Seasonal Sparkling Lights In Hatch End - On Restaurants

 Lovely lights. Inside and outside.

Lights at Izgara restaurant.

Social Dhaba. Colourful baubles around the windows and doorway.

Doolchee Coffee & Dessert has a Christmas Tree.

Sea pebbles See a rheindeer.

On the door and windows of Tanna chemist.

Vra by Sarasas.

The Steakhouse has lights on trees outside and white trees inside the window.

The lights outside and inside Izgara restaurant.

Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

The street Tree lighting will be Thursday  Dec 4th at 4 pm. In the middle of The Broadway. With the mayor of Harrow. Carol singing.

If you want carol singing and seasonal festivities, the Rotary club will have a decorated float raising money for charity later in December. You can visit Santa with little kiddies at Headstone Manor.. For details see the Facebook page of the Hatch End Association, subscribe to its magazine. Also look at Pinner News, and the Metro given away free on Hatch End railway station.

Useful Websites

https://www.facebook.com/groups/hatchendassociation/posts

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Xmas tree and reindeer lights at Sea Pebbles

 

\Sea Pebbles Restaurant with lit tree in front. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Reindeer Model Ar Sea Pebbles Restaurant, Hatch End. Photo by Angela Lansbury. 

Choose Your Favourite Restaurant In Hatch End: B & K, Costa, Fire & Ice, Sea Pebbles, Social Dhaba and 40 more!

B & K Salt Beef restaurant. B & K take away salt beef to which we (author Angela Lansbury and family)added our own fresh salad. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

 When I started writing this on Tuesday, we had one day, Wednesday November 4th, to eat in restaurants in Hatch End but many will still be open for you to collect take-aways. 

Costa will do well, I predict. Several restaurants will deliver, or rather use a delivery service.

Some of these restaurants are relatively new. some of them are linked to other branches with the same name in other areas of London. Let's take a quick look.

Alphabetical Order:

B & K

B and K, Hatch End. Another B and K in Edgware is equally popular. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

B & K is famous for salt beef, but also serves turkey, chicken, fish balls, rye bread, challah, bagels, pickled vegetables, and hummus, and dieter's delight and disaster lokshen pudding (call it noodle or pasta pudding if you prefer)..

Costa

They have raspberry almond slice, bakewell tart, croissant, chocolate muffin, and all sorts of sandwiches and coffees of all kinds. I must load the Costa app onto my phone.

Fire and Ice

Fire and Ice in Hatch End. Notice the Secret Garden entrance to the right. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

They have done a good job with the back garden. Instead of entering through the restaurant, you can stay safer in the Covid-19 era by entering down the side alley which has been attractively covered from the rain by a blue roof which extends the visual frontage of the restaurants.  Poor owners of Fire and Ice. brand new and faced with a lockdown. 

They have a secret garden. (If that sounds familiar, it was a book title.) Wikipedia handily and succintly reminds us:

The Secret Garden is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett first published in book form in 1911, after serialization in The American Magazine (November 1910 – August 1911). Set in England, it is one of Burnett's most popular novels and seen as a classic of English children's literature. It was filmed in the 199os.

The Secret Garden in Hatch End is no secret to those of us who were used to the garden behind the pizza place. But what a lovely name, The Secret Garden.

Minori Pizzeria

48 Uxbridge Road. Those who live near or drive along the Uxbridge Road through Hatch End may recall the wide frontage of what was at one time a Chinese restaurant. Now a busy, bustling pizzeria. Delivers through Just eat. When I looked online at the start of November it was number two on Tripadvisor. if it isn't owned by the legendary 'Mr Fellini" or one of his staff, it has inherited his flair for decor.

Sea Pebbles - Fish and Chips

Fish and chips, chunky chips, fish served in batter, or Jewish style with matzah meal - or plain if you prefer and are prepared to wait. Fish and chips, the history articles say, came to England with the Jews, but became quintessentially British in a island country with a seafarer's and fishing folk's coastline. Like B & K up the road, Sea Pebbles has everything desired by both Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews) and is run by  businesslike and friendly non-Jews who have borrowed the best of Jewish filling food, fattening food and comforting food.

Social Dhaba Restaurant

Indian

See my earlier post on the peshwari naan with coconut wand where to order from the restaurant, buy or how to make your own.

Social Dhaba restaurant, hatch End, glass of reisling (grape) wine and menu. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Steak bar

Well, running a restaurant is a high stakes business nowadays. 

Useful Websites

Costa Coffee Bar

www.costa.co.uk/club

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

Minori

https://www.just-eat.co.uk/restaurants-minori-pizzeria-pinner/menu

See other post s on these restaurants.

