Bank station - exits and surroundings

Bank station exit sign. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
 

Bank station exit sign. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Bank Station exits are well signposted inside. The signs are small on my laptop screen, but I can make them bigger on my mobile phone.

Exit 1 for Guildhall and the Barbican Centre. Exit 2 for the imposing Bank of England.

 Bank is on several lines.

As wiki says,

Bank and Monument are two interlinked stations in the City of London that form a public transport complex served by five lines of the London Underground as well as the Docklands Light Railway (DLR).

Bank station, named after the Bank of England, opened in 1900 at Bank Junction and is served by the Central, Northern and Waterloo & City lines, and the DLR. Monument station, named after the Monument to the Great Fire of London, opened in 1884 and is served by the District and Circle lines.

We went there on the Central Line. 

The name comes from the fact that it is near the Bank of England. But it is also near several other attractions. We took a walking tour which ended here.

Useful Websites

https://tfl.gov.uk/tube/stop/940GZZLUBNK/bank-underground-station

https://tfl.gov.uk/maps_/tfl-go?

https://www.londontubemap.org/maps/London-tube-map-2023.png

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/51.6090272,-0.3737839/bank+station/

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What Do Scary Secret Codes In Announcements On the London Underground Mean?

Bank Station exit sign. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

 I was exiting from Bank station, in London, when I heard an announcement, Code 4. What's that? Something so bad they have to keep it a secret!

I was alarmed. My mind raced through scenarios. Was it a bomb? A madman going berserk? A drunk? A body on the line? At this station! Further along the line? A drunk. A man with a knife?  A fight? A fire? Did I need to run out of the station? Look for an exit? 

Later, back at my desk, I looked up the codes. Most of them are not nearly so alarming. Just numbers about spills, needing cleaning, which will be in one place and probably nowhere near you.

Why not be more specific if there is danger? In one case, tecthere was a false alarm when somebody shouted fire in the USA, and in the stampede to evacuate, more than 70 people died. 

So, if you hear code 4, no need to panic. Don't run. Don't change direction. Don't worry. Keep calm. Carry on. As my husband says, 'It's not your problem'.

Useful Website

https://peoplesafe.co.uk/blogs/5-secret-emergency-codes-to-alert-employees/#:~:text=Doctor%20Brown&text=Although%20the%20exact%20phrase%20used,that%20the%20attacker%20is%20armed.

https://www.timeout.com/london/blog/eight-london-underground-codes-and-what-they-actually-mean-061416

Free to See - Exhibition of Banksy Paintings & Murals - Billionaires Welcome To Buy! And Would-be Billionaires!

Getting to Banksy via Bank Station

Directions from Bank station to the Royal Exchange. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

I recommend a visit to see Banksy paintings at the Red8 Gallery in the Royal Exchange near Bank station in the historic city of London. Seeing Banksy may cost more time than you expected - firstly allow twenty minutes for the seven to ten minute walk from Bank station, Underground. I went up 14 stairs, along a corridor, an escalator, another corridor, another long escalator, past the wide entrance to the Elizabeth line, Another corridor, a circular corridor past numerous exits at which point the Royal Exchange is marked as Exit 3. Out of the exit; you are faced with a magnificent building, Britain at its best. 

The Royal Exchange

Royal Exchange, London, exterior, photo by Angela Lansbury, copyright.

Yes, you can enter the Royal Exchange, even if you are a mere pleb. Inside is a shopping mall, with the glamorous bar of Fortnum and Mason in the centre. 

The welcoming and helpful doorman courteously walked me to the right hand exit where I turned left, following his smiling and nodding instructions. As he had told me, only a few paces brought me to my target, the delightful Red8 gallery. 

Red 8 Gallery

The frontage is  a window, and  inside around the ground floor are sensible sized Banksy paintings which you could hang on any wall in any office or public building or home. 

For details on the red8 name see the previous post.

