London: Culture, History, Neighborhoods, Food, Pomp -- Fun

Want to uncover the best of London's rich culture, history, and culinary delights? Join us and our special guest, Peter Anderson, Managing Director of Luxury Travel and Lifestyle Concierge Membership Knightsbridge Circle, as we embark on a journey through vibrant London. From the historic East End to the bustling West End, we'll reveal top attractions, neighborhoods, and experiences that make this city unique.

Together, we'll explore London's fascinating history and magnificent green spaces, as well as its world-class art scene at the Tate Museum and the British Museum. We'll discuss must-see attractions like afternoon tea at the Shangri-La Hotel in the Shard building or the iconic Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Plus, Peter shares his insights on navigating the city's tube system and getting access to a blue-badge guide black cab.

We also dive into London's food and bustling markets, taking you from affluent Mayfair and Belgravia to the traditional British pub fare like bubbles and squeak and toad in the hole.  Let us be your guides to the best of London.
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Peter Anderson, a native Londoner, is Managing Director of Luxury Travel and Lifestyle Concierge Membership Knightsbridge Circle.
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Podcast host Lea Lane blogs at forbes.com, has traveled to over 100 countries, and  has written nine books, including the award-winning Places I Remember  (Kirkus Reviews star rating, and  'one of the top 100 Indie books' of  the year). She has contributed to many guidebooks and has written thousands of travel articles.

Contact Lea- she loves hearing from you!  @lealane on Twitter; PlacesIRememberLeaLane on Insta; Places I Remember with Lea Lane on Facebook; Website: placesirememberlealane.com. 

New episodes drop every other Tuesday, wherever you listen. Please consider sharing, following, rating and reviewing this award-winning travel podcast. 

Transcript

Lea Lane: 0:32

London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom, is a 21st century city with history stretching back to Roman times. Today, London is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, with over a third of its population born in a foreign country. London houses over 8 million residents who collectively speak over 300 languages. The culture of London is filled with pomp and pageantry and fun, music, museums, festivals, and London is one of the world's leading business centers, renowned for its technological readiness and economic clout, as well as attracting the most foreign investment of any global city. I lived in London when the Beatles were young and I was young and I loved it. Our guest, who lives there now and loves it as well, is Peter Anderson, managing director of Luxury Travel and Lifestyle Concerts. Membershi Knigh Bridge Circle. Welcome, Peter, to Places I Remember.

Peter Anderson: 1:25

Thank you very much. Great to be here.

Lea Lane: 1:27

Well, what makes London so special for you?

Peter Anderson: 1:30

The diversity of the cultures. We're a very open and understanding city. We welcome all sorts, and that really drives the creativity. The other thing about London is it's very green, incredibly green. We've got so many parks and green spaces, although often we don't have the weather for it. When we do have the weather, those parks and green spaces are just incredible. New York has Central Park. London has multiple, multiple, huge, beautiful parks all around the city.

Lea Lane: 2:01

Do you have a favorite?

Peter Anderson: 2:02

I lived in Hampstead for many years.

Lea Lane: 2:04

I did too, I did too.

Peter Anderson: 2:07

So it was just around the corner from me. I mean I lived around the corner from Hampstead Heath nearly seven years. I never even saw half of it.

Lea Lane: 2:17

Wild and beautiful.

Peter Anderson: 2:18

Yeah, exactly, with some great gastropubs just on the outskirts.

Lea Lane: 2:21

Absolutely. Is The Old Bull and Bush still there?

Peter Anderson: 2:24

It is indeed. Yeah, that's a beautiful gastropub now. And the o olly Tree right at the top of Hampstead, which was my local, i used to go r all the time. Lots of beautiful places.

Lea Lane: 2:34

That's where poet John Keats used to live. That was something that everybody came to visit at the time.

Peter Anderson: 2:39

Exactly.

Lea Lane: 2:40

There's blue plaques on the buildings, by the way, tell n some of the history of London, because so many people have lived there over the years that are famous, so it's fun to just walk around London and look for the blue plaques. You never know where you'll find them. Now, how long do you think a traveler needs to get a good overview of the main land marks and a few of the most popular attractions and a feel for the city?

