London Souvenirs By Embankment Station in Gift Box and Blimey Britain

 From Gift Box

Suitcases in several sizes featuring tube maps and other London, England and UK themes.

Socks from Gift Box.

Tote bags from Gift Box.

The windows show all kinds of mobile dolls with rocking, shaking heads. You can also buy bracelets. 

Opposite even larger is Blimey Britain.

Thomas Calvi umbrellas in animal spot designs.

Gift Zone (London's Gift Superstore): Located on New Goulston Street (near Aldgate and Liverpool Street, this is a massive, floor-to-ceiling warehouse-style shop packed with thousands of British souvenirs, football merchandise, toys, and traditional memorabilia. They cater to both retail shoppers and wholesale/

Cool Britannia: A well-known, large dedicated souvenir retail chain with stores in central London locations offering extensive selections of Union Jack items, London apparel, and classic memorabilia.

Crest of London: Established in 1990, Crest of London is one of the market leaders and most prominent souvenir shop chains in the capital, featuring large inventories of high-end and novelty gifts.

Fancy That of London: Operating as one of London's oldest souvenir chains, they run multiple stores stocked with traditional British gifts, heritage items, and iconic London city merchandise.

You can also get smart, pricier items from Fortnum's, Harrods and other department stores.

Gemini informed me of a few more:

Gift Shops

Attractions and Landmark Gift shops

The British Museum

London Museum

The Natural History Museum

Tower Bridge Gift Shop

Transport for London

Westminster Abbey 

Useful Addresses and Websites For Gifts From London

Gift Box

Embankment Place, London WC2N 5AQ.

The Gift Box UK online shop at the same address is only online and offers a different range of personalised goods.

https://coolbritannia.com/

Late night soup near Embankment & Charing Cross Stations

L'Ulivo, The Olive restaurant.

Notice that the name is not Olivo but Ulivo. The restaurant is between Embankment and Charing Cross stations. In a pedestrian alleyway between the two.

Popular Locations

I use Charing Cross station and Embankment stations a lot. Charing Cross is by Trafalgar Square and several museums and galleries. Embankment is near other attractions. Walking between them you see the old Sherlock Holmes pub.

Embankment Station Coffee Shops

Coming out of Embankment station, you are facing a coffee bar with minimal seating, and just to its left under the arches with more seating is another coffee bar. A good place for a quick stop when on your way to a meeting if you are early, and it is raining.

Embankment Station Souvenirs

A huge souvenir shop is under the arches by Embankment station. I love looking in the window and want to buy everything. It sells everything from nonsenses like mesmerising nodding head dolls and ducks wearing union Jacks and crowns, to small suitcases at large prices.  I once saw a minicar covered in Union Jacks. I immediately announced to my spouse, 'If I lived in a mansion with a large hall I would buy it'. My alarmed husband dragged me away.

However, my latest discovery, was the restaurant down the alley which leads uphill to Embankment station. 

We ordered soup of the day, vegetable soup, and white bread to dunk in it. That was enough to ruin the diet, but gave us energy for long journeys home to the suburbs.

The place, whose name means olive, has recently been redecorated. The latest romantic style, with fairy lights on trees. 

A great place to sit and converse after a meeting, recount stories of people and places and tell jokes.

The toilets are down a steep flight of stairs. Our jolly host claimed he was quoting the late Queen Mother, 'Go when you can, not when you must.'

I think that applies to both toilets and restaurants.

Useful Websites

tfl

Embankment Station

Charing Cross Station

Olive Restaurant

lulivocharingcross.uk

L'ulivo Charing Cross, Italian Restaurant, caffe, bar, 23 Villiers Street, Charing Cross WC2H 6ND

tel: +44 020 3441 3012.

Open 12 noon until 11 pm, until 10.30 pm Sundays.

Links and photo being added. Come back in half an hour.

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Souvenir Socks, Key-rings and Small and Lagre Souvenirs From London And England

 

Wallace and Gromit souvenirs. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Wallace and Gromit - who are they?

In case you don't know Wallace and Gromit, Wikipedia explains all. It's a British comedy series, about an inventor and his silent dog who makes expressions.

Socks were £12 for three pairs. Better value than similar prices for teeny Paddington Bear. 

Souvenir Socks

You can buy souvenir socks showing red phone boxes, red mail boxes (in the UK known as post boxes) guardsmen wearing the red top uniforms and big black hats and black trousers.

Statement socks, souvenir socks, and amusing socks, stand out against a plain colour outfit head to toe, if you dress all in black, black jeans and a black tee-shirt and black jacket, or blue denim jeans with a white tee shirt and denim jacket.

A choice of small sizes of Paddington Bear.

More, larger bears are in a large shop by the entrance to Paddington station.

Lots more souvenirs are in shops near the statue of Sherlock Holmes in front of Baker Street Station.

And others at kiosks near exits from Green Park Station.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_%26_Gromit

https://www.lulu.com/shop/angela-lansbury/quick-quotations/paperback/product-1rejp7p8.html?srsltid=AfmBOorxnm2efyOoBqhxtQ7Z6O5RabS1n56T0z3bolKeWGRZUhlRecy0&page=1&pageSize=4

Please share links to your favourite poems and posts from this and my other blogs on blogspot. 

