Having trouble with your New Year resolutions already? Reluctant to climb back on the wagon?
Help is at hand in the shape of a compromise:
Gin in the morning*, tea in the afternoon.
This Saturday 5th January at 10:45a.m we’ll be rubbernecking at the 18th Century horrors of gin with Adam** on the Hidden West End – Gin City, Slum of Slums, The Seven Deadly Dials walk (Tottenham Court Road, Exit 3).
And then in the afternoon, pop along the Central Line to join Kim at 2.30p.m for a nice cuppa on the Tea & Coffee Walk Cupful of History – Cheers! (Liverpool Street, Bishopsgate exit).
Over to Kim for a few words: “On my Tea & Coffee Walk, we see the old warehouses for the East India Company, the site of London's first coffee house, a dock designed for tea clippers and meet characters such as Samuel Pepys, Henry Tate and Queen Catherine of Braganza.”
And here’s Adam: “Make sure to ‘fold down the corner of the pages’ on this Hidden West End walk, to return later – for some of the best kept retail secrets in London. Hidden in plain sight in WC2, the unique boutiques tucked between Covent Garden and Oxford Street are, in their own way, every bit as exotic and unforgettable as the tales to be found on the walk itself.”
Hidden West End: Gin City, Slum of Slums the Seven Deadly Dials at 10:45a.m Saturday 5th January 2013, meet at Tottenham Court Road Station (exit 3). Credit/debit card booking is also available on this walk. Click HERE to book and pay.
Tea & Coffee Walk Cupful of History – Cheers! Meets at Liverpool Street station, Bishopsgate exit) at 2.30p.m on Saturday 5th January 2013.
(* Really, though: don’t try this at home, kids.)
(** Again, no gin bottles will be harmed in the making of this walk. At least not by the guide. You London Walkers can, of course, do as you pleasy.)
P.S. If you want solids instead of liquids, go and see Ann on her Foodie Walk at 10.45a.m meeting at Embankment tube at 10:45a.m. Read more about that one HERE.
Adam Adam, journalist, author and musician, spends much of his time endeavouring to live up to his countryman J.M. Barrie's famous remark: "There are few more impressive sights in the world than a Scotsman on the make." He writes on everything from theater to cocktails to travel and is the editor of The Daily Constitutional.
Kim Kim, who has worked in the House of Commons and the European Parliament, is another 24-carat Blue Badge Guide: she won the London Tourist Board's Guide of the Year award in 2001.
A London Walk costs £9 – £7 concession. To join a London Walk, simply meet your guide at the designated tube station at the appointed time. Details of all London Walks can be found at www.walks.com.
