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Doing London things you've never done

Puddy_Tat said:
to add to my list...

i've also not done the shard or battersea power station

i have done bankside power station (tat modern) because someone i was having a day out with wanted to. i did have an unseemly fit of laughter at some of the stuff in there, but the cafe + view was quite good.

i've also not been up the monument and not sure i'd be up to that many stairs now. i did go up the tower at the salvation army place at denmark hill a couple of years back over open house weekend, and fortunately there was somewhere i could stop for a rest half way up. and the weather was shit



think i've done most of the stuff at greenwich (cutty sark might have been a day out from primary school but greenwich park was a pretty cheap day out when i was little, as it was not far on the 75 bus to the blackheath end.)



i think you need some sort of permit to do that.



keep a watch on the 'community' thread - there's been a bit more activity this year
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I've been outside the Shard but not in it , seen Battersea Power Station but not in it . I have been up the Monument (it was exhausting 🤣) I've seen the Cutty Sark but never went on it , same with HMS Belfast .
 
Problem is a lot of the touristy stuff tends to cost money, in some cases quite a lot of it.
So while I've done plenty of free stuff in London, there is a lot of stuff that I've not been to!
 
I haven't seen the Harrison H4 sea watch because it's on display at the Royal Observatory, not the Science Museum as I had been led to believe.

e2a: Turns out it's not even on display. Now I'm very glad I didn't queue up for ages to get into the Royal Observatory.
 
Never been in the non-free areas of Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s or any other religious building, even when showing it to visiting family and friends.

Never been to the old Tate or the National Portrait Gallery. Not because I object to them or don’t like art, mind. Just it somehow hasn’t happened in my 29 years here.

Also never been to Madame Tussaud or the London Zoo, though those were deliberately by choice.
 
i've been to london zoo (again, not entirely my choice - was with others who wanted to go) and also chessington when it was just a zoo (can't remember much about it or why we went - may have been some sort of other event as well)
 
Have done most of these but not Buckingham Palace and wouldn't go to Mme Tussauds again if you paid me (went when I was about 15 on a family day trip to London).

OK. Did anyone ever go to The Dome when it was The Dome, rather than the O2?

I did and it was crap.
 
oryx said:
Have done most of these but not Buckingham Palace and wouldn't go to Mme Tussauds again if you paid me (went when I was about 15 on a family day trip to London).

OK. Did anyone ever go to The Dome when it was The Dome, rather than the O2?

I did and it was crap.
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Yes, and it was crap.
So much done on the cheap.
Summed up the state of the nation rather well, we thought.
 
Only recently been to Number One London ( the Duke of Wellington’s house and the Wellington Arch ( would recommend both). Same few days also went to Fortnum and Masons for the first time. Was actually quite cool. Would recommend, especially if you want a posh(ish) picnic that would probably cost less than fast food.

Never been to that Islamic centre signed from the south Ken museum underpass. Despite the museums being my favourite places (The Ismaili Centre, anyone been?)

Never been in the Golden Hind despite walking past it many times and loving historic ships.

Never been to Buck House and have no intention of doing so. Other than that covered most of the tourist things.

I’ve written this before: As kid on the tube but just outside London (Croxley) with Ken’s free tickets I had to pay 5p or 10p for an all day ticket. They were marked ‘not valid at Upminster’ so one day I went to stick it to the man. It was shit.
 
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spitfire said:
Fuck Madame Tussauds from a great height.
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I have been to Madame Tussaud’s once. About 25 years ago,I was walking past and there was a fire escape open. I was pissed so I went in. I tried undressing Steven seagal (I think it was him,I just wanted to see how anatomically correct they were, I was very very drunk ) whilst some Japanese tourists took photos of me.
Before I staggered out and was taking a piss in a car park when security caught up with me. They took one look at me and told me to never ever come back.
As if I’m gonna come back and pay money for it.
 
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Oh yeah, did St Pauls twice, once as a punter with my mum and once when a friend of mine was going in to do some maintenance on an artwork and we were in there after hours for quite a while.

Never been to Westminster Abbey but will one day.

Our ToL trip was good, it was in the first break of lockdowns so no tourists, hardly any people at all. Also Tower Hamlets residents get in for £1 so double winner.
 
In the pre covid times every year I took students to London. I have, therefore, been to most of the big sites. I have, nonetheless, never been inside the British museum. By the time I got there I usually had had enough of them and used to go to a nearby pub instead.
 
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I don't think I have ever done the touristy stuff in london on purpose. I used to walk past buckingham palace on my way to work, and I accidentally got on the london eye when it first went up.
When I used to write history programs for TV I got to visit a few touristy things for free, but even going around without any other punters around I found most of them pretty dull. . . however I usually got to see extra stuff that most people don't and those bits were by far more interesting. For instance, the tower bridge exhibition is insanely boring, but I had an absolute blast checking out the engines and standing in the counter weight chambers as the bridge was raised. I also got to operate the bridge myself, though that was only pressing a button.
I wish we had had photos and video on our phones back then.
Monument too. There is a more interesting stuff a bit further up (behind a locked door and up a very rickety wooden ladder) where you can get right into the gold thing on top, and also below the monument where hook and wren used to conduct experiments. The rest is just a load of stairs.
 
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maomao said:
Never been on the Woolwich ferry or in the Woolwich foot tunnel. Only standard river crossings that I've never done (up to Richmond anyway).
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I love the Woolwich ferry, you get a great view of the Thames Barrier and the river itself is beautiful from most angles! And it's free! Don't go at the weekend though, it only runs Monday to Friday.
Went through the tunnel once and I don't recall much about it other than it being a bit scary by myself, and trying to make it through as quickly as possible.
 
dessiato said:
In the pre covid times every year I took students to London. I have, therefore, been to most of the big sites. I have, nonetheless, never been insidevtge British museum. By the time I got there I usually had had enough of them and used to go to a nearby pub instead.
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There are some great pubs around the BM. The Bloomsbury Tavern, and The Lamb are among my favourite boozers.

Bloomsbury is a seriously underated part of town, imo.
 
Sadly, there is nothing on peoples posts above that I haven't done apart from going up The Monument, Eating Jellied eels or pie n mash. I am always looking for odd
must do's that I have never done.
Adding to posts I have never been to the Sherlock Holmes Museum or Whitewebbs Museum.
The rarer things I have done Inc. going up The Post Office Tower as was and I have walked around London, twice London LOOP
 
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