On Wednesday April 19th with a torrential downpour above Kings Cross station I took the decision to visit Stratford, to find the new Westfield Shopping centre mad get as close to the Olympic Park by going to the special viewing platform over the workings and at the London Dockland Light Railway above ground station of Pudding Lane. I knew that a trial Olympic Synchronised Swimming event was being held in the Olympic Stadium and I hoped without any expectation there would be somewhere to buy returned tickets. I experienced Wow several times but not about the stadium buildings or the Olympic Park Site. Nevertheless as someone who remembers the 1948 Olympics from radio listening and the newsreels and wished to have been old enough and wealthy enough to attend, this was an overall exciting occasion. I look forward to my trip in early August although at present I have no tickets for the site myself but two for football at Wembley and two for Football at St James.
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The chosen route from Kings Cross was the Victoria Line underground to Islington and then the London overground line to Stratford via Hackney. From there I took the Docklands Light Railway connection to Stratford International. At the time I was unaware it was possible to walk to the International station via the lower level mall at the Westfield shopping centre or when dry over the new bridge from east end of the shopping centre.
There are no ticket barriers at present on exiting the DLR where nearby the Olympic Village is in its last stages of completion. It is a short walk from here to the lower level of the Westfield Shopping centre via the huge empty entrance hall to the International Station departures. International and National trains will come here as well as the regional High speed lines provided by South East Railways. I later discovered that there is a short ride from here to St Pancras for about £9 return while that from Ebbsfleet where I will be staying it around £15 and taking 18 minutes so for my main journeys I will travel to the International Centre from the North East and book tickets to and from Ebbsfleet and then finding my way to the Travel Lodge. However I will investigate how to do this by using the Internet and the telephone beforehand. My experience so far with Oyster card is not encouraging
At this lower level of the centre there is what has been called the Eastern Market with a mixture of food providers and eat and drinkeries from the middle and far east as well as Waitrose. At this point I had no idea of where I was in relation to the Olympic park or Stratford Town centre and station. I purchased a sandwich and a small bottle of water from Waitrose and then found myself somewhere to sit to consume the sandwich and water. I was struck by the size and comprehensiveness of the centre even on this level, with Smiths, Foyles, Curry’s, Primark and Mother Care and Boots. There was also the first group of food and drink outlets in the Fast Food area covering McDonalds, KFC, Subway Sticky Rice, Spud U Like, Harry Ramsdens and Olive Oil and Oregano. I progressed some distance to see that there was a huge Marks and Spencers building with access to the Food Hall. There was access from here Stratford Station and the bus centre where work had been completed years before where I had a family connection with the town.
I then decided to go to the top floor where there is located a number of restaurants including Pizza Express, Nando’s TGI’s and Las Iquanas (10) five on side with tables outside looking into the concourse below. There is the entrance to the Vue Cinema, and Ten Pin Bowling as well as security guarded entrance to the Casino which is on a higher. There is a separate lift entrance from the ground floor. There is a huge Food court below on the second floor, with Fish and Chips Yo Sushi, Tossed, Tortilla, Lotus Leaf, Chicago Rib Steak and Banger Bros with and give always plus six others, thirteen in total. It was at one end of the second floor that I rested a while in one of the comfortable armchairs/settees which are provide as general sitting areas at the approach to John Lewis which is located at the Stratford station end above Waitrose. It here that the I discovered what was to prove the second surprise of the day.
At the top of the store at the far end away from the restaurant there is the 2012 souvenir store which covers the length of the width of the store with all manner of branded and UK goods aimed at the International visitor with prices to match. For about two thirds of the length there is huge viewing window with eight to ten benches and a central guide man. One directly overlooks the Athletics Stadium in front of this is the temporary Water Polo building and to the side of this swimming pool with the tall viewing tower incongruously between them. In the distance one can see the buildings of the City of London although with the rain the view was not a clear one. From our perspective the external views of the buildings are not impressive although was affected by all the on going landscaping and other work continuing and the rows of tents and other construction site activities. However saying this I do not want to convey and overall negative reaction as there was a tremendous air of excitement and anticipation which one does not usually associate with shopping centres which was packed out with users rather than visitors like me. The less expensive eating places, especially the coffee shops and store cafes were well used. It was early doors for the restaurants and Eastern market.
