Covent Garden, London > Reviews (8)

INTRODUCTION

Covent Garden is just about my favourite place in London.

In the late 1980s I suffered from stress and depression. I found that going to Covent Garden every Saturday morning cheered me up no end.

My wife and I visited Covent Garden recently on Saturday 15th September.

GETTING THERE

Covent Garden tube station is located on the Piccadilly Line on the tube. The tube train is always crowded, as the previous stops are Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square.

The Piccadilly Line is the dark blue line on the tube map.

On reaching the station there are plenty of stairs to climb. You then have to wait for a lift to take you to street level. After negotiating the tube ticket machines simply turn right and you are in Covent Garden.

If you are daring you can park here but the parking meters cost £4 per hour. Some street parking is available during the summer.

Here are some of my favourite haunts:

TINTIN SHOP

As you walk towards the centre of Covent Garden you have to cross a street called Floral Street.

Turn right here and after about 150 yards you reach the Tintin shop.

My wife has been reading Tintin books since the age of 5 so this place seemed like heaven to her.

The shop caters for everything a Tintin enthusiast can dream about.

But prices are very expensive.

Displayed are Tintin videos, books, postcards, greeting cards, plastic figures, T-shirts, keyrings etc.

You can also buy these items online if you wish.

This is the only Tintin store in the UK.

A couple of years ago we visited the Tintin shop in Brussels, which was quite nice.

The UK store opened in 1984.

The lady who served us had one of those sexy French accents. Tres bon.

BOOTS

Covent Garden can get very crowded at times. Sometimes I enter Boots just for some peace and quiet. The store size is smaller than the average Boots store on the High Street. On the lower ground floor you can buy sandwiches and drinks which make for a cheap lunch.

MAXWELLS

From 1995 to 1999 my wife and I regularly ate lunch here. Maxwells is the best American style restaurant I have come across in London. You can simply have a drink at the bar. You can always find a seat available for lunch without waiting.

We prefer sitting downstairs. On the wall there are portraits of several celebrities like JFK, Mother Theresa etc. Music blares out as you eat. The atmosphere is fantastic.

For starters the crab cakes and potato skins are worth checking out. For the main meal the BLT club sandwich takes some beating. The desserts are fantastic too.

A 3-course meal for 2 including soft drinks would cost about £32 in total.

The service is very good. A few of the waitresses are quite tasty as well.

On one occasion there was too much salt on my wife’s Caesar salad. The waitress replaced the salad with another meal with no fuss at all.

In the past couple of years standards have dropped slightly. The atmosphere is still the same but the quantity of food on offer has diminished. Also prices have been hiked up. You do not get the same sense of satisfaction leaving Maxwells as you did in the past.

AUSTRALIA SHOP

Through watching ‘Neighbours’ and ‘Home and Away’ I have become quite a fan of all things Australian especially the Sheilas.

This shop is the ideal shop for ex-pats. Everything Australian is available here.

At ground floor level you can buy boomerangs, didgeree-doos, postcards of Sydney, Olympic memorabilia, travel guides, baseball caps, soft toys, posters, tea tree oil products etc.

The lower ground floor mainly sells food items like sweets. Australians cannot live without their vegemite. I especially liked the kangaroo meat sold in the freezer section.

Really this shop is a tourist trap with sky high prices.

My wife simply purchased a bookmark, which cost 65p.

This shop is worth visiting if only for browsing.

IRISH SHOP

I shopped here in 1996 and was very impressed.

This shop is very similar in concept to the Australia shop.

I purchased some postcards of Ireland’s beautiful countryside cheaply.

I even bought a bottle of fizzy orange drink made with Irish spring water. The taste was excellent.

Prices were reasonably affordable.

The two teenage girls at the till were quite sweet as well.

Shopping here will not make a hole in your wallet.

HAMLEYS

Most people will have heard of the Hamleys store in Regent Street. It purports to be the largest toy store in the UK. I find this store more expensive than average. I found that I could buy the same toys at Argos at a much cheaper price.

The Hamleys store at Covent Garden is a cut down version of the Regent Street store.

On the lower ground floor are sold Barbie dolls, stickers, special plastic balloons, WWF figures, stars that glow in the dark etc. A small ream of stickers would set you back £1.99. Woolworth’s sells these for 50p.

The staircase connecting the 2 floors is too spiral for my liking. One of these days I am going to lose my balance here.

The ground floor caters really for the London tourist. Sold here are London buses, teddy bears dressed as Beefeater guards, London chocolate, postcards of the Queen, some expensive soft toys etc.

During peak times this store can get very crowded as the store area is limited.

On our last visit my wife bought 2 Barbie dolls whilst I settled for an alien key ring which glows in the dark.

Again you are warned that prices are more expensive than the average toyshop.

THE CANDLE SHOP

As the name suggests this store sells an assortment of candles.

In 1987 I bought an Andrew and Fergie candle in celebration of their marriage the previous year. That marriage ended quite abruptly.

