From 23.45 to 04.00 on New Year’s Day, public transport in London will be free. All tube, bus, DLR and tram services will be free together with some national rail services (ie overground), these being;

• Liverpool Street to Shenfield,
• Liverpool Street to Enfield
• Paddington to Slough
• Paddington to Hayes and Harlington
• Victoria to East Croydon
• Victoria to Orpington
• Charing Cross to Beckenham Junction via Lewisham
• Charing Cross to Dartford via Sidcup, Bexleyheath or Greenwich

There’s going to be a great fireworks display on the Thames, so stations such as Charing Cross and Waterloo will be particularly busy – remember to get there in good time!

If you want more information on holiday services, Transport for London has a helpful pdf.

Post from: The London Traveler

I’m sure you all have friends who have done parachute jumps or abseiled down tall buildings for charity. (My mate Mark abseiled down the side of the Baltic in Gateshead once – I hope he was wearing his brown trousers.) But how many of you have a teddy bear who is brave enough to do it?

Here’s the link.

Post from: The London Traveler

I wonder if the London Sales have lost their cachet.

Everywhere in England, from the High Street to the great out of town hypermarkets, bright red stickers proclaim up to 90 percent off. In this recession, many retailers are slashing their stock, trying to get enough cash through the tills in the next few days to pay the rent bill.

Go down Oxford Street and you’ll see many of the same stores you can visit anywhere else. There’s nothing so special about that.

But that’s only one side of the story. In fact, London’s big department stores still provide the best shopping you can get – if you’re into designer fashion, this is the place. Stop thinking cheap knickers from Primark, start thinking knockdown Dries van der Noten, and you’re in luck. And with sterling collapsing as financial markets hit meltdown, the London sales might be quite a tempting target for North American shoppers. (Anecdotal evidence suggests the French are over here big time, too, taking advantage of the strong euro.)

Besides, consumers know the retailers are strapped for cash. So there are an awful lot of people heading for the sales – those that have already opened in London, like Selfridges, have seen huge crowds and actually broken sales records. It’s going to be a wonderful experience – the crowds, a sense of urgency, the Christmas lights still up, massive discounts, the chance to get an amazing bargain. Or to get something that looked good at the time and you’ll never wear again. (Hear the voice of experience?)

So where are the best sales?

• Harrods - maybe not the best (I’m a Harvey Nicks person myself) but certainly the one that gets the headlines.
• Harvey Nichols – the sale for the fashionista, I think. If you want to do just the big stores, combine this with Harrods. Or wander down Sloane Street for more fashion brands. 50% off everything is promised.
• Liberty - discounts up to 75% in this marvellous store. Lots of fashion, and a chance to buy the lovely Liberty prints. My personal favourite – pretty sequinned silk slippers for £10. Hope I can find them in the real shop as well as on the website! Liberty will also be selling mystery boxes at various prices – the contents are guaranteed to far exceed in value the price you pay for the box, so it’s a risk worth taking. I like a gamble so this will be my sale for the year!
• Selfridges - the doyen of Oxford Street. Something for everyone here. Take a rest from shopping if the salt beef bar is open – a superb place to grab a bite to eat.
• Hamleys - I’d recommend not taking kids to the sales; the crowds can get scary and it’s difficult to make sure you’re not going to get separated in the scrum. But if you do want to shop with kids, this big toy store is the place.
• Fortnum & Mason is best known for its food hall – and luxurious Christmas hampers – but there will be reductions of up to 50%  on clothing, furniture and cookware too.
• Fenwick in Bond Street is another fashion sale that’s worth visiting. 50% off here with some really nice labels, and it’s a little off the beaten track.

Good luck! Even if you buy very little – or nothing – I hope you’ll have fun looking.

Photo credit – Fin Fahey on flickr

Post from: The London Traveler

Take time to read the message on this lovely papercut. The photo comes from Cory Doctorow on flickr.

And in the spririt of Christmas, here’s a link to some reading you might find fills the space between the roast turkey and the gluhwein – the original Dickens Christmas Carol, and a rather amusing poem that tells the story of Mrs Scrooge, by Carol Ann Duffy in the Guardian.

Have a great Christmas!

Post from: The London Traveler

London’s neighbourhoods are not always clear cut. Clerkenwell straggles, like a rather randomly assorted charm bracelet, from Clerkenwell Green with its pristine classicism and village feel, to the decidedly urban Exmouth Market. Some of its most interesting corners are well off the main drag – streets running down towards Farringdon, for instance. Come to think of it, where Clerkenwell ends and Farringdon begins is difficult to work out…

Clerkenwell has come up in the world since I first knew it. Then, it was still the kind of place you’d find genteel businesses that made no money at all; bookbinders, art framers, architectural ironmongers. Rather old fogey businesses if the truth be told. When you went into a shop you’d feel you had disturbed the dust all around you. Nowadays you’re rather more likely to find an art gallery or a graphic design bookshop, but the area still feels a little secluded, a little apart from the more ‘buzzy’ areas of Islington or Farringdon. It’s still the commercial London of small wholesalers and craft businesses, slightly trendified – there’s enough of its gritty past to keep it alive.

Do take a wander down the Clerkenwell Road if you want an interesting walk. Start at Barbican Station, for instance, and wander the 60s concrete stickleback towers of the Barbican for half an hour beforehand, or look at the huge carp in the Barbican’s ponds. (Someone told me that a pike had been introduced by some malefactor, and ate about half the goldfish before being caught; I have no idea whether it’s true, or whether it’s just a rather weird urban myth.) And end up perhaps at Gray’s Inn, and the respectability of legal London. It’ll take you a couple of hours, assuming you want to look down side streets and wander about a bit, and if you get tired, you can hop on a 55 bus.

Photo credit: Richard Pope on Flickr

Post from: The London Traveler

This is not one of those chi-chi Indian restaurants that’s been redesigned by a minimalist architect, with bijou little dishes featuring light spicing and gold leaf. No, it’s a rough and ready curry shop, with robust dishes – seekh kebab, tandoori chicken, lamb chops, saag bhaji. Robust cooking and lots of it, too – good size portions, great for sharing.

I always like the curries here because they’re good and thick. None of the watery, thin slop some Indian restaurants get away with. And the flavour really penetrates the meat – they haven’t just dunked cubes of meat in a sauce and brought it out.

The kebabs and chops are done properly, too, to judge from the scorching; nice crisp, slightly charred outside, and spicy, tender insides.

It’s pretty inexpensive too. You can have a real pig-out here for about fifteen quid each. You might not even spend that much!

With this restaurant, and the Lahore Kebab House, why bother going to Brick Lane? These are exceptional restaurants, and well worth a visit if you like your spicy food.

Where: 83- 9 Fieldgate Street, E1 (Whitechapel tube)

Post from: The London Traveler

Every time I went to Oxford Street, somewhere along it I would see a little man, with a banner in his hand, shuffling along the pavement.

He never seemed to say anything, never seemed to be with anyone, wasn’t part of a demonstration or a cult. He didn’t grab people to tell them their sins or try to convert them. He didn’t preach. He just seemed to be an oddity – one of those oddities for which London has always been famous.

The message on his board was strange, too. It said: “Less passion from less protein”, and then under that was a list of the bad proteins – “meat fish bird egg cheese peas beans”. I don’t think punctuation was his strong point.

Besides, he seemed wrong for Oxford Street somehow. Not only wasn’t he some kind of religious revivalist or preacher, he just looked the wrong kind of bloke to be walking up and down with a banner. He looked like a mild, rather worn old man, the kind who really ought to be on an allotment or taking the dog out for a walk. There was no crazy gleam in his eye.

He always made me think of Pythagoras, who wouldn’t let his disciples eat beans. And yesterday, when I was writing about Govinda’s and Ayurvedic theory, I was reminded of him. So I looked him up on the internet.

His name was Stanley Green. And my idea that he should have been on an allotment somewhere wasn’t far off; he had, at one time, been a gardener. But he started doing his ‘protein man’ work in 1968, and from then on it seems to have been his entire life. He was still going strong when I started working in London in the early 1980s.

He took his own advice on proteins. He believed too much protein inflamed sexual desire – so he lived on bread, porridge and barley water. Alas, he is no longer with us – he died in 1993. (He now has his own entry in the  Dictionary of National Biography, bless him.)

Although I’m afraid I couldn’t ever agree with him on protein – I like my steak tartare far too much and cannot resist a cashew nut – I think he had some interesting things to say to us. For instance his little leaflet (the title page of which you see above, and which he printed at home) warns us about the perils of the mass media. And he’d never seen Big Brother!

“BEWARE of the fun of indecent suggestions; of the amusement from the titillating scandal of private lives; of the diversion of the undress of low journalism etcetera. These things erode our morals and twist young minds.”

His devotion to duty, his steadfastness, and his utter burning integrity, are impressive. But I never did quite work out what was the meaning of the last line of his banner;

“AND SITTING”.

Photo credit: Simon Crubellier on Flickr

Post from: The London Traveler

Finding a purely vegetarian place in central London can be a bit tricky. Come to that, it’s also difficult to find a budget eating place of any quality. Govinda’s solves both problems.

Old Soho hounds will probably know it well. Govinda’s serves good, cheap Indian vegetarian food, with a number of vegan options. I particularly like the thali, a selection of different dal (lentil or split pea) and vegetable dishes with rice.

Devotees of the curry house may find this food a little bland, since Govinda’s doesn’t use onions or garlic, in line with the dictates of Ayurvedic medicine. It’s also generally served a little less than piping hot – though that is in fact another authentic Indian trait according to people who know. (Having slightly sensitive teeth I actually prefer it that way.)

On the other hand the food is jolly good, nutritious stuff and you can actually taste what you’re eating – sometimes a problem with the more aggressively spiced curry.

