# Quintessential London



## DJWrongspeed (Feb 24, 2012)

Was thinking the other day.  There are many places in London that are both obscure but also speak definitively about the captial. Visitors will always miss them.

Here's one for starters. Black market records, Soho. Go to the basement, a treasure trove of drum'n'bass & dubstep. It's just London all over.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Feb 24, 2012)

DJWrongspeed said:


> Go to the basement, a treasure trove of drum'n'bass & dubstep.


 
No thanks


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## dessiato (Feb 24, 2012)

Probably the most interesting toilets I've used


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## TitanSound (Feb 24, 2012)

A lovely little place with an awesome jukebox. Only a tiny Spanish bar could be so London


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## dessiato (Feb 24, 2012)

The pub I used to drink in when I worked in Broadwick Street


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## QueenOfGoths (Feb 24, 2012)

TitanSound said:


> A lovely little place with an awesome jukebox. Only a tiny Spanish bar could be so London


 
I used to often walk past there and wonder what it was like


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## ska invita (Feb 24, 2012)

QueenOfGoths said:


> I used to often walk past there and wonder what it was like


small and expensive 
but great jukebox 

nice thread
ive got a feeling there'll be a lot of pubs in it


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## discokermit (Feb 24, 2012)

postmans park, little britain,


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## Corax (Feb 24, 2012)

Morden tube station.  A secret jewel hidden away at the end of the Northern line.


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## AverageJoe (Feb 24, 2012)

Love a lot of places in London, but for some reason the London Colliseum in St Martins Lane always pleases me. Its got the most amazing upper body to its architecture (it was built by the same guy who built the Hippodrome fact fans). Not enough people look up when walking around London and as such they miss some amazing stuff.


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## teuchter (Feb 24, 2012)

Thread needs to be retitled "cliche London"


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Feb 25, 2012)

AverageJoe said:


> Not enough people look up when walking around London and as such they miss some amazing stuff.


 
That's why I sit on tops of buses, to avoid walking into lamp-posts


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## teuchter (Feb 25, 2012)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> That's why I sit on tops of buses, to avoid walking into lamp-posts


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## DJWrongspeed (Feb 25, 2012)

Great posts, keep'em coming. Where exactly is Postman's Park?


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## RoyReed (Feb 25, 2012)

TitanSound said:


> A lovely little place with an awesome jukebox. Only a tiny Spanish bar could be so London


I used to work just round the corner (late 70s - early 80s) and went there quite often. Good to know it's still going.


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## RoyReed (Feb 25, 2012)

DJWrongspeed said:


> Great posts, keep'em coming. Where exactly is Postman's Park?


Just north of St Paul's Cathedral: Postman's Park


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## dessiato (Feb 25, 2012)

I used to hang around in Soho Square for lunch, with some of the WGs, it is still one of my favourite places to have lunch.


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## ska invita (Feb 25, 2012)

DJWrongspeed said:


> Great posts, keep'em coming. Where exactly is Postman's Park?


Its in the City
"Situated between King Edward Street, Little Britain and Angel Street (near St Bartholomew's Hospital) the park acquired its name due to its popularity as a lunchtime garden with workers from the nearby old General Post Office."
Editors feature:
http://www.urban75.org/london/postman.html

Talking of quintessential City, I would say standing on London Birdge at 8.30am on a weekday would count. London in its most frightening commuting glory





A great pub thats easy to miss (aka hard to find) is Ye Olde Mitre - definite sense of history in this little cubby hole - disputedly the oldest pub in London





Little wood panelled rooms dont come out on photos, but its a memorable place to visit:




...and just getting there means you have to work through little streets most Londoners will have never really had reason to go down


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## DJWrongspeed (Feb 25, 2012)

Ah yes the Mitre,  exactly what i'm talkin about, one of London's best pubs, a piece of Ely in London.


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## ViolentPanda (Feb 25, 2012)

teuchter said:


> Thread needs to be retitled "cliche London"


 
Frankly, you should be retitled "cliched poster".


