Friday February 28, 2025.
As my friend Steve and I both had the day off from work, Steve had been off all week, we decided that a trip to London was in order.
We began our trip at Watford Metropolitan line station, boarding a train to Baker Street. We changed at Finchley Road and took a Jubilee line train the one stop to Swiss Cottage, from where our walk would begin.
On leaving the station we found ourselves directly outside the Swiss Cottage public house, which had permanently closed at the beginning of the month. After taking a few photos we headed south, along Finchley Road, passing the former Marlborough Road underground station, before we reached St John's Wood station.
From here we headed southwest, along Grove End Road, Hall Road, Sutherland Avenue and Warrington Crescent and the Warrington Hotel. Although the pub was closed we could see the splendid interior, through the windows, promising to visit on another occasion.
Warwick Avenue and its Cabmen's Shelter was next, before Clifton Villas and Bloomfield Road brought us to Little Venice, where we crossed over the Grand Junction Canal and continued along Westbourne Terrace Road, using Westbourne Bridge to traverse the railway lines coming out of Paddington station.
Westbourne Terrace brought us to Bayswater Road, where we paused at Lancaster Gate, before continuing west, eventually stopping for a coffee at Cafe Diana.
Suitably refreshed we continued our stroll by heading north, along Pembridge Road, until we reached Portobello Road and joined the throng of tourists and shoppers heading to the market.
Steve had not visited the market before, and it had been a good few years since my last visit, so we checked out the shops, stalls, indoor markets trying to spot a deal. I bought some gifts for the girls, before we stopped at a food van for some well deserved lunch.
We then continued up through the rest of the Portobello Road Market, until we turned westward, along Cambridge Gardens, walking almost below Westway.
Eventually we turned north, along Latimer Road, before turning west, once again, on North Pole Road, where we stopped for a drink at the Pavillion pub.
Suitably refreshed we left the pub and headed south, along Wood Lane, stopping to explore the exterior of the iconic BBC Television Centre, which I had never seen before. The statue of Helios, atop a fountain, with statues representing Sound and Vision in the landscaped grounds, was wonderful to see. Although still used as studios, much of the building has been turned into apartments, offices and shops.
Across the road the 'Upside Down House' caught our attention, as we continued south along Wood Lane. On reaching Shepherd's Bush Green we turned west and headed along Uxbridge Road. Apart from Portobello Road Market this was the busiest area that we had seen all day, as people visited the market, busied themselves with shopping, collected their children from school or just, like us, were out walking. Cars honked their horns as side streets were jammed with vehicles unable to pull out, while buses fought to move more than a few yards as lights changed, all exacerbated by the road works along this stretch of road.
Ahead I spotted a pub, so we headed into the calm of the Queen Adelaide where we had a drink while we waited for the crowds to die down. Our next stop was The Pocket Watch pub, which was a wonderful little discovery, with comfortable seats and some intriguing decor.
With the crowds now behind us we left the pub and continued west to our final destination. On the opposite side of the road was one of London's true gems, the Princess Victoria.
The Princess Victoria is one of London's last and best maintained Gin Palaces, although it is now a pub.
Built in 1829 this amazing building has been a Gin Palace, pub, restaurant, hotel and is now a pub and hotel again. Its interior was incredible and the staff welcoming. It also had the feel of a true community pub, as families enjoyed meals while locals enjoyed a drink. For the next few hours we enjoyed the ambience and marvelled at this incredible place, before thoughts turned to making a move towards home.
For the moviegoers among you, the Princess Victoria played a prominent role in Guy Ritchie's 'The Gentlemen', starring Matthew McConaughey.
Due to our location we had a number of options to consider. North to East Acton (Central line), East to Wood Lane (Circle line), South to Stamford Brook (Circle or District line) or West to Acton Central (Mildmay line). Then there was the option of various buses, but they would only get us to White City, where we would have to change to another route. Our final option, after considering all the information, was to do something that Steve had done before, but I had never done, and that was to get an Uber home. A few minutes later we were sat in the back of an Uber taxi, heading for Watford.
It was yet another fantastic day out, visiting areas that we had not been to before, with great company.
Distance travelled:
- Bus - 0.0 miles
- Cable Car - 0.0 miles
- Car - 0.0 miles
- DLR - 0.0 miles
- Ferry - 0.0 miles
- Overground -0.0 miles
- River Boat - 0.0 miles
- Taxi - 15.8 miles
- Train - 0.0 miles
- Underground - 16 miles
- Walking - 8 miles
That was a good walk - or was that a bit of a pub crawl? They all sound interesting though. Expensive taxi?
ReplyDeleteIt was a great walk that did turn into a bit of a pub crawl, but it was so good to walk a completely different area. Taxi wasn't too bad, split between the two of us.
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