There are in fact seventy establishments providing food and drink at all levels and prices within the centre and others as I shall explain outside and this includes nine establishments on the ground floor.
There are forty three establishments in the category of mixed fashion, thirty in the category of accessories watches and jewellery, thirty with health, beauty and hair dressing, twenty eight with foot wear, twenty four with games, toys, hobbies, twenty with women’s wear, fifteen phones and electronics, fifteen with fitness and sports, thirteen with books, magazines, papers, confectionary and stationery, eight homeware, seven men’s wear, seven lingerie, five banks and exchanges, four services, four photography and art, two opticians and one travel agent! That is a total of approximately three hundred establishments within the centre. I have no idea what this means in terms of staff but I am guessing at three to four thousand and which will have impacted on the local and area economy although given the transport network it is assumed that staff, especially the managerial staff will have come from all over London. There is car parking for five thousand vehicles in three areas and with one having nine levels with access from the A1 and A112 in addition to Stratford High Street. There are also two major hotels and one rented apartment blocks integral to the centre.
The weather cleared up for me to undertake some exploring outside including the main above ground walkway between the centre and Stratford station and town centre which comprises a wide pedestrian bridge over the railway lines and from the International stadium to the roadway across which is the Olympic Park. Along this there are large international restaurants intended for visitors from the five continents who want to eat before or after visiting an event session and with some events having three events a day this is how the figure of seven million walking the walk have been estimated. All the restaurants have covered outside seating areas in the open malls.
A feature within the main centre is the presence of up market vehicle manufacturers with BMW featuring their Gran Coupé, Westfields their sports cars, and the Harley Davidson range together with the latest models from Honda, Mini, Hyundai, Tesla and Nissan. There is also the Gumball 3000 drive tour event.
While by the time I walked the internal malls and external malls and the bridge(twice) I had gained a good idea of the scale, location and sense of where everything was in relation to the two stations, the Olympic Park and the town centre, working out where the various rail transport lines are took some time on the return journey, especially as I had forgotten that I had taken the overground to Stratford and then a different line to the International. At Stratford there are there different areas of platforms. Platforms can be reached directly from the ground level entrance opposite the bus station or from the high level, which enables access to one underground line which is above ground while to get to the overground line you have to under lines to one side of the main entrance and which takes you up to either side of the pairs of platforms. Similar you have to take the life or escalators up from the station’s main concourse to go down to the platforms which include the overground Dockland’s Light Railway and which is of course part of a different operating system to the London overground system with provides across London transport which includes Richmond to the West and Croydon to the South. It is these two destinations which surprised me and which tempted me to explore on one of my remaining days on this visit.
All the walkabout made me tired given my lack of recent activity because of the weather so I made my way to the travel lodge as directly as I could albeit in the midst of the early evening rush hour. Returning from Stratford International to Stratford from where I had walked) yep I did that in the confusion) I went from Islington to Victoria and from Victoria to Croydon. I collect a McD Big Mac and medium fries on the way to my room so that by late evening I was hungry but made do with a cuppa soup and a can of Pepsi( I know a break in the water only era) and digested the experience.
On the way I had overheard a couple attending the synchronised swimming trials discuss how they were getting to the site, and checked out the London Prepares site to see if there were any return tickets available. The London Prepares is separate from the official Olympics Ticket sale and resale site and where the pre events tickets are made available in association with Ticket Master UK. I kicked myself soundly for not exploring the options when first booking this trip, although in fairness it was Lords/Oval cricket orientated and at one period I had considered extending this trip to cover both Durham games in the capitol. I had even been sent an email advise of the sale of tickets for the swimming event.
