London Vacation later this October

[TolerancEJ]

Hello U.K. BassChatters!

I’m from Vancouver, Canada. My wife and I will have a vacation later this month: 4 nights in London, then going to Paris and Venice each for 3 nights.

While in London, I’m aware of The Bass Gallery. Are there any other London music shops you’d recommend me to check out?

Also food! Where do you recommend us to eat Fish n Chips? What are some special foods we must try?

I’m also a fan of Monty Python. Are there sites to check out? Such as areas where famous sketches or scenes were shot? Themed gift shops?

Edited October 6, 2018 by TolerancEJ

[lownote]

Wunjos in Denmark Street, central London, is a great bass shop but on a smaller scale than the Bass Gallery.

There are various Python fan sites that might help, e.g. : https://londontopia.net/guides/monty-pythons-london/ .

This site may help with fish and chip shops https://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/londons-best-fish-and-chip-restaurants

When you say special foods, it's a bit harder.  Despite a reputation for having rubbish food, London and the UK generally offers a far more sophisticated range of foods than most other countries, in my experience.    North and south England have different specialties.  Whelks and jellied eels are ethnic to London (not everyone's first choice of num nums though).  Chicken tikka massala and other Anglo-Indian curry dishes are now as 'English' as - well, jellied eels and may be had very widely. 

You don't say how familiar you are with the UK and London, or what your other interests are.  The Tower of London is pretty cool for old stuff and juicy bloody history.

Edit: If you are interested in history and art there are more world class+ museums and art galleries than you can shake a tour guide at.  The London Eye wheel will give you a bird's eye view of London, including the Houses of Parliament but these are currently festooned in scaffolding so won't look their best again for years.  Talking of tour guides, London is a major city with a vast concentration of interesting stuff. Four days should give you a decent chance to see lots of things, but best to book on a tour or two so you don't waste time wandering around.

I doubt whether you're a Harry Potter fan, but in case you are the Harry Potter exhibition on the NW outskirts of London is a must, but it is eye wateringly expensive - around a $100 US per person. 

Have fun

 

Edited October 6, 2018 by lownote12

[TolerancEJ]

@lownote12 Thanks for all the information! This will be our first time there.

[lowdown]

As lownote12 said, plenty of great Ethnic restaurants about, but why not try some proper ‘Pie & Mash’...

https://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/londons-best-pie-and-mash-shops

 

And then maybe, Ronnie Scott’s? One of my favourite places in town.

https://www.ronniescotts.co.uk/scheduledaily/2018/October/6

Edited October 6, 2018 by lowdown

[pbasspecial]

I'm a proper London Black Cabbie and the advice I always give to my passengers is to check out the Time Out website too.  It has all the recommendations you need.

4 days isn't a lot of time to do everything, so be selective and pace yourself.

Food wise:

1. Proper full English fry up (£6 each roughly).  Will last you most of the day.

2. Pie and Mash (tie it in with going to Greenwich). There's a good one on the one way system.  Goddards? There's a great comedy club there too called up the creek.  If you go on a Sunday, it's cheap too (£7 each) and you can visit the cutty sark, museums, park, etc

3. Fish & Chips.  Personally you can't beat eating them by the seaside but that will be an hour away on a train.  Go to Brighton and then visit the Barefaced Boys.

4. Borough Market. It's a great place at the weekend for visiting and eating. 

5. Curry. Everyone will send you down Brick Lane but there is better elsewhere such as Dishoom, Lahore, etc

 

 

[lowdown]

1 hour ago, pbasspecial said:

I'm a proper London Black Cabbie and the advice I always give to my passengers is to check out the Time Out website too.  It has all the recommendations you need.

4 days isn't a lot of time to do everything, so be selective and pace yourself.

Food wise:

1. Proper full English fry up (£6 each roughly).  Will last you most of the day.

2. Pie and Mash (tie it in with going to Greenwich). There's a good one on the one way system.  Goddards? There's a great comedy club there too called up the creek.  If you go on a Sunday, it's cheap too (£7 each) and you can visit the cutty sark, museums, park, etc

3. Fish & Chips.  Personally you can't beat eating them by the seaside but that will be an hour away on a train.  Go to Brighton and then visit the Barefaced Boys.

