Architecture – Page 5 – slightly weird

28th October 202122nd June 2023

Sheffield (part one) – A long-awaited exploration – Arriving

Tuesday, 26 October, 2021

We hadn’t been away for ages and then suddenly there we were planning a trip. We thought Sheffield, Nottingham, and Leicester. Then we thought Sheffield, Leicester and Conventry. Eventually, it was Sheffield and Leicester – two places were enough. Why those? We’d heard a lot about gritty Sheffield with its old buildings, regeneration and street art – just our thing. As for Leicester, I wanted to revisit the Diwali lights and also see our friends, Avi and Farrah. We hadn’t seen them since their wedding in February 2019.

There had been the usual last-minute getting ready. I’d had Monday to get most things prepared but Krish usually leaves it later, had been to the hospital, and just generally overdoes everything so Tuesday morning he was still doing. I made sandwiches and packed leftover quiche for the journey. Our plan was to get the bus by 8:30 to get to the station around 9:30 for our 10:01 departure.

At 8:30 i went to the bus stop alone, knowing I’d be slow and Krish would catch me up. But four buses came and went and no Krish. I tried not to panic but a 9am bus would get us to St Pancras at maybe 9:50 with at least a 5 minute walk to the train and quite likely much longer… if any slow traffic at all we would miss our train. It wasn’t looking good. Krish showed up around 8:55 and I resigned myself to not making it really and staying as calm as I could. He’d thought the train was at 10:30… Never mind, I said, we’ll get to Sheffield somehow and what about the tube from Angel – just one stop. The bus was crawling so we figured out that it was also one stop from Highbury in the Victoria line. Those tunnels and escalators never seemed longer but at least I knew we could make it

First time on the tube since the pandemic. Eeek. Packed and not many masks. Grin and bear it… At St Pancras more tunnels, more escalators and then at the main station a long, long walk with confusion on where to get the train. The ticket office helped me out and there we were with a stunning twenty-minute wait!

It was an old train, not very clean, not very busy. And definitely not many masks. Even the ticket inspector wasn’t wearing one. There are four stops -Leicester, Derby, Chesterfield, Sheffield. I confess to not looking out of the window. I watched Last Christmas, or 3/4 of it – terrible. At Leicester someone got off and a woman showed up with a cloth. A millisecond swipe at the table and off she went – wow! At Chesterfield went to the toilet, or tried to buy in the end there were three of us waiting and engaged engaged engaged. A young woman suggested people get in without a ticket, head to the toilet to evade inspection and no one can use it. But waiting there meant I could see the scenery. Green fields giving way to gorgeous old stone houses and scattered old row houses on narrow streets – I was in Yorkshire all right.

Sheffield station isn’t remarkable and there are no maps and no information booths. We headed outside with Krish asking me, which way – I’d put him in charge of that since my map reading ability is poor at best and results in confusion all around. We found a map on a board and started walking. We passed some long sheds called interchanges.. People were sitting inside waiting for buses. Ahead was a huge multi-level car park and Krish told me there was a long walk around or we could climb the million steps and go through it. I resigned myself to the steps – maybe five flights on different levels … Gah…. But I did it. On the other side another map and we headed down the road. (Later we discovered that, had we turned the other way, we’d have been looking at our hotel not very far away. Live and learn!)

Water feature — If we’d walked left along this long water wall, we’d have been just one street away from the Novotel. Instead we turned right from the wall

One of the long Interchange buildings near the station

There were no road signs. Anywhere! Where the hell were we? (And still no toilet.)

I asked someone who pointed in the direction we’d come from. Right then. Back we walked. Still no street signs. I asked again and was told, keep walking, it’s just past The Crucible (which meant nothing to me). At a bus stop I asked again. Back there, pointing back the way we’d come, but Krish had gone ahead anyway and when I caught up with him, there it was. Yay.

The hotel was able to check us in early so I just rested. Impressions so far were of an old city with streets intercepted by city roundabouts. No building was extraordinary but it wasn’t grim and depressing, as Leeds had struck me…my only other Yorkshire encounter.

A little discussion later and we went in search of Brenda’s Fish and Chips. The receptionist gave me some simple directions (why won’t men ask for directions???? Sexist hat off.)

