Urban Wanderings around London

During my various Psychogeography inspired urban wanders over the past months, I have inevitably amassed a fair number of individual pictures which I have not included in a coherent blog post, or series of posts. However, not wanting them to be left on the digital shelf, I have decided to combine a few into one or more blog posts. Some may follow a theme whereas others may be more random and follow a drift of their own. I can recall where some were taken, but others remain a bit of a mystery.

I do remember this first one though. We had spent pretty much all day wandering the streets and were most definitely flagging by the time we reached this café, somewhere near Clerkenwell. A comfy sofa, sustained by a flat white coffee and some cake, 30 minutes later we were ready to hit the streets once more.

Tap Coffee, London

I have walked past this sandwich bar near Kensington Olympia endless times, but only ever ventured in recently. Just over the wall is the railway line running south from Olympia station. Not only is it a great life café, but it also acted as a good wind up for one of my friends who works for Pepsi.

Frank's Sandwich Bar, Kensington Olympia, London

Frank's Sandwich Bar, Kensington Olympia, London

Making a nice segue from food to cars, here's a food van parked up during the University open day at Queen Mary's, East London.

Food van, Queen Mary's University, East London

A lovely old Morris Minor convertible, somewhere in Shoreditch if I recall rightly. Only just spotted the wonderfully distressed looking door in the background. Shame I didn't see that at the time as that would have made an interesting picture.

Morris Minor, Shoreditch, London

No distressed doors in this picture.

An MG near Shepherd's Bush, London

    

A couple of brief Urban Wanders in and around Kensington, London

Well, another few weeks of radio silence. No one specific reason, just lots going on. Rather than this blog post being on a specific topic, it’s going to ramble around a bit.

First up are a couple of pictures I took a few weeks back of one of the disused platforms at Kensington Olympia station. I have blogged about Kensington Olympia station before, and whilst it’s still quite busy for both passengers and freight, the motorail is long gone and the station would seem to be a shadow of its former self. However, this post paints a slightly different, more colourful picture. The southbound platform has now been relocated slightly to the west, over one of the former lines, but the old platform has been left standing and is now home to the Kensington Olympia Community Kitchen Garden.

Kensington Olympia Community Kitchen Garden, London

Kensington Olympia Community Kitchen Garden, London

These next two pictures were taken at varying stages of an evening out. The first is the bar of the Bombay Brasserie in Gloucester Road, where I caught up with a former colleague and had an excellent curry.

The bar at the Bombay Brasserie, Gloucester Road, London

The second is of a classic car in a streetlamp lit mews I spotted whilst wandering back.

Unidentified mews, somewhere in Kensington, London

And finally, for some reason this week I found myself wandering through Paddington station around 11am, and saw on the overhead announcement boards, a train going to West Ruislip, a destination which is more usually associated with the line out from Marylebone. I vaguely remembered reading something about this a while back, so a few minutes of internet research later proved that firstly my memory was not playing tricks on me, and this is in fact what’s known as a Parliamentary train, or ghost train. I did not have time to take any pictures but there's plenty of information here. Not quite a bucket list activity but I am curious to travel along the line between Old Oak Common and where it joins the main line from Marylebone.

Oh yes, and my mid-life crisis (aka obsession with finding all the vinyl I used to have as a teenager) is still in full swing. Recent (re)purchases include Coming Up For Air, by Penetration, Starry Eyes by The Records, and Ghetto, by The Wall, to name but a few.

I do need to find time to get back into some serious Psychogeography but that will need to wait for a while as next week is already beginning to look a bit manic.

;    

Ghost signs of the former William Whiteley's Depositories, Kensington Olympia, London

Not much time for commentary this week I'm afraid, but just about enough time to share these pictures of the signage on the former William Whiteley's Depository, which sits alongside the railway line heading south from Kensington Olympia station. It was a bit of a challenge to find a good angle, especially with the position of the sun, but hopefully these pictures show what once must have been a majestic sight, running around at least two sides of this mighty building.

ALL GOODS FULL INSURED STRONG ROOMS

William Whiteley's Depository, Kensington Olympia, London

WILLIAM WHITELEY'S FURNITURE

William Whiteley's Depository, Kensington Olympia, London

REMOVALS TO OR FROM ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD

William Whiteley's Depository, Kensington Olympia, London

REMOVALS TO OR FROM ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD

WILLIAM WHITELEY'S FURNITURE DEPOSITORIES

The railway line that can be seen here is the London Overground line and also the District line between Earl's Court and Kensington Olympia.

