London 2018: Covent Gardens, Bank of England Pub

We went on a pair of London Walks tours called “Behind Closed Doors” and “Inside Covent Garden” which gave us a good overview of the points of interest around the area known as Covent Garden.  Both tours started in front of the Covent Garden tube station, which is one of the few stations in Central London that does not have escalators.  Access from street level to/from the tube platform is only by lift or stairs.  I found it interesting that even the payment gates in the tube station were used for advertising.  This is something we should consider in Toronto with our new Presto gates.  Our tour guide showed us a modern bridge that spans between two older buildings.  This is affectionately known as the “Bridge of Aspirations” since it leads from the Ballet Dance school to the Royal Opera House where the Royal Ballet Company performs.  We were taken through the alley leading to Rose Street where in 1679, poet John Dryden was roughed up by hooligans, supposedly hired by roguish John Wilmot, the Earl of Rochester.  The original Drury Lane Theatre Royal was built in 1663 with the blessing of King Charles II, who allowed live theatre to be performed again after decades of it being banned by the Puritans.  The King also allowed women to join the theatre and one of these actresses was Nell Gwyn, who became a favourite of Charles’ many mistresses, bearing him a son.  The strong-willed Nell obtained the title “Earl of Burford” for her son by dangling him out the window as a baby and threatening to drop him unless the King gave him a title.  The current theatre was built in 1812 and debuted four musicals by Rodger and Hammerstein.  Today, it is owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s company.  Drury Lane Theatre is said to be haunted by many ghosts including the “Man in Grey”, whose skeleton was found with a dagger in his chest.  Apparently the ghosts only come out for the good shows, so it was considered good luck when they are spotted.

Covent Garden was originally an Anglo Saxon settlement that was taken over by Benedictine monks in the 1200s.  The monks used the area for orchards and farm land, calling it “Convent Garden” which eventually became “Covent Garden”.  Henry VIII seized the land and bequeathed it to John Russell, the 1st Earl of Bedford in the mid 16th Century.  For many years the main square, known as Covent Garden Piazza, hosted large fruit, vegetable and flower markets housed in a neo-classical building created in 1830.  George Bernard Shaw overheard a cockney flower girl hawking her bouquets in the Piazza and this inspired him to write Pygmalion, which was the basis for the musical My Fair Lady.  In the 1970s, the markets moved to a new location that could better handle the traffic congestion, and the current location was rebuilt as a popular shopping, entertainment and tourist area, containing cafes, pubs, small shops, the Apple Market which features unique handmade crafts, and the Jubilee Market which sells souvenirs and bric-a-brac.  An inscription on a column indicates that the first Punch and Judy puppet show was performed in Covent Garden in 1662 and there is still a Punch and Judy pub in operation that was built in 1787.

St Paul’s Church (not to be confused by the opulent St. Paul’s Cathedral) is a modest church commissioned by Francis Russell, the 4th Earl of Bedford in 1631.  It was designed by acclaimed architect Inigo Jones who ran into a variety of issues.  To start with, Russell was running low on funds and asked Jones to create a simple church “not much better than a barn”, to which Jones declared that he would create the best barn ever!  Jones built a grand entrance facing the Piazza for the church including a portico consisting of a large pediment supported by multiple columns.  Unfortunately this entrance faced the East which religious tenets dictated was where the altar should reside.  Jones had to board up the original doors and move the entrance to the west side of the building, resulting in a plainer entry with just a pediment and no portico, that leads out into a pretty green space.  Personally I like the red bricked façade set in a park-like environment much more than the stark stone appearance of the original “grand entrance”.   A sculpture of St. Paul’s conversion to Christianity when struck by lightning on the road to Damascus sits on the grounds of St. Paul’s Church.  The life-size bronze was created by sculptor Bruce Denny and was dedicated by Dame Judy Dench.  Also on the grounds is a night watchman’s box, a remnant of a time when graveyards needed to be guarded against body snatchers.  To help prevent these thefts, bells would be tied to the dead, leading to the term “dead ringers”.

Nicknamed the “Actors’ Church”, St Paul’s Church has a strong affinity with the Theatre community.  Many famous people from the theatre industry are memorialized here including Vivien Leigh (Gone with the Wind), Noel Coward (playwright), Charlie Chaplin (Little Tramp), Laurence Harvey (Manchurian Candidate), Peter O’Toole ( Lawrence of Arabia), Margaret Rutherford (Miss Marple) and Jay Lerner (Lyricist – My Fair Lady).  A very special memorial was created for leading Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry, who was cremated and whose ashes are kept in a silver box in the right wall of the chancel.  Our tour guide suggested that the box looked like a biscuit tin, which she thought was appropriate since the actress was known to love her biscuits.