Depending on how great your hunger is and how much you decide to eat, you might pay between a fiver and a tenner for a meal here. Budget or what?

Now, the potential downside. If you find Hare Krishna devotees creepy, this is not the place for you. It’s one of a number of restaurants run by the Hare Krishna order around the world, and your food will have been offered to Lord Krishna before it’s brought to you. But you’re not going to be hassled to convert – at least in my experience.

Whether you’re a veggie or not, if you keep a list of good, cheap lunchtime places to eat in London, Govinda’s should be on it.

Where: 10 Soho Street, W1 (Tottenham Court tube)

Photo credit: Ewan Munro, on flickr

Post from: The London Traveler

If you know Stoke Newington and Dalston you’ll know they’re not short of Turkish supermarkets and bakeries. If you want a quick borek for breakfast or some rahat lokum (Turkish delight) for after dinner, your every wish can be supplied.

But the greatest selection of Turkish comestibles comes from the great grandaddy of Turkish supermarkets, the Turkish Food Centre in Ridley Road, Dalston. It has Greek food as well as Turkish and Cypriot specialities.

Not just feta, but eleven or twelve different kinds of feta.  Not just olives, but olive mixes with different herbs and spices. Not just pita, but all kinds of bread from an in-store baker – my favourite, the loaf studded with sesame seeds.  And wicked, syrup-drenched pastries for eating with thick, bitter Turkish coffee.

There’s a fresh food section where you can get meat, veg and fruit. And the usual pulses and dry goods are available, naturally.

There are ten branches of the Turkish Food Centre now across London – but this is the original one.
Where: 89 Ridley Road, E8 (Dalston Kingsland tube)

Photo credit: Michael Edwards on flickr

Post from: The London Traveler

Transport for London (TfL) has now announced the two winners of the competition to design the new Routemaster. One is a joint venture between Aston Martin (who obviously think the credit crunch make buses a better bet than luxury cars!) and Foster + Partners, and the other was designed by Capoco, a firm which designs buses, coaches and trucks.

I suspect a lot of people will be disappointed. Neither of these creations actually looks like the much-loved RM. In particular, the radiator of the Capoco design looks very squashed – not the friendly ‘face’ of the traditional bus, but a pudgy scowl.

Aston Martin’s luxury bus

However, get over your initial disappointment and look at what the Foster/Aston Martin design delivers. A drive-by-wire system, solar panels, zero emissions capability, and an interior with wooden floors and warm lighting that has been designed to feel ‘convivial’. This is not a dumbing-down, lowest-cost alternative – it’s in the great traditions of British transport, believing that everyone, however impecunious, is entitled to good design and a decent service. Not over the top in that regard, but wholesome, decent, good.

While I find its lines a little bit too Teletubby – it does look rather like a toy bus, though some of that may be the style of the graphics – it looks friendly and even slightly amusing. I can imagine Londoners coming to love this bus. Or, Londoners being what they are, slagging it off in a gentle, tolerant way.

Capoco – practical but boring?

This is a design that I suspect suffers in the TfL presentation by the fact that all the interesting stuff is beneath the surface. It just doesn’t look that good – but the low floor, hybrid electric drive, and redesigned drive-train system, are significant engineering advances on the old RM.

What is very interesting is that Alan Ponsford, at Capoco, says that in thirty years of working in the sector, Capoco has never before seen an open competition for bus design. Competitions are commonplace in the architectural world – maybe there should be more of them in other aspects of urban design?

So for once, kudos to Boris Johnson for a real innovation. (Regular readers of this blog will know I don’t give Boris many breaks, but for once, he’s done something worth praising.)

My personal favourite…

So often, it takes an outsider to notice things that you walk past every day. Sometimes, strangers give you better advice than the people you know best. And so in this case, it took a team of Catalan designers (hailing separately from Barcelona, London and Valencia) to come up with a design that for me, just is the Routemaster.

You see, what’s happened with both the winning designs, I think, is that they know the Routemaster so well that they’ve taken little bits of it as cultural references, which we can look at and say, ‘Oh, that’s like the real Routemaster’. It’s a bit Russell T Davies really. But while it’s clever and arty, it doesn’t make a bus.

The runner up design, by Hector Sarrano, Miñaro Garcia and Javier Esteban, takes the traditional Routemaster with its tall, narrow feel, and makes it curvier, gives it a sort of go-faster feel, while opening up the interior space and making the aisles and stairs wider. Again, it’s a hybrid (diesel-electric) – and it’s light and compact, which makes it both cheap to run, and in my view better for central London’s narrow and twisty streets.

Anyway, if you have any interest in buses, graphic design or just the way London’s urban fabric is pinned together, it’s well worth taking a trip to the TfL website and looking at the designs. And, just for fun, the pdf file with details of the winners also has the winners of the ‘imagine’ competition – from youngsters’ crayoned impressions to some incredibly articulate and radical ideas from younger designers.

Photo credit: Spencer E Holtaway on Flickr

Post from: The London Traveler