Walk: A Nosey Around Soho

Today, I booked with Walks, Talks and Treasure Hunts again for A Nosey Around Soho. In association with London Guided Walks as usual, a £3 discount for using the code MEETUP3, which at least covers the booking fee. Thought Hazel herself was running this one - when I read closer, I discovered it was someone with the famous name of Stephen King! Not that one.. I suspect she doesn't do any more personal guiding. Assuming I wasn't a couple of minutes late, and missed it. Well, I hope she doesn't spam me, like did for so long after the last one, with constant ads for her podcast and requests for reviews! Of course, if you go on her site, there seems to be no way to leave a review.. AND I see she advertises these on TAC now, with a £3 cash charge on the day to the guide - still, this would be the cheaper option. (and ACLUB also gets you a £3 discount on the full price..)

I discovered I could walk from my new place, how lovely! (And note the innovative cafe I passed en route, pictured above..) Arrived in good time: was one of the first to arrive, in fact. A couple of people were giving him a £3 payment, but said they'd actually been told the walk had been cancelled, then had been rung back and told that was a mistake! Lordy. Anyway, with one person outstanding, off we went. Would you believe it though, our stray sheep joined us about 10 minutes later! Kudos to her for finding us.

Well, we'd been promised some rain - I think I felt one drop. It was actually lovely for most of the day, really sunny from early afternoon, and hot with it. Hard to know what to dress for.. Anyway, in short, as I discussed with another attendee - for all the walks I've been on in and around Soho (and there've been a few!), I don't think I've ever been on a more informative one! Yes, there were some things I already knew.. but plenty I didn't, as he focused a lot on Soho's industrial past. For example, the following photo shows the symbol of the Mercers Guild..

Ooh, and the following picture shows the door through which the Cambridge Theatre loads its large sets!

Did you know that the house on each corner of Seven Dials used to be a pub? Only one left now, but their cellars are all still connected!

With political upheaval in France in 1870-1, a lot of French people settled here:

and despite the title of the walk, we only passed one nose!

And so finally to the Soho mural:

Gee, for all the times I've seen it, I never did notice this fellow at the bottom - the name Soho comes from a hunting call. However, it's a pity that this guide's walk finishes at half past the hour, so he never gets to see the animation come to life.. But this is a seriously good walk, kudos to him and highly recommended! Just remember, there are cheaper options (see top) than just simply buying a ticket..!

Hungry, I decided to head for Irving Street - just off Leicester Square, and generally a good bet. Sadly, that branch of Garfunkel's has closed.. but there are plenty of Italians, which I was just in the mood for. So, when I saw there was space, I just went for the first - Ristorante Roma, where I was immediately seated outside, but under the shade of the awning. Well, quite differently from my experiences of the past two days, service here was friendly, if brisk, and really efficient! I never had trouble finding a waiter, never had trouble placing an order - including an order for an extra glass of wine.

So, I had ciabatta with garlic butter (AKA garlic bread) to start, followed by penne capri, which comes with chicken, mushroom, and onion in a creamy sauce. Sounded so nice I just had to! Well now, I see a huge number of bad reviews of this place - but I have to say, my meal was spectacular! The garlic bread was lovely - the pasta was divine! You know you're loving it when you're stuffed, but still feel compelled to eat every morsel on the plate. I didn't see a dessert I fancied, and the wine isn't the greatest - but oh, that pasta.. In fact, I'm still full.

Well, I have the movers coming tomorrow. God, I hate this bit, it's always chaos. Anyway, they're coming between midday and 1pm, so I should be free by evening - and I'm thinking film. Top of the list is Revolution of our Times, a documentary about the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, showing in the Curzon Bloomsbury. Something I've always been interested in. And since I suspect I'll be headed there a lot, I've now taken out membership - the "classic" level, valid for a year, entitles me to five free films (in cinema, with a guest, or on Curzon Home Cinema), a 20% discount on the others, for me and a guest, and a 10% discount on food purchased at the cinema. Also no booking fee, and priority access. Let's see whether I make use of it! That cinema is certainly very close to me now - in fact, I passed it today, on my way to the walk.

Now, the coming week is a bit problematic - my boss is mooting a team dinner, but is supposed to have a poll to decide the day. Which hasn't happened yet. And of course, I really want to meet these folks in person for the first time! So, all plans are up in the air. But, assuming it's not on Monday, I'm headed to see House of Shades, in the Almeida. I hear mixed reviews, but what I see here tends to be marvellous! Nothing yet booked for Tuesday, and I don't dare until I know more..