Peter Anderson: 2:59

I think five days you would do well. In London There is huge, huge, huge amounts to do And even in five days you'll need a vacation after your vacation from all the walking and everything there. But I think five days will give you a good rounding in the city. I would say two to three days in what we call the West End, so close to Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, and then the other two days more on the eastern side of the city where people don't tend to go as much. But there's some real unbelievable gems there, because actually the east of the city is the historic heart and the original part of London, whereas the West End, where Buckingham Palace and everything ... up until a few hundred years ago that was all parkland There wasn't really much there.

Lea Lane: 3:44

That's a long time for some. American cities. So the couple of hundred years is a big deal. But you're saying the East End is from way, way back.

Peter Anderson: 3:51

Way back Roman times. There's Roman walls in what is now the financial center, which we call The City, the square mile, and there's Roman walls And that's where the Romans had their garrisons. And that's where actually the city originally was. And then it moved west as it grew and built out.

Lea Lane: 4:09

I would suggest what I do at most places when I don't have a lot of time I start with a overview on a Hop on, Hop off bus kind of thing, where I just drive around, you can get on and off, but you also get an idea of the city in its panorama. So that's one way to kind of start. Another would be to just go on a double-decker city bus and see where it goes. You can see from that. That's unusual because most cities don't have it, but London still has the double-deckers. And for a bird's-eye view, of course there's the London Eye, although you may have to wait quite a while to get up on the wheel. And you can get another view at the tallest observation point in London, a building called the Shard.

Peter Anderson: 4:47

Exactly. Yeah.

Lea Lane: 4:48

That's probably a better bet for waiting time right.

Peter Anderson: 4:51

Yeah, i mean the Shard. you can get in pretty much is quite easy. Also, in the Shard of the building is where the Shangri-La Hotel i And you can have a beautiful afternoon tea up there, looking out over the whole of London, which is so nice.

Lea Lane: 5:03

Oh, that's a perfect thing to do. So just tell us about high tea right now, because that's something I wanted to talk about. What is a high tea?

Peter Anderson: 5:11

So high tea is in between lunch and dinner or supper. It depends how posh you are. It depends whether you call it dinner or supper. I'm not as posh as some people, so I just call it dinner.

Lea Lane: 5:24

You call it dupper.

Peter Anderson: 5:26

Exactly So. t's the time in between, and High Tea was for ladies to sit and discuss all the gossip of the day, drink tea and have little cakes, and everything was generally eaten with your hands. So, although they serve it with knives and forks, the idea of finger sandwiches is small enough so you can pick them up with your fingers and be very dainty and ladylike and eat your sandwiches. In my opinion, the best afternoon teas in London are either at the Dorchester or the Connought. Those rooms are really beautiful where they serve their afternoon tea. And the Dorchester actually has just done a big renovation, so So their promenade where they serve afternoon tea is beautiful.

Lea Lane: 6:04

It's a wonderful idea. You don't have to stay at these great hotels, you could just enjoy them in the lobby or have tea there, and it's a perfect thing to do. I remember way back-- my first High Tea was at Fortnum and Mason. They had a lovely tea area and we had tiny little . .And I remember they put my husband and I at a table that looked like as big as a truck tire. It wasn't very big, and we were sitting with another couple, an older couple, and we were very i in everything. But I noticed after a while that the husband had fallen asleep in his tea T was in the plate . And nobody said anything because everybody was very polite. I never forgot that. Anyway, that was different. Okay, so you only have a few days in London. What's not to miss? Just a few things.

Peter Anderson: 6:48

So much of our culture is about the royalty. So you have to do the changing of the guard. You've got to go and see Buckingham Palace. One thing to remember Buckingham Palace is only open to the public for a few months during the summer. So during the summer months, when the king is not in residence - - and remember we have to say king now, we said queen for a very-- when long time when he's at i his country residence many, is one of many then they open it up and you can go to see Buckingham Palace.

Lea Lane: 7:16

You can reserve it right, You can do it.

Peter Anderson: 7:18

Yeah, you can indeed I must admit, even as a Londoner, I've never been to Buckingham Palace.

Lea Lane: 7:23

That's typical, we don't do these, right.

Peter Anderson: 7:26

One of these shocking things, but one of my favorite parks in London is the park next to Buckingham Palace called St James's Park, and it has my favorite view in London, which, if you look down the park towards what we call horse guards, then you have this wonderful view, framed in trees overlooking the lake, and it's by far one of the most beautiful views in London.

Lea Lane: 7:48

Can you see it from the lobby area? Do you have to go up to a room to see it?

Peter Anderson: 7:53

You can just stand on there's a kind of bridge opposite the gates of Buckingham Palace and you look south, towards down the park, and it's a stunning, stunning view.

Lea Lane: 8:03

Good to know.

Peter Anderson: 8:04

Really, really beautiful. And then other things not to miss. We have incredible museums such as the Natural History Museum. The Victoria and Albert Museum has amazing.

Lea Lane: 8:13

I love the Victoria and Albert. l Like an old attic, it's just the best.

Peter Anderson: 8:18

So I actually used to work around the corner from the Victoria and Albert Museum. I used to take my sandwiches on a lunchtime and go and sit in the Victoria and Albert Museum and look at the sculptures and things. (That's wonderful. You weren't allowed to, but I did it. I could have escaped the security girls and did it Good for you, i think.

Lea Lane: 8:33

The Tate Museum, I love that as well, that converted electric plant. I think That's correct, yeah s converted power plant.

Peter Anderson: 8:41

Actually two Tate museums. There's the Tate Britain, which is a bit further down the river, and then the Tate Modern, which is for much more modern art. But I mean, we've got galleries and culture in abundance really.

Lea Lane: 8:54

And, of course, the British Museum is famous for the antiquities. Absolutely yeah, absolutely.

Peter Anderson: 9:00

And one thing we recommend if people are going to museums such as the British Museum, make sure you take a guide with you, because these places are so huge and, at Knightsbury Circle, we've got some of the best blue- badge guides, expert guides to take you around. There's so much that you just get lost. We always say, look, pick out some things you're interested in an artist or a time period or antiquities and take a guide who's an expert in that period and they will really maximize your experience.

Lea Lane: 9:29

Right. I think in London you can just go to the center and walk around Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus and just there's so many things that you've seen before iconic things like the Eros and some wonderful things and just feel the activity around you. You don't necessarily have to take tours.

Peter Anderson: 9:45

There's a lot concentrated in the West End, absolutely yeah, and actually in what I regard as the kind of older parts of that area, so St James's Street and Pall Mall around there you have very old English institutions, so there's a few Royal Palaces, such as St James's Palace and Clarence House, and then the streets around there. You have the oldest wine merchant in the world, Barry Brothers. You have one of the oldest millenners in the world and you have all these amazing little back alleys again which you can just walk down, which have pubs which are five, six hundred years old. I mean, there's so much. Just to walk around is incredible and actually the only private library anywhere in the world. It's called the London Library and you have to pay to join as a member.

Lea Lane: 10:31

Wow, if you don't return your book, what happens?

Peter Anderson: 10:34

They come and find you.

Lea Lane: 10:35

They put you in the Tower of London, ooh. (Exactly. ) Oh, that's good to know. These are the things we like to hear about that we wouldn't otherwise know about. That's great. Now, if you just want to stroll around, you can go across Westminster Bridge for iconic views of Big Ben, the imposing houses of Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. By the way, Big Ben is the name of the bell in the clock tower, not the tower. You can go near St Paul's Cathedral in what you call The City to see the great cathedral by Christopher Wren. I read that he planned originally a 60-foot stone pineapple to put in place of the dome, so London Skyline would have looked rather tropical. I don't know. Did you know that?

Peter Anderson: 11:14

No, I didn't know that. That was an odd thing.

Lea Lane: 11:16

Yeah, i used to love to look at it, but now I'll never look at it the same way. The West End is also a great area for theatre, some of the best clubs and bars and restaurants and if you love theatre, London is like Broadway in New York. And for nightlife, Soho is in that area. I can stay for later things. Any other places you want to mention t

Peter Anderson: 11:37

I love Soho. It's really the beating heart of London. And actually maybe in the 70s, when you lived there, Soho might have been a slightly more risque area.

Lea Lane: 11:49

It was.

