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PRE-THEATRE ACTIVITIES IN BLOOMSBURY AND COVENT GARDEN

by Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Situated just a short walk outside London’s theatre district, the scholarly Bloomsbury neighborhood offers pre-theatre dining options and the opportunity to brush elbows with history. One of its most famous residents, intellectual and author Virginia Woolf, once lived at 46 Gordon Square.

In its heart is Bloomsbury Square (between Bloomsbury Way and Great Russell Street).  Laid out in 1661, it was the first open space in London to be called a square. Celebrated landscape gardener Humphrey Reston planted it around 1800, and you can now linger on a bench and enjoy the fruits of his labor.

A few blocks deeper into the area, near the bucolic, private Cartwright Gardens park (Leigh Street/Cartwright Gardens), is an enclave of good, inexpensive restaurants. The North Sea Fish Restaurant (7/8 Leigh Street) serves up delicious and unusual (trout, salmon) fish and chips and a proper British Pimm’s Cup cocktail. A few doors away, Depa Tandoori Indian Restaurant (4 Leigh Street) prepares accomplished Indian cusine and a drink called “shandy” that is half beer-half lemonade.

As you walk the streets, take note of blue plaques that tip you to a plethora of historic sites. On busy Gower Street alone, Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett--a pioneer of women’s suffrage--lived and died (in 1929) at #2; and the first anaesthetic was administered in England in 1846 at #52.

The British Museum (on Great Russell Street) holds two of the seven wonders of the anicient world, as well as the original Magna Carta and the original manuscript of Alice in Wonderland.  Its fabulous Gallery of Clocks and Watches, with a collection that spans the Middle Ages through the early 1900s, is the place to be on the hour. Across the street, the Museum Tavern (49 Great Russell Street), offers a quick, inexpensive meal. A Victorian-era pub once frequented by Karl Marx, it is decorated with etched and stained glass. The surrounding streets are lined with shops selling rare books and prints.

A hot restaurant in this section is subterranean Wagamama (at 4 Streatham Street/Coptic Street).  Basically a Japanese-style noodle house, it features communal tables where you can slurp up the fat, white udon noodles that are the house specialty. The line to get in is often long, but usually fast-moving.

Bloomsbury is also a prime spot to find atmospheric, inexpensive lodging. The gorgeous red-brick Thistle Bloomsbury (on Bloomsbury Way, 800-847-4358) dates from 1898. It is next door to The Parish Church of St. Georges Bloomsbury--built in the early 1700s by a former pupil and assistant of Sir Christopher Wren. The cozy, comfortable Marlborough (on Bloomsbury Street, 800-333-3333) is decorated with floral carpets and fabrics. It is adjacent to a pub and across the street from the friendly Bush & Fields Cafe--a great place to enjoy a bountiful British breakfast. Across the street from the previously mentioned Cartwright Gardens, the Crescent Hotel (49-50 Cartwright Gardens, Tel: 011-44-171-387-1515, Fax: 011-44-171-383-2054) offers bed and breakfast within a converted Georgian building dating from 1810. Families appreciate that it features triple and quadruple rooms, which can be difficult to find abroad.

Covent Garden

The pace picks up as you cross over into the Covent Garden area. Restaurants abound. One of the most exciting is Belgo Centraal (50 Earlham Street). Operating within a subterranean room with vaulted ceilings, this unique spot is sort of a futuristic monastery beer hall. Belgian monks brew the large selection of beers (the hoegaarden white is particularly nice), and servers dressed as monks deliver it to the long communal tables along with spit-roasted chicken, boar sausage, and a tasty pork roast with apples and mash. Don’t miss experiencing the restrooms.

Vegetarians aren’t left out in this neighborhood. Though tiny and cramped, Food for Thought (31 Neal Street) is also quick, cheap, and tasty, and you can opt for more space by sitting outside the entrance. Located in this area’s center, within the converted iron-and-glass Victorian structure that once held fruit and vegetable stands, popular Cranks (1 The Market) is self-service and has branches all over town.

Another good spot is the Bar Creperie (in The Market), where you can dine outside on a variety of sweet and savory crepes while observing the street performers who hang out in front of the landmark St. Paul’s Church.

Should you have time on your hands, do browse the area’s interesting shops. Culpepper Ltd. (in The Market) dispenses traditional English talcs, padded hot water bottles, and lavender-filled shoe stuffers. The Tea House (15 Neal Street) trades in fabulous teas, including two almost addictive black teas--one flavored with blood orange, the other with chocolate and mint--and the Natural Shoe Store trades in comfortable “healthy” shoes with thick soles. And do wend your way into the secreted Neal’s Yard enclave for a delightful brush with the locals.

More Information

For more information on London, contact the British Tourist Authority at (800) 462-2748.

For more bargains, check out Cheap Sleeps in London and Cheap Eats in London, both by Sandra A. Gustafson and published by Chronicle Books.

For current Pre-Theater information check Covent Gardens Life

Images by Carole Terwilliger Meyers: 

Copyright 1999 Carole Terwilliger Meyers.  Ms. Meyers is the author of Weekend Adventures in Northern California and The Family Travel Guide: An Inspiring Collection of Family-Friendly Vacations (both Carousel Press:  http://www.carousel-press.com ).  The author has granted one-time rights only.  Reproduction of this work in whole or in part, including reproduction in electronic media, without documented permission from the author is prohibited.

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