If you were looking for something a little different to do with the family on a wet Sunday afternoon in the 1700's, you could do worse than take a trip to Bethlehem hospital, known as 'Bedlam' (located on the site where the Imperial War Museum now stands), a huge and well-known lunatic asylum. On arrival you would enter the vast entrance hall to be confronted by Cibber's huge statues of two loonies, Melancholy and Madness, reputedly modelled on two of the inmates. From there you would progress to the main gallery, where all the most seriously disturbed residents would be chained to the walls, or in barred cells, for you to gawp and laugh at.
Any inmates that got a little out of hand would be whipped like animals. In 1770 the authorities seemed to notice that the inmates didn't like this treatment so much, but they didn't stop it as they were making too much dosh through contributions. Instead they decided to make it a ticket only affair. It makes our current behaviour concerning the mentally ill seem almost rather humane!
More tales, tips and trivia like this on a fabulous bike tour of london: http://www.biketouroflondon.com/
Thursday, 23 September 2010
Friday, 3 September 2010
Dog & Duck - 18, Bateman Street, Soho
The Dog and Duck pub was built in 1718 and so little changed since the 19th century that the Victorian Society have applauded it as a rare if not unique survival of a small Victorian town pub. It’s now a Grade II listed building. The pub’s name recalls the rather cruel sport of duck hunting, which had been popular when this was a far more rural area.
The front bar is tiled to dado level with plain and ornamental tiles, some depicting a dog holding a duck in its mouth. Above this, large mirrors in mahogany frames, advertise mineral water and cigarettes. These are separated by columns of decorative tiles.
Author George Orwell came to the Dog and Dick to celebrate the fact that the American Book-of-the-Month Club had selected his latest novel Animal Farm. In fact pop upstairs to the George Orwell room (he used to drink here). One of the better places in Soho for a pint.
The front bar is tiled to dado level with plain and ornamental tiles, some depicting a dog holding a duck in its mouth. Above this, large mirrors in mahogany frames, advertise mineral water and cigarettes. These are separated by columns of decorative tiles.
Author George Orwell came to the Dog and Dick to celebrate the fact that the American Book-of-the-Month Club had selected his latest novel Animal Farm. In fact pop upstairs to the George Orwell room (he used to drink here). One of the better places in Soho for a pint.
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Listening in?
The Hoop & Grapes on Aldgate High Street is one of those strange old pubs that one would have expected to have vanished from London years ago. Records suggest that it is the oldest licensed premises in the City of London. Certainly its foundations, well beneath the modern road level, date from the 12th or 13th century, and the rest of the buiding is clearly ancient, leaning in that way that timber-framed buildings tend to with age. Experts tell us, though, that the buidling dates back to just after the Great Fire of 1666.
What makes the pub unique is that it still has a listening tube that runs from the cellars to the bars. This was installed so that the landlord could listen for seditious or malicious gossip - which, presumably, was more likely to occur while he was out of sight in the cellar.
There is also some evidence that somewhere in the cellars there is a blocked entrance to tunnel that runs from the pub to the nearby Tower of London. No doubt excavations at some time in the future will reveal whether there is any truth in this story.
Take a London bike tour and hear other fascinating legends of London past and present: http://www.biketouroflondon.com/
What makes the pub unique is that it still has a listening tube that runs from the cellars to the bars. This was installed so that the landlord could listen for seditious or malicious gossip - which, presumably, was more likely to occur while he was out of sight in the cellar.
There is also some evidence that somewhere in the cellars there is a blocked entrance to tunnel that runs from the pub to the nearby Tower of London. No doubt excavations at some time in the future will reveal whether there is any truth in this story.
Take a London bike tour and hear other fascinating legends of London past and present: http://www.biketouroflondon.com/
Monday, 16 August 2010
London Cycle Cafes - a velorution?
Lately London Cycle Cafes have been getting a lot of exposure. Whether that be the Evening Standard, Time Magazine, Timeout, Bike Hugger or the Financial Times. Therefore, I thought now may be a good time to actually take a better look at some of them.
Look Mum No Hands Cycle Cafe
Where? 49 Old Street, EC1V 9HX www.lookmumnohands.com
Quickly becoming London’s most popular meeting point for cyclists this great cafe provides a workshop where you can work on your bike yourself or hand it over to a mechanic, delicious meals and a great place to relax with a coffee. Closes at 10pm.
MiCycle
Where? 47 Barnsbury Street, N1 1TP www.micycle.org.uk
MiCycle is a very recent addition to London and it provides far more than a bike shop. It is also a place to borrow tools to work on your bike, grab a coffee and take part in cycling classes.
CycleLab Juice Bar
Where? 18A Pitfield Street, N1 6EY www.cyclelab.co.uk
London Cycle Chic recently highly recommended the service she had on her bike at CycleLab. The juice bar is a great addition.
Ralpha Cycle Club
Where? 146 Clerkenwell Road, EC1 5DG www.rapha.cc/london
Only open until the 31st of July the Ralpha Cycle Club provides a gallery, shop and cafe.
Lock 7 Cycle Cafe
Where? 129 Pritchards Road, E2 9AP
Perhaps London’s oldest “cycle cafe” Lock 7 provides everything you would expect from a cycle cafe. It is a great place to get your bike tuned up, find a second hand bike and rent a bike or a tandem.
FullCity Cycle Cafe
Where? 72 Leather Lane, E1
Petite cycle cafe and workshop down Leather Lane. Serves up £1 cups of Monmouth coffee!
Look Mum No Hands Cycle Cafe
Where? 49 Old Street, EC1V 9HX www.lookmumnohands.com
Quickly becoming London’s most popular meeting point for cyclists this great cafe provides a workshop where you can work on your bike yourself or hand it over to a mechanic, delicious meals and a great place to relax with a coffee. Closes at 10pm.
MiCycle
Where? 47 Barnsbury Street, N1 1TP www.micycle.org.uk
MiCycle is a very recent addition to London and it provides far more than a bike shop. It is also a place to borrow tools to work on your bike, grab a coffee and take part in cycling classes.
CycleLab Juice Bar
Where? 18A Pitfield Street, N1 6EY www.cyclelab.co.uk
London Cycle Chic recently highly recommended the service she had on her bike at CycleLab. The juice bar is a great addition.
Ralpha Cycle Club
Where? 146 Clerkenwell Road, EC1 5DG www.rapha.cc/london
Only open until the 31st of July the Ralpha Cycle Club provides a gallery, shop and cafe.
Lock 7 Cycle Cafe
Where? 129 Pritchards Road, E2 9AP
Perhaps London’s oldest “cycle cafe” Lock 7 provides everything you would expect from a cycle cafe. It is a great place to get your bike tuned up, find a second hand bike and rent a bike or a tandem.
FullCity Cycle Cafe
Where? 72 Leather Lane, E1
Petite cycle cafe and workshop down Leather Lane. Serves up £1 cups of Monmouth coffee!
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Ten cycle tour events not to miss
Skyride
Part of central London is closed off as 65,000 cyclists decent on the capital. The effect is like an endless sea of cyclists wearing fluorescent jackets. The event is very well publicised and incredibly popular. It is free to attend. The event is held around September time.
Rollapaluza
Two fixed gears bikes are placed on rollers and you race each other to 500 metres. After an adrenaline pumped 20-30 seconds you may emerge victorious. Even if you don’t you’ll be instantly addicted. I’ve previously written about my Rollapaluza experience.
Critical Mass
Critical Mass meets every last Friday of the month beneath Waterloo Bridge. After listening to some music, chatting and having a few beers the group sets off around London. The event is open for anyone to attend and doesn’t tend to be organised by any particular group or person. There is a website with some background info.
Dunwich Dynamo
This is a challenging ride through the night from Hackney to Dunwich covering a distance of around 120 miles. It is completely free to attend and you just show up on the day. The cycling event provides a good chance to meet fellow like-minded individuals. It tends to be held in July.
Tweed Run
This event sells out extremely quickly so you need to get in there early. Dressing up in the finest Tweed you join 400 fellow cyclists and set off around the streets of London on a short cycle. See the official Tweed website for full details.
London Naked Bike Ride
This London cycling event involves plenty of nakedness and body paints. It is usually held in June. The congregation sets off on a short bike tour around 6 miles long around central London.
London to Paris
One of London’s biggest charity cycling events. It covers 325 miles and is organised by a number of charities. You can usually choose to complete it in either 3 or 4 days. There is also a 24 hour challenge for the more hardcore cyclists. Of course London to Paris isn’t the only option. There are also other bicycle tour such as the London to Brighton which is extremely popular.
Bike Polo
You can either spectate or if you are good enough take part in Bike Polo events. You can find out details on the bike polo page.
Bicycle Film Festival
The London Bicycle Film festival is held in October. It is a celebration of cycling featuring events and short cycling films. The events are open to anyone and tickets usually go on a sale a few weeks before.