Peter Anderson: 11:50

Yeah, Now it's very cosmopolitan: great restaurants, great bars, some fantastic clubs. I also like, if you want bars and clubs again, the East End, So around Liverpool Street Station, actually, Shoreditch, Doalston, those kind of areas. All the new clubs and the more kind of trendy places are out East. But there's also some great spots, in Notting Hill, for example, and Chelsea as well, just off the King's Road, some really interesting spots there. London is constantly evolving and the areas are constantly changing and you know where the next new hot spot is. Might not be somewhere where tourists would initially go, but there's some great places around.

Lea Lane: 12:30

Absolutely... When you're saying about these places. I remember when I lived there they were not places you'd go to, they were kind of run down and so forth. But my era when I was there was the time of the Beatles and Elton John was just coming up and Twiggy. he model was popular. And it was just a great scene in London. For a long while before the 70s, London was kind of sleepy, but it's just so vital now. It's one of the great cities of the world. Obviously I'll name some neighborhoods and could you give me a quick description of the? i because we heard of these neighborhoods, maybe we'd want to check them out. How about Kensington?

Peter Anderson: 13:02

So Kensington is home of the museums, so that's where the Natural History Museum is and the Science Museum, also the Royal Albert Hall as well, which is a beautiful Victorian concert venue.

Lea Lane: 13:15

Remember Bob Dylan went there. That was where he had a big concert, again during my era.

Peter Anderson: 13:19

It's a fascinating place because it's circular, the acoustics in there are amazing. If people can get in there for a concert while they're in London I mean they do choral recitals or just to see the venue and it in action is an amazing thing. It's very special. Kensington is a very residential neighborhood, so lots of London residents live there, but it's also a very affluent neighborhood, so there's great bars, great restaurants, and the area around South Kensington we call it South Ken, we always shorten it Around South Ken Tube has some beautiful restaurants. And one thing I should note when a Londoner talks about areas of London, they always refer to the area based on the Tube Station.

Lea Lane: 13:58

Ah, good point.

Peter Anderson: 13:59

When a Londoner talks about that and they'll always talk about the distance from the Tube Station to where they're going to, or they'll talk about post codes, but I mean, that's a different story. So when we're talking about an area, we'll always talk about the Tube Station.

Lea Lane: 14:10

Tell us about taking the tube. Is it safe?

Peter Anderson: 14:13

Super safe. They've invested huge amounts of sums of money in it over the last 20, 30 years. It's clean, it's efficient. They've just opened the Elizabeth line, which is in honor of the late Queen Elizabeth, which connects the west of London, all the way, to the east multi billion dollar project, and it's it's beautifully done.

Lea Lane: 14:33

I always.

Peter Anderson: 14:34

I always travel on the Tube when I'm in London.

Lea Lane: 14:36

The traffic is not so good, i will say That's not a good thing. The black cabs, they're fun to take, once maybe or something, but you're going to get in a traffic jam probably.

Peter Anderson: 14:46

Well, actually talking about black cabs, one of the great things you can do is there are some black cabs who are official blue badge guide black cab drivers. So not only are they black cab drivers, but they are official qualified London tour guides as well. So that is actually a brilliant way of seeing the city with a black cab driver, because they get special access down certain roads and things like that. So it's actually a brilliant way of doing it If you can get a blue badge guide. And again, with Knightsbridge Circle, we've got a guy that we use quite regularly who's a real character. That's something that people can use and it works very well.

Lea Lane: 15:21

You have to book through a tour agency, or how would you get these people?

Peter Anderson: 15:25

As Knightsbridge Circle. we're a membership organization, so people join Knightsbridge Circle for a year and can tap into all of our wonderful contacts, not just in London but also around the world, as well, that's a good idea for people who are staying a while.

Lea Lane: 15:37

Absolutely. So, many little things you can do that help like that. That's wonderful. Okay, how about Mayfair, Belgravia and Victoria as neighborhoods?

