Tower Bridge

I wanted to take a look at London Bridge from a tourist point of view. Was it best to head east from the railway station or west? From this point of view, I decided that I did not know the area as well as I might and decided on a visit. 

The day in question started wet and at 08:00 I had decided against a Bullingdon. But I had changed my mind by 10:30, when it was time to head down to the station.

Getting down without meeting either rain or trolleys. But I did see a young man, probably out of CrossFit, with such well developed shoulder muscles - pecs? - that, when relaxed, his arms hung out rather than down, his hands some way away from his hips. Mine touch.

Greeted at London Bridge by what a lot of what looked like the ceiling cladding used at the Ashley Centre, known to be fake, that is to say mostly extruded white plastic faced up with something brown. And then there is something similar at the entrance cafeteria at Wisley, also known to be fake. Was this the same?

I got a bit closer. Even with the power of laptop zoom, I can't catch it out. It also looks quite like some kind of pine - whereas the fakes tend to go for some darker and more tropical. Although not at Wisley.

Ditto this one, with the benefit of zoom. So, provisionally at least, real not fake.

Decided that east was more promising: HMS Belfast, Hay's Galleria, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, St. Katherine's Dock and so forth - and headed down Tooley Street. Where there were lots of restaurants, mostly offering foreign food of one sort or another. Add even the odd public house survived, for example the 'Two Bridges', noticed by CAMRA at reference 1. 

Despite it coming on to rain, I thought I would complete the circuit back to Waterloo on two wheels, picked up a Bullingdon and headed across Tower Bridge, for the second time in the recent past, as noticed at reference 2. Maybe there was a trip inside Tower Bridge coming on, something I don't think I have ever done?

Past the Tower of London and onto Southwark Bridge, where I hung right for Waterloo. The drizzle continued.

Passed a KPD van affiliated to Stonegate pubs, I thought construction flavoured, and assumed that they were used by Stonegate for maintenance and/or refurbishment of the London part of their extensive pub estate. But all that Bing and Google could turn up between them was a car hire outfit, an obscure company in Broadstairs, known to Companies House, but to no-one much else - and the builders at reference 3. Builders who look more residential than commercial. But either them or I have made a mistake. Maybe I will see another one day and be fast enough to snap it.

And then a Bunzl lorry, I thought something to do with catering sundries - that is to say all the stuff eateries need apart from food and drink. Complementing the likes of Brakes and Bidfood rather than competing with them. But it looks from reference 4 that I got that wrong: they probably distribute food, drink and sundries.

Thought about various fancier lunch options in and around Waterloo, and then decided to settle for a burger from Burger King, something that I don't think that I have ever done before, although I have occasionally used a McDonald's.

Very impressed with myself that I managed to work the self service machine provided, navigating my way through all the extras that I did not want. Opted for a seat upstairs, where there was plenty of space. Burger not bad at all, although it would have been better if they had left out the brown goo. It did not occur to me until afterwards that I could probably dripped or squeezed most of it out without much bother or mess. 1,000 or so calories down the hatch in no time at all. Quite a sugar hit too. So much so, that I forget to snap the brown wood cladding to the ceiling for inspection today.

All in all, a quick, efficient and pleasant operation. I might do it again. Maybe even take BH into one.

All of which left me a couple of minutes to catch a Dorking train, so no RPPL. On the other hand, I found that the seat in front of me did very well for hanging up my wet raincoat.

All very satisfactory. I now had a plan involving heading east from the station. A plan which, in the event, was not to be executed. But would execution have included Burger King?

Home to the trolleys noticed at reference 7. And to be reminded today about 'The vicar of Wakefield', which I shall be noticing shortly.

PS: I now know that there is a Bullingdon stand handy for the noodlarium in Lower Marsh. Next time maybe. Bit surprised this afternoon to find that the last time was as long as six months ago, as noticed at reference 6. Time flies as one gets older.

References

Reference 1: https://camra.org.uk/pubs/two-bridges-london-158385. The house does have its own website, but Edge thinks that there is something wrong with it, something about their security certificate being out of date: 'net::ERR_CERT_DATE_INVALID'.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/06/park-life.html.

Reference 3: https://kpdconstruction.co.uk/.

Reference 4: https://www.bunzl.com/.

Reference 5: https://www.burgerking.co.uk/.

Reference 6: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/03/temple-of-law.html.

Reference 7: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/09/trolleys-974-and-975.html.