Nightrider
300 cyclists tour around London in this unique cycling event. It starts off at Crystal Palace and covers 100km around London. After visiting famous London sights the ride ends with a well deserved breakfast. The money raised from the event goes to charity. You tend to have to register early as it sells out.
Part of central London is closed off as 65,000 cyclists decent on the capital. The effect is like an endless sea of cyclists wearing fluorescent jackets. The event is very well publicised and incredibly popular. It is free to attend. The event is held around September time.
Rollapaluza
Two fixed gears bikes are placed on rollers and you race each other to 500 metres. After an adrenaline pumped 20-30 seconds you may emerge victorious. Even if you don’t you’ll be instantly addicted. I’ve previously written about my Rollapaluza experience.
Critical Mass
Critical Mass meets every last Friday of the month beneath Waterloo Bridge. After listening to some music, chatting and having a few beers the group sets off around London. The event is open for anyone to attend and doesn’t tend to be organised by any particular group or person. There is a website with some background info.
Dunwich Dynamo
This is a challenging ride through the night from Hackney to Dunwich covering a distance of around 120 miles. It is completely free to attend and you just show up on the day. The cycling event provides a good chance to meet fellow like-minded individuals. It tends to be held in July.
Tweed Run
This event sells out extremely quickly so you need to get in there early. Dressing up in the finest Tweed you join 400 fellow cyclists and set off around the streets of London on a short cycle. See the official Tweed website for full details.
London Naked Bike Ride
This London cycling event involves plenty of nakedness and body paints. It is usually held in June. The congregation sets off on a short bike tour around 6 miles long around central London.
London to Paris
One of London’s biggest charity cycling events. It covers 325 miles and is organised by a number of charities. You can usually choose to complete it in either 3 or 4 days. There is also a 24 hour challenge for the more hardcore cyclists. Of course London to Paris isn’t the only option. There are also other bicycle tour such as the London to Brighton which is extremely popular.
Bike Polo
You can either spectate or if you are good enough take part in Bike Polo events. You can find out details on the bike polo page.
Bicycle Film Festival
The London Bicycle Film festival is held in October. It is a celebration of cycling featuring events and short cycling films. The events are open to anyone and tickets usually go on a sale a few weeks before.
Nightrider
300 cyclists tour around London in this unique cycling event. It starts off at Crystal Palace and covers 100km around London. After visiting famous London sights the ride ends with a well deserved breakfast. The money raised from the event goes to charity. You tend to have to register early as it sells out.
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
Naked in London: barefaced cheek!
“Blessed are the peacemakers” the Bible tells us, but it forgets to add the obvious corollary “and awesome are those who strip naked and cycle the streets of central London in the name of peace and the environment”. Thousands of revellers – displaying not a shred of inhibition and not the slightest consideration for the very real possibility of genital chafing – shed their fabric shackles for the Naked London Bike Ride and embraced the freedom of the summer air, the fervour of the two-wheeled carnival, and the inevitability of bemused passers-by taking photos of their funbits.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxZa2ANHXYc
Such frivolity! Such bare-cheeked, multicoloured pastiche! Whistles, glowsticks, bodypaint – all were in abundance as the happy crowd rolled down Fleet Street. Their noble cause? To protest against oil dependency. A flyer explained what this gallant act of exhibitionism was all about: “The World Naked Bike Ride”, it elucidated, “draws attention to the absurdity of oil dependency and celebrates the potential of cycling and the human body”. Obviously. “Riding naked emphasises the vulnerability of cyclists on the road, at the same time as celebrating humanity in the face of mechanisation”.
Vulnerability, however, was not something that these postmodern Luddites displayed as they rolled gloriously through the streets of the capital. Bicycles, tricycles, even unicycles were ridden by these devastatingly exposed libertines – some completely naked, some in their pants, some painted head-to-toe in bodypaint and anti-mechanic slogans, but all grinning from ear to ear. Hail these celebrators of the human form, these most honest and pure of protesters! Just make sure you cover your children’s eyes.