I also brought with me the Time Out London Pocket guide to the attractions of the capital as well as the Games schedules and preparatory events and which I have also had since the turn of the year but admittedly had not studied. There was therefore no excuse for missing out on getting to an event at the Park When I debated another trip for the Para Olympics the cost of accommodation had become horrendous. There is still the possibility of a hospitality package during the period when I am down and this I will investigate immediately on returning to the North East. It was time to turn my attention to cricket, weather permitting. As I am correctly anticipated there had been no play at Lords or at the Oval. I was to make two visits to Lords and the Members Pavilion and a splendid day on the buses visiting Teddington, Richmond, Wandsworth, Clapham Junction and Brixton. I shall report on these as soon as I can but at present the experience of experiencing fills my day.
.
The chosen route from Kings Cross was the Victoria Line underground to Islington and then the London overground line to Stratford via Hackney. From there I took the Docklands Light Railway connection to Stratford International. At the time I was unaware it was possible to walk to the International station via the lower level mall at the Westfield shopping centre or when dry over the new bridge from east end of the shopping centre.
There are no ticket barriers at present on exiting the DLR where nearby the Olympic Village is in its last stages of completion. It is a short walk from here to the lower level of the Westfield Shopping centre via the huge empty entrance hall to the International Station departures. International and National trains will come here as well as the regional High speed lines provided by South East Railways. I later discovered that there is a short ride from here to St Pancras for about £9 return while that from Ebbsfleet where I will be staying it around £15 and taking 18 minutes so for my main journeys I will travel to the International Centre from the North East and book tickets to and from Ebbsfleet and then finding my way to the Travel Lodge. However I will investigate how to do this by using the Internet and the telephone beforehand. My experience so far with Oyster card is not encouraging
At this lower level of the centre there is what has been called the Eastern Market with a mixture of food providers and eat and drinkeries from the middle and far east as well as Waitrose. At this point I had no idea of where I was in relation to the Olympic park or Stratford Town centre and station. I purchased a sandwich and a small bottle of water from Waitrose and then found myself somewhere to sit to consume the sandwich and water. I was struck by the size and comprehensiveness of the centre even on this level, with Smiths, Foyles, Curry’s, Primark and Mother Care and Boots. There was also the first group of food and drink outlets in the Fast Food area covering McDonalds, KFC, Subway Sticky Rice, Spud U Like, Harry Ramsdens and Olive Oil and Oregano. I progressed some distance to see that there was a huge Marks and Spencers building with access to the Food Hall. There was access from here Stratford Station and the bus centre where work had been completed years before where I had a family connection with the town.
I then decided to go to the top floor where there is located a number of restaurants including Pizza Express, Nando’s TGI’s and Las Iquanas (10) five on side with tables outside looking into the concourse below. There is the entrance to the Vue Cinema, and Ten Pin Bowling as well as security guarded entrance to the Casino which is on a higher. There is a separate lift entrance from the ground floor. There is a huge Food court below on the second floor, with Fish and Chips Yo Sushi, Tossed, Tortilla, Lotus Leaf, Chicago Rib Steak and Banger Bros with and give always plus six others, thirteen in total. It was at one end of the second floor that I rested a while in one of the comfortable armchairs/settees which are provide as general sitting areas at the approach to John Lewis which is located at the Stratford station end above Waitrose. It here that the I discovered what was to prove the second surprise of the day.
At the top of the store at the far end away from the restaurant there is the 2012 souvenir store which covers the length of the width of the store with all manner of branded and UK goods aimed at the International visitor with prices to match. For about two thirds of the length there is huge viewing window with eight to ten benches and a central guide man. One directly overlooks the Athletics Stadium in front of this is the temporary Water Polo building and to the side of this swimming pool with the tall viewing tower incongruously between them. In the distance one can see the buildings of the City of London although with the rain the view was not a clear one. From our perspective the external views of the buildings are not impressive although was affected by all the on going landscaping and other work continuing and the rows of tents and other construction site activities. However saying this I do not want to convey and overall negative reaction as there was a tremendous air of excitement and anticipation which one does not usually associate with shopping centres which was packed out with users rather than visitors like me. The less expensive eating places, especially the coffee shops and store cafes were well used. It was early doors for the restaurants and Eastern market.
There are in fact seventy establishments providing food and drink at all levels and prices within the centre and others as I shall explain outside and this includes nine establishments on the ground floor.