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Feb 25, 2012)

Cittie of Yorke (although rebuilt) has had a pub in that location for centuries (near Chancery Lane, used to be popular with the legal profession, so was full of twats, but not sure what it's like now)
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is another famous old one (off Fleet Street)
George Inn
Lamb and Flag


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## DJWrongspeed (Feb 26, 2012)

ViolentPanda said:


> Frankly, you should be retitled "cliched poster".


The point of the thread was to spot things in London that aren't cliches but are hidden to your average visitor.


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## maldwyn (Feb 26, 2012)

teuchter said:


> Thread needs to be retitled "cliche London"


Too true. Why when people talk about secret London (not just this thread) the same old places are mentioned - hardly secret are they.


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## Maggot (Feb 26, 2012)

dessiato said:


> Probably the most interesting toilets I've used


 
Where are they?


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## Maggot (Feb 26, 2012)

maldwyn said:


> Too true. Why when people talk about secret London (not just this thread) the same old places are mentioned - hardly secret are they.


This isn't about secret London, it's about places missed by most tourists. Most of the stuff on this thread fits that criteria.


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## ViolentPanda (Feb 26, 2012)

DJWrongspeed said:


> The point of the thread was to spot things in London that aren't cliches but are hidden to your average visitor.


 
Which is why I suggested that teuchter should be re-titled (renamed) "cliched poster". While some of the contributions are well-known to Londoners, most of them aren't to visitors.

I'd also second AverageJoe's exhortation to visitors to stop and look upward. There are some fantastic pieces of architectural detail and ornamental sculpture "hidden in plain sight". Gresham's grasshopper weathervane on the Royal Exchange; Wheeler's elephant balcony-supports at India House, even Gill's Prospero and Ariel and other works on the exterior of Broadcasting House and hundreds more


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## ViolentPanda (Feb 26, 2012)

maldwyn said:


> Too true. Why when people talk about secret London (not just this thread) the same old places are mentioned - hardly secret are they.


 
"Secret London" is something very different from recommendations of things that visitors should keep a weather-eye out for.


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## dessiato (Feb 26, 2012)

Maggot said:


> Where are they?


Broadwick street, it is worth popping in to have a look, if you are male! Maybe the ladies are equally interesting, I've not been in those though.


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## ska invita (Feb 26, 2012)

Maggot said:


> Where are they?


Looks like soho, broadwick street. tourists: those bogs really arent that great


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## clicker (Feb 26, 2012)

Phoenix Gardens...a two minute stroll off Shaftsbury Avenue, the Covent Garden end....to an oasis of plants, ponds and benches with soul.


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## clicker (Feb 26, 2012)

a right lit-ul cockney varmint down an alley off Sloane Square.


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## George & Bill (Feb 26, 2012)

corax said:
			
		

> Morden tube station





teuchter said:


> Thread needs to be retitled "cliche London"



This is quite a sophisticated definition of the word 'cliche'.


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## Corax (Feb 26, 2012)

There's one serious suggestion I have for Morden.  Ravensbury Park.  Morden has very little to recommend it.  But in amongst the most dreary residential area imaginable, there's an unimposing alleyway.

I walked past it for over a year before really noticing it.  And it turned out to be a gorgeous little park alongside a rare above-ground bit of the river Wandle.










It's a tiny bit of parkland, and walking down any of the surrounding streets you wouldn't for a second imagine it was there.  It became my sanctuary during a particularly rough part of my life.

It would fit with a 'secret London' thread I guess.  But these little hidden idylls are quintessentially London in themselves IMO.


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## clicker (Feb 26, 2012)

The beach by the Captain Kidd pub....as sandy as the med and without the 3 hour check in.


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## ska invita (Feb 26, 2012)

Corax said:


> There's one serious suggestion I have for Morden.








Talking of parks if I have guests from out of town something ive done a couple of times is go on a walk or better still bike ride via Dulwich Park - do a couple of laps of that, and on for a pint or two at the Greyhound in Dulwich VIllage.

Dulwich Park on a sunny day is packed with families from beyond the village, and its got a great atmosphere. Dulwich Village plays up to everyones ideas of chocolate box little england, and the Greyhound is a spectacular old pub. 










YOu can do the same thing with Half Moon and Brockwell Park, but its not quite got the same wow factor.

Also for a longer version you can go for a walk through Dulwich Woods, and then on to the village.


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## Gavin Bl (Feb 26, 2012)

Great to see Postman's Park. Was going to suggest St Dunstan's near the Tower, a bombed out church that has been used as a public space, really stuck away down an alley. Will post a picture another time....too late now


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## sim667 (Feb 27, 2012)

Ill nominate the lamb in lamb conduit street.


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## braindancer (Feb 27, 2012)

clicker said:


> Phoenix Gardens...a two minute stroll off Shaftsbury Avenue, the Covent Garden end....to an oasis of plants, ponds and benches with soul.


 Wow I never knew about this - will stroll down there at lucnhtime I think!


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## Winot (Feb 27, 2012)

IMO London is all about variety, and co-existing tribes.  So I usually suggest that out-of-towners do the little walk from Liverpool St through the edge of the financial district, through Spitalfields, past Christ Church down Fournier St and into Brick Lane.  Whitechapel art gallery to your right and the Trumans complex (and Rough Trade etc.) to your left.  Food courtesy of St John Bread and Wine or New Tayyab depending on taste/budget.


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## tim (Feb 27, 2012)

G Smith and Son






Which has recently closed down, and will no doubt become something rather blander.


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## rubbershoes (Feb 27, 2012)

DJWrongspeed said:


> Was thinking the other day. There are many places in London that are both obscure but also speak definitively about the captial. Visitors will always miss them.
> 
> Here's one for starters. Black market records, Soho. Go to the basement, a treasure trove of drum'n'bass & dubstep. It's just London all over.


 

I reckon most visitors to London can do without a basement full of drum n bass and dubstep


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## Lucy Fur (Feb 27, 2012)

Crossbones Cemetry just round the corner from London Bridge is easily missed but definately worth a visit:


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## maldwyn (Feb 27, 2012)




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## Maggot (Feb 27, 2012)

sim667 said:


> Ill nominate the lamb in lamb conduit street.


What's special about it?


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## RoyReed (Feb 27, 2012)

I'll nominate the dinosaurs in Crystal Palace Park.



Crystal Palace Park Dinosaurs by RoyReed, on Flickr
But you might as well nominate anywhere south of the river (except for the usual tourist stuff on the south embankment). Tourists don't go sarf, do they?


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## sim667 (Feb 27, 2012)

Maggot said:


> What's special about it?



It's nice. It's Victorian decor and photos of west end actors from a long time ago, still got snobs screens around the bar et all


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## Gavin Bl (Feb 27, 2012)

St Dunstan's as above....usually see city workers having a quiet ciggie, or with a new clinch.


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## clicker (Feb 27, 2012)

Gavin Bl said:


> St Dunstan's as above....usually see city workers having a quiet ciggie, or with a new clinch.


 
Never knew about this....will definitely take a wander soon.


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## Gavin Bl (Feb 27, 2012)

Can't remember the name of the street its off now, might be East Cheap - its the road that takes you from that tangle of a junction just north of London bridge, and down to the Tower. Its on a street to the right as you walk towards the tower. Street might even be St Dunstans _something_


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## telbert (Feb 28, 2012)

Gavin Bl said:


> Can't remember the name of the street its off now, might be East Cheap - its the road that takes you from that tangle of a junction just north of London bridge, and down to the Tower. Its on a street to the right as you walk towards the tower. Street might even be St Dunstans _something_


 

 Its St Dunstans Hill


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## ska invita (Feb 28, 2012)

clicker said:


> Phoenix Gardens...a two minute stroll off Shaftsbury Avenue, the Covent Garden end....to an oasis of plants, ponds and benches with soul.


