Carnaby Street - Soho

If you're enjoying our StrollOn guide to Soho, towards the end you'll pass through Carnaby Street. This little road in London became famous in the 60s and was very much at the centre of the changes in youth, music and fashion that shook the period. It gained prominence when designers started to open small independent boutiques along the road. Mary Quant, Marion Foale and Sally Tuffin had shops here. Around the corner, on Wardour Street, a club called the Marquee Club opened and a series of underground music venues like the Roaring Twenties appeared on the street. The bands who played at these venues were soon to be legendary: The Who, The Rolling Stones, Small Faces and more. It meant that you could wander down Carnaby Street and never know how many stars you might run into.

Today the street is no less interesting, though you might not run into a musical legend quite so easily. It's home to some excellent fashion stores like Diesel and American Apparel as well as being home to some great restaurants liks Cha Cha Moon. If you're on our Soho walk make sure you take some time to have a look around some of the shops. They're great fun and you can pick up some wonderful souvenirs in some of the smaller, independent stores.

If you want to know a bit more about Soho, check out our walking tour of the area. It's an amazing part of London full of secrets and history and we explore it all in the guide.

The Tate Modern

Following on from our posts on The Globe, I wanted to mention the brilliant Tate Modern on The Southbank. If you're on our Southbank walk you'll pass nearby. You can hardly miss the red brick building with it huge tower as it was once a power station. It was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (his grandfather designed the St Pancras Station) and was built in two stages in 1947 and 1963. The power station was decommissioned in the 80s  and opened as an art gallery in 2000 to exhibit art from 1900 onwards.

There is a wonderful constantly shifting permanent collection at the Tate Modern including works by Picasso, Rothko, Warhol and many, many others. This part of the Tate is free to visit and it's a wonderful way to spend an afternoon or two. At the same time there are regular exhibitions though these aren't free. From October 6th you can see the Gerhard Richter: Panorama exhibition which will be well worth the visit. You can find out more about current and future exhibitions here.

And, lastly, If you want a quick bite to eat, try the restaurant on the top floor of the Tate. The food is excellent and the view is unsurpassed.

London In The Sunshine

Stop all the clocks; some one call the police; the sun - THE SUN - is shining in London and it looks like it will be all weekend! We'll all be as happy as the double rainbow guy above! 

Seriously though, it's great when the weather's like this and, believe it or not, we get a decent amount of sunshine every summer. But when it arrives it is still special so make the most of it and enjoy the weather this weekend. Now is the perfect time to enjoy some fun outdoors. Walking on one of our London audio tours is a great excuse to see the city at it's best in the sunshine. Here are a couple more ideas from out blog though.

The Parks

Summer in London's parks is a real treat. Green and lush, they are wonderful retreats to walk around, meet with friends or just simply lie in the sunshine. Here are some of our posts on London's wonderful parks.

Markets

You can find some amazing bargains stumbling around markets. And in the sunshine bargain hunting is so much more fun. Here's our post on The Portobello Road market. It's our favourite in the city.

The Pub

Sometimes, there's nothing you want more than to drink a cool pint of beer and feel the sun on your face. Here's our guide to some of London's loveliest pubs.

The Globe

Shakespeare's Globe is without doubt one of my favourite parts of London. Located in Soutwark, on the Southbank, it's a few minutes walk from the Tate Modern and about 15 minutes from Waterloo.

This history of the building is fascinating. Firstly, it's not built on the site of Shakespeare's original globe but it's as close as it can be to that site. It took over a quarter of a century of fund-raising and research to see the current building open in 1997. It was the brainchild of American actor Sam Wannamaker who, unfortunately, died before the construction was completed.


The architects focused on constructing the globe using material and tools from the 16th Century - or as close as possible - so the roof is thatched and the lime plaster mix that coats the walls is made to a period recipe. Today you can enjoy the plays of Shakespeare in this wonderful setting. Each summer season the globe put on a selection of plays and you can either sit or stand to enjoy them. Standing will set you back around £5 and it will give you the most authentic experience. You can find out more about this years schedule here. You can also tour the Globe's exhibition which is packed full of information about the man who wrote such magnificent plays as well as Elizabethan theatre and modern theatre. In the winter, when the Globe itself is shut, it's a wonderful stop off.