Prices

To find more details and prices if you are interested in buying, hold your phone up to capture the QR code by each picture. I didn't do so. I was too busy discussing the paintings.

Discussing Banksy

Upstairs is another room with framed paintings all around. You can spend an hour here, enjoying looking at each one, guessing the implications, and discussing with your spouse or companions what the symbols and absurdities signify.

Not everyone agrees with Banksy's political opinions. 'T' said, "I don't agree with all his views. He is anti war. One of his dividing wall murals, he has scrawled the word Palestine. Wars tend to have a baddie against a goody and the goodies have to fight, or the baddies take over the world. We might agree repression is bad. He is also saying which side he is on. Not everybody would agree.

"But you must admire his skill. Every picture captures your attention. They are so realistic. He captures the people."

Prices

What if you want one? I did not see any affordable postcards, unlike London's national and modern gallery shops. I discussed prices with a PR person, a visitor, who was considering buying one. He said: "I am interested purely from an investment point of view. Now that I am retired, I buy items as an investment and sell them. I bought one of the Banksy paintings and the price doubled. It was a good investment."

I went there on opening night. I was probably invited because I am a blogger and a journalist. But you could have signed up online, another guest told me. 

Banksy is not the only artist available. On their website you can see prints at three hundred pounds and up.

Banksy pictures in the gallery. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Fair Cop

Cop in London outside Banksy exhibition. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Outside was a benign British bobby. (For any American readers, a bobby is a cop.) He was happy to be photographed with me. I wasn't sure whether he was protecting the paintings, the people at the gallery, passers-by from drunks, drunks from traffic, or the passageway along the pavement. Or was he just curious to see the picture of the cop by Banksy? I didn't dare to ask.

Useful Websites

Email address: info@redeightgallery.com

The exhibition is open to the public from today until the 15th September 2022.

https://tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/

https://www.redeightgallery.com/key-reasons-why-art-prints-are-worth-your-investment/

See previous post on the Red Eight Gallery.

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See The Bank Of England And You'll Know Why We Say, 'Safe As The Bank Of England'.

Bank Of England's Huge Wall. The Bank of England wall is on the left. Bank station, exit one, Central line, is on the right at the edge of the pavement with the barrier. Photograph by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problem
How do you get to and into the Bank of England?

Answers
With difficulty. If you just want to learn about it, go to the Bank of England Museum.

Is there any reason why you should go to the Bank of England? If you have found old out-of-date notes which are no longer legal tender, you can still exchange them at the Bank of England. The day after the Easter Bank holiday, the bank had a one-hour queue (line up).

You can also look for information and download forms online. You might be able to post your old money - if you trust the post office. You are often told not to send cash in the post. Out-of-date money is still cash. I'd photograph it with the serial numbers. But I'd still rather go or send somebody trustworthy to deliver in person.

I was in central London recently and photographed the Bank of England. I had imagined the entrance was just like a High Street bank. I hadn't realised the walls were so high, windowless, and so extensive, more like a castle than a local shop.

The Bank Of England walls seem to go on for miles. Photograph by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

I bet they have loads of leaflets and I'm looking forward to going back to both the Bank of England and the entrance and the Bank of England Museum, which I have seen before, but banking is in constant state of flux - with debate on at the moment about discontinuing the one penny and two penny coins, so whenever you last went, within six months there will probably be something new to see and learn.

The nearest station is Bank. This is on several lines, four - Central, DLR, Northern city branch, Waterloo and City. If you are carrying heavy luggage, It links by underground walkway to Circle and District lines but quite a long walk. Bank has three concourses. If you are meeting somebody or changing at this station en route to somewhere else allow extra time or check your choice of routes.

Bank station is only one stop along from St Paul's, so you can combine a trip here to the Bank area with photographing the outside of other central London landmarks, or visiting cathedrals and museums.

