Eye on London - Weird London

London from the inside Monday 9th January - Sunday 15th January 2017

“Only in London” is something we find that we say to ourselves a lot when we’re trotting about town. It’s normally accompanied by an eye roll or raised eyebrows but also with a feeling of intense affection. How brilliant to be able to experience things that you couldn’t have dreamed existed! One of the many reasons why we love this city.

SPOTIFY LONDON

Papa’s got a brand new bag and we’ve got a brand new Spotify account @officiallondoneye! We’ve  just created our second playlist for our love of London. We’ll be adding loads of great new playlists so be one of our first followers.

THE WEIRDEST SHOPS IN LONDON

Here’s six of our favourite strange shops in London...

Barn the Spoon - beautiful wooden spoons and spoon carving courses in Hackney

Duke of Uke - ukuleles for sale, lessons and live performances

Persepolis - for a taste of Persia in Peckham

Blade Rubber Stamps - absolutely everyone should have their own customised rubber stamp

The Viking Store - for all your viking needs, in the heart of Walthamstow (where else?)  

Get Stuffed - taxidermy at it’s finest (and most terrifying)

(ANYTHING BUT) BOG STANDARD LONDON

• London Loo Tours - choose from Water-loo or B-loo-msbury.
• These former underground public toilets in Crystal Palace were turned into an amazing subterranean one bedroom flat.
• There’s a surprising number of former lavs in London where one can enjoy a tipple or two including Ladies and Gents in Kentish Town, Bermondsey Arts Club, CellarDoor, Aldwych and WC in Clapham.

WEIRD TUBE

• All is not as it seems on the underground, for a start more than half of it runs above the ground!

• And if you look carefully at 23 and 24 Leinster Gardens in Bayswater you’ll see that these terrace houses have false facades that were built in the late 1860’s to hide some of the underground that surfaced.

• Lost property on the tube has included a samurai sword, a stuffed puffer fish, a human skull, and a coffin.

• There are several abandoned tube stations including Strand, Down Street, Brompton Road and Mark Lane (which is now an All Bar One.)

EYE ON… HAMMERSMITH AND FULHAM

There are 32 capsules on The Coca-Cola London Eye, representing the 32 London boroughs, so each week we explore a different London borough.

Hammersmith and Fulham is home to three top rival football clubs - Fulham, Chelsea and QPR. It’s sporting prowess doesn’t stop there as it’s also synonymous with rowing, tennis (home to the Queen’s Club) and rugby, as well as being the birthplace of boxers Frank Bruno and Joe Calzaghe. Here’s a few of the best things to do in the borough whether you want to go mainstream or a little weirder...

Best pub: White Horse, Parsons Green (alternative: The Distillers, Hammersmith)

Best gig venue: Eventim Apollo aka Hammersmith Apollo aka Hammersmith Odeon  (alternative: Bush Hall)

Best park: Bishop’s Park (alternative: the walled garden in Ravenscourt Park)

Best shopping: Westfield (alternative: Shepherds Bush Market)

Weirdest fact: Mohamed Al-Fayed had a life sized statue of Michael Jackson made, originally intended for Harrod’s, but when the new owners refused to have it there, it was placed outside Craven Cottage in 2011. The new Fulham chairman Shahid Khan had it removed in 2014 and it went to the National Football Museum in Manchester who are now presumably plotting how to get rid of it.

ON THIS DAY… January 11th 1973

The first ever Open University degrees were awarded to graduates after two years studying from home.

If you’re coming to visit us in January please bear in mind we’ll be shut for our annual maintenance from 9th-24th January (inclusive) but the River Cruise will still be open.

Like this? Want more? Have a look at the rest of our blog posts here.

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