In this direction it’s much more modern, although the photos below won’t show that. Another roundabout and we started seeing modern Chinese cafés. Hmmm. Krish decided congee sounded nice so was perusing menus at some not so modern windows and I spotted Brenda’s. We got as far as the door and he called a halt. I don’t blame him really. The simple little shop had a bad smell, like old fat. The floor was listed with chips. Dirty and smelly, declared Krish, and quite honestly he was right. OK Anthony, I said – referencing Bourdain who’d declared such things were never a deterrent, that some of the best tasting things come from such places and maybe the dirt was a factor.

Instead we went for wonton noodle soup with Chinese doughnut. Both were really awful and we left most of it. On the map it was listed as a Sheffield Top-rated table.

We headed towards the shopping area. Same as every UK city – an indoor mall beside a pedestrianised shopping street . At the end of it some more regeneration, some shameful facadism, and a fabulous derelict Salvation Army building. Then the town hall square, quite lovely I thought, punctuated with fairground rides and happy children (it was half term). The buildings are massive and I can’t photograph them whole. i told Krish to go explore and I’d see him later. We walked by the town hall, then down through the fountained peace garden and sat for a while. Peaceful it was!

I walked down further and saw the Winter Garden and decided to visit. I don’t have enough patience to linger and read but it’s a gorgeous building with curved wooden arches – reminded me of the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) – and beams and it’s small enough. There were a few shops and an entrance to Millennium (Modern Art) Gallery – a good plan for Thursday before we leave – and I bought a hot chocolate (and Worcestershire sauce crisps and a Dandelion and Burdock for later). I sat quietly with my drink looking at all the greenery and out to the street.

Happily the Novotel backs onto the Winter Garden area. I easily got back, put on my nightie and lay down. No sleep but it was quiet and I enjoyed the break.

Krish sent some photos from the university campus across the main road from the hotel and eventually showed up. The plan to walk a little together and let him loose to cover as much ground as he likes worked out really well.

The next adventure – dinner. Krish had decided ages ago to go to the world buffet place. It’s right near the Winter Garden – easy. It was heaving when we got there. There was temperature taking in place but I’m not convinced. I had fun checking our temperatures, though, as we waited. No masks in sight. Delta what??? But we stayed having already determined that this was a crowd well used to elbowing their way around.

Elbowing yes. Crowding yes. Godawful buffet food yes! Friendly service, though. Free for all at the buffet stations, the usual amusingly heaped plates of terrible food passing by – more noodles, more chips, more terrible pizza slices, more mountains of fatty Chinese spare ribs, and made to order teppanyakis This is no Mandarin, no Country Harvest even…a food frenzy. People were crowding the plate trolleys, piling on the little cakes, lingering at the all you can drink fountains, kids playing with the ice machines – such a novelty. We ate some imagined decent choices, got our long awaited mini Yorkshire puddings (only sort of worth the wait) and left shameful amounts on our table for collection. And that was that done.

The best thing was watching others I suppose. Absolute gluttony, you know how it is. Like a cruise ship, k asked? No, I said. Well yes the gluttony but orderly more or less and five star cooking. Maybe four. this was one and a half. Almost a zero after I came close to wiping out when I stepped on a dropped cube of orange jelly.

The server told us this was a quiet night. Astounding stuff.

We went to the little Sainsbury’s next to the hotel and got water (it tasted awful from our tap) and OJ. The rest of the evening was us trying not to fall asleep toooo early and just about lost for words.

Day one done.

All the Sheffield blog links:
Sheffield (part one) – A long-awaited exploration – Arriving
Sheffield (part two) – Kelham Island mostly
Sheffield (part three)- An evening out and the next morning – Leaving
Sheffield (part four) – All the street art

26th September 202130th September 2021

Moving – the new Whitechapel station and the Hackney Half marathon

Sunday, 26 September, 2021

Skipping over #blogsihaventgottoyet and onto the enjoyable events of a few days ago.

On Friday, I decided that I was finally going to Whitechapel Station – for some time it’s been under renovation in preparation for Crossrail, the Elizabeth Line. In 2016 they built a temporary entrance that was off the high street and over a narrow pedestrian bridge on Court Street. It made the station less attractive for me since this meant, as an overground rather than underground passenger, I had to walk quite a distance underground to find myself on the street or from the street back to my homeward train. The main entrance was blocked with hoarding and unavailable.

Crossrail construction itself has been going on since 2009. They hope to have the Elizabeth Line operating in the early months of 2022.

I heard only a couple of weeks ago that the station was almost complete and that you could now get in through the original entrance. I made a plan to check it out as soon as I could.

