Anne Ackermann
By Donald Strachan
On January 1, 2012, London entered its third Olympic year, the most talked-about year here for decades. Cameras, newspapers, TV stations, blogs, and social networks have their sights trained on the city like never before. If you haven't visited until now, then this could be the year to hop on that plane. If you have, then there's still plenty to discover, some of the best of it just out of sight from the regular tourist trail.
Photo Caption: The Brick Lane market in London, England.
It wasn't so long ago that London had virtually no local brewers left, but craft production by passionate, often young entrepreneurs has exploded in the last few years. The beer styles of choice have often been traditional British styles that had disappeared, yet were kept alive by the U.S. microbrew movement. You're best placed to track down these local flavors if you stay away from the after-work haunts that stuff the West End and Covent Garden. Just south of Tower Bridge, the Draft House, 206 Tower Bridge Rd. (tel. 020/7378-9995; www.drafthouse.co.uk), has a vast selection, including beers brewed by the Camden Town Brewery and Sambrook's, of Battersea. In Stoke Newington, the Jolly Butchers, 202 Stoke Newington High St. (www.jollybutchers.co.uk) has at least 7 draft ales on at any one time. Both pubs also serve good food at reasonable prices. The city's best bottled IPAs are brewed by The Kernel, a small outfit based in Southwark
The biggest opening of 2011 was the St. Pancras Renaissance London Hotel, Euston Road (tel. 020/7278-3888; www.marriott.co.uk); A Gilbert Scott-designed Gothic Revival building fronts London's most recognizable station
Tours around the city go way beyond the standard boat trips and open-top buses. Innovative walks include those run by social enterprise Unseen Tours (tel. 07514/266-774; www.sockmobevents.org.uk), joint winner of the 2011 Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards. They run 5 tours, led by homeless and former homeless city residents, and running around some of the lesser visited streets of Mayfair, Shoreditch, Covent Garden, Brick Lane, and London Bridge. They provide an unsurprisingly raw look at the city: The Shoreditch tour, for example, covers well-researched alternative history, some street art stops (including a "hidden" Banksy), and plenty of completely unrepeatable anecdotes. Tours operate on Friday at 7pm and weekends at 3pm, lasting 80 to 90 minutes, and cost £10. They are suited to adults only. Book online or just show up at the rendezvous points listed on the website.
Photo Caption: Banksy strikes in Shoreditch, east London.
Oh, no, that would be too easy. Long stretches of the London Underground (or
On January 1, 2012, London entered its third Olympic year, the most talked-about year here for decades. Cameras, newspapers, TV stations, blogs, and social networks have their sights trained on the city like never before. If you haven't visited until now, then this could be the year to hop on that plane. If you have, then there's still plenty to discover, some of the best of it just out of sight from the regular tourist trail.
Photo Caption: The Brick Lane market in London, England.
Photo Caption: Banksy strikes in Shoreditch, east London.