London Living

I first visited Little Bay about 8 years ago and it made little impression. I returned in January 2007 and have been recommending it ever since. If booking in advance, ask to be seated in one of the upper bays. The back part of the building is converted into several bays, which act as dining areas. The upstairs bays are reached by their own individual stairs leading to the eating booths. The booths are furnished in an Indian or Moroccan style, draped with coloured materials. The tables are historical maps of the area giving you something to talk about whilst waiting. The service is good and the food amazingly priced. They offer a lunch menu and dinner menu, most evening meals are £6.50, expect the specials. The menu is not excessively long but there is enough choice to suite everyone.

On my visit we had starters including a parsons pastry, garlic mushrooms, pate, and mussels. For my main I had red snapper, a perfect sized portion. They have a website where you can view their menu and they offer a range of specials. On Mondays and Wednesday they have Opera night and there an be live music on other nights. The restaurant would make a perfect romantic venue but is also good for groups. There are a number of locations across London so if you are in central London you can visit one of their other locations. I was incredibly impressed by the restaurant, the excellent value for money and its over all ambience.

Despite living and working in London I had never taken a trip on the London Eye before, that all changed in Christmas 2006. My boyfriend’s mum had received free tickets for the London Eye and Thames river cruise, which she gave to us. We got priority queuing but to be honest the queues weren’t that bad. This might have been because of the time of year (30/12/06). We took the river cruise first. The cruise was excellent; we sat outside, which was freezing, but worth it for the views. The intricate history of the buildings, bridges and areas of London received on the boat trip is incredible.

I live in London and thought I knew the buildings and history quite well, but details such as the type of birds on Blackfriars bridge being different on each side due to whether they are facing towards or away from the sea, made me realise how little I know. The trip takes about 40 minutes, and you get a free drink, we got mulled wine but I presume it changes with the season. I would definitely recommend the trip, especially if you don’t plan to get a guide for the eye, this will give you a perspective of which buildings are which and the history of them. After finished the cruise we headed to the queue for the eye. We queued for about 35 minutes, which didn’t seem to bad. The views are spectacular but we didn’t get a guide and I think it would be worthwhile doing as there were questions I wanted to ask about some buildings. I would take another trip on the eye as I would love to see across London at night, its beautiful just from the train so I can imagine that at night the views are spectacular.

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is off Fleet Street towards St. Paul's Catherdral. It is a traditional pub with several different levels all offering something different. There is sawdust on the floors and it has dark ambient wood throughout. The drinks are cheap—it's part of the Samual Smiths pubs which offer cheap, non brand name drinks. Choose from an array of beers and ales, including wheat beer and my favourite, fruit beer. They serve bar food but the menu's quite small and it's definitely not their speciality—stick to the drinks. There is a restaurant upstairs but I've never been in. There are a range of bars, those downstairs are in the wine cellars—mind your head on the way down and up. If you're going to give it a try, go on a weekday, as this part of the city shuts down on weekends so it's much better in the week. It can get really busy and the upstairs rooms are sometimes closed for private functions. If you are looking for some traditional drinking at good prices, definitely try this out; I've taken all my friends and everyone loves it.

Ben Crouch’s Tavern is touted as a goth pub. It’s not. It is not full of goths, doesn’t play goth music, and generally just is not goth. It is however a good theme pub. It has doors that creek when you go to the loo; plates with spiders on them; bottles that bubble round the bar; and TVs with old, spooky movies on. The food is good; I had the nachos, which are a massive portion and cost about £6. The drinks aren’t too expensive considering how central this place is (off Oxford street, the little street next to HMV). It has plenty of comfy seats and booths. It gets busy on Saturdays and is popular with the after work crowd in the area. It’s worth checking out for something a bit different. The crowd is no different from any other pub, so don’t go there expecting people dressed in head to toe black with white faces—you’ll be sorely disappointed.