Things to do in London when you're awake

[radiator]

Radiator's top things to do in London:

Food and Drink

You can blag lots of free samples of amazing foods (and maybe even buy something!) at Borough Market.

http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/

You can buy some exotic foreign sweets and chocolate at Cybercandy, Covent Garden - bit pricey, but good for gifts etc - who wouldn't want a green tea flavoured KitKat?

http://www.cybercandy.co.uk/aaasmt/

A picnic in St. James Park if the weather is good - you can get really nice sushi from The Japan Centre in nearby Picadilly Circus.

http://www.japancentre.com/

There's a really great pizza place called Franco Manca near Electric Avenue in Brixton - prices and food are amazing - think they're only open at lunchtime though. Bodeans in Soho is good if you like meat dishes (they even have meat in the beans), and at the other end of the scale Mildred's, also in Soho - great for veggie food.

http://francomanca.co.uk/
http://www.bodeansbbq.com/
http://www.mildreds.co.uk/

If you find yourself in East London, head over to Kingsland Road where you'll find lot's of great, rough and ready Vietnamese restaurants - spicy frog's legs and crispy noodles ftw. Also check out Rasa in nearby Stoke Newington if you fancy a curry with a difference.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl
http://www.rasarestaurants.com/UserPages/index.aspx

For pubs, you're kind of spoilt for choice, I tend to stick to any pub owned by the Samuel Smith's Brewery as they're cheap (by London standards at keast!) - mainly The Glasshouse Stores in Soho and The Chandos in Covent Garden, the latter of which has a usually-available darts board. I also quite like the rather touristy Cove in Covent Garden, as they serve good Cornish Pasties.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&source=hp&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=list+of+samuel+smith+pubs+london&fb=1&split=1&gl=uk&view=text&ei=wWeeSo-nCYaQsAa94c23AQ&sa=X&oi=local_group&ct=more-results&resnum=1

http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/20/2046/Cove/Covent_Garden

Stuff To Do

For books and comics shopping, Forbidden Planet in Shaftesbury Avenue is good, and you could always have a look in those two bookshops that are selling 2000ad trades for £2 each. One's in Chiswick, the other is more central - Euston Road. The details of which are in this thread:http://2000adonline.com/forum/index.php/topic,25632.msg444258.html#msg444258

http://forbiddenplanet.com/


The Hunterian Museum near Holborn is well worth a look if you want to see something a little different (and less busy!) - pretty macabre stuff but a very nicely maintained museum - best of all it's FREE.

http://www.londonnet.co.uk/museums/hunterianmuseum.html

The London Cartoon Gallery near Great Russell Street is well worth the £3ish entry if you're interested in comic art. Last time I was there they had some nice John Burns Dredd and Dante pages, along with loads of early Beano and Dandy strips and political cartoons etc.

http://www.culture24.org.uk/am15435

The Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green is mildly diverting, and more importantly, FREE.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/moc/

The art installation Seizure, near Elephant and Castle is worth a look, if it's still on that is - a derelict council flat coated on the inside with bright blue crystals - quite magical - and if you do what I did you can take one of the crystals home with you and tell everyone you have a piece of Turner prize nominated art on top of your telly. It's FREE entry, too!

http://www.londontown.com/LondonEvents/RogerHiorns-Seizure/411c8

Take the Docklands Light Railway (a pleasant experience in itself!) to get to Mudchute Farm - a nice day out, especially if you have children (or simpletons like me) with you. FREE entry, but I think you may need to book ahead.

http://www.mudchute.org/

[ThryllSeekyr]

Whats that I wonder?

Big art gallery (well, several, but two in London - Tate Britain and Tate Modern, both well worth the visit).

Oh, should have known. The Tate Art gallery rings a bell. It's one of primary locations featured on the Map of London in some game based on Dracula on Steam. I was playing the demo over a week ago.

[Proudhuff]

get yourselves down to the Observatory at Greenwich for a great planetarium show, we did the Black hole one and Minihuff still talks about it, looks like its showing Ice Worlds just now( wot no mention of Hoff?)

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/visit/planetarium-shows/

there is the rest of the Obsevratory buildings too which are fine for a stroll

Greenwich Park is great for a bit of green space too and there's a boat trip there and back or take the brilliant walking tunnel under the Thames to the Norff side and take the Megacity like Zoom, well the docklands light rail back into town.

If you make the whole day of it there, then there's the Martime Museum and lots of wee independent shops around Greenwich too as well as the Cutty Sark ( not sure what state thats in just now)

[vzzbux]

Don't forget to go back home. 