My route is an easy one. A short bus ride (for me as a non-walker, although it’s not very far away) to Dalston Junction overground station, then just four stops to Whitechapel – a journey of perhaps ten minutes. The train wasn’t crowded and I was entertained by a lady and her daughter, the latter who performed a great trick of hanging by her hands from two overhead straps for a while (I didn’t capture that one!). I felt a bit dreamy and at first got off at the wrong stop, confused by it looking familiar and not new at all. Back on the next train and on to Whitechapel.

Everything was shiny and new. It had the familiar overground vibe. Light, spacious, cathedral like but also like the turbine hall at the Tate (don’t know why I think so, but this just means it’s slightly cavernous for its purpose – but not overly so). I liked when I came up the stairs how there was a long semi-elliptical window at the top – on the left were some modern low rise flats and on the right the backs of the sooty old buildings that make up the storefronts of Whitechapel High Street. An interesting contrast, as usual.

There are a lot of entry/exit gates and a spacious ticket hall and then you’re out onto the high street. Happily, the original Victorian façade from 1876 has been cleaned and repaired rather than replaced. And for some reason I didn’t take photo of that entrance so that will come later. I’ve also read that there’s a new exit on Durward Street, another thing to look for.

You exit to the bustling market which was called Whitechapel Waste when I was growing up. Out there, the vendors vended, the shoppers shopped, the walkers walked, as if nothing had changed – and it hasn’t really. For now at least this part of Whitechapel is as it always was, changing only with the change of immigrants dominating the area. They bring in their own shops, clothing, food, and ambience. It’s busy but the Bangladeshi and Bengali people aren’t shouty like their Jewish and cockney predecessors.

Ambala for some samosas and one new sweet to try. I’ve forgotten its name. To Shalamar for three kebabs and one little lamb samosa for my lunch. To the Naanstop, ignoring the useless naan, for a masala chai and a salted caramel cheese in a little glass (expensive but I found that out only as he was ringing in the cost for me. Anyway, done. I walked over to the Royal London Hospital – the new complex of buildings – passing the old, boarded up buildings and the old churches and homes in the shadows of the tall new blocks. In front of one of the ophthalmology building is a statue which has been moved here from the older complex. There’s a seat built into its base on all four sides so I chose the empty one and sat down with my tea and two snacks. It was quiet back there away from the main road. It was also a sunny, pleasant day and I enjoyed the calmness of it all.

Inside Shalamar — Shalamar, where we buy our kebabs is very basic and is a great favourite with the Royal London Hospital workers, and with us – for their kebabs and unfussy service

Continue reading “Moving – the new Whitechapel station and the Hackney Half marathon”

21st September 202126th September 2021

South Bank – being a tourist in London

Tuesday, 21 September, 2021

There’s a mouse in the house. There’s a man hunting the mouse in the house. There may be other verses. Every day Krish is consumed with finding where the mouse, mice, are coming from. This is far more important than trapping a mouse, since there will still be entry gates (like those of London) to attract more mouse tourists into Jishville – Jish being our version of us as Brangelina. At any rate, I can’t really move around much – I’m trapped by boxes (moved out from shelving where they were invisible) and barriers that do as much to trap me emotionally as physically.

So I really had to go out and be a tourist outside of Jishville.

Off to Guys again, with a simple plan – to walk from London Bridge to Tower Bridge, not very far at all.

First I walked the brief distance to the junction of Tooley Street and Borough High Street.

The dragon of the City of London — At the south end of London Bridge sits a London City dragon, marking the boundary gate of the City, one of only two places where the City crosses south of the river

Spike — One theory of this spike at the bridge entry is that it is a reminder that on this site sat the proudly displayed heads of the executed each on its own spike for all to admire. Grisly theory but I ‘like’ it

Ahead - The Banker and the Barrow Boy pub with the turrets of Southwark Cathedral to the left — Ahead – The Banker and the Barrow Boy pub with the turrets of Southwark Cathedral to the left. Such an apt pub name

The Shard is the landmark for the area. It’s very tall and has a unique design and it towers over the streets in all directions. It may have always happened anyway but it feels like the rest of the surrounding area felt it needed to keep up. There’s been a lot of renewal here around Borough Market (the other landmark, although not towering) including an overhaul of London Bridge Station – and you know how I love a good old and new mingle.

In the photos below, you can see the old, but also how the old and the new happily cohabitate. It’s interesting to see how often the new is just knitted into the old seamlessly, like a really good darn in your favourite sock.

