Tag: Churchill Arms

Churchill Arms at Christmas

More London Christmas lights

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Have you soon my last post on London’s Christmas lights? Check it out here.  There are so many great lights cheering us up that I thought a second post was called for.

My favourite is the Tate Britain, not the most obvious place to look for festive lights but they do have some previous successes in the form of festive slugs a few years ago!  This year’s display is a brilliant use of lights and packs in so many ideas.  The building looks great day and night and is really popular with people travelling just to see it – if they can while we are under the current regulations.

The display by Chila Kumani Singh Burman called Remembering a Brave New World  celebrates a range of cultures in swirling colour and neon light and is a message of hope at this difficult time. Can you spot the Hindu mythology, Bollywood imagery as well as British traditions?  This is a Diwali celebration, the festival of light and its message fits well with Christmas.   I loved the tiger and the ice cream van!

Tate Britain Tate Britain

Tate Britain Xmas Tate Britain Xmas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St Pancras station always brings us a dramatic and elegant tree and this year is no exception.  This pink beauty from EL&N is made up of thousands of ribbons with messages of hope from  NHS and key workers.  In the background you can see Tracey Emin’s ‘I want my time with you’ in purple neon.

Christmas tree in St Pancras

The Churchill Arms on Kensington Church Street is a riot of lights and they must take the prize for the most festive pub in London.  Sadly closed at the moment but still giving us joy.

Some lights manage to be impressive in daylight (see the Tate Britain above) and these reindeer, fox, bird combination by the Thames does just that.  In a great position with Tower Bridge in the background, they brightened a dull day in London.

Mayfair put up its usual elegant and dramatic crowns.

Xmas in Mayfair

Covent Garden’s mistletoe and disco baubles cheered up a visit during lockdown where everything was shut but the lights gave us hope that things would get better.

Xmas in Covent Garden

Hamley’s famous and huge toy store went all Harry Potter on us with this traditional Christmas window.

Christmas lights in London

I’ve saved the best for last.  In a side street near RIchmond park this nativity was made with such love and thanks to all the NHS and care workers .  Congratulations to this family for this great celebration of the Christmas spirit!

Nativity

I send festive wishes to you all and all the very best for 2021.

Sue

The big freeze…

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London is usually not too cold in winter and the last few year’s we’ve been spoilt with mild albeit often grey months. Then came the end of 2009 and the start of 2010 and we’ve had snow, freezing weather and ice, ice, ice! Central London, where I live, is always warmer so it’s not been too bad but further out there have been several inches of snow and very slippy pavements. Given that us Brits love to talk about the weather in normal times, this has taken over all conversation! So, as a picture tells a thousands words, here are a few photos of Notting Hill in the snow:

I’ve not stayed indoors too much and have 2 interesting art visits to report on. The Ed Ruscha exhibition at the Hayward Gallery on the South Bank was a great exploration of the use of language and graphics. The show reviews his 50 years of painting and with a few short paragraphs of background to guide us through we really enjoyed the wit and visual inspiration. One of my favourite was the word faith written large in a typeface invented and used by the Vatican for catholic texts, simple but evocative.
Our second visit was to an installation in the Tate Modern to see Miraslaw Balka’s big black box. It’s a huge metal and girder structure which fills one end of the massive turbine hall. As you walk in it’s a bit like walking into the lowered ramp of a space ship and as you enter further all the light disappears, you grab the hand of the person with you, sticking the other hand out in front of you and proceed very slowly into the deep, deep black. Eventually you reach a soft velvety wall and you’ve made it to the end. Turning round you see that there is in fact plenty of light behind you and you can easily see where you are! It’s a brilliant way of experiencing a journey into darkness and the unknown. Sadly it’s references are to 20th century Polish history of the Holocaust and Ghettos not spaceships.
Bars and restaurants still needed visiting and my new favourite bar is downstairs at Hix in Soho. Hix is a owned and run by the chef Mark Hix who has the very successful Hix Oyster and Chop House in the City and his original venue in Dorset. It was the bar we were after however and it was great fun, admittedly probably not as busy as on a non snow evening (there I go again about the weather!). It was cool, comfy and a good range of people and although you have to buy some food due to something about a licence, the home made parsnip crisps were a revelation!
One other evening out was to a local pub. I’m always being asked about good pubs and they are hard to find so I am very happy to recommend The Churchill Arms in Kensington. It’s big but cosy, full but not crammed, has loads of decorations but looks fun not silly, has good cheap Thai food and was the first British pub to offer Thai food to its, no doubt, surprised punters!. It’s also very famous for it’s massive hanging baskets so watch out for a photo of that coming soon.
Bye for now.
Sue