End of the affair with Blogger

It was a relationship not destined to last, This City Life has had a great time with Blogger but after a few weeks it has become clear that it isn't enough and it’s time to move on and commit to something more meaningful.

Blogger offered everything needed to get this blog off the ground, a lovely template, an easy to use dashboard and some great Google Analytic statistics. However, it doesn’t have the features needed in the long term, like a professional design or good mobile and iPad access.

WordPress was always there but in This City Life's early stages it looked like it might be too complicated, too much too soon.  The experience of Blogger has helped get over this fear and it’s time to get more serious and move on to something with better features and a future.

So This City Life will continue under its new home:

 http://thiscitylifelondon.wordpress.com

You’ll find all of the posts to date and there will be lots of new features and posts to look forward to! 

Thank you to everyone reading so far!

Snow day Sunday in the park

Snow is my second most favourite weekend weather, it will never beat those rare hot summer’s days, but it has the power to transform a city into a winter wonderland and make most of us Brits smile. 

Primrose Hill

As this weekend was the first snowfall of the winter I was pretty excited to get out for a nice long stroll.  One of the great things about London is its parks, for such a big city there are a surprising number of green spaces within easy reach.  I decided to venture out to Primrose Hill which is quite small park, well known for its view of the city and wealthy local residents. It was certainly a hot spot for sledges today and I was pretty tempted to ask someone for a go, but being on my own I thought better than releasing the inner child.

Regent's canal

I continued my stroll in the nearby Regent’s Park which I found much more enjoyable, peaceful and picturesque. One tip, DO NOT wear wellies for a long snowy walk, after a few hours I started to lose the feeling in my toes.

If you do want to stop for a hot drink and thaw out I would recommend Cachao Toy Cafe, quite cosy, nice food and always seems to attract a well-known face. 

For more photos visit my Flickr page, I got pretty camera happy thanks to yesterday’s visit to the Wildlife Photographer of the year exhibition!

Wildlife Photographer of the Year at the Natural History Museum

I’m fascinated by the skill of wildlife photographers and the lengths they go to capture spectacular moments in the wild.  I was gripped by the BBC’s Frozen Planet series and so I couldn’t miss visiting the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum.

Similarly to Frozen Planet, the exhibition shows that skill and determination is definitely required to capture wildlife on the ground, underwater, in arctic conditions and the hot African plains.  The photos I liked the most varied from simply featuring my favourite animals, to being worthy of display in my imaginary warehouse apartment, to capturing a moment perfectly and, dare I say it, for being pretty cute (Tiny warm-up is a prime example).

Here are my top five photos:

·        Stack of suitors – Marcel Gubern (favourite animal)

·        Crane perfection – Stefano Unterthiner (display worthy)

·        Snow kings - Ole Jørgen Liodden (favourite animal)

·        Taking flight – Paul Goldstein (amazing moment)

·        Family tree – Paul Goldstein (amazing

       moment/cute)

The interactive kiosks were a clever way of encouraging comment and picking your favourites, but I can’t help think that a QR code and a less clunky online process would have been even better.

The exhibition closes on 11 March so get in quick and book tickets in advance.  The Natural History Museum attracts queues at the weekend but tickets provide queue jump (making the £9 even more worthwhile!).

If you’ve seen the exhibition already I’d be intrigued to know your favourite photos, so please comment below!

City eats: St Pancras Renaissance Hotel

The St Pancras Renaissance Hotel is one of those rare places which gracefully meets expectations.  I love places with history, character and an air of romance and, as a 19^th century building brought back to life after 26 years of neglect, I was not disappointed. 

For more pictures visit the hotel website gallery

Lunch in the Booking Office Restaurant provides a great opportunity to take in the building’s gothic architecture without paying the 5 star hotel bill.  Its former life as a ticket office is left open to inspection as the tables sit beneath high ceilings and the bar curves carefully around the old ticket counters.  Whilst your mind could wander about the possibility of getting on the Eurostar to Paris, you might get a bit distracted by the chill of sitting in such a large lofty room especially if it's below 10 degrees outside like it is at the moment. The food was good though and all six of us enjoyed our meals, being a fairly British menu it was perfect for a bitter winter afternoon.  For £25 per person, I thought it was pretty good value for money for the location and surroundings, although the service was a little slow for a week day lunchtime.

From Herry Lawford at Flickr

As we made a passing visit to The Gilbert Scott bar for a coffee, you definitely get a sense of the buildings restoration and atmosphere.  It would be a great option if you wanted an excuse to nose around or just a nice place to sit for a while.

