London Trip, day one.

We were off to London for the weekend again and popped down on Friday afternoon. We were fifteen minutes late arriving  due to a broken rail near Peterborough, or so we were told. Straight to the hotel on Old Street and got our usual corner room. Met up late with daughter and partner but as it was so late headed to Weatherspoon's for something to eat.

The next day the 'kids' were busy so we entertained ourselves with a self guided walk around the Southwark area. Getting of the bus at London Bridge we soon found our first stop, Guys Hospital. In the area is also St. Thomas' hospital which was founded in the 12th Century. We 'ummed' and 'ahhd' about going in the Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garret Museum, but time and the entrance fee held us back. Maybe another time. However just down the road is Guy's Hospital that was named after Sir Thomas Guy who was a local printer who made a fortune in the South Sea Bubble by getting out before the crash. Guy's opened in 1721 and was built to take the cases that St. Thomas' thought were incurable! Through large wrought iron gates into a court yard and on your left is the Hospital Chapel.

The church is adorned with plaques dedicated to those associated with the hospital, many of the names are recognisable today. The statue is of Sir Thomas Guy holding the hands of one of the incurables. It was installed in 1779.

Back outside and through an archway we wandered back to Borough High Street. We passed the lunatic Chair that was one of the alcoves on the London Bridge that was demolished to make way for the one that is now in Arizona.

There were fourteen of these on the old bridge. Guy's bought this for ten guineas to provide shelter for the convalescing patients of the Lunatic House. The only other surviving alcove is in Victoria Park.

Borough High Street has many 'yards' leading off and each was once the site of a coaching inn. Before the railways people would arrive at these inns and wait before heading south of London or over to the continent. This building replaced an earlier one destroyed by fire in 1677. It was mentioned in 'Little Dorrit' by Charles Dickens and even earlier Shakespeare's company played in the courtyard surrounded by the galleries.

The Shard is ever present on this walk and makes a good juxtaposition with many of the very old buildings that have been here for centuries. Here the wall in the foreground is all that remains of the notorious debtors Marshalsea Prison. There had been a prison here since before 1381 as Wat Tyler's rebels targeted it. Here was perhaps where Charles Dickens got is insight into the poor of London as his father was imprisoned here in 1824 for a debt of £10. The whole family moved in with him except 12 year old Charles and his sister Fanny. They lived near by and had to fend for themselves. Having been a very respectable family the fall from grace must have affected him greatly.

The south bank was notorious for its high life with nefarious goings on, outside the jurisdiction of the City of London. One of the worst areas was known as the Mint and felons flocked there to escape capture. It was a strange sight to therefore come across these cottages in the middle of London with gardens to the front. They were built by Octavia Hill who had a hand in many housing projects around London and else where. She is famous for going on to help start the National Trust and also the Army Cadet Force. There was to be no swearing or drinking by the tenants. Just opposite is the Cross Bones Graveyard. This was where the prostitutes of the area were buried, and later paupers. The girls had to pay rent and fines to the Bishop of Winchester but on death they were shunned and not to be buried in consecrated ground. This was there last resting place. They were known as Winchester Geese. Locals have adopted the cemetery now and it does have a strange atmosphere.

On the way to Southwark Street we passed the Boot and Flogger. It is the only place in the country allowed to sell wine without a licence. The boot and flogger refers to the method of corking a bottle. We will return and have a look inside at some stage. However we were heading to bigger things. The picture above is the main gates into the atrium of the Hop Exchange. Just like Corn Exchanges and Stock Exchanges there were hop exchanges, but I had never heard of them. As many hops were grown in Kent the south bank was an obvious place for it. During the week you can enter the atrium and see the galleries oif offices that we could only glimpse.

The whole building is impressive and well worth a look as it is just down from Borough Market. We visited the Sheaf pub that you can see here in the basement of the exchange and they had a good range of beers and the food was also reasonable.

I can remember visiting the Market years ago when it actually sold fruit and veg that wasn't organic or had been grown by a collective of out of work farmers or what ever. It is fantastic to see the variety of stuff available and even more fantastic to see the prices people are willing to pay for things. It was extremely busy but I have never been fond of walking along and eating myself.

Just past the Golden Hind replica, which isn't that much bigger than a wide beam canal boat, we came across Porter Street. Not a bad spot really as it is just behind the Globe theatre and is just down the road from where they have discovered the footings of the actual Globe Theatre rather than the reconstruction. 

The reason we had chosen this walk was that we had tickets to see 'Funny Girl' by a good friend for our wedding anniversary/Christmas/Birthday present. The theatre is the Menier Chocolate Factory. This is the building that was built as a chocolate factory around 1865. In fact you can still smell a faint whiff of oil and grease as you go in. It is a Grade II listed building and after being derelict from the 1980's it became the intimate 180 seat theatre in 2004. 'Funny Girl' was fantastic with the whole cast being very good indeed. As it is so small it feels like you are very involved. Sheridan Smith has been winning awards galore for her performance and it is easy to see why. We are lucky to get to see it as the tickets are sold out as are the tickets for the Savoy Theatre where it is transferring in April. I wasn't too surprised to see my friend sitting waiting for us along with his Mum and friend. It was great to share a meal with them afterwards before they headed home.

As we had been lucky all day in dodging the showers we decided to walk back to the hotel for some exercise. I managed to get this half decent shot of Tower Bridge and HMS Belfast from the middle of London Bridge. It wasn't long before we were back with a cup of tea and taking the weight off our feet.