Bombay Central café, bar and restaurant, Harrow and Wealdstone

I was delighted to see that the boarded up building site near Harrow and Wealdstone station, Waitrose and Homebase has opened with a smart brick exterior as the Bombay Central restaurant.

Once upon a time this was an old-fashioned downmarket pub called The Wealdstone Inn with an upstairs room where Harrovians Toastmasters used to meet on a Monday night. On the front of the pub was a heritage sign saying that this was the site of the original Weald Stone, marking the boundaries of Harrow and the Weald (field). Hence the name Wealdstone.

I was glad to see history preserved, with a bit of the Weald Stone still intact outside and alongside the boundary of the buildings now blocked driveway. (Apparently, they assured me, when dining at the restaurant, you can park round the back.)

Unfortunately the heritage plaque has disappeared. I must admit that I researched on the internet years ago and found protesters saying that the lost Wealdstone had mysteriously emerged in the basement of the pub, having not been seen for several centuries. In other words, the writer was of the opinion that the stone was a bit of a blarney stone, or blarney story. As the saying goes, why let the trust get in the way of a good story. I would be quite happy to have it recorded as the legendary stone, or a reproduction of the stone.

Maybe Harrow Council or the present owners can be persuaded to put up some sort of plaque.

Anyway, you can still look at the stone outside. Also admire the flower boxes. But most visitors will be distracted by the modern little vehicles parked outside. I went inside to speak to the new owners. The place is family owned, currently just the one business, but they plan to expand.

The two little vehicles look like motorised trishaws and have the signs for hire. I thought they must be parked by customers, or run as a free  shuttle service to a local Old People;s home or the station buy the owners. But no, they are purely decorative (you would need a special license to operate them). They are reminders of the vehicles you would see outside Bombay Central station, on which the restaurant is modelled.

Inside it is all bright and clean, with brick walls and amusing touches, very modern and very Indian, with a central bar and lots of tables.

Downstairs is a function room.

I photographed the evening menu. You can also see the menu on their website and on Facebook. They already have four reviews on TripAdvisor (probably more whilst I am writing and by the time you read this).

They plan to have a lunch time menu which I hope will be cheaper as my family would like to try it but feel it is beyond our budget for an Indian meal.

The man I spoke to was really friendly. I noted a bowl of chocolates at the pay desk. A nice touch. I am a sugar and dessert person myself.

I noticed that the starters and side dishes included a stuffed bread with a sweet sauce, some fish and vegetarian dishes, a potato dumpling, plus many dishes you will recognise, and far more drinks and cocktails that the average Indian restaurant.

I liked the sound of the desserts, chocolate brownie, cheesecake, ice creams including coconut and cardamom, and a platter of mixed desserts, the first two I mentioned plus two Indian favourites.

If I had an unlimited budget, or an invitation, I would be delighted to go there.

Even if you don't go there, the sight of a smart new restaurant on what was a building site can only be an enhancement to the area.

http://thebombaycentral.com/index.php/evening-menu/
They also have a listing on Facebook.

Bombay Central cafe, bar and restaurant
328 High Road
Harrow Weald
Tel:020 3034 0707. I thought there should be a 7 or 8 after 020, but that's the number on their website.
email hello@thebombaycentral.com


Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Town Planning: Skyscrapers; Green Wall; Balconies; Trees; Fruit Trees worldwide

London

What are the elements which every building should have? 

1 Access to parking for delivery vehicles and emergency vehicles. How are the handicapped, the letters, parcel post delivery, the furniture, the ambulance and the fire brigade ladders going to reach the building?

2 Emergency exits, fire escapes.

3 Windows to signal that you need help, windows to allow ventilation, sunlight for vitamin D to occupants.

4 Sustainability - workplaces nearby.

5 Food production places nearby. What happens in a tidal wave, ash preventing flights, flooding, fire, bombing, isolation due to sinkholes, famine from harvest, wartime, civil riots, snow and ice underfoot, kids are quarantined, granny breaks her ankle or hip? Yes, you could grow mushrooms under the sink, and tomatoes on the windowsill - if you had a sunny window. A 

Colour, Curves and Comfort

Worst new: Harrow is becoming oppressive with huge windowless walls rising from the pavement. 

Best new: It is good to plant trees to break up the paving area and this is being done in the upgraded outdoor pedestrian shopping area linking the two big malls, St George's, which has friezes of St George inside at the top, which most people probably don't even notice, and St Ann's opposite the Harrow on the Hill railway and bus station.

Best Old

Here's old Harrow, with horizontal lines, arched windows, arched architraves, statues with semicircular plinths adding more curves. Patterned brickwork.

Best Design

The new complex which has been finished after years of being empty, is both curved and stepped. (But a commentator said that curved walls are a nuisance from the inside because it's hard to get an office desk and furniture to fit.

Worst Windows

The worst windows are the tiny ones. The worst balconies are the tiny ones too small for you to sit on a chair or a low lounger.

Food and Famine in France

Goose Fat and Garlic by Jeanne Strang, Country recipes from South-west France, revealed the history of peasant farming in the area. After years of famines causing peasant farmers to lose their entire crop, their living, privation and starvation, the country farmers learned to have rotating crops. For the dwellers in flats , allotments should be provided. If you have a piece of land in mid-air, you need a garden on top of the flat below in a stepped building, an allotment in the free area around the base of a skyscraper, or allotments within walking distance.

