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We were up bright and early this morning to catch the 8:14 train into Paddington. The plan was to grab breakfast at Paddington and then head down the Waterloo. As the weather was on our side, we decided to walk and see some of the sights of London before watching the stage play, Fawlty Towers.
The direct trains take 45 mins to reach Paddington with only 2 stops. Not many people travelling at that time so we were able to get table seats.
Paddington is still undergoing major renovations at the moment with various areas cordoned off. The Elizabeth Line work seems complete although trains are not yet running straight to Canary Wharf from Reading. The main focus of the work now was at the other side of the station – by platforms 12-14.
The entrance to the Bakerloo Line will relocate shortly as part of the revamp around the entrance into the Station from Praed Street. By taking the Bakerloo passengers away from the current underground hub it will make it easier for everyone. The old entrance has been transformed. From what was a grotty drop-off point for taxis, it will extend the restaurant offering at the station. There’s a few restaurants up and running already (Gail’s and Wahaca) with no doubt more to come when the building work complete. It’s also meant to offer roof top dining – be interesting to see the view!
Breakfast calling and we discovered The Elizabeth Line work has displaced McDonald’s in the station … it’s now outside of the station complex … and is takeout only (no seats). Perhaps just a temporary arrangement whilst building work is ongoing. We managed to find some outdoor seats outside the station.
The Bakerloo line down to Waterloo was a little warm and not very busy. It takes about 20 minutes to reach Waterloo. Again, a lot of building work undertaken here both inside and outside the station. The area was being transformed but the good news was that is was very easy to walk across to Southbank. We walked through Jubilee Gardens and up to the London Eye.
From here, we walked past County Hall getting great views of the Houses of Parliament and a very sparkly Big Ben. Having been hidden from public view for the last five years, the renovations were now complete and it’s looking good.
We walked under Westminster Bridge to get more views of the Houses of Parliament. It’s here that we saw the National COVID Memorial Wall. Very eye-catching, incredibly moving and went on as far as the eye could see.
We then headed over Westminster Bridge and wound our way across to Whitehall. Whitehall is synonymous with Remembrance Sunday Parade with the focus very much being on the Cenotaph. A few other memorials and statues of the war legends along here … including Monty.
At the very end of Whitehall is Trafalgar Square. We skirted around the edge to head to St Martins in the Field. From earlier trips, we knew there was a cafe in the church courtyard at the back and were going to have a pit stop. Alas, it was closed for a private function so we continued to Covent Garden. Everywhere we walked past with outside seating was already full, making the most of a lovely sunny morning. We were quite surprised that when we reached Covent Garden Market that the Punch and Judy pub had seating free downstairs – it’s usually really busy. Two bottles of Coke Zero, a draught lemonade and £14.50 later, we were seated outside!
Lunch was now beckoning and we worked our way across to Shaftesbury Avenue. On our way there, we stumbled across the Seven Dials Market and had time to have a wander inside to see what it was all about. What a fab place! It had been converted to an eating hall with a wide variety of street food stalls and seating on the lower levels. The Pick and Cheese looked fab – a bit like Yo Suhsi! but with cheese on the plates going around the conveyor belt!! If we hadn’t already booked somewhere for lunch, we would have eaten here. Another time for sure!
Lunch was at Brewdog on Shaftesbury Avenue – it was right opposite the Palace Theatre showing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
Callum was pleased they served wings whilst Jon and I went for the Buttermilk Chicken Burgers. It was the first time we’d eaten here but the food was really good and really tasty. Crispy fries and crispy chicken!
We’d introduced Callum to Fawlty Towers six or seven years ago and he loved it. When they announced that the series was coming to the stage, we knew we had to get tickets … a post A-Level treat for Callum.
We wandered down Shaftesbury Avenue to the Apollo Theatre. When I had booked tickets there wasn’t a huge number of seats left. I had booked Row W in the stalls which had a great view of the stage but the leg room was non-existent. I had the aisle seat so could stick one leg into the aisle, but you know it’s really tight when Jon and Callum were struggling with leg room.
The set looked exactly like the TV series. Reception, front door, stairs and dining room. Upstairs was the room with the sea view!!
At the interval, we headed to the bar to grab a drink … never seen anything like it. The bar area was quite large but they were queuing for the toilets, queuing for the bar (long queues!) and am sure there was another queue for the sake of it! We headed back and settled for an ice cream each.
We all really enjoyed the play – nothing new or unexpected as it was straight from the TV onto the stage. The focus were the episodes with the Hotel Inspectors, The Germans and Basil the Rat. The actors were fantastic and had the mannerisms of the lead characters down to perfection. Sybill’s laugh, the catch-phrases and Basil and Manuel actions and speeches perfectly. Paul Nicholas (Just Good Friends) played the Major and was really good. It was only 1 hour 50 minutes all in (just a well as our legs were starting to seize up!).
Afterwards, we headed across to Piccadilly Circus and back on the Bakerloo Line to Paddington. We had timed it perfectly and made it back in time to catch the 17:05 direct train to Thatcham by 5 mins or so.
