A very pleasant day yesterday (Wednesday).
A Wetherspoons themed trip on the Elizabeth Lline – hang on – or was it an Elizabeth Line themed Wetherspoons pub crawl?
Met one chum at Waterloo, second chum at Paddington. On to the pretty purple Elizabeth Line to Canary Wharf. Coffee at Canary Wharf, no alcohol. The Ledger Building. Viewed the roof garden in the station. Hmm.
Back to Whitechapel, into the Blind Beggar – the Kray’s pub. No, it’s not a ‘spoons. I enquired of the barman what was the question most frequently asked? ‘Where is the bullet hole?’, he said. He then proceeded to give us a ten minute guide. The bullet hole is in a little picture frame on the wall! This is of course, where one of the Krays murdered Frank Cornell(?)
Back to Liverpool Street. The ‘spoons pub Hamilton Hall is in part of the station buildings. A lovely building with a fantastic decorated ceiling.
To Faringdon for lunch. The Sir John Oldcastle. Gourmet steak, with chips (or jacket potato, or salad), tomato, peas, mushrooms, onion rings and a pint of Doom Bar for £14.15. Perfect. Then to Tottenham Court Road to get the Underground to Waterloo and home. An enjoyable day. Some good banter.
The stations are huge, the platforms seem to stretch for miles. We got off the train at Liverpool Street and came out the nearest exit. We had walked to Moorgate station! We could either walk all through the tunnels - or along the roads - but we caught the Underground one stop back to Liverpool Street station.
Many of the stations have their decor themed to the trade or profession of the area. Liverpool Street is in pin stripe mode to match the pin stripe suits of the City gents. Another station has diamonds as its theme, because it's near Hatton Garden.
Last edited by: Duncan on Fri 8 Jul 22 at 19:06
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>> This is of
>> course, where one of the Krays murdered Frank Cornell(?)
>>
>>
Ronnie Kray, shot John Cornell at point blank range. At more than ten yards he couldn't have hit a barn door from the inside, both Krays having no mechanical skills. Both were said to be lethal drivers, scaring the crap out of their passengers.
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Reggie Kray died in Norwich just down the road from me in the honeymoon suite of a cheap hotel after being released from Norwich prison on compassionate grounds.
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>>
>> Reggie Kray died in Norwich just down the road from me in the honeymoon suite
>> of a cheap hotel after being released from Norwich prison on compassionate grounds.
>
That was the official reason given, but it was believed by many to be because the prison service would have had to pick up the tab for his treatment if he was kept inside and they dumped him to put the cost on the NHS instead.
"Mad" Frankie Fraser used to run bus trips for tourists to the Blind Beggar and other Kray haunts to earn a living in his latter days.
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An urban myth I believe. Reggie Kray was a dying man when he was discharged and would have receive only palliative care
All prison healthcare services are commissioned (or paid for) by NHS England so there would be no saving.
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Fri 8 Jul 22 at 21:59
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A lot of my ole stomping ground there Duncan.
The Blind Beggar was at one time owned by Bobby Moore, you would rarely find him there, but you would often find 'Arry Rednapp propped up against the bar. we had a raucous family P*** up in there one night cos my old grandad (who did at times "enforce" for the Krays) was in the opposite Whitechapel Hospital.
Liverpool Street I remember from the old days where my father was a Steam loco driver, a dark blackened subterranean place it was back then, he and his fireman would cross the road to Dirty Dicks to consume several post (sometimes pre) shift pints. We would meet him there post shift and go the grandparents pile at Canning Town (local train to Stratford, Low level train to Custom House
In many later years I would get to know the area again when I was contracting at Meryl Lynch in Ropemaker street. Liverpool street was a vastly different place then. My abiding memory of it was two fold. It had a milk machine that dispensed chocolate milk in wax cartons, and it was connected to Broadgate station where we caught a north london line train to Richmond on Thames where he bought a second hand Ford Consol 375
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While in London last week I also took a peek at the Elizabeth Line.
Less extensive than Duncan's. Entered the Underground at Holborn and took the Central Line to Tottenham Court Road. Finding the platforms there was not east; needs more work doing I think. Signage to the lifts for those with limited mobility seemed more prominent than that to the escalator route.
The scale of the tunnels, platforms, access passages etc is epic. The 9 car Class 345 trains are similarly impressive. Around 200 metres in length and with a capacity of 1500. Seating is a mix of abreast and longitudinal with ample space for standing. From any carriage one can see the length of the train - the corridors between coaches are near to full width.
Travelled just the one stop to Farringdon and then up a massive escalator to the old 'Widened Lines' platforms and a quick scoot on London's other 'new' railway - the much updated Thameslink. The 12 car class 700 trains have the same full width corridors as on the Elizabeth line but more longitudinal seating.
Went through as far as St Pancras noting that the old Kings Cross Midland City platforms, disused for many years are still prominently in place and marked with warnings not to alight.
Walked up to Euston and took the Class 350/1 back to Northampton.
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The Elizabeth Line - Robin O'Reliant