Update November 2025 Costa in Hatch End has closed. Other Costa restaurants are around London and England and new coffee bars in Hatch End are mentioned in my later posts.

About the Author

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

Photos by Angela Lansbury copyright.

Please bookmark this post and share links with your family and friends

New and old restaurants in Hatch End, Pinner

Hatch End is a sub-division of Pinner. Hatch End's high street, the Uxbridge Road, is a just along from Pinner. Pinner had the historic black and white buildings including a couple of ancient pubs, connections with Heath Robinson, whose museum is in the Park opposite Pinner Metropolitan line station.

Hatch End station is on the Watford to Euston line. The high street has art deco buildings and its association go back to Mrs Beeton whose famous cookery book taught us all to write recipes starting with the ingredients and then listing the actions to take.

Hatch End is a hotbed of restaurants, especially Italian restaurants, started by 'Mr Fellini'.


Bandaa is urdu for servant or beloved.

Restaurants in Hatch End (alphabetically)
B & K - Jewish style

Casa Mia
On the right below.














Chingon Cocina Mexicana (Mexican Restaurant) second from left.





Dona Theresa on the left.


Coriander - Indian

Lattakia Lebanese Restaurant

Izgara Restaurant

Laboratorio (Italian) Restaurant, Hatch End




Sakonis (Vegetarian Indian) Restaurant

Sakonis, far left.


Sea Pebbles (Take away and restaurant) - fish and chips and more,


Minori restaurant and pizzeria




The Steak Restaurant (far right of photo below)


Closed Down:
Fellini; Serato;

From Hatch End station you can follow a walking route.

Useful Websites For Travellers
Hatch End Restaurants
https://www.instagram.com/chingonlondon/
https://laboratoriopasta.co.uk/menu

Hatch End
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatch_End
Lots of photos are in:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Hatch_End
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:St_Anselm%27s_Church,_Hatch_End

Overground and Underground Railway
https://tfl.gov.uk/tube/route/bakerloo/
https://tfl.gov.uk/tube/route/metropolitan/
https://www.gwr.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Western_Railway_(train_operating_company)
TRAVEL
https://www.visitlondon.com/london-app
singaporeair.com

About The Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker, teacher of English and other languages.
Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts.

Billingsgate Mural and Lunch Time Offers In Hatch End

Hatch End - restaurant capital of North West London. What's the latest. I noticed a mural of Billingsgate market inside Sea Pebbles which serves take away fish and chips as well as sit down meals. They are now open seven days a week and have a sign saying Gluten free Mondays.

From Costa, an offer of cake for £1 with certain drinks.

From Chuck, delivery from Deliveroo.

From Izgara, Turkish, and Mosfilo, Greek, more offers.

Finally, Fellini, open all day seven days a week.

And that's just one side of this section of The Broadway.

More restaurants further along the road past Grimsdyke Road towards the station. Cross over and more coming back on the other side of The Broadway.

Billingsgate Fish market
https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/business/wholesale-food-markets/billingsgate/Pages/default.aspx

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
type in Angela Lansbury, author or travel writer or poet. Fortunately there are only four people with my name. Most people I look up on Facebook and google and linkedIn have twenty namesakes worldwide. As for people called Patel, Cohen and Levy, Singh - several million of those.
Follow me on Facebook and like my pages here and there and everywhere including linking to me on LinkedIn, Watching me on YouTube

Art Deco In Hatch End Dated 1933

Here's one facade with the words The Broadway and the date 1933. I thought there was only one. When I went back and looked again, I saw there was a second.

One is above Kingsmill Carpets, which you reach first, walking from Fellini Italian Caffe Restaurant.

The other is above Sea Pebbles, which you reach first, walking from the other direction.

Seeing Dates Inscribed Overhead
The first time I noticed the dates, I was passing in a car. To see them, and photograph them, when on foot, you must walk away from the shop windows back to the kerb and look up. Alternatively, on the opposite side of the road, walk away from the shop windows and go near the kerb for a closer look.

Who Can Remember The Nineteen Thirties?
Over dinner I was thinking and discussing how old you would have to be to remember these buildings being built. If you were one hundred years old, an age reached by several centenarians and older people featured in local papers, you were born in 1916. So in 1933 you were seventeen years old. A person who is 90 years old in 2016 would have been about seven years old in 1933, just old enough to remember buildings being constructed in the early 1930s.