I’d like to hope that my next visit will be for an overnight stay in the hotel, or a drink before setting off to Paris on a lovely weekend. We’ll see what 2012 brings...

The St Pancras Renaissance Hotel website and The Observer review provide further insights if you're intrigued to know more.

Happy Chinese New Year from London

As a multi-cultural capital city, London celebrates most of the world’s great events, some of them brilliantly, some of them not so brilliantly.  I think Chinese New Year might be one of those which didn’t leave a great first impression but may be worth a second chance.

I've not written it off completely as I think we learnt a lesson in the need for more careful planning today.  Arriving after the parade from Chinatown and leaving before the fireworks in Trafalgar Square (blaming today’s arctic temperatures) might not have helped see the day’s highlights.

What we did manage was a seeing a dancing Chinese dragon, London Mayor Boris Johnson painting the dragon's eye, and a visit to Chinatown. I’m afraid the rest of the day involved hot chocolate, tea and cake, which were definitely enjoyed but not exactly planned. 

If you made a visit and there were some highlights worth visiting, please let me know.  There’s always next year!

Cocktail Hour at the London Cocktail Club

What better way to celebrate the last Friday of January and the end of pre-payday blues with a cocktail hour?  Our venue of choice, The London Cocktail Club, has a name which said there was no messing that cocktails would be their specialty.

from raymondblanc.com

There are two in town, the original on Goodge Street and the newly opened New Oxford Street.  Being a fan of trying out new things and a good rum cocktail, the “tattoo inspired British Navy Rum bar” on New Oxford Street was an easy choice.  You’ll actually find it on Shaftesbury Avenue and from the entrance you could mistake it for a basement tattoo parlour (fitting for the concept of course). 

The staff were friendly and welcoming, the bar is lively with classic tunes reminiscent of our university days.  As I hoped and expected the cocktail list was fairly extensive and not too complicated you couldn’t make a choice and worry about getting a strange concoction.  Between the four of us we tried a good few!  My favourite, the Mai Thai, is classic with a flame (the modern day cocktail umbrella), the Cup Tail with cream frosting was an interesting concoction. 

After a few cocktails the music is infectious and you definitely get into the atmosphere.  It’s a great second bar for a Friday night where you’re looking for a fun time with your friends. 

I might just have to try the original LCC for a few more well mixed cocktails...

Swing dancing and cocktails at The Candlelight Club.

The 1920s is in fashion, from this year’s spring/summer catwalks, to the much anticipated film adaptation of The Great Gatsby.  The Candlelight Club is the perfect place to relive the sophistication and glamour that’s got everyone hot under the collar. 

This clandestine pop-up cocktail bar opens up one weekend a month in a secret London location, revealed to ticket holders a few days before.  I believe it’s the same venue each time but in the spirit of the Prohibition era I’m not going to tell you...

They maintain this era’s spirit as you step through a small wooden door and around the corner a seemingly hidden candlelit room awaits.  The cocktail menu has a theme (ours resolution busting), offering six to choose from, at a reasonable £7 each.  If you’re not a cocktail fan, wine, beer and spirits are also available.  The atmosphere is set off nicely by a swing band and the glamorous outfits worn by everyone
in sight. 

If you’re intrigued about what we wore, my dress is by Rise and my sister’s is by ASOS Premium.  The accessories are by Beau Flutterby which we were really impressed with.  I’d recommend looking at their ebay store if you like feminine accessories or need something for a wedding.  They do bespoke items like my sister’s headband too.

This night is for anyone who likes a bit of glamour and the experience of another era.  Get in quick for tickets though as they sell out over a month in advance. 

For a few more pictures, visit my flickr page.

Sweet tooth satisfaction at The Tea Rooms

I have a confession... I've lived in Finsbury Park for a year and I've never paid a visit to our close neighbour Stoke Newington.

I knew it was a crime when I was looking for a nearby cafe to visit to satisfy my sweet tooth and coffee cravings and came across The Tea Rooms on Stoke Newington Church Street. I was intrigued by their website which has a vintage feel that’s right up my street and when I arrived it didn't disappoint.

It's a traditional tea room with that shabby chic modern twist. The vintage china is different on every table and a selection is even available to purchase, along with other baking tools and books. They do a variety of cakes (and savouries if sugar's not your thing) all of which looked pretty tempting. They also offer afternoon tea if you fancy a more intense sugar high. I went for the carrot cake and a cappuccino which went down well, especially after my hard work at the gym!