The last stop of the first tour was at the Royal Courts of Justice, built in 1870 in Victorian Gothic style so that it looks more like a cathedral than a court house.  It is home to the High Court and the Court of Appeals.  The Central Criminal Court (known as the Old Bailey) is less than a kilometre to the East of the Royal Courts of Justice.  The full, long wigs worn by judges led to the term “bigwig”, while solicitors bringing in court papers in boxes tied with red ribbon led to the phrase “red tape”.  Photos are strictly prohibited inside the building, but when you walk through the front doors and straight through to the back of the grand hallway, you will find an intentionally unfinished column that cuts off half way before reaching the ground.  Architect George Edmund Street meant for this to illustrate that “Perfection is only for God”.  Directly across from the Royal Courts sits a tiny little building dwarfed on both sides by much larger buildings.  Open since 1717, this is the Twinings Tea Shop and Museum, which has a loose leaf tea bar, tea bags and loose leaf tea for sale and a small display detailing the history of tea.  The Classical-styled entrance includes a pediment with a statue of a golden lion, and two figures of Chinese men, referring to the Orient as the origin of tea.  I was interested in trying the little packets that made “Cold Water Infused Ice Tea” in various flavours including Watermelon/Strawberry/Mint, and Blueberry/Apple/Blackcurrent.  Unfortunately, although each package was just 50 pence, the minimum amount you could buy was 7.5 pounds worth, which was more than I wanted to spend on something I wasn’t sure if I would like.

On the second tour, we were taken into a pair of prestigious restaurants including Rules Restaurant, which is considered the oldest eatery in London.  Open in 1798 by Thomas Rules as an oyster bar and restaurant serving traditional British cuisine such as pot pies and puddings, Rules specializes in game meat, as is evident by all the antlers and stuffed birds on the walls.  It even owns Lartington Estate in Teesdale, County Durham which supplies fresh game for the restaurant.  The walls and alcoves are also decorated an eclectic collection of busts, bronzes, pictures, prints, sketches, oil paintings, caricatures, as well as theatre playbills and other memorabilia, some dating back to the 1870s.  One striking corner displays a large caricature of Margaret Thatcher.

Rules restaurant has hosted many famous guests including actors Laurence Olivier, Charlie Chaplin, Ava Gardner, Clark Gable, and Buster Keaton, and writers Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, H.G. Wells, and Graham Greene.  Greene even has a private dining room named after him on the upper (first) floor, as does Sir John Betjeman who led a protest that saved the restaurant from being demolished.  Also upstairs is a private cocktail bar where we were shown the favourite table occupied by Bertie, the Prince of Wales and his mistress, British socialite and actress Lily Langtry, who was known as the Jersey Lily.  Beside the table is a secret door that the prince and his consort used for discrete access to the bar.  The TV show Downton Abbey as well as the James Bond movie Spectre have used Rules Restaurant as a setting.

Simpson’s-in-the-Strand opened as a smoking room, originally called the Grand Cigar Divan in 1828, before becoming a coffee house and then a distinguished restaurant known for its English meals, specializing in roast meats.  In 1848, owner Samuel Reiss joined forces with caterer John Simpson, and the restaurant was renamed to Simpson’s Grand Divan Tavern.  During the 19th Century, it also came to be known as the most important venue for chess matches in Britain.  Chess matches were played between coffee shops.  Many important chess tournaments were played here, including the “Immortal Game” played in 1851 where the victor deliberately sacrificed both rooks, a bishop and his queen in order to checkmate his opponent with his three remaining minor pieces.  It was accepted practice to ask for a chess board after dinner.  While chess is no longer the focus of restaurant, its past importance is still prevalent in the décor, including the chess pieces motif and topiary in the front façade, the green and beige chess board pattern in the front lobby, large chess piece sculptures scattered throughout the building, chess patterns on the dishes, and one of the original chess boards found in the Bishop’s Room.