4. Borough Market. It's a great place at the weekend for visiting and eating. 

5. Curry. Everyone will send you down Brick Lane but there is better elsewhere such as Dishoom, Lahore, etc

 

 

Maybe a trip to 'The Den' as well. 

[Geek99]

I’d recommend the slug and lettuce on Hannover street for decent food just off the main drag of regent street - ok for kids and nice beers, plus clean toilets

No lumberjacks however, so you might like to bring a red checked shirt

Slug & Lettuce Hanover Street
19-20 Hanover St, Mayfair, London W1S 1YR
020 7499 0077
https://goo.gl/maps/ccTfGYc7ZwN2

Edited October 6, 2018 by Geek99

[Geek99]

Stick with black cabs, perhaps @pbasspecial will be working when you’re in town 

there is an app for phones where you can hail a proper London cabbie to your location  - I can’t recall the name of it but someone here surely will 

[lownote]

2 hours ago, pbasspecial said:

I'm a proper London Black Cabbie

 

 

Hey PBS, I'm always taking black cabs.  Why don't you put a small sign on your partition window.  No one not on here will pay it attention, but any members who've seen this will be able to Hi you up.

[toneknob]

Fish & Chips - go to Poppies in Shoreditch (preferably) or there's another one more central in Old Compton St or Camden.

Other food - what do you like? There's at least one of eveything.

[Mudpup]

Fish and chips - Georges Portobello Fish Bar just off Golborne Rd. You can tie it in with a visit to Portobello Rd market. 

Curry - all my Indian mates reckon that Royal Nawaab on the A40 in NW London is their favourite, i havent been there yet but its top of my hit list when i get a night out https://royalnawaab.com/london

Its also worth a trip up the Shard for a drink at sunset or on a good sunny day in the Aqua Shard on floor 31. Although the drinks are expensive its a great view and a buzzy atmosphere.

And this black Taxi tour is a great way to see London - qualified tour guide taxi drivers that will show you all the best bits 
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186338-d1888678-Reviews-London_Black_Taxi_Tours-London_England.html

[pbasspecial]

I'm happy to give our Canadian friend a free hours tour of London in my cab. Just PM me and hopefully we can sort it out a convenient time.  

[TheGreek]

@TolerancEJ...remember that it's bad manners to pick up the gold that lines the streets of London.

We can always spot the tourists..😉😉

[lownote]

Don't confuse Stratford (a not particularly nice part of east London ) with Stratford upon Avon ( where Bill Waggledagger came from).

[project_c]

Best curry in London is at Tayyabs in Whitechapel, it’s a popular place so book in advance. Best Chinese / Cantonese is Silk Road in Camberwell, also book ahead. Both specialise in home-style cooking, and don’t look like anything special from the outside, but both are always packed full of people. Best posh Chinese is Phoenix Palace in Baker Street. Best Turkish places are on Kingsland Road near Dalston. Mangal is probably the most famous because Gilbert and George (the artists) go there every single day.

There is good fish & chips all over London, just find a place that sells responsibly farmed fish. 

Best burgers are probably at Byron, and Bodeans in Soho, who also do ribs and other good stuff.

For english food just look for gastro-pubs close to where you’re staying, they’re all going to be pretty good.

And as mentioned above, Borough Market is great for tasty food, especially at weekends. Gets very busy so go early.

There are farmers markets all over London on certain days, and they usually have the best street food, again just search for the nearest. 

Brixton market also has an amazing collection of restaurants.

[TolerancEJ]

Thank you everyone for the information. Vancouver is very multicultural, so I’ve eaten most ethnic foods (asian, curry, etc).

That is a tremendous offer @pbasspecial . I’ll definitely keep you in mind.

Edited October 6, 2018 by TolerancEJ

[roblpm]

Ok as a former Londoner i have to recommend my favourite trip which is a clipper boat down the Thames. As someone suggested above you can get to Greenwich on it. Fun fun fun! Get on at Westminster after looking at Big Ben!