William Whiteley's Depository, Kensington Olympia, London

REMOVALS TO OR FROM ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD

William Whiteley's Depository, Kensington Olympia, London

FROM ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD

WILLIAM WHITELEY'S FURNITURE DEPOSITORIES

William Whiteley's Depository, Kensington Olympia, London

The final photo is of the side of the building adjacent to the A4.

WILLIAM WHITELEY'S DEPOSITORIES

William Whiteley's Depository, Kensington Olympia, London

More Urban Wandering in and around Holland Park, London

Having been inspired by my previous urban wander around the Holland Park area, I headed straight back there on the next available, sunny lunchtime, but this time with the intention of actually entering the park itself.

Archways in Holland Park, London W14

This next photo was taken looking down along the walkway where there are several murals painted by the artist Mao Wen Biao, depicting imaginary scenes from the garden parties held by the Earl of Ilchester here in the late 19th century.

Murals in Holland Park, London W14

The murals are in a semi-enclosed walkway. This is the view looking in from the outside.

Archways in Holland Park, London W14

The Orangery, Holland Park, London W14

I haven't stayed in many Youth Hostels in my life, but if I ever got the opportunity then this one would be high up on the list.

Youth Hostel, Holland Park, London W14

 Youth Hostel, Holland Park, London W14

Leaving Holland Park I wandered through Oakwood Court again, but this time through another side alley. Whereas before I had only seen staircases which went down from the top by 3 or 4 flights, these ones came right down to ground level.

Staircases in Oakwood Court, London W14

These next two photos taken on the walk back to the office are actually in Kensington Olympia as opposed to the Holland Park area, but they are of something I've been trying to get a half-decent view of for a while now, the former Kensington Olympia Motorail Depot, which is now a car park and can just be seen in the distance beyond the allotments. As a kid I remember going into Paddington station early in the morning and seeing the motorail there being loaded up and readied for the trip down to Cornwall. Such form of travel is now, perhaps sadly, a thing of the past, having finished some time in the 1980's. There's a short, British Pathe, promotional clip of the motorail from Kensington Olympia here.

Former Kensington Olympia Motorail Depot, London W14

Also, as I reseacrhed the motorail depot, I found that Kensington Olympia boasted considerably more platforms than I had previously assumed and that the flats near these allotments have been built on the former site of the eastern most platforms.

Former Kensington Olympia Motorail Depot, London W14

Three short Urban Wanders around Kensington and Hammersmith

Hot on the heels of my first Urban Wander of 2014 around Imperial Wharf this write-up combines three shorter, separate wanders around the Kensington and Hammersmith areas.

My first wander was around Kensington Olympia. This is an area I have wandered around many times, sometimes for the sole purpose of looking around, other times simply passing through en route to another place. However, it's one of those places that always seems to offer something new. The first few photos are of a mews just to the north of Kensington Olympia station.

Russell Gardens Mews, London W14

Russell Gardens Mews, London W14

Russell Gardens Mews, London W14

I've always liked the architecture of Olympia, and this view from the bridge over the railway lines at the station has to be one of the best. It's a bit of a shame about the advertising hoardings in the foreground but little I could do about that.

Kensington Olympia, London W14

The final photo from this part of the wander is of a disused platform at Kensington Olympia station. The station now only has one track running through the centre of the two main, platformed tracks, whereas I assume in the past that there were two tracks which ran between the platformed tracks. What seems to have happened is that the southbound platform has moved in towards the centre by a line, leaving what was the original southbound platform in a state of abandonment. Also, although unfortunately not part of this photo set, there is the old motorail terminal on the other side of the station which has now been converted into a car park.

Disused platform at Kensington Olympia station

Part two of my wander was along the river, early(ish) in the moning. I've been fascinated by this building for a while but only today did I manage to get a half-decent opportunity to photograph it. The building is the former Harrods Furniture Depository building which was used to store items that were too big for the Knightsbridge shop. Today it has been converted into residential use. The sign is still visible, so I'm counting this as a ghost sign as well.

Harrods Furniture Depository

 My third and final venture was another short lunchtime wander. Once again I found myself walking along some very familiar streets, but once again I stumbled across a small road that I'd not noticed before. The weather was near perfect and I was particularly pleased with the way the street lamp came out in the first photo.

Pembroke Walk, Kensington, London W8

Pembroke Walk, Kensington, London W8

Pembroke Walk, Kensington, London W8