I have several books on poetry, quotations, wedding speeches, writing, and other subjects, in Lulu, Amazon, print on demand, in bookshops, ebooks or printed books which you can buy online or from me at meetings of Toastmasters International or the bookshop at Writers Summer School at Swanwick in the UK.

London souvenirs at Embankment station

 

Angela Lansbury beside a renovated mini painted red. Behind Angela is a mock up of a guard in his huge black hat and red and black uniform. Photo by Trevor Sharot. Copyright.

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Civil Service Club, London, Great For Reunions In The Heart Of London

I went to a wine club dinner at the Civil Service Club. In the dining room on the second floor, as the Americans would say, (first if you count British style with the street level called ground). Take the small lift from reception. The stairs are quite steep and the ladies toilet is one floor above the dining room.

The club is in a side street near the station Embankment or Charing Cross. The Charing Cross route brings you out at Trafalgar Square which is fun and adds to your feeling that you have seen London on your evening out.

The club has a small paved garden at the front where you can sit and have drinks outside the downstairs bar.

Our table had a white cloth and what looked like fabric napkins. The napkins were actually a kind of thick absorbent 'paper', the sort you can't tear.The staff were obliging.

The first delight is the bread. I had a seed roll. Other had a plain roll or a brown roll. If you are a large group, the trick is to arrive early and pick your seat, according to the company or the roll. If necessary, swap the bread roll plates. Sometimes the person with the boring white bread really wants your white bread rather what they have. They may be glad to give you what they see as stick on your teeth seeds. Just be diplomatic.

The set menu offers a large choice. The starter I chose was a salmon terrine with salad. Another person wanted the whitebait. Everyone seemed very happy with their choices.

My main course was chicken kiev, with mashed potatoes. Unlike the supermarket chicken kiev, no spurt of garlicky lemon sauce. But still very nice. I ate it all.

Finally, delicious desserts. I could have eaten them all. I saw a gnerously large bright pink sorbet. One diner asked for a fruit salad which was not on the menu but they made it for her, a generous portion of chunks of fruit. I had the chocolate cheecake, a nice sticky cheesecake, proper solid cheesecake, with a very thick, solid, biscuity base. Not those imitation cheese cakes made of what looks like candy floss or watered down toothpaste.

All in all, a very good experience.

Not a grand place, a relaxed place.

What You Get
The club also had bedrooms, and comedy evenings in the bar and pub quizzes.

Remembering Names
The list of people attending is typed out and held at the front desk. Your name has to be verified and ticked off. I got a sneak peek at all the names on the list. Really handy, if you are meeting people you have not seen for several weks and are trying to remember their name.

Club Membership Costs
The club is a lot cheaper than clubs overseas, such as in Singapore, although the clubs in Singapore for expats often have swimming pools, gyms and other facilities.  Ask around if any of your friends is a current or retired member of the Civil Service. You need two members to propose and second your membership if you are not a member of the civil service or police, or working in London. Aged over 70 the annual membership or life membership is halved. Check the latest prices and regulations on their website.

Civil Service Club
13-15 Great Scotland Yard
London
England

Useful Websites
https://www.civilserviceclub.org.uk/Becoming-a-Member/Types-of-Membership.aspx

Author
Angela Lansbury, Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

London's railway stations, old and new, 'Elementary', as Sherlock Holmes would say

As you rush in and out of stations, stop for a moment to look, read, and perhaps if time take a photo. A trip along London's underground - or a trawl through internet pictures of stations, is a trip through time, a vivid history lesson of the architectural fashions of each era. Every station tells a different story, whether in the centre or the suburbs.

Here's Hatch End, where a little plaque tells you about the building as long ago as the middle eighteen hundreds. The plaque is set on red bricks, typical red bricks made from London clay. In London we take bricks for granted, usual, unremarkable. Until we visit the countryside and see white plaster and thatched roofs, or travel north to Scotland where houses have grey granite circular turrets.

On the Metropolitan line you will see white art deco stations such as Rayners Lane. Whole sections of the internet are devoted to text and photo of London's art deco stations and buildings. My favourite buildings are the nearby houses, white with green tiled rooftops. I have written a previous post on art deco in London.

If you are in central London keep stopping to look up at the rooftops of grand buildings. Between Charing Cross and Embankment stations are hotels and public and private structures with statues and curves along the top. Your camera zoom lens or a pair of binoculars will give you a close-up view. Or take a photo.

Even at night, this works well. You can later use your photo editing programs to lighten it and expand it to show detail. and text on inscriptions.

Across the road are statues. What are they? No time to stop. Rushing for the last train. But a photo allows me to look later on Google maps and track them down. I also have a book about London statues.

In the distance the illuminated bridge as you approach Embankment station. 

Flags all around. At one point I passed the Korean flag which alerted me to the Korean cultural centre.

Near the Embankment station is one of London's old and immortalised pubs, the Sherlock Holmes. Only four stops on the Bakerloo line from Charing Cross station to Baker Street station where you see the Sherlock Holmes statue outside the station and can visit the shop at the Sherlock Homes museum. 

See my previous post for information on the underground at Charing Cross station.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186338-d1127071-Reviews-The_Sherlock_Holmes_Public_House_Restaurant-London_England.html

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