Sour-faced policemen and women coasted along beside their churlish charges, not bothering (or daring) to arrest anyone but looking decidedly embarrassed about the whole affair. Cheer up plod; I expect half of them were envious of the protesters’ nudist whimsy. Perennial nudity is something to which we should all aspire. Undoubtedly the world would be a better place – would the Cuban missile crisis really have been so dire if Kennedy and Khrushchev had just decided to chill out naked by the pool? I think not. So, naked bike riders of London, I want to thank you for two reasons; firstly, for braving sunburn and awkwardly-positioned blisters to encourage us to cease our unwavering commitment to corporal modesty; and secondly, for granting me the opportunity to see more nipples in a ten minute period than I am ever likely to see again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxZa2ANHXYc
Such frivolity! Such bare-cheeked, multicoloured pastiche! Whistles, glowsticks, bodypaint – all were in abundance as the happy crowd rolled down Fleet Street. Their noble cause? To protest against oil dependency. A flyer explained what this gallant act of exhibitionism was all about: “The World Naked Bike Ride”, it elucidated, “draws attention to the absurdity of oil dependency and celebrates the potential of cycling and the human body”. Obviously. “Riding naked emphasises the vulnerability of cyclists on the road, at the same time as celebrating humanity in the face of mechanisation”.
Vulnerability, however, was not something that these postmodern Luddites displayed as they rolled gloriously through the streets of the capital. Bicycles, tricycles, even unicycles were ridden by these devastatingly exposed libertines – some completely naked, some in their pants, some painted head-to-toe in bodypaint and anti-mechanic slogans, but all grinning from ear to ear. Hail these celebrators of the human form, these most honest and pure of protesters! Just make sure you cover your children’s eyes.
Sour-faced policemen and women coasted along beside their churlish charges, not bothering (or daring) to arrest anyone but looking decidedly embarrassed about the whole affair. Cheer up plod; I expect half of them were envious of the protesters’ nudist whimsy. Perennial nudity is something to which we should all aspire. Undoubtedly the world would be a better place – would the Cuban missile crisis really have been so dire if Kennedy and Khrushchev had just decided to chill out naked by the pool? I think not. So, naked bike riders of London, I want to thank you for two reasons; firstly, for braving sunburn and awkwardly-positioned blisters to encourage us to cease our unwavering commitment to corporal modesty; and secondly, for granting me the opportunity to see more nipples in a ten minute period than I am ever likely to see again.
Thursday, 22 July 2010
Delays to the cycle hire scheme!
Along with the recent Cycle Superhighway launch, Boris Johnson has pointed out to everyone that from the 23 of July you’ll be able to register for membership of the cycle hire scheme from: www.tfl.gov.uk/barclayscyclehire
The bad news is that unless you register you won’t be able to use the bikes for another month. The reason given is that “This will enable TfL and its contractor, Serco, to understand and learn from how pioneer members engage with the scheme, including patterns of bicycle usage.”
In order to use the scheme when it launches on the 30th of July, you’ll have to have a Cycle Hire Key and it will need to be activated. TfL’s Managing Director of Surface Transport, David Brown said: “Barclays Cycle Hire will revolutionise how we get around central London. Building on the experience of other cities who have launched similar schemes, we and Serco will use the first month of operation to learn more about how Londoners engage with the scheme, including patterns of use, how we can best support customers and to enable the scheme to bed down."
A membership key costs £3 with membership costs at £1 for a 24 hour membership, £5 for seven days and £45 for an annual membership. The first 30 minutes of any journey will be free, but prices rise to a very steep £15 for three hours - making a 3 and a half hour bicycle tour for £18 seem like great value: http://www.biketouroflondon.com/
This means an unexpected (or expected, depending on your viewpoint) delay for the scheme and will mean a lot of people that have been eagerly waiting to try it out will have to wait another month. It’s not very impressive to hear about this so late and it’s also a bit of a dubious reason that has been given.
The bad news is that unless you register you won’t be able to use the bikes for another month. The reason given is that “This will enable TfL and its contractor, Serco, to understand and learn from how pioneer members engage with the scheme, including patterns of bicycle usage.”
In order to use the scheme when it launches on the 30th of July, you’ll have to have a Cycle Hire Key and it will need to be activated. TfL’s Managing Director of Surface Transport, David Brown said: “Barclays Cycle Hire will revolutionise how we get around central London. Building on the experience of other cities who have launched similar schemes, we and Serco will use the first month of operation to learn more about how Londoners engage with the scheme, including patterns of use, how we can best support customers and to enable the scheme to bed down."
A membership key costs £3 with membership costs at £1 for a 24 hour membership, £5 for seven days and £45 for an annual membership. The first 30 minutes of any journey will be free, but prices rise to a very steep £15 for three hours - making a 3 and a half hour bicycle tour for £18 seem like great value: http://www.biketouroflondon.com/
This means an unexpected (or expected, depending on your viewpoint) delay for the scheme and will mean a lot of people that have been eagerly waiting to try it out will have to wait another month. It’s not very impressive to hear about this so late and it’s also a bit of a dubious reason that has been given.
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