Peter Anderson: 15:45

Mayfair has always been the number one place for the rich, affluent royalty. I mean, Mayfair is the place. If we're talking about shopping, boutiques, five-star luxury hotels, high-end restaurants, Michelin stars, everything that's where you go. Although I work for a very high-end travel company, I'm not one of those people, So if I want to go and see the affluence of London, Mayfair is where I go. There's so many great restaurants and beautiful places. Most of the great hotels of London are in Mayfair. Claridges, the Connaught. Dorchester is there as well, So really that's the place to go.

Peter Anderson: 16:22

When we talk about Belgravia, Belgravia is a bit more residential but again a very, very affluent area with some incredible restaurants and bars. That's where the Belmont-Cadogon Hotel is, Again a beautiful luxury hotel who we do a lot of bookings with. Victoria's a slightly different story. Victoria as an area is quite residential and there's some beautiful houses there. But Victoria's very much, or has been until quite recently, a transport hub, So huge train station, huge bus station, Although it backs onto some of the royal palaces. There is the Goring Hotel there

Lea Lane: 17:02

I love the Goring Hotel That has the best service in the world.

Peter Anderson: 17:07

Amazing. (Quirky very, quirky.) Very quirky but they're just doing a big renovation at the moment. So next time you go back to London, go and see them, because I'm sure they'll have done a beautiful job on that.

Lea Lane: 17:18

Yeah, they have a big furry sheep in the room.

Peter Anderson: 17:20

Exactly, And a hotel cat. I seem to remember It was things like that. It's the best service.

Lea Lane: 17:27

I said I wanted to feed the ducks. I remember when I was visiting and I walked downstairs and there was a big bag of very fine crumbs from very good bread to feed the ducks. I had remembered that. I just think it's great.

Peter Anderson: 17:40

Yeah, but as an area it's evolved and developed quite a lot in the last few years. There's now some great restaurants there, but more on the mainstream or trendy style. You wouldn't find many Michelin-starred or the higher end restaurants, but there's a food market there opposite Victoria Station and it has evolved a lot, so it's much better place than it used to be.

Lea Lane: 18:02

Great, Good to know. You mentioned food. When I lived there it was very overdone meat and boiled brussels sprouts and some fish and ch ips. That was my idea of English food, with some Indian food. But today, wow, it's one of the foodie cities of the world. Obviously, with so many British Commonwealth countries, their people bring ethnic foods in and just adaptations of favorite dishes. If I name some London pub food, can you just tell me what it is? I love the names. Okay, what's Bubbleundefined?

Peter Anderson: 18:32

Bubble and squeak is something traditionally that we would have after our Christmas dinner. Generally. it's the leftover potatoes and vegetables and you mash it all up together and you fry it, so it becomes this really delicious potato cake.

Lea Lane: 18:53

Okay

Peter Anderson: 18:54

It's a delicious thing. Generally you get Bubbl and it's served with sausages and gravy.

Lea Lane: 19:00

It's quite real pub food. How about b toad in the hole.

Peter Anderson: 19:05

So toad in the hole is a kind of a batter, a lot like Yorkshire pudding, with sausages cooked in that batter. So you have this kind of Yorkshire pudding-style thing where there's sausages which are peeking out of the batter And again lots of gravy. Delicious food. It's food for drinking.

Lea Lane: 19:25

Yeah, there are still pubs around, as you mentioned, where you can get this kind of thing Absolutely. Yeah, that's fun.

Peter Anderson: 19:32

There's lots of beautiful traditional pubs. I went to one recently called The Audley, just around the corner from the Dorchester. Very raditional Very traditional British pub. Lots of Americans in there actually having the full pub experience. Yeah, beautifully done.

Lea Lane: 19:46

You can go from high-end to pub food. It's all fun.

Peter Anderson: 19:49

Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.

Lea Lane: 19:51

And we mentioned shopping. I mean you could get very high-end custom-made shirts. I went once with someone who was very short and he wanted to have a custom umbrella. He went to one shop that was specializing in that. I'll never forget it. He had a custom-sized umbrella, so he didn't look so short. That was a wonderful thing to watch and he was very happy. But then you have places like Camden Passage Market, which is full of one of the kind things that used to be at least, and some of these antique markets where, if you go early in the morning, you can really get some finds. What are some of those?

Peter Anderson: 20:24

Portobello Road is the most famous antique road in London. Again, until the kind of 1980s it was a bit of a down at the Hill area And then in the 1990s we had the movie that really put Notting Hill on the scene.