Singapore Fruit Trees In The Street

In Singapore I walked along a street towards a bus stop passing mango trees which had mangoes lying on the ground. If every city was lined with fruit trees, we could alleviate starvation and poverty. And teach children and adults about the value of trees and fruit, and being a vegetarian or fruitarian.

Mango Tree

Mango fruit

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

I can see the problems. The children and maid of the house next to the mango tree take all the fruit. The coconut palm is a danger to people and passing cars when the coconuts fall. So people must be employed and trained and insured and paid to pick the coconuts before coconuts fall of their own accord.

Worst Walls

The worst walls are those right next to the pavement and going up sheer.

I believe buildings should be stepped. For three reasons.

1) Safety. In a fire or disaster you have only one level to descend to escape flames and damage.

2) Flat roofs are are needed for infinity swimming pools and helicopter landings. However, in the UK you need steep diagonal roofs, rarely for snow, but often for rain.

Drive over the bridge over Harrow and Wealdstone station outside the civic centre. Skyscrapers are built so close to the road, that the poor little balconies must be filled with fumes. The windows view traffic and hear noise. 

Best Balconies

I see the adverts for new flats in the area of Harrow, all over London, and in Singapore. I am very glad that people in flats are being offered balconies. Otherwise you are in a prison cell all summer, and in the evenings. 

With global warming, and people used to living in flats in hot countries, or coming from houses with gardens, more people expect balconies. The youngsters and yuppies want to sit on balconies for evening drinks and meals. The poor and the pensioners want their washing on the balconies (discreetly hidden by frosted glass or low bamboo fencing).

Beautiful bridges

Bridges bedecked with flowers from Changi airport into the city centre and all over the city roadways.

London - building of the garden bridge, not yet open.

Singapore - art bridge at Robertson Quay

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer

Dublin's Malone Statue, Ireland's Sights: English, Irish, Scottish and American Folk Songs

Where would you see the statue of Molly Malone? Who wheeled her wheelbarrow through streets broad and Narrow? I am researching songs from the 1880s for a historical novel.

SONGS
Songs which would have been known in the 1880s and still sung today (hear them on YouTube) are:

My bonny lies over the ocean (Scottish
I used to sing this as a child and never thought about the fact that this is a Scottish song. The giveaway is the word bonny. As in bonny wee bairn (as we would say nowadays cute little kid).

My grandfather's clock
This song is from the USA. A great hit at the time and ever since.

Oh, no John (or Spanish Merchant's Daughter)

Lass of Richmond Hill

Molly Malone

These are all staple songs which are good to sing to entertain your group of friends or family if your tour bus or car is stuck in a traffic jam.

(I went on a tour guide training session led by Verity Baker, who taught us that a tour guide should keep card index cards for every sight passed on a tour, plus a few extras to bring out if the coach was delayed through a breakdown or in a traffic jam.)

The song Molly Malone has an interesting history which you can read in Wikipedia. Apparently whilst many girls were called Molly (a variation on Mary or Margaret) no one girl has been definitely associated with the song. However, because the song is the national song of the city of Dublin, capital of Eire (which used to be called and still is known to some people as southern Ireland), the city has chosen the dates of one girl called Molly Malone to be the day when the song and city are celebrated.

In Wikipedia you can see the picture of the statue of Molly Malone, with the low neck dress, because so many women of the day would be breastfeeding in public. I'd never heard that explanation of low necked dresses, always thought it was to do with the permissiveness of the age. Live and learn, as they say.

So now on my list of places to see in Ireland are:
Giants Causeway
Titanic Exhibition
Statue of Molly Malone, Dublin

The last fact which caught my attention was the English version of the song which transfers the setting to London, instead of 'as she wheeled her wheelbarrow through streets broad and narrow', the revised version is, 'As she wheeled her wheelbarrow through Wealdstone and Harrow ...' .

The local railway station is not called Wealdstone and Harrow but Harrow and Wealdstone.

The supposed Weald Stone, the stone marking the boundary of the Weald, or area, was supposedly rediscovered in the basement of the renamed Wealdstone Inn (I think it was previously a Red Lion or other name) in the 1950s. The Harrow council put up a historic heritage plaque telling the story of the Weald stone.  Is it not the real, original Weald Stone? Never mind.

Unfortunately the old Weald Stone Inn was closed and is being renovated, so you cannot see the plaque, which I hope they will preserve, nor the stone. When the new building is revealed I shall take a picture or get somebody else to take a picture to record it for you to see the before and after of the Wealdstone site story.

Many variations and later parodies of traditional songs have been made and you can read many of them online. I spent a whole day reading the words and parodies of My grandfather's clock and hearing it sung in various version by different groups on YouTube. I was astonished to read it was based on a real incident. However, if clocks were wound up on a daily basis by the eldest in the family, they would sometimes stop on the day somebody died, especially if they were ill and the exertion of getting up to wind the clock was the thing which caused their demise.

(Equally likely, the clock didn't stop exactly when the person died, but when the person was discovered dead, the time of death was recorded as being when the clock stopped, at the last time shown by the clock. The hundreds of times a clock stopped before or after somebody died would never be noted.)

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, researcher, English teacher, speaker and online tutor, writer of factual books and fiction.