Yes, three entrances of various types all into the same station from the same street.

Tooley Street isn’t modernised when you get past the station entrances. In fact, there are a lot of old buildings, each fairly unique – including the old London Bridge Hospital itself. Not so old in fact, since this private hospital was finished in 1986.

I was headed for Hays Galleria, a building I happened on when I first came to London and began exploring. South Bank was a favourite walk and I took so many visitors along the river. My tastes have changed a bit, but Hays feels like a great respite from the bustling Borough Market and South Bank.

Hay’s Galleria was a warehouse and wharf (Hay’s Wharf) for the port of London. At first there was a 1651 brewery here. The warehouse and wharf was its next incarnation in 1856. A Grade II listed structure, it closed in 1970 after several redevelopments and disasters such as fire and bombing. Today’s incarnation came in the 1980s. The feeling in here is quite unique. I imagine myself in a disused railway station rather than a wharf or dry dock. The arched ceiling does that for me. None of the shops interest me particularly. Some sell expensive clothes. There are some fancy independent cafes and a few franchises in here, but who really cares. It’s just nice to sit quietly and have a glimpse of the river just beyond the entry where the ships would have come into the wharf to unload and be reloaded with tea and dry produce. The wharf went through a bunch of revelopments, including after being bombed in WWII, but then closed as a wharf in 1970.

At any rate, it’s a feast to my eyes and senses and it was definitely the only must-do today.

The focal point of the Galleria is The Navigators, 1987, a sculpture by David Kemp. I’d describe it as a steampunk ship. While I was sitting there, it started to do what is probably a time marking thing. Water was sprayed from the bank through to a globe, and fell down to power a wheel. I took a video or two, which I’ll put at the end. It’s a cool and elaborate metal mechanical (enough adjectives?) sculpture, but why not something more of a cargo shipping theme, given the location?

Continue reading “South Bank – being a tourist in London”

1st September 20217th September 2021

Short and sweet – Throgmorton Street, and a view of St Paul’s

Wednesday, 1st September 2021

Throgmorton Street is so short, I thought I’d be through in a few minutes but it’s a street packed with lovely things, and that’s before I’ve even walked down its few courts and alleys.

Looking at the map you can see Throgmorton Street clearly marked. The diagonal Old Broad Street will lead you eastwards to the back of Broadgate/Liverpool Street station. I started my little walk at the southern entrance to Austin Friars passage, where Throgmorton Street cuts cleanly into the junction the passage makes with Old Broad Street. The western end of Throgmorton Street stops at the back of the Bank of England. At any rate, it’s not hard to see – even without panning out to the bigger map – that is a bit of a warren.

The street is named after Nicholas Throckmorton, chief banker of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The stock exchange was on the south side from 1972 to 2004.

Southern entrance to Austin Friars Passage. How sad to see the traffic sign affixed here

London's favourite lunch — An optimistic sign along the street. Favourite?

The Throgmorton Restaurant, between the Stock Exchange and the Bank of England, was opened on 15 October 1900.

J Lyons & Co., a British restaurant chain, food manufacturing, and hotel conglomerate founded in 1884, had an 80-year lease on the property in 1897 from the Worshipful Company of Drapers. It was a celebrated eating place by the stockbrokers, bankers and insurance brokers who have dominated this area for generations. By all accounts the interior of the restaurant was incredibly grand, with many rooms. The restaurant business ended in the 1970s.

I have so many happy memories of having tea and cake or sandwiches at Lyons Corner Houses around London. The best are from the 1960s when I worked close to the one on the Strand. I’d buy the cheapest lunch – tomato sandwiches – with the luncheon vouchers that were part of my salary. I’d eat these sandwiches in Trafalgar Square and save the rest of my voucher money so that every Friday I could combine them to have a really special lunch.

Another fun thing about Lyons is Nigella Lawson’s connection – her mother, Vanessa Salmon, was an heiress born into the Lyons Coffee House dynasty. I loved Lyons chocolate cupcakes and found them one day in Morrison’s supermarkets. My fond memory of peeling off the foil cups, then peeling the chocolate icing off the chocolate sponge bottom, to eat last, was tarnished when I tasted them – they were awful! Had they changed or had my memory been faulty? Likely both.

At any rate, the lanterns and everything about the door is gorgeous (there are two identical doors). The place continued as a restaurant, owned by Mitchells & Butler from 2004 to 2013. I’d missed it.