I used to go there all the time on uptown visits for a break...once  though I was there when a homeless guy was found dead in the bushes. Very sad.
IIRC its a community garden, run by the local residents around there. The churchyard round the back is great too...StGIles church I think...


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## ska invita (Feb 28, 2012)

sim667 said:


> Ill nominate the lamb in lamb conduit street.


Its a lovely street full stop. Ciao Bella Italian resteraunt next door to the lamb is cool - one of the only London restaurants its a pleasure to sit outside on the street at. Good value too. Proper!


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## ska invita (Feb 28, 2012)

rubbershoes said:


> I reckon most visitors to London can do without a basement full of drum n bass and dubstep


Its all about the atmosphere  especially on a Saturday afternoon...


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## clicker (Feb 28, 2012)

ska invita said:


> I used to go there all the time on uptown visits for a break...once though I was there when a homeless guy was found dead in the bushes. Very sad.
> IIRC its a community garden, run by the local residents around there. The churchyard round the back is great too...StGIles church I think...


 
That is sad....I often go there after a wander in Covent garden with a paperback and a coffee.....the pond wa teeming with baby goldfish last year and the sun just hits it nicely. Yes St Giles church yard is a good 'un too....


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## hash tag (Jan 7, 2016)

Big bump but seems an appropriate place. I see the Clapham tunnels have been opened to the public. Even if you had been prepared to pay the £30 per head, they have sold out Clapham South - London Transport Museum


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## stdP (Jan 7, 2016)

I'm one of the people who tried and failed to get tickets to the deep shelters at Clapham, after living around the corner from the entrance to the ones near Goodge Street. So I feel obliged to mention an alternative.

Whether you're a coprophile, an aficionado of huge-assed steam engines or just want to hang out in the Angel Islington's prison if you can get to Crossness Pumping Station over yonder in the east I don't think you'll be disappointed. It's was basically the outflow pumping station for Bazalgette's sewers and is an almost literal cathedral to the art of getting rid of shit.

Crossness Pumping Station - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Visit

Pics don't really do it justice (wish their website had a better gallery but you can find plenty of pics via google I'm sure), the ironwork is incredible.


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## BigMoaner (Jan 7, 2016)

pie and mash at Manzes tower bridge road followed by, Millwall.


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## BigMoaner (Jan 7, 2016)

salt fish fritta from here


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## BigMoaner (Jan 7, 2016)

bermondsey, god's own country


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## BigMoaner (Jan 7, 2016)

Thornton Heath Carnival. Off everyone's radar apart from teh people who live here and we love it.


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## hash tag (Jan 7, 2016)

Thornton heath. Carnival.  really?
Big vote for crossness from me, beautiful.
Many other similar around which are worthy of mention another time.


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## BigMoaner (Jan 7, 2016)

Why surprise? Its not massive but always enjoyed (oh err)


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## ska invita (Jan 7, 2016)

clicker said:


> The beach by the Captain Kidd pub....as sandy as the med and without the 3 hour check in.


trying to make that comparison is quintessentially london


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## ska invita (Jan 7, 2016)

BigMoaner said:


> Thornton Heath Carnival. Off everyone's radar apart from teh people who live here and we love it.


\When is it Big Moaner?


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## laptop (Jan 7, 2016)




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## BigMoaner (Jan 8, 2016)

ska invita said:


> \When is it Big Moaner?


summer, but the date always changes. afternoon's better.


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## cuppa tee (Jul 19, 2019)

Lucy Fur said:


> View attachment 17058 Crossbones Cemetry just round the corner from London Bridge is easily missed but definately worth a visit:



Petition up to give Crossbones Cemetary protection from redevelopment

Secure the long-term protection of Crossbones Graveyard | 38 Degrees


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## Lucy Fur (Jul 19, 2019)

cuppa tee said:


> Petition up to give Crossbones Cemetary protection from redevelopment
> 
> Secure the long-term protection of Crossbones Graveyard | 38 Degrees


Signed and thanks for the heads up


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