[Maude]

I know it's a little cheesey but open top bus tours are a great way to see a lot of the city in a relaxing manner. Last time I did it with my kids the ticket was valid for 24hrs, jump on and off where you like and it included the river boat tours as well. Buy your tickets early afternoon and do the open top busses one day and the boats the next. 

[Cato]

Check the gig/event listings.

There's always something worth a punt on somewhere in London on any given night, normally multiple somethings.

Edited October 6, 2018 by Cato

[Geek99]

3 hours ago, TolerancEJ said:

Thank you everyone for the information. Vancouver is very multicultural, so I’ve eaten most ethnic foods (asian, curry, etc).

That is a tremendous offer @pbasspecial . I’ll definitely keep you in mind.

Look up “the knowledge” with regard to London cabbies and then you will understand why this is a fantastic offer. 

[bigash]

We had a family weekend in London last October and probably the thing that we all enjoyed was a speedboat

trip along the Thames. This departed from a pier next to the London eye, done the touristy bit at the start.

When it got to a certain point they gave it the Beans and turned on the James Bond music.

It wasn't to expensive either if I remember correctly, about £130 for the four of us.

[TrevorR]

8 hours ago, TheGreek said:

@TolerancEJ...remember that it's bad manners to pick up the gold that lines the streets of London.

We can always spot the tourists..😉😉

Not a worry, you can’t see the gold for the constant pea-soup fog you always seem to see on old movies!

A lot of the main traditional sites are in a very small area around Westminster. Parliament, Big Ben (tho it’s covered with scaffolding at the mo), Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, St James Park...

My top tip is go see the changing of the guard at Horseguards Parade (opposite end of St James Park from Buckingham Palace, 11 am every morning and you get to stand really close to  the horses - literally only 20 feet. At Buck House they’re 100 yards away at best.

National Gallery On Trafalgar Sq is free and lovely to wander round. So many iconic paintings.

And Windsor is lovely - just a 40 min train ride from Waterloo Station. The castle is amazing, as is Eton College and wandering by the Thames.

[lownote]

13 hours ago, Geek99 said:

Look up “the knowledge” with regard to London cabbies and then you will understand why this is a fantastic offer. 

And a valuable one - that offer of a free hour's worth a lot of money in lost fares to him.  I'd do more than than 'keep him in mind' TEJ. 

Edited October 7, 2018 by lownote12

[SimonEdward]

On 06/10/2018 at 03:58, TolerancEJ said:

Hello U.K. BassChatters!

I’m from Vancouver, Canada. My wife and I will have a vacation later this month: 4 nights in London, then going to Paris and Venice each for 3 nights.

While in London, I’m aware of The Bass Gallery. Are there any other London music shops you’d recommend me to check out?

Also food! Where do you recommend us to eat Fish n Chips? What are some special foods we must try?

I’m also a fan of Monty Python. Are there sites to check out? Such as areas where famous sketches or scenes were shot? Themed gift shops?

Hello! and an advance warm (!) welcome to the U.K. when you and your wife arrive.

I've worked in London for almost 30-years, and lived in the city for around five ~ it's Very, nay too expensive to really live in a London district.

Whilst you're in the Camden area, browsing and chatting to Martin (if he's around?) at the Bass Gallery, you might like Camden Market, the Lock and possibly some of the food? Whilst you're in the locality, another music store to consider might be 'Guitar Guitar' who have a branch at the other end of Camden High Street - towards Mornington Crescent tube station.  I tend to shop on-line, and use auction sites though..

The only Fish n Chip take away / restaurant I personally recommend in London is 'The Sea Shell' of Lisson Grove; a short stroll from Marylebone tube station >> https://www.seashellrestaurant.co.uk/   don't take my word for it, but it regularly appears in the Top 10 for Fish n Chips in London.

It's not far away from Regent's Park, which in my opinion is the best of the royal parks with some nice views and places to stop off for coffee.

Finally, Alexandra Palace has some of the best views of the city, especially early evening, and you never know, they might have something on which appeals when you visit:- http://www.alexandrapalace.com/

Happy travels!