The original Drapers Hall was built in St Swithin’s Lane in the 1420s, then the present hall was bought from King Henry VIII in 1543. It had been the property of Thomas Cromwell, the king’s chief minister. Thomas had been instrumental in the arrest and execution of Anne Boleyn, and later was executed himself, his property forfeited to the king. The hall was rebuilt after the Great Fire and then in 1772 was again rebuilt. The latest alteration was in 1898-9. What I’ve seen of the inside from pictures shows enormous rooms like a palace. In fact, the halls are often shown in television series and movies, such as The King’s Speech.

Through the gates at the left (closer views below) is Throgmorton Avenue, which runs from here to London Wall. It’s a private road belonging to the Drapers’ livery company, with these splendid gates on each end. Today this end was closed. The gates to London Wall are controlled by the Carpenters’ Company. All this tells me is that there are bits of the area I need to see more of, since Krish tells me that he was lucky enough to see the gates open one day with some ‘old’ carpenters in their livery having a lunch break.

Apparently the space inside Warnford Court (for rent as offices) are modern and vibrant. This is actually where the London Stock Exchange was housed. I love the clock!

Next to Warnford Court, this narrow barber shop was doing business. I was so pleased to see that my point and pray method let me capture the barber at work

Angel Court was all al fresco dining. This restaurant with its artificial flowers was serving Mexican food with the usual tiny London portions

Continue reading “Short and sweet – Throgmorton Street, and a view of St Paul’s”

27th August 20219th September 2021

House of Annetta – missed tricks

Friday, 27 August, 2021

A journey to Brick Lane is always welcome. I can find so many things to do there, although these days I avoid the weekend. The Sunday markets were always a lot of fun. all the more so if I were taking someone around. On my best days we’d start in Columbia Road Flower Market then make our way over to Spitalfields Market, walk over to Brick Lane and check out all the market stalls and halls, with some lunch along the way. Then up Brick Lane to see the shops there and home again. There were always crowds.

Columbia Road got increasingly busy as more tourists found it and then one day, when I could barely move through it – shoulder to shoulder and wondering how I’d exit, like on a packed train – I stopped going. Spitalfields Market expanded into a new area where the stalls had more expensive goods, gradually the shops changed to pricier ones, and the food became less casual. Expensive restaurants popped up. The crowds weren’t too bad but worse than before. Eventually the old market where the stalls were the type you’d rummage through and be able to pick up several things without spending very much, began to change too. The eating area was moved and was now a group of tidy counters, the stalls were changed so they were fixed and neat. One area was devoted to other food kiosks with the new market uniform look. The food area began to spread and take over, with all the nicer seating. The people started to change too. No longer rough and ready, noisy and enthusiastic, they were now tidy, quiet or giggly, more money in their pockets. These days I hardly ever go. I can find nothing to buy, the food is overpriced, the atmosphere of the old market is gone. The Brick Lane markets got much busier too. The market stalls spread along the street itself, more and more of them, and mostly food. Now it was all weekend and the crowds grew, they too changing from chaotic and rebellious to more monied and trendy.

I pride myself on being a champion of change. I’ve always loved to see things moving with the times, reinventing, shapeshifting, and becoming something new but interesting. I’m fascinated with innovation and how people find different ways to design and use things. But there’s a curious and frustrating trend to uniformity. While some places stride to be unique, there can be a sameness that leaves me wondering why opportunities and tricks were missed.

Not that Brick Lane ever disappoints. When you come here on a weekday, the crowds are gone, unless you come when the mosque lets out its throngs of people. Then they fill the streets, heading home or back to work. I’m curious about them – why are they all male? what are their lives like? how long were they praying? where are the children? I love the clothing, the general quietness even in a crowd, the way they’ve imparted their calm culture in this area.

But Brick Lane is changing too. The pandemic has brought the tables out onto the pavement and some shops are closed, shuttered, or keeping shorter hours. One by one newer places have opened among the old Bangladeshi shops, more and more not Bangladeshi or Bengali. They’re more likely to be vintage clothing, small artisanal designers, cafes that sell matcha not chai, vegan brownies not samosas, burritos not tikka masala rolls.

The pub has existed since at least the middle of the 19th century, if not always under that name. It’s associated with one of the Ripper suspects, and is one of the rare old sights left. Heneage Street

Continue reading “House of Annetta – missed tricks”