If you're nearby to the Globe then, you might also enjoy our Southbank audio tour which will take you around the best sites in the area. You can find out a more on our website.

(Picture Nik Milner)

The City Of London

If you're visiting London for pleasure it's easy to forget about The City but it is a stunning destination packed with interesting sights and sounds. If you're in the area, for pleasure or on business, check out our walking tour of the area. It will take your around some of The City's most wonderful parts.

On your walk you can see the church All Hallows by the Tower which survived fire of London in 1666. It's stunning to look at with it's algae green spire. It is still open for ministry and you can sit quietly there if you wish.

Then there's the Lloyds of London Building (picture above). The building was designed by Richard Rogers and you'll notice that all the elevators, stairs etc are on the outside. This is supposed to create as much light indoors as possible and there are no corridors either. In other words, it's a pretty unique building. Oddly, Lloyds started in Edward Lloyd's coffee house where groups of business used to gather. They were able to insure ships and that is how it started. Today though it's an insurance market. Everything can be insured here and the Hollywood actress Betty Grable once insured her legs here.

One of my favourite parts of the city is near to Billingsgate market. Billingsgate used to be a fishmarket - you can recognize it by it's huge fish weathervane - but has now been turned into offices. Built in 1876 as London's main fishmarket, at one point it could handle 400 tons of fish a day. George Orwell, author of Nineteen Eighty-four and Animal Farm once worked there too. Nearby is Southwark with it's shops and restaurants. Have a wander around the area and, if you want to see some culture, you can visit the Globe or the Tate Modern.

Hopefully this will give you a taste of the City. It's an interesting place and we hope you enjoy spending time there. If you've want any other tours of London why not visit www.strollon.co.uk where you can find out a bit more about our walks.

Coffee, Cocktails and Books - A Round Up!

Over the last couple of weeks we've been blogging about some of our favourite places in London to drink a cocktail, meet for a coffee or find a good book. Here's a quick round up of some of the fantastic places that will supplement your Strollon Walk.

Books Stores

Whether your in Westminster, Covent Garden or West London we've got a bookshop near you.

Coffee

Love coffee? Read about our favourite coffee shops in London

Cocktails

It's the end of the week. Why not celebrate with a cocktail in the sunshine?

Cocktails in London

Who doesn't like a good cocktail? After a wonderful day walking around London there is nothing better than sitting down to a very cold, very dry martini or a clean, crisp daiquiri. So, here is a quick guide to some of our favourite cocktail bars on our StrollOn walks.

Soho

Our walk through Soho takes you past some fascinating sites but one addition is the wonderful bar at Bob Bob Ricard with it's deep plush seats, mirrored ceiling and top notch cocktails. Located on St James Street, just around the corner from Polpo, it serves delicious British and Russian food. It's owners, Bob and Richard are Russian and English respectively (Bob owns two thirds hence his name comes twice in case you were wondering). You sometimes have to book tables in advance but often you can walk in off the street. Try their excellent house champagne and some of their special nibbles.

Covent Garden

If you're close to The Royal Opera House (Chapter 18 on our Covent Garden Walk) then you're very close to the excellent Covent Garden Hotel. This is often where stars visiting London choose to stay when they are trying to be discrete and it has an excellent bar, The Brasserie Max. They do some delicious signature cocktails - try their Seven Dials martini, named after the area of Covent Garden the hotel is in: it is a delicious mix of passion fruit and elderflower with gin and orange flavoured martini. Just what the doctor ordered!

Westminster

You'll find The Cinnamon Club just behind the Houses of Parliament (chapters 1 - 8 on our walk). It's a wonderful restaurant that serves high end Indian food and is well worth visiting if you can. But there's also a wonderful bar in the basement. Unsurprisingly they try and bring an Indian twist to their drinks so check out some of their house specials like Curry Up! Curry Up! which mixes curry nectar with gin and lemon juice. It sounds weird but trust us, it's delicious.

Hopefully you've enjoyed our short guide to some of our favourite bars in London. If you're looking for more audio guides to London visit our website www.strollon.co.uk and if you've got any tips, please leave them in the comments below.