A walk round the neighborhood

It has been more than a year, (B.C. in fact, or before covid) since I was last at the London flat.   It had become a   little dusty, (the flat, not London) but it was comforting to see  the  familiar paintings that adorn the place and furnish the rooms.

I took a walk round the neighbourhood, we are in Bayswater, quite near to Paddington Station, just to see how, or if, the area had been affected by the long lockdown.

I went first to the Westbourne Grove, specifically to the Italian deli, Prezzenolo ad Vitale, to  check if it had survived, and glory be, it was still there, trading away and busy as ever.   It’s a rather superior Italian deli, a Sicilian deli in fact,  with endless hams and sausages hanging from the rafters, shelves of olive oils, balsamic vinegars,  pasta, fresh Italian tomatoes, Italian wines and so many Italian cheeses that I’m sure you could spend a year of days just tasting.    And they also do a takeaway lasagne, which is to die for.    There’s a small café section, now with the addition of outside pavement tables, that serves Italian coffee.  I don’t use it myself as they insist on serving the coffee in small carboard cups rather than the nice little China or porcelain cups traditionally used in Italy.    If I had negotiated the Brexit deal, I would have insisted on a clause outlawing the serving of Italian coffee in cardboard cups (save for takeaways) and it must surely be close to treason to do so in Italy itself.

Nothing much else has changed on the Westbourne.   There was an attractive little luxury stationary store that didn’t make it through the lockdown.   And a furniture store has gone.  It now displays in its great glass windows nothing but exercise machines, lycra suits and trainers.   I pass it by on the other side of the road.

Next, on to the Queensway, and I see the launderette at the top of Queensway is still churning and spinning away.   It might be odd to identify a laundrette as a local landmark, but this one has been trading here since 1948, and was the very first coin operated laundrette in the whole of the UK!    Christine Keelor and Mandy Rice Davis lived a few doors down from the laundrette and would have washed their smalls in there!   Truly an important landmark.   

 

Sad to see that one of the Queensway’s charity shops has folded and gone, its shop now standing empty, I think it was a British Heart Foundation shop, and because of the area it attracted quite a lot of high-quality donations – most of the glassware in the flat came from there. 

  A few doors down a new shop has appeared, selling “Vintage and pre-loved designer clothes” It seems to be doing well.  I went inside to view its impressive stock and bought a Barbour raincoat in fabulous condition for £50!

The other side of this part of the Queensway was previously taken up by the very handsome frontage of the old Whitely centre.  At one time it was comparable with Selfridges and Harrods, and became a high prestige shopping mall.   

All that’s left of it now is the façade, tightly clamped between huge steel girders that run for some 150 yards or so.   All the interior has been demolished – gone are the stately staircases, gone are the marbled floors and the small independent shops, gone are the islands of ethnic food, the coffee shops, the restaurants and nail bars.   Gone too is the wonderful cinema with its massive red plush seats where you could order a glass of wine and a meal from a Michelin starred restaurant as you watched the movie.    All of it gone.    They are reconstructing the interior into luxury flats and apartments , I suspect, given the prices round here, that one of their penthouses will set you back  close to  £10 million.

I was pleased to see that the Patisserie Valerie was still going.  Bit surprised too for this chain of patisseries had been closing shops all over the UK, long before Covid hit.   Delighted too for they serve a wonderful eggs benedict in there.

Furter down the Queensway hosts dozens of restaurants, Chinese, Indian, Lebanese, Italian, Brazilian, Greek, Swedish, McDonalds, KFC, and a couple of long-established London pubs.     Most of them have survived and are still trading although the lack of tourists in London must be hurting.  Given the amount of Deliveroo bikes around then its obvious they have all developed a thriving takeaway trade.   Two of the Chinese restaurants specialise in duck, one of them claiming to be the best duck restaurant in London and the place where the Chinese community go to eat, so it must be good.   

I took a coffee break on a pavement table outside Pret a Manger and watched Queensway Londoners go by.    Traffic here is one way. Its all-delivery vehicles, black cabs, Deliveroo bikes   and very high end luxury vehicles, an abundance of Range Rovers, an open top Mercedes sports car, a couple of Porches, a Ferrari, jags and so on.   Perhaps they’re all going up to the Launderette?

Towards the bottom of Queensway there are two underground stations, Queensway on the Central line and Bayswater on the Circle and District line.  Beyond that it meets the Bayswater Road with  the northern railings of Hyde Park.   On Saturdays, if I turn right, I can walk to a farmers’ market and a the pleasures and rich smells of a dozen or so ethnic food trucks.    Farmers markets are supposed to be where local farms sell their produce to the townies.  I’m not sure the local areas, Knightsbridge, Mayfair, Chelsea, Kensington and Notting Hill have any farms.  

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On a Sunday if I turn left then you are in the middle of a colourful art exhibition, for countless artists display their works on the Hyde Park railings making it a lovely place to while away a lazy Sunday afternoon.

I go into Hyde Park and walk along the path that runs parallel to the Bayswater Road, in the direction of Marble Arch.   I take a bench and watch Hyde Park Londoners at their leisure.  There are skateboarders, joggers, people walking their dogs, dogs walking their people, roller skaters, escooters and bicycles. Lots of couples and loners just out for a walk, picnickers and sunbathers.    I notice that hemlines are very high this year.  Haven’t seen them this high since about 1972.   Not that I’m complaining, it’s just an observation.   Quite a lot of observation.

I exit Hyde Park, back on to the Bayswater road just near an ancient pub called the Swan which has a bit of a beer garden with benches and tables fronting onto the Bayswater road itself.   I stop here for a tall glass of ice cold Peroni.    There’s been a tavern here for centuries, it was once the final stop for prisoners en-route to be executed at Tyburn which is but a  mile further on, at Marble Arch.     Depending on who was in power then Catholics burned Protestant heretics at the stake at Tyburn or, Protestants burned Catholic heretics.     Later it was the site of many a public hanging by which the London mob was much entertained.   Dick Turpin the highway robber met his end at Tyburn.    It is claimed that the term “on the wagon” was invented here, said to refer to the prisoner who would have a last drink before being carted off to the gallows, on the wagon, never to drink again.   Of course, we are much more civilised now, no public executions although I thought I saw Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, sitting under a tree drinking a bloody Mary and making notes in a large black book!

After the Swan there is not that much to see and anyway this is the very edge of the neighbourhood, so I walk towards Marble Arch to catch a bus on the old Roman road now known as Edgeware Road, which will take me home.    I could walk,  it’s a good four miles to home, but it’s hot now, and I’m knackered.   From the bus stop I can see Marble Arch where they are busy constructing a huge green mountain, the interior of which will be used for events, the exterior a green play area.   To do so they have removed from the site the giant spectacular horse’s head that graced and grazed by the landmark.  They have moved it further down towards Mayfair.

  I am fortunate that from the Edgeware Road bus stop I can catch the number 7, bus, the number 23, 27 or 36, all of which will drop me off five minutes from the flat.    Time, I think,  for a cup of tea.