Lea Lane: 20:39

Hugh Grant.

Peter Anderson: 20:40

Hugh Grant And now Portobello Road. There's some great antique markets down there, the great food as well. Down there as well, some amazing food stalls. And if you go to the right, to the top of Portobello Road, you get to a road called Goldhawk Road, which is actually one of the hubs for the Portuguese and the Moroccan community, and there you can have street food, amazing Moroccan food, great Portuguese coffee, great Portuguese custard tarts. You know little.

Lea Lane: 21:09

The egg tarts.

Peter Anderson: 21:11

Exactly, exactly So for me. I'm a big foodie. Wherever I go, it has to involve food, And that's why I love Borough Market, for example, underneath The Shard, the tallest building. Borough Market for me is the best food market anywhere in London Great stalls, very diverse. You can go there and get a glass of champagne and some oysters, or you can get a duck roll. I mean, it's really a beautiful place and some great restaurants around there as well, And actually London's best coffee place, Monmouth Coffee, which is right in the market.

Lea Lane: 21:43

London Coffee, not tea.

Peter Anderson: 21:45

No, no, no. Monmouth Coffee, the best coffee in London anywhere. It's amazing They've always had some lines even at like eight o'clock in the morning, but it's the best coffee.

Lea Lane: 21:56

Interesting. Well, we've covered many famous landmark things to see and do. Are there a couple of other special things that we might not know about, that you may recommend to us?

Peter Anderson: 22:06

London has so many little special gems, but there's a couple t. If somebody's coming to London for their first time, or maybe their second time, they want to do something new Again, and it's all in the east end of London, what was originally the original heart of London. So the Tower of London is an amazing place, full of history, a really, really fascinating place, but it's very, very busy during the day, but at ut, a few nights a week, what you can do is book onto a tour with that's actually done by the Beefeaters and it's called the Ceremony of the Keys. So you go around with the Beefeaters lock them.

Lea Lane: 22:46

What are the Beefeaters?

Peter Anderson: 22:48

So the Beefeaters are the Yeoman Guard. They're the traditional guards of the Tower of London who are always dressed in their very red outfits, very traditional, so you can go around with them, and they lock up with all the old keys. They actually lock all the doors of the Tower of London in this ceremony, which they've been doing for hundreds and hundreds of years. So that's one really special thing to do. Again, it's quite a niche tour. You've got a book. It's not something you can just turn up to do.

Peter Anderson: 23:18

The other thing is there's an amazing museum in the east of London called the Sir John Soames Museum. So it's just around the corner from the High Courts and this museum is full of architectural pieces, sculptures, but from two or three hundred years ago. So it's very atmospheric and what they do in the winter months is they do a candlelit tour of the museum. So they turn all the lights off and it's all lit by candlelight in the way that it would originally have been back in the day. Super, super special. They take care of their fire risk very carefully, i hope so There was a Great London Fire.

Peter Anderson: 24:01

Not too far from there either.

Lea Lane: 24:03

Well, those are great, great, great tips. Thank you so much. The name of the podcast is Places. I Remember. So, Peter, please share a personal memory of London that you want to have us hear about.

Peter Anderson: 24:15

My son was born in a hospital opposite the Houses of Parliament. It's called St Thomas' Hospital. It's not a beautiful building, it's not in comparison to the kind of gothic splendor of the Houses of Parliament. But we had a room. We were on the fifth floor overlooking the Houses of Parliament, and I just remember holding my son after he was born and looking out over that majestic view. It was very special, very, very special.

Lea Lane: 24:41

Wow, that's a nice first view to have.

Peter Anderson: 24:44

I got through it without crying.

Lea Lane: 24:49

That's something to aspire to. Absolutely.

Peter Anderson: 24:53

Very nice.

Lea Lane: 24:54

Well, thank you so much, Peter Anderson, managing Director of Luxury Travel and Lifestyle Concierge Membership KI<br> bridge Circle, for sharing some reasons why London is one of the world's greatest cities. You've certainly brought it to life for us. Thanks again.

Peter Anderson: 25:10

Thank you so much.