrete around and the canal ways were no longer as green and pretty as they had been around Browning’s Pool.

Just as I began to think that we should have chosen the Regent’s Canal route, we turned the corner and saw the very modern, very colourful Paddington Basin.

I find that places like this are always quite surreal.  Firstly, the entire area was far too quiet for 3pm on a Saturday afternoon.  It was also really neat and tidy, almost as if real people don’t actually live here. 

It was a lot of fun to photograph though and we did find the odd sign of humanity and human habitation.  I can just imagine that the owners below with their mop and watering can are everyone else’s least favourite neighbours. 

We had reached the end of the canal ways and stopped at the nearby Core restaurant for cake and refreshments.  If bad service and ice-creamless iced coffee is your thing, I’d certainly recommend Core. 

I’d wanted to explore Little Venice for the longest time and now that I have, I just want to explore it again, this time walking west from Warwick Avenue or walking up Regent’s Canal towards London Zoo and then on to Camden.  Do let me know if you’d like to join me for a walk and I’ll be sure to invite you along.

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