V

[Colin YNWA]

Surprised no one's mentioned the Natural History Museum yet. Its a fantastic and enlightening place. If anybody goes there I can't recommend enough looking at the building itself its a great bit of architecture and has some fantastic little surprises carved into the stone work.

The British Museum is also wonderful.

Last time my wife and I went down there we avoided the Tates as we always go there and explored a couple of other Galleries. The Hayward Gallery was fantastic and had an Anthony Gormley display which was quite superb. Not sure its still there but it was a great gallery anyway. Also the National Portrait Gallery which is excellent too.

[TordelBack]

Surprised no one's mentioned the Natural History Museum yet.

Other than Mikey and me, you mean?    Still, bears repeating, and you're spot on re: the details in the architecture.  Shades of the Monkey House in Button Man I!  Plus, fossilised Ankylosaur skin, what more could any sane person want?

[uncle fester]

Go and gawp at whatever loon is there that particular hour on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square. All part of One & Other ongoing art installation. Some are weird, some fun, and some you find yourself thinking "Why did you go up there at all?"

http://www.skyarts.co.uk/site/plinth/

[Colin YNWA]

Surprised no one's mentioned the Natural History Museum yet.

Other than Mikey and me, you mean?    Still, bears repeating, and you're spot on re: the details in the architecture.  Shades of the Monkey House in Button Man I!  Plus, fossilised Ankylosaur skin, what more could any sane person want?

Ha well yeah obivously I meant aside from you two...??? I wonder what new exciting bit of my brain decided to edit out any reference to what I was scanning posts for then... where's that other thread about us all being mutants I think I found my mutant power...

[Peter Wolf]

2 tips for eating out :

Sticky Fingers in Phillimore Gardens just off Kensington High St. I have been going there since 1992 and its always reliable if you like Burgers and that type of thing.


http://www.stickyfingers.co.uk/


Also for a cheap Italian go to Porchettas - Upper St Islington.Cheap delicious and often quite busy but its worth it.


http://www.laporchettapizzeria.co.uk/

[uncle fester]

Also for a cheap Italian go to Porchettas - Upper St Islington.Cheap delicious and often quite busy but its worth it.


http://www.laporchettapizzeria.co.uk/

Haven't been there in donkeys... Yes really good food.

Hmmm hungry now.. 

[Dandontdare]

Tate Britain is more of a must than Tate Modern, which can be saved for another visit.

Darn, I was going to say exactly that. Tate Britain showcases the best of British art up to 1900, and is just stunning. Tate Modern does have a few wonderful pieces, but it also has a lot of pretentious modern wank (yes Mr Rothko, Ms Emin, I'm looking at YOU) and hideous crowds most days. The big turbine hall is good, not sure what's in there currently.

My favourite London pub (though it's many years since I was there) is the Pillars of Hercules in Soho. Old, seedy and definitely not trendy.

[House of Usher]

I was very disappointed with the size of the gallery spaces when I visited Tate Modern after it first opened. It was impossible to get far enough back from some exhibits to see them properly, and Rodin's The Kiss was shoved in a corner on the landing beside the escalator.

There is some right old tat on display sometimes, but there's always something thought provoking or going to evoke an emotional response. There's a large copper box with an orange floor by an America sculptor. I love to see that on display, and I was pleased to see it in the new gallery after years of it presumably being stored.

I remember once complaining about the thematic hanging in Tate Britain. I'm pleased to say it has reverted back to displaying paintings chronologically and according to style and school. There's a satisfactory level of detail about it on wikipedia.

[I, Cosh]

It's a week I'm going for not a month!

Cheers for all the suggestions gents and a special mention to Radiator's compendium of links. The blue flats sound well worth a visit, with the British Museum and the Observatory very likely candidates too.

Now all I need to find is a Dutch bar where I can watch the Scotland match on Wednesday night...

[SuperSurfer]

The British Museum is without a doubt one of the finest places in the world, especially if you like your dry dusty affairs.

...and spectacular modern architecture in the central courtyard roof.

... and tons of stolen property, I should add.

[SuperSurfer]

You lot are making me feel like a terrible Londoner. I tend to only see much of the stuff you mention when we have visitors from abroad. But once we are in any other city abroad we rush around like lunatics to see every museum/gallery that exists.

I haven't been for many years, but way back I thoroughly enjoyed the Imperial War Museum. Interesting to see the personal belongings of soldiers in the trenches in WWI – their improvised body armour (lead plate on string), weapons (knuckle dusters) etc. Not sure if that is still on display, mind you. Might be an interesting time to go, what with the anniversary of declaring war on Germany in WWII. 
http://london.iwm.org.uk