LONDON

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BimboDuncan
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#16 Post by BimboDuncan »

PSB and London are inextricably linked.

I've always imagined the 'bridge' mentioned in The Survivors is actually Hungerford Bridge which takes you from the Festival Hall on the South Bank over the Embankment tube station and up Villiers Street - right past Embankment Gardens.

And the 'Piano Bar' was an (in)famous gay bar in Soho next door to Madame Jo Jo's and now another gay bar called Escape. The pink sign which features in the West End girls video remained there for many years after the bar closed (rather like the Raymond Revuebar neon sign which is still above Escape and Madame JoJos.)

The 'Dive Bar' mentioned in West End girls was the basement of a bar on Gerrard Street in Chinatown and was there until a year or so ago when it was replaced with...... a Chinese restaurant.
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LoveComesQuickly
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#17 Post by LoveComesQuickly »

Flicking through "Catalogue" I saw the Nightlife images taken at the St.Pancras Hotel; also stills from that bizarre video of the mice in the Tube tunnel for "Home and Dry". I'm sure there are many others...
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Fugitive1979
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#18 Post by Fugitive1979 »

The Resurrectionist - "Crossing Blackfriar's Bridge to Guy's
then back to Bart's for a better price ."
:| :o

herts101
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Re: LONDON

#19 Post by herts101 »

Reviving this thread as I was inspired by the reference to Waterloo Bridge in 'Hoping for a miracle' to think about doing a walking tour of London. I wanted to take in many of the sites referenced in the songs, the videos, or where the boys have put on shows. I used this thread for inspiration as well as Geowayne's list of places referenced by PSB songs, and the tour Neil and Chris did in Annually 2018.

It's quite long (3 hours), but you could shorten a bit by taking out the Houses of Parliament or not walking across Hungerford / Golden Jubilee Bridge.

Have I missed any more songs to listen to along the way? I think there's a video filmed on the South Bank which I should add in. I plan to do it sometime when the weather gets warmer in London with some good headphones and a Spotify playlist!

Stage 1: Kings Road to The Serpentine (40 minutes)
• Start on King’s Road where Neil and Chris met
• Walk East along Kings Road towards Sloane Square, looking south down Flood Street (The Ghost of myself)
• At Sloane Square turn left onto Sloane Street and follow North past Knightsbridge, all the way into Hyde Park and to the Serpentine (That’s my impression)

Stage 2: The Serpentine to Trafalgar Square (40 minutes)
• Head out of Hyde Park, crossing Park Lane and moving east onto Aldford Street, through the park up to Mount Street and enter Berkeley Square (Bright Young Things)
• Cross Berkeley Square and exit on the east side along Bruton Street, right onto New Bond Street, left onto Vigo Street and cross Regent Street on Brewer Street, entering Soho
• At the end of Brewer Street turn right onto Wardour Street then left along Gerrard Street where the “Dive Bar” from West End Girls was located (West End Girls)
• Follow along Newport Place to the south east and cross Charing Cross Road turning left then quickly right onto Great Newport Street where Closer to Heaven was staged at the Arts Theatre (My Night)
• Turn right onto St.Martin’s Lane and follow south until you reach Trafalgar Square (Up against it), the site of the outdoor Battleship Potemkin performance (No time for tears, After all)

Stage 3: Trafalgar Square to Savoy Theatre (35 minutes)
• Cross the roundabout by and exit along Whitehall until you reach the Houses of Parliament (Shopping)
• Turn left towards the river but turn left again before the bridge and along the riverfront until you reach the Hungerford / Golden Jubilee Bridges
• Cross the bridge on one side and back on the other to Embankment Gardens (The Survivors)

Stage 4: Embankment Gardens to Savoy Theatre (15 minutes)
• Head through the tube station into Villiers Street and past the arches of Heaven nightclub where Was It Worth It was filmed (Was It Worth It?)
• Continue up to The Strand and turn right (The Theatre)
• Turn left on Southampton Street up to Covent Garden and walk round past the Royal Opera House where the Inner Sanctum tour was performed (Inner Sanctum, The Pop Kids)
• Walk back down to the Strand and past the Savoy Theatre, home of the Somewhere Tour residency (Somewhere)

Stage 5: Savoy Theatre to Kings Cross (25 minutes + 15 minute train)
• Walk east along the Strand to the start of Waterloo Bridge and cross the river (Hoping for a miracle) where Chris sang the tune of I made my excuses and left
• Walk east along the Southbank to Blackfriars Bridge and cross there (The Resurrectionist)
• Catch a Thameslink train from Blackfriars to Kings Cross (Kings Cross)

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DJ Pat
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Re: LONDON

#20 Post by DJ Pat »

Nobody thought of going to the V & A or the Picasso Cafe, Kings Road?

lyrics from The Ghost of Myself

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, known as the V&A to Londoners

How about a walk along Goldhawk Road? (Love is a bourgeoius construct)

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Re: LONDON

#21 Post by Sandy Shaw »

Actually wrote: Tue 10 Jul 2007, 10:27 pm Anyway i travel in & around London for work & the other day i was walking over Chelsea Bridge & just wondered was that the bridge Neil sings about in the song The Survivors ?
"Cross a windy bridge one winters night. Past Embankment Gardens..."





