The Wonderful Best Western Premier Shaftesbury Piccadilly

The Best Western Premier Shaftesbury Piccadilly Hotel is ideally located in one of London’s best locations, in the heart of the West End, Piccadilly Circus.

The hotel is on the Shaftesbury Avenue just a short walk from a number of famous Theatres. Some of these include The Noël Coward Theatre (Million Dollar Quartet – seven minute walk), The Ambassadors Theatre (Stomp – five minute walk), Lyric Theatre (Thriller Live – two minute walk), London’s Prince Edward Theatre (Jersey Boys – two minute walk).

Also a stone throw away guests will find some of London’s best shopping areas, entertainment and tourist attractions. Covent Garden, Oxford Circus, Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square are all close by.

The property itself has 67 well appointed rooms, Fitness Room exclusive for guest use, Complimentary Broadband Internet access in all rooms & Public Areas, Restaurant & Bar, 24 hrs Concierge service, Business & conference services and much much more!

So why not pay the Best Western Premier Shaftesbury Piccadilly a visit?!

I was, I am, & I will be, a London artist

Last year I stood on the 4th Traflalgar Square plinth, courtesy of the living-art installation via the legendary Antony Gormley. I stood in the summer rain for 6 hours reciting poetry of the late ‘n great Wilfred Owen. As the rain beat down on the attentive crowd listening to my crazy missives, I suddenly thought, brilliant, its finally official, the world (or to be more precise, 60 or so individuals either unemployed, on their lunch break, or much worse…tourists), has acknowledged my artistry, finally I can change my job title to artist, it only took 36 years.

As the crane took me down, and I went shuffling off down Pall Mall back to work, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of emptiness, just now I was an artist with the worlds (or 60 people’s) attention at my feet, and now, I have returned to the fold, to the rat race, to the masses, never to return to those giddy heights of ‘artist’…….

Until now dear reader! Yes! Once again, london will once more open its fair sharing weighty hand, and say, ‘come marty pants, step up into the concrete cradle of caring’. What am I talking about? come come London, you already know. But, just in case you don’t…. Planning permission has recently been granted for a hotel on Balderton St (in Mayfair) to be built. Nothing unusual there I hear you say? Well true, except, this particular hotel will have a huge stone statue of a man crouching/ thinking, and this statue is the facade of one of the hotel’s suites – hence, you can book and stay inside Gormley’s next gift to the old smoke, and be an organic part of london’s newest piece of living art.

I’ve already made provision in the old bank account to be one of the first inside the ‘thinking man’ (it opens in 2012), I am already hugely inspired and have already got 100 ideas about what I’ll be doing when we’re in it (Mrs Pants also joining me of course, she was inspired over the weekend by an article in the sunday times about a woman who paints with her errr body parts – maybe she couldn’t find a paint brush).

Have a good people, think creatively, and oh, danno (of dc) can you please spell-check, and pay considerable attention to wandering (brackets.

Too much to do in London!

No one can truly say they know London well. To know London completely is impossible. London changes faster than pigeons descending into the fountains of Trafalgar Square. Home to inhabitants for over 2,000 years now, London has grown from the protective circle of the Tower to a sprawling metropolis, the ideal platform for constant illustrious activity.

Where there is history there are always tales to tell. Tourists are naturally drawn to the regular tourist attractions, yet it is the true travellers that seek deeper to find the gems of a 2,000 year-old town. It only takes a very small amount of investigating to find something more rewarding, more interesting, more inspiring in London, than the London Dungeons (although it must be said — is a damn good laugh if you can bear the hour long queues!).

For instance, not even a minute’s walk from the London Dungeons is the Hay’s Galleria. This gem is for some totally bizarre reason hidden from all guidebooks and tourist information — no doubt to preserve its lack of thousands of tourists, which would make it a less exclusive haven. Please go there! It’s a beautiful indoor/outdoor menagerie of a few select shops, with a vast concourse of cafes, market stalls, bands, and of course, it overlooks a beautiful part of the Thames.

Turn right from Hays Galleria and you find yourself in a Thames-side walkway next to the newest buildings in town. The architecture is phenomenal, and these buildings are still so new that you can imagine that the cellophane has just been freshly peeled off all the windows. You must visit the Mayor of London’s building (it’s the one shaped like a golf ball), go to the top and marvel at the mind-boggling roundness of it all — plus of course see the spectacular views of the HMS Belfast, Tower Bridge and the Tower of London.

Continue strolling, and you are literally underneath Tower Bridge. Keep walking again and you are now in Shad Thames, a true delight of traffic-free, cobbled streets full of people, giving you a precise feeling of how the London streets felt hundreds of years ago. It is as if these streets have been restored from long ago, thus delivering to the traveller a wonderfully rich blend of old and new all in the same place. Circle around Shad Thames, past the ever-changing Design Museum, and find yourself in Butlers Wharf, a charming quay-side collection of bars and restaurants all overlooking the Thames opposite the equally picturesque St. Katherine’s Dock. Butlers Wharf is the ultimate in romantic settings.

Hays Galleria to Butlers Wharf is one walk of quite possibly hundreds to choose from, in fact, that’s a whole day right there! There are equal delights even if you turned left out of Hay’s Galleria, especially the Clink Street Prison Museum, Vinopolis (Wine Museum), Borough Market, Southwark Cathedral, I could go on…

Great streets, great walks, great museums (forget the big-ones — go to the Children’s museum in Bethnal Green for a real treat). It is frustrating to think that the bulk of visitors to London wind up staying in some of the least interesting areas. Paddington and Bayswater are both great areas, being so close to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens (now home to the finally-completed Princess Diana shrine). Kensington and Earls Court have their highlights too, but there is more to London than the tried and tested tourist routes.