Useful Websites For Travellers
General Bank Of England information and links:
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk

Visiting The Bank of England

• Threadneedle Street, London, EC2R 8AH
  Switchboard: +44(0)20 3461 4444
  Enquiries: +44(0)20 3461 4878
• Visiting the museum
  Bartholomew Lane, London, EC2R 8AH
  Visit Museum Website
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_England_Museum
• https://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/place/611007-bank-of-england-museum
• 
  
• Visiting London
• https://www.visitlondon.com
• Destinations, tickets and more.

(tfl stand for Transport for London)

• tfl.gov.uk
• tfl.gov.uk/emailupdates
• tfl.gov.uk/socialmedia (Facebook; Twitter; YouTube)

www.londontravelwatch.org.uk
tfl.gov.uk/trafficnews
TFL announcements:
tfl.gov.uk/news

Travel news and features;
metro@tfl.gov.uk

Visiting the UK 

• https://www.visitbritain.com/gb/en#FdG3KowBOTOsZFfc.97
• Information, tickets and discounted combined tickets
• https://www.visitbritainshop.com/world/

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and phtographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.
See my previous posts on the bank of England, outdated money, sights to see in London.

The Battle Of Cable Street and Shadwell Stations

Photo of Tower Hamlets Environment Trust pinky red plaque about The Battle Of Cable Street, 1936. Photo from Wikipedia. "THEY SHALL NOT PASS"

Problem
Where is the mural about the Battle of Cable Street?

Answer
In London's East End, near two Shadwell stations, only a stop away from Bank station on the red Central Line in the city near Tower Bridge.

The battle of Cable Street took place here on the 4th October 1936 when the fascist Oswald Mosley and his Blackshirts tried to march through. The slogan was: "They shall not pass".

The mural shows the police with helmets and the police horses.

Photo from Wikipedia.

How to see the mural

The mural is on Cable Street, on the plain bricks walls of a couple of linked buildings, the town hall. If you want to go there the nearest stations are the Shadwell underground and above your head, above the street, the Shadwell station on the Docklands Light railway. (Also three buses. See link at end.)

My Story

I must have passed through Shadwell on the Docklands Light Railway, gliding along like passengers at Disney World and theme parks, looking down at the streets below, many times. At least three times a year, in the morning and again in the evening on my way to and from the annual World Travel Market at the brightly lit, huge, stifling hot and stuffy waterside Excel exhibition centre, where the staff of tourist boards, hotels, airlines, tour companies and travel writers gather indoors, every year, watching sales girls from South America and Africa and Las Vegas, dance and praise in swimsuits and grass skirts, prompting summer and winter escapes from London's chilly November. 

I have never thought to wonder whether Shadwell was originally built over a well. Nor did I realise that the famous Cable Street was just below, with a mural and plaque commemorating the occasion. If I have time to visit an exhibition at ExCel this year, I must make a point of getting off the train at Shadwell and seeking out the mural in the morning, because in the evening I was be tired, laden with shopping bags and the light will be fading.

If I miss the mural on the way to or from ExCel, I could take a side trip from Bank station when visiting a restaurant or shop or exhibition in the city.

What are your chances of seeing the Battle of Cable Street mural? The mural was been damaged in the past but the council has promised that if it is ever vandalised it will be restored and it is now protected by CCTV.

Shadwell Station, London, England

Shadwell station, interior. Photo from Wikipedia, author Sunil060902.

You can see the station staff with their orange high-visibility outfits and their megaphones. These people shout directions and will answer questions about any station you are going to. They will help you find your way from one part of the station to another when you are wanting to change onto the DLR or get off it and onto another line.

Shadwell station, South entrance in 2010, exterior. Photo author Sunil060902.

Tips

http://www.londonmuralpreservationsociety.com/murals/battle-cable-street/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadwell_railway_station

http://www.visitlondon.com/#bIF5RTxGZfQAFWoJ.97

https://www.visitengland.com

https://www.visitbritainshop.com/world/

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

See my earlier post on murals including this one. Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts.