How Do You Make A New Threadbare Carpet?
You could ask why you need one too, but here’s the paragraph from Modern Railways describing the sumptuous interior of the new Midland Grand Hotel, that is soon to open at St. Pancras.
Here is the grand staircase, made famous in a score of films, with a sumptuous new carpet from Brintons of Kidderminster – but wait, the carpet does not look that new. No it has been specially woven to look a little threadbare, to be in keeping with the age of its surroundings.
The hotel must also be unique in that it will feature a Ladies Smoking Room, where smoking will not be allowed.
The Telegraph has an article here.
Will this become the best station hotel in the world? If it does, Sir John Betjeman will be chuckling out loud. It is certainly attached to a station that the head of French Railways, once said was the best station in the world.
The World’s Most Stupid Hotel Owners
The ruling against hotel owners in Cornwall reported here on the BBC, probably says that some people shouldn’t open certain businesses for their own financial health. I’ve listened to what they have said and they would like to ban any unmarried couples from sharing a room in their hotel. So it’s not just gays, but from what they have said, they wouldn’t allow me, as a widow to share a bed with one of either sex.
Surely, in times of austerity, you want all of the business you can get.
Now here’s an idea! There are a lot of widows out there living as couples. Why not book a night in the hotel? When they say you can’t sleep together, you can supplement your earnings with a little bit of legal chicanery. There are also plenty of lawyers out there who would do it on a no-win no-fee basis.
Where is the Camping Coach?
One thing I always remember about Felixstowe station in the 1960s was the camping coach. This was not someone, who taught Larry Grayson or Kennethy Williams how to act, but a real railway carriage converted for camping.
Suffice to say, it’s not there now!
But I think you can stay in some at Petworth.
Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh
The Kyle of Lochalsh Line is one of the great railway journeys in the world. It is probably best described as legendary, as anybody of a certain age, who has ever collected engine numbers or closely observed trains, has heard of the railway, that winds its way from Inverness almost to the Isle of Skye.
I’d spent the night in a comfortable B&B called Ivanhoe, where they went to a lot of trouble to get me some gluten-free rolls for my breakfast. They prepared a buttered spare for my lunch with some salmon or meat that I might buy on the journey. I would certainly stay at Ivanhoe again.
The line sweeps between sea and mountains and alongside lochs on its way to Kyle of Lochalsh.
The real problem on the line is that there is just too little capacity. I have been reading in Modern Railways about the problems of the replacement of the inadequate Pacers, that I used to get from Doncaster to Scunthorpe. Surely the thing to do would be to create rakes of say four or five Mk 3 coaches and use those on lines like this with a diesel engine and then cascade the Class 158s to where they are desperately needed like East Anglia, Lincolnshire and the North.
And Now The Good News!
BBC Breakfast yesterday carried the story that small businesses were starting up at an increased rate. The full story is here , under the unlikely title of “Explosion in Number of UK Entrepreneurs”. Here’s an extract.
The number of small business entrepreneurs in the UK has increased by 117% in the last five years, fuelling a 41% increase in the total number of firms in the UK.
Business data collected by global information services company, Experian, has found that one or two man band businesses have managed to maintain the lowest insolvency rate over the last five years compared to other types of businesses.
Charlotte Hogg, managing director of Experian UK & Ireland, said: “Our analysis reveals that the UK’s smallest businesses have been surprisingly resilient during the economic downturn and have also seen their population skyrocket in the last five years.”
Hogg explained that the recession would have been an underlying factor in the increase of micro businesses. She said many start-ups were the result of changed circumstances where people found themselves unemployed, and needed to look for alternatives.
There are so many gaps in the market and it would appear that people are rushing to fill them. As an example I’ve told many of my friends about Tommy Miah and his Raj Hotels. Some will try him and all the others said it is what is needed, as they are fed up with paying too much for inadequate hotel rooms in places miles from where they want.
An Unusual and Good Hotel
It wouldn’t suit everybody, but for someone, who needs an affordable place to put their head down in Islington, I can recommend the place where I spent, Thursday and Friday night, The Raj Hotel in the Essex Road. I paid £60 for the total of the two nights and I had a cosy room with a very modern and clean shower/bathroom, a choice of two comfortable beds, where I slept well, a Freeview TV and a light breakfast. The staff incidentally, were everything you could expect in a small hotel. Something that is often lacking in other hotels!
Judging by the people at breakfast on the Friday, a couple of single women were staying, which is always a test of value and quality.
On the Friday night, I also sampled the food, which was excellent and proper Bangladeshi food with lots of flavour. I paid just under £10 for a chicken tikka, trimmings and a Coke.
Tommy Miah, who owns this hotel and also one in Edinburgh, may be starting a revolution here. Will we be seeing affordable and clean Indian-themed hotels, possibly attached to good restaurants, springing up all over the UK? I surely hope so, as there is a vast gap in the marketplace.
I shall certainly be staying again. If I ever get to buy a house nearby the hotel, I will probably use the restaurant again.
That Terrible Word From
Go to the Premier Inn web site and you’ll see a smiling Lenny Henry telling you thewy have rooms available from £27 a night.
But search for a real room, that you need and you’ll find prices are a lot higher per night. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a room I might need at less than a hundred a night!
I have better things to do, but there comes a point, where this is misleading advertising!
Other sites seem no better. I’d like to stay in London on the 9th and 10th of September, so that I can look for a house in the city and also be better placed for the trip to Portsmouth on the 11th. I can’t find anything affordable at all.
The Albion, Chester
I was walking the Chester city walls with the intention of going back to a nice restaurant in Bridge Street, when I saw this pub called the Albion.
The Albion, Chester
What had caught my eye was the various chalked boards on the outside of the building. This one which was readable from the walls, said that this could be pub that was to my taste.
Perfect Advertising for a Pub
So did the Albion live up to what it said on the outside. I just had a half of cider to drink. This could have been better, but then I come from Suffolk, where they make the best;Aspalls. As they do sometimes have Adnams on draught, it shows how much the county of my conception is influencing the taste of discerning drinkers, all over these Isles.
As I said, I was ready for lunch, so I chose a cottage pie from the menu.
Cottage Pie at the Albion
I suspect it was wrongly named as it is more of an individual house pie. It was of course gluten-free. It was certified by the pleasant barmaid, who said that her mother was a coeliac like me!
I should say that the Albion also does bed and breakfast, which if their beds are as well-proprtioned as the pies, might well be something.
Crewe
After reading the Wikipedia entry for Crewe, I was apprehensive, as it is not complimentary and quotes Bill Bryson as saying it isw the armpit of Cheshire.
But I also have had the other view from the late MP for Crewe; Gwyneth Dunwoody, who used to be my next door neighbour. She was the sort, that if you went to borrow some sugar, you didn’t return until after several stiff drinks.
Even last week at Crystal Palace, a fellow Ipswich fan had said that he’d enjoyed a couple of trips to the town to see Ipswich.
The Crewe Arms Hotel, Crewe
I stayed in the Crewe Arms by the station, which is typical of many station hotels all over the UK. It has mahogany panelling, deep red carpets and brown leather sofas. One unexpected thing it has is free and high-speed wi-fi. It definitely didn’t have that in 1880 when it opened.
I slept reasonably well too, as the bed was comfortable. The room was very clean with a bathroom that looks like it had been refurbished in the last year or so.
In the morning, I skipped breakfast because I ate well the previous night, but the coffee I had in a proper china pot was of a high standard.
I would certainly stay there again, if I went back to the football at Crewe.
The town centre was fairly clean with a lot of flowers and had most of the usual names.
Shopping Centre, Crewe
But the highglight last night was an excellent Indian meal in the Passage to India.
Passage To India, Crewe
The building was best desribed as clean, smart and comfortable, the staff were polite and professional and I give the food at least five bricks in honour of Brick Lane, where C and I had one of our most memorable Indian meals together. How about this for a seious shami kebab.
A Serious Shami Kebab
The Anonymous Widower 