There are forty three establishments in the category of mixed fashion, thirty in the category of accessories watches and jewellery, thirty with health, beauty and hair dressing, twenty eight with foot wear, twenty four with games, toys, hobbies, twenty with women’s wear, fifteen phones and electronics, fifteen with fitness and sports, thirteen with books, magazines, papers, confectionary and stationery, eight homeware, seven men’s wear, seven lingerie, five banks and exchanges, four services, four photography and art, two opticians and one travel agent! That is a total of approximately three hundred establishments within the centre. I have no idea what this means in terms of staff but I am guessing at three to four thousand and which will have impacted on the local and area economy although given the transport network it is assumed that staff, especially the managerial staff will have come from all over London. There is car parking for five thousand vehicles in three areas and with one having nine levels with access from the A1 and A112 in addition to Stratford High Street. There are also two major hotels and one rented apartment blocks integral to the centre.
The weather cleared up for me to undertake some exploring outside including the main above ground walkway between the centre and Stratford station and town centre which comprises a wide pedestrian bridge over the railway lines and from the International stadium to the roadway across which is the Olympic Park. Along this there are large international restaurants intended for visitors from the five continents who want to eat before or after visiting an event session and with some events having three events a day this is how the figure of seven million walking the walk have been estimated. All the restaurants have covered outside seating areas in the open malls.
A feature within the main centre is the presence of up market vehicle manufacturers with BMW featuring their Gran Coupé, Westfields their sports cars, and the Harley Davidson range together with the latest models from Honda, Mini, Hyundai, Tesla and Nissan. There is also the Gumball 3000 drive tour event.
While by the time I walked the internal malls and external malls and the bridge(twice) I had gained a good idea of the scale, location and sense of where everything was in relation to the two stations, the Olympic Park and the town centre, working out where the various rail transport lines are took some time on the return journey, especially as I had forgotten that I had taken the overground to Stratford and then a different line to the International. At Stratford there are there different areas of platforms. Platforms can be reached directly from the ground level entrance opposite the bus station or from the high level, which enables access to one underground line which is above ground while to get to the overground line you have to under lines to one side of the main entrance and which takes you up to either side of the pairs of platforms. Similar you have to take the life or escalators up from the station’s main concourse to go down to the platforms which include the overground Dockland’s Light Railway and which is of course part of a different operating system to the London overground system with provides across London transport which includes Richmond to the West and Croydon to the South. It is these two destinations which surprised me and which tempted me to explore on one of my remaining days on this visit.
All the walkabout made me tired given my lack of recent activity because of the weather so I made my way to the travel lodge as directly as I could albeit in the midst of the early evening rush hour. Returning from Stratford International to Stratford from where I had walked) yep I did that in the confusion) I went from Islington to Victoria and from Victoria to Croydon. I collect a McD Big Mac and medium fries on the way to my room so that by late evening I was hungry but made do with a cuppa soup and a can of Pepsi( I know a break in the water only era) and digested the experience.
On the way I had overheard a couple attending the synchronised swimming trials discuss how they were getting to the site, and checked out the London Prepares site to see if there were any return tickets available. The London Prepares is separate from the official Olympics Ticket sale and resale site and where the pre events tickets are made available in association with Ticket Master UK. I kicked myself soundly for not exploring the options when first booking this trip, although in fairness it was Lords/Oval cricket orientated and at one period I had considered extending this trip to cover both Durham games in the capitol. I had even been sent an email advise of the sale of tickets for the swimming event.
I also brought with me the Time Out London Pocket guide to the attractions of the capital as well as the Games schedules and preparatory events and which I have also had since the turn of the year but admittedly had not studied. There was therefore no excuse for missing out on getting to an event at the Park When I debated another trip for the Para Olympics the cost of accommodation had become horrendous. There is still the possibility of a hospitality package during the period when I am down and this I will investigate immediately on returning to the North East. It was time to turn my attention to cricket, weather permitting. As I am correctly anticipated there had been no play at Lords or at the Oval. I was to make two visits to Lords and the Members Pavilion and a splendid day on the buses visiting Teddington, Richmond, Wandsworth, Clapham Junction and Brixton. I shall report on these as soon as I can but at present the experience of experiencing fills my day.
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