Simpson introduced the concept of wheeling large slabs of meat on silver dinner trolleys to each table and carving them in front of guests – a custom still practiced today, as noted by the silver-domed trolley sitting in the corner.  A silver press is used on the carcass of a roast duck to squeeze out the fat before serving.  Upstairs on the first floor is a beautiful Art Deco cocktail area where the bar is decorated with the same beige and green chessboard pattern as the floor in the lobby.  We were also shown a private sitting room that continues with the chess motifs with sculptures and pictures of chess pieces.  Wanting to emphasize the “British-ness” of the establishment, the word menu was replaced with the term “Bill of Fare”.  Noted names such as Winston Churchill and Arthur Conan Doyle dined here, and it was also used in the filming of Downton Abbey, as well as being referenced in the movie “Guns of Navarone”.

Following our second guided tour, we visited a couple of areas around Covent Garden while en route to our planned lunch spot.  The first was Cecil Court, a pedestrian-only street with interesting and quirky shops decorated with Victorian-styled store-fronts.  Dating back to the 17th Century, the thoroughfare is the street where Mozart lived temporarily as a child in 1764, and was also known as “Flicker Alley” between 1897-1915 when it became the heart of the early British Film Industry, associated with some of the most important film makers and distributors of early cinema.  Today, it is known to book-lovers as home to nearly 20 antiquarian and second-hand independent bookshops including ones specializing in first editions and early prints, collectible children’s books, rare maps and atlases and theatre memorabilia.  We came specifically to visit the store called “Alice Through the Looking Glass” which carries Alice in Wonderland books, memorabilia and gifts, but unfortunately it was closed when we arrived so we had to settle for looking through the window (our version of “through the looking glass”?).  Luckily there were other stores to browse including Marchpane, selling rare children’s illustrated books spanning from the 18th Century to current day.  It also has on display two models of the Dalek, a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the Dr. Who science fiction TV series.

In addition to the many book shops, there are also gift shops, art galleries, antique shops, shops specializing in antique silver, military memorabilia, coins, maps, photo framing, model cars and soldiers and jewellery.  I spent some time admiring the Art Deco jewelry in the window of the store Christopher St. James, where some gorgeous pieces were on display including broaches, necklaces, pins and tiaras.

Seven Dials is a circular junction in Covent Garden where 7 roads converge like spokes on a wheel.  Located in the centre of the circle is a column with 6 (not 7) sundials facing in each direction, since when the pillar was constructed in 1690, only 6 roads were originally planned.  As the sun hits each of the dials, the shadow formed indicates the time.  In the 19th and 20th centuries, the area was a notorious slum referenced in books by both Charles Dickens (Sketches by Boz) and Agatha Christie (The Seven Dials Mystery).  During that time, the tip of each of the seven spokes closest to the monument each housed a pub, with their cellars and vaults connected in the basement. Today, Seven Dials is a prosperous commercial district with shops, pubs, the Cambridge theatre and the 4-star Radisson Blu Edwardian Hotel along the spokes.

Choosing one of spokes to follow, we went exploring and found a specialty chocolate and cake store called ChoccyWoccyDooDah that had the most elaborately designed and decorated cakes on display.  There was one that looked like Carmen Miranda with her fruit-based wardrobe, a monkey sitting on bananas, a cheekily morbid wedding cake featuring roses, skulls and the words “Til Death Do Us Part”, a mermaid surrounded by seashells and a clock sitting on top of a bed of roses.  There was even a cake shaped in the form of Harry and Meghan in preparation for the Royal Wedding.  We passed by just as the servers came out with trays, offering sample pieces of chocolate cake and truffles, which we happily accepted.  Walking just a bit further, we found the Rock & Sole Plaice (pun intended) that claimed to be London’s oldest fish and chips establishment with traditional fish prepared using a 145-year-old recipe.  Even though we were headed for lunch at the Olde Bank of England Pub, we could not resist getting one piece of deliciously battered haddock to share, which we devoured while standing on the street corner across from the restaurant.

Residing in the former Law Courts branch of the Bank of England on Fleet Street, the Olde Bank of England Pub has been beautifully renovated and restored to its former opulent glory.  Rich ordered the Posh Stargazy pie consisting of salmon and prawns baked in a parsley cream sauce with bacon and quail eggs, which came with mash potato, vegetable and gravy.  I had the Tea and Hop Smoked Haddock and Salmon Fish Cakes.  While our meals were fine, we were really there to enjoy the magnificent ambience.  When the Bank of England occupied the building from 1888 to 1975, the vaults underneath what is now the pub were said to contain gold bullion and the Crown Jewels.  The fictional barbershop of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Mrs Lovett’s pie shop are described as being near this building.