Just this minute realised it must be Waterloo bridge.
No, as far as we can tell it's what used to be called Hungerford Bridge. (Golden Jubilee Bridges are the pedestrian ones now).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungerfor ... ee_Bridges
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Re: LONDON

#22 Post by herts101 »

DJ Pat wrote:Nobody thought of going to the V & A or the Picasso Cafe, Kings Road?

lyrics from The Ghost of Myself

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, known as the V&A to Londoners

How about a walk along Goldhawk Road? (Love is a bourgeoius construct)
Missed Cafe Picasso and V&A. Good additions.

Goldhawk Road’s just too far out of the centre to fit in an afternoon!


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herts101
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Re: LONDON

#23 Post by herts101 »

herts101 wrote: Fri 31 Jan 2020, 2:49 pm
DJ Pat wrote:Nobody thought of going to the V & A or the Picasso Cafe, Kings Road?

lyrics from The Ghost of Myself

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, known as the V&A to Londoners

How about a walk along Goldhawk Road? (Love is a bourgeoius construct)
Missed Cafe Picasso and V&A. Good additions.

Goldhawk Road’s just too far out of the centre to fit in an afternoon!


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Plus, I've heard it's full of various riff-raff :)

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Re: LONDON

#24 Post by leesmapman »

And Brick Lane in the rain? (from Brick England)

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Pod
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Re: LONDON

#25 Post by Pod »

Is London really that great? Culturally, probably, some areas are ok, but vast swathes are not particularly nice areas to be. Live in a shoe box and pay 4 times the amount for the privilege. No ta.
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Sandy Shaw
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Re: LONDON

#26 Post by Sandy Shaw »

herts101 wrote: Fri 31 Jan 2020, 2:54 pm
herts101 wrote: Fri 31 Jan 2020, 2:49 pm
DJ Pat wrote:Nobody thought of going to the V & A or the Picasso Cafe, Kings Road?

lyrics from The Ghost of Myself

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, known as the V&A to Londoners

How about a walk along Goldhawk Road? (Love is a bourgeoius construct)
Missed Cafe Picasso and V&A. Good additions.

Goldhawk Road’s just too far out of the centre to fit in an afternoon!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Plus, I've heard it's full of various riff-raff :)
When Goldhawk Road is announced on board a bus, I can't help thinking and sometimes saying ''riff-raff''!
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Sandy Shaw
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Re: LONDON

#27 Post by Sandy Shaw »

The Boys were event called ''West End'' for a brief period before becoming PSB.
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DJ Pat
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Re: LONDON

#28 Post by DJ Pat »

Pod wrote: Fri 31 Jan 2020, 4:18 pm Is London really that great?
Luckily I left a long time ago. I still visit occasionally

It's definitely not the way it used to be, not as many opportunities, feel vulnerable walking at night, it's dangerous. Kings Cross has been gentrified to hell. Some of my friends refuse to admit it's changed so much, in denial I suppose. I'm not the only one who thinks it's changed, my dad said last year ''You should leave London, for your own good'' so I moved to Cornwall.

Not as hectic, bit remote where I am, but it's alright.

8) :)

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Re: LONDON

#29 Post by TallThinMan »

DJ Pat wrote: Sat 01 Feb 2020, 5:44 pm
Pod wrote: Fri 31 Jan 2020, 4:18 pm Is London really that great?
Luckily I left a long time ago. I still visit occasionally

It's definitely not the way it used to be, not as many opportunities, feel vulnerable walking at night, it's dangerous. Kings Cross has been gentrified to hell. Some of my friends refuse to admit it's changed so much, in denial I suppose. I'm not the only one who thinks it's changed, my dad said last year ''You should leave London, for your own good'' so I moved to Cornwall.

Not as hectic, bit remote where I am, but it's alright.

8) :)
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Pod
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Re: LONDON

#30 Post by Pod »

DJ Pat wrote: Sat 01 Feb 2020, 5:44 pm
Pod wrote: Fri 31 Jan 2020, 4:18 pm Is London really that great?
Luckily I left a long time ago. I still visit occasionally

It's definitely not the way it used to be, not as many opportunities, feel vulnerable walking at night, it's dangerous. Kings Cross has been gentrified to hell. Some of my friends refuse to admit it's changed so much, in denial I suppose. I'm not the only one who thinks it's changed, my dad said last year ''You should leave London, for your own good'' so I moved to Cornwall.

Not as hectic, bit remote where I am, but it's alright.

8) :)
Don’t blame you one bit.
Just for the sake of it, make sure you're always frowning. :|
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