It's a great place for meeting up with friends, treating your girlfriend or just a nice spot to enjoy a good read for a while. There are a few independent little shops nearby so there's enough to make a visit into an afternoon wander. And if you're feeling guilty of indulgence you can walk off your sugary sins at the nearby Clissold Park.

I think there'll definitely be a return visit!

Cocktail hour at Aqua Spirit

Back in the 1920s the cocktail hour was just “an interval before an evening meal”, in my opinion, there’s always an hour for cocktails.  So I’m on a quest to find the best cocktails London has to offer this year through a series of ‘cocktail hours’ sampling cocktails and their surroundings.



Rose & Li

The first cocktail hour was spent at Aqua Spirit on Argyll Street.  It’s a well trodden street just off Oxford Street but the entrance could easily go unnoticed.  The bar itself is at the top of what used to be a department store, it's dimly lit, quite sophisticated and has a city buzz of mixed city/tourist types.  The one unfortunate thing is that the city views seem to be reserved for the diners of Aqua’s dining concepts.

The cocktail menu is quite short, which is handy if you’re quite indecisive like me, or you don’t have much time on your hands.  They average at about £10 each which is fairly standard for central London.  We chose the Karrabas and Japanese Velvet, the first tasted more interesting but both were a decent cocktail portion.  As a treat we followed with Rose & Li champagne cocktails which went down well!

It would be a great place for some post shopping cocktail treats, a post work date if you’re looking to impress (or fancy the dim lighting) or just a post work gossip/celebration/commiseration with a friend.   

For more information visit the website (chosing London and Aqua Spirit) or the View London review.

If you have a recommendation for the series, get in touch! The more original the location the better, but where there’s a good cocktail I’m willing to try it out.

Portraits of interest?

The National Portrait Gallery has been high on my list of places to visit in London for a while.  I’ll admit that I’m not highly cultured so I’m afraid you won’t find an artist’s critique here.  However, I am interested in the history of the world and how creative talent has captured moments, cultures and people over time, so here’s my view of why it’s worth paying a visit.

The gallery is part of the iconic building which sits on Trafalgar Square and also houses The National Gallery, apart from some of the exhibitions it’s free to enter.  The main attraction for me was the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition which showcases the Prize’s entries and winners.  It has rated well in reviews, been recommended personally and as someone more interested in photographs than paintings it got my attention.  At just £2 to enter I think it’s worth finding the change and having a look (and soon
as it closes on 12 February 2012).

The opening portrait of the exhibition, English footballer Peter Crouch, was a surprise as he’s not the first person to come to mind as an artist’s subject but it’s quite an impressive image.  Overall it’s a fascinating exhibition as it seems to bring together so many ages, ethnicities and cultures into one room.  My favourite portrait ‘Erika E born in 1910’ is an honest image of a 100 year old lady, still healthy and very glamorous, I wouldn’t mind looking like this on my 100^th birthday!  If you’ve seen this exhibition or plan to see it before it closes I’d be interested to hear what your favourite portrait was so please comment below.

As for the rest of the gallery, it is definitely an interesting timeline of portraits from the Tudors to the modern day, mixing paintings, photography and artefacts.  I spent more time looking around the contemporary portraits on the ground floor as they’re more relatable to me but it’s worth taking a look round the rest of the gallery, particularly if you’re in London to get a taste of British history, but also if you want to see how capturing people’s portraits has changed over time.

For more information and a summary of what’s on offer now and in the next few months check out the Gallery’s website.

There’ll be more reviews over the next few weeks so for more of my insights follow the site or twitter feed @This_City_Life.

New Year, New Blog

Happy New Year! 2012 is here which means a fresh 366 days to achieve new goals, experience new things and explore new places. 

City life provides plenty of opportunity for new experiences but despite having lived in London for two years I still find there’s lots I’d like to do and see. 

So I’ve decided to set up this blog to encourage myself and others to get out there and find the things which make living this city life so much fun (and worth paying the high rent for!).  I’ll mainly be blogging about things to do and see in London but I’ll throw in the odd hotspot from my hometown Birmingham for good measure.

Here’s what I hope to find: 

• Great places for good coffee and cakes.
• Restaurants to suit every occasion and craving.
• Bars to satisfy every thirst.
• Interesting museum exhibitions, art galleries and general sites to see.
• New experiences.

If you’re living in London, like to visit or are simply interested in city life follow this blog! You can do this either by the site or by twitter @This_City_Life.

Feel free to get in touch if you have any recommendations or you run an independent business offering something I may be interested in.  I’m here to give an honest view of city life so please bear this in mind.