To get the dates clearer in a photograph, I had to crop the picture to blow up the section with the writing, increase the contrast, increase the colours, and increase the focus. Four is very good for softening faces with wrinkles or looking romantic. I moved to frame the building with the tree, and to get the lamp post to the side of the building.

But to read out of focus writing or inscriptions you need to intensify the sharpness.

Later, when editing again, I cropped the photos so that I and you could see the date.

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

Photos to cure the blues of the haze - when you see blue skies take a photo. Do it now.

What can you do about the haze? I don't mean long-term and countrywide, which I have discussed in previous posts. I mean when you travel to a country with a haze and your photographs are grey and your sunny mood has gone?

The first thing you can do is take a photo of haze. To sell it, show your friends, and remind yourself which season to travel. In the haze, the distant hill, Bukit Timah, is hardly visible. Indoors is affected, too, by the lack of light creating shadows and gloom. In Singapore I found you need the lights on in the day time.

I could take a photo of the blue sky and frame it to cheer me on a hazy day. Isn't that the purpose of every blue sky postcard? Photos of blue skies are cheerful. They lift your mood. They remind you or summer, when it's winter, of holidays when you are working, of better times, in bad times.

I looked at photos which appeared in newspapers. Several pictures of well known landmarks in haze. Somebody had sent, or researched from stock photos, contrasting pictures of the same scene in sun and haze.

You need a before and after picture. A contrast. A picture of the place in sunshine might be unremarkable. I picture of a place in haze might be unremarkable. But the two pictures placed alongside are attention-getting.

When I arrive at a hotel I photograph the bedroom.
"What's the hurry?" say my companions. "You can do it later."

"No, I can't. On a dozen of occasions I've delayed and found obstructions everywhere spoiling the photo. I need to take photos before I've covered the beds and basins with clutter.

I photograph the view from the balcony, the entire hotel, with the enthusiasm of the first time visitor. Yes, I can do it tomorrow, but by tomorrow I may have distracting plans and urgent appointments.

My camera could be on low battery or lost or left behind. My companions could be saying 'No more photos!'

The weather could have changed. Every city in the world has rain which they haven't seen for fifteen years on the one day I'm taking a tour. I should sell my services as rain maker.

Back in London from the haze I see the sky with fresh eyes. Blue skies in London. Road with potholes repaired. Improved weather and repaired roads. They lift your mood and give you something positive to say.

Hatch End
In Singapore the haze affects outdoor eating. Every time a restaurant owner or waiter asked whether we wanted to sit outdoors or inside, we chose inside. Not just because of mosquitos. Because of the haze.

In London people say, "Go for a walk. Blows away the cobwebs. It's gorgeous out there."

Walking around Hatch End I saw the owners of Sea Pebbles fish and chip shop and restaurant, sitting in the sunshine at a table in front of their other restaurant, Mosfilo, which is Greek.

I commented on the lovely appearance of the repaired road. They said another benefit for travellers was that the traffic was quieter as it passed diners sitting at pavement tables outside their restaurants.

I should have taken a picture of them. 

A few minutes later I saw the blue skies as the sun came out. I remembered a table topic at Toastmasters in Singapore on: 'Do It Now'. So I took a picture of the blue sky. 

I remember a travel press trip to Nottingham. Our coach or minibus passed the statue of Robin Hood on the way to the hotel. Opportunity!

I asked the PR lady, "May I take a picture. I'll only be less than a minute." 

She replied, "You can do it later."

Later the sky was overcast. We took different routes through the city, avoiding traffic, going to other destinations. 

When we were on our way back to the station at the end of the trip, I said, "I never got my photo of the Robin Hood statue."

"You can do it now," she said. 

But drizzle started to drip ominously. I put my camera in my pocket to protect it. Rain was pouring with rain by the time we reached the statue. Besides, we were late for our train because of traffic. 

The moral is, when it comes to photography, always do it now.  When you see a blue sky, take the photo. Whether it's for your own entertainment, or others. Do it now.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, speaker.

Sea Pebbles Secret Behind the Smile

Sea Pebbles - see the fish motif with the name Sea Pebbles above it on the t-shirt? Yes, this is the man you've seen for years at Sea Pebbles fish and chip restaurant and take-away in Hatch End. The reason why he's smiling is because he has a new restaurant opening within the next month, fortnight hopefully, in Bushey Heath. It's where the Catch restaurant was, just near the car park. As soon as the builders have got it all ship-shape, so to speak. It will be open. If you are driving through the area, keep your eyes open for the new restaurant. He's promised to email me when it opens. I gave him my card. I hope he remembers. I want to see it and sample the fish and chips.