I recently stayed in a five star hotel in the middle of the city on the weekend for less than one hundred pounds a night, and was amazed at exactly how completely empty the city of London was. I was in heaven! There I was in the middle of one of the oldest cities around, and I had it all to myself! City hotels are notorious for being completely empty on weekends, hence the great rates. I am sure tourists pay over the hundred pounds per night threshold to stay in ‘trendy’ Kensington etal, when they could easily stay next to Tower Bridge, St. Paul’s, Millennium Bridge etc, for much less.

Needless to say that the City of London (the financial centre) is absolutely coloured with history, everywhere you go there are buildings proclaiming their 16th century origins, and they are in abundance.

I was recently taken to what is supposedly one of the oldest London pubs in existence called Ye Old Mitre which is located at 1 Ely Court, off Ely Place. This pub is not only hidden from the guidebooks and the common information sources, it is also hidden from the public! I had to be taken there, as I would never have been able to find it unless accompanied. This pub is hidden from the world. It is sandwiched between two narrow streets and therefore completely obscured from any main thoroughfare. It’s address would indicate access from Ely Place when in fact you get to it through a very discreet allyway between numbers 9-10 Hatton Gardens. It has its own courtyard and as you stand supping a pint outside, it is as if you are in Victorian London. Look down the misty streets and it is easy to conjure up an old bobby on the beat blowing his whistle, or Jack the Ripper lurking in the shadows. Oh — and there’s a 150 year old tree growing through the building, to add to the oddity of the pub.

Hampstead is another great area waiting to be discovered. Covered in green spaces, Hampstead (North London) is perfect for the idyllic setting combined with the close proximity to the big-smoke. Steeped in its own folklore, Hampstead was home to Dick Turpin (apparently he was born at the Spaniard’s Inn — hugely popular and famous pub on the Heath) of which his ghost still roams Kenwood house, and the surrounding woodlands. The high streets of Hampstead, Belsize Park, and the immaculately kept Primrose Hill are possibly the last untouched-by-commercialism streets in London (no Starbucks here!). If you want breath-taking views of the city, historical sites detailing the ‘first entry point into London,’ combined with al-fresco dining, and an altogether more relaxed atmosphere, Hampstead is the place, and less than 15 minutes on the tube to the city centre! Now do you see why it seems frustrating that tourists stay in less desirable areas when they could stay in an altogether more inspiring location, just as close to all the major attractions?

Of course, Hampstead is one of London’s many beauty spots, yet the city is not all about beauty. As with any home to approximately 10 million people, varied activity is rife. London events cannot help but affect all, every Londoner has an opinion on the congestion zone,  in fact on any topic you care to mention. Start a conversation with any London black-cab driver — typically famous for their outspoken views, and you will find yourself immediately thrown into the debate of the day.

So, when visiting London do not even attempt to see it all — you cannot.

In a city where already this year a Roman road has been uncovered a mile below ground level dating back to 1 AD, and where Paddington workers uncovered Brunel’s first iron-bridge (one they didn’t even know existed) — London is forever creating wonders on a regular basis

Say Hello to the Corinthia Hotel London….

A colleague recently called me an aficionado of London hotels, am not sure this is really true, although I did recently have to increase my autograph fee up to £10. Ok, I jest of course, the same person also reminded me that I have been to almost all the hotels in london. Soooo maybe that is something, so it was actually with great pride that myself and Miss Saskia had the opportunity to go on a hard-hat tour of the Corinthia Hotel in London.

For those not yet in the know, the Corinthia Hotels group have many beautiful & luxurious hotels across Europe, and now towards the end of the year, they are to open their grand London hotel, and not just any hotel either….. Wayyyy back in the 1885 standing proudly between the Thames Embankment & Trafalgar Square was the Metropole Hotel, skip forward to both world wars where it was commandeered as a government building, then just two years ago it was purchased by Corinthia hotels, who have once again restored this absolutely majestical building back to a hotel once more.

£300m spent on refurbishment, and with 300 rooms, the Corinthia hotel London is not going to be just any hotel, and with rooms beginning at 330sq feet per room, a spa that provides 23 treatment rooms, suites giving incredible views of the london skyline, a grand ballroom, & an atrium, this hotel looks set to be one of the most exciting new additions in a long long while. 

We had a hugely entertaining show-round, we were taken to the 7^th floor to take a peak of the stunning London views that the suites will provide, and shown some show rooms that simply ooze comfort and are adorned with absolutely breathtaking pieces – wait until you see the mirrors – Miss Saskia’s particular favourite piece. The original coving, pillars, staircases, skirting are all still present from when the hotel was originally built, which can only contribute to the graceful ballroom & of course the remainder of the hotel once it has been completed later this year.

The enviable location (the Thames Embankment one end, Trafalgar Square the other, and of course Downing Street & Royal Horseguards Parade at the end of Whitehall Place), coupled with a hotel to rival the already established famed 5 star hotels, is sure to shake up the opinions and hotel favourites of even the most acclaimed aficionados of London Hotels!

We heartily look forward to the opening of the Corinthia Hotel in London later this year, and if our glimpse yesterday was anything to base it on, we are sure that in a very quick space of time this hotel will be mentioned in the same sentences as the rival hotels of that similar grand stature.