Really the range of candles on offer is amazing. Just walking through the shop smelling the wax is a unique experience.

You can buy aromatherapy candles, which I am told can alter your mood. There are aromatherapy candles which can reduce stress, uplift your mood etc. The aromatherapy section of Boots has taken off quite rapidly in the past few years.

Many of the candles displayed are like works of art. They are so beautiful that you do not want to melt them down.

There are many candles shaped like animals. I especially liked the pig candles.

Most of the candles are priced between £3 and £10. A few are priced above this range.

My one complaint is that the aisles are too narrow to walk along freely. One of these days I am going to lose balance and knock some candles over.

This store is almost packed every time I visit it. There is always a long queue at the till.

GADGET SHOP

I like stores, which my parents would never be seen dead in and the Gadget Shop tops the lot.

It sells bouncy superballs, hamsters rolling in a wheel, mobile phone accessories, chirping birds, penknives, singing fish, lava lamps, dancing plants, massage chairs, yapping dogs, fart detectors, mini basketball hoops etc.

This store is amazing to shop in. The atmosphere is fantastic.

The till staff were very enthusiastic and seemed to enjoy their job. The opposite was true in Hamleys.

This store is worth visiting just for seeing the amazed looks on the faces of tourists.

THE DISNEY STORE

I love cartoons and this is the store for me.

All types of Disney paraphernalia are sold here.

There is a screen playing songs from all the Disney cartoons. One of my favourite Disney tunes is ‘Someday my prince will come’ from ‘Snow White’.

Really the prices here are a rip-off. Everything is too expensive.

Mothers invariably take their kids to the store for a respite. But many a time the child is admonished for choosing items which are too expensive for the mother to afford.

This store is ideal for window-shopping.

PIZZA HUT

Being situated in the centre of a major tourist area means that there are usually queues before you can get a table. But you are given menus to browse at while waiting.

We had to wait for about 15 minutes, which was not too bad.

For starters we had potato skins and breaded mushrooms. For soft drinks there is an amazing refill service. This means that you pay once and can have as many glasses of soft drink as possible. I ended up having 3 full glasses of 7UP.

There are 4 types of pizza crust available. A medium chicken pizza sufficed for the 2 of us.

The meal was completed with a chocolate ice-cream sundae.

There are plenty of tables available. The waiters are enthusiastic and hard working and polite. Most of them earn the minimum wage, which is a little sad.

During weekdays between 12 and 2 p.m. there is a buffet service available. Here you can eat as much pizza, pasta and salad as possible. All this for £4.50.

I am a shareholder in Whitbread, which owns Pizza Hut. But I do not have enough shares to qualify for Pizza Hut discount vouchers.

If you do not mind the waiting then Pizza Hut is a lovely place to have your lunch at Covent Garden.

JUBILEE HALL MARKET

This is a lovely market with about 80 stalls.

If you want to shop here my advice is to take along a chequebook or carry about £20 in notes and coins.

My favourite stall is the Pleasuredome CD stand. CD prices are really dirt-cheap. I bought several CDs for £2.99 each. Pop posters and calendars are also sold here. The 2 stallholders are really helpful and friendly.

Most of the stalls sell bric-a-brac items with a certain theme.

My wife bought a couple of small porcelain cats at a pound each.

She also bought several items of fashion jewellery. We spent about £2-£3 at each stall hence the need to carry lots of change.

If it is a hot day I would recommend the frozen yogurt from the ice-cream stall.

I just love browsing the stalls for retail therapy. Some real bargains can be had here.

OTHER PLACES

The London Transport Museum is near the market hall. I have not been there yet.

I have not been to the Royal Opera House either. Opera ticket prices can reach £300 for a performance. The opera house had to find £80 million for renovations. But the National Lottery Commission provided all of the money. So much for the People’s Lottery, which is supposed to help needy charities.

Often you will see statues in the middle of the pedestrianised area. Suddenly they move and you become stupefied. These statue people provide perfect photo opportunities. On my last visit I saw a person dressed up like a tree.

Covent Garden is famous for its street entertainers. The comedians, jugglers and magicians are funnier than those seen on TV are. There is always crowd participation, which adds to the fun. A few years ago I became part of a 2-comedienne act and my reward was to have mouthfuls of water spat at me!

Hollywood celebrities often come to Covent Garden. The actress Meg Ryan is a great fan of the street entertainers. I think that she is ever so sweet. I found out today that her real name is Margaret Hyra. She blotted her copybook by cheating on husband actor Dennis Quaid with Russell Crowe who later dumped her for Nicole Kidman.

On Monmouth Street is the Mysteries store. This store specialises in New Age products such as astrology, tarot cards, crystals, healing tapes, books etc.

Mysteries also has its own tarot card reader. I got an appointment quite easily when I last visited it a few years ago. I saw a lovely lady called Frances who apparently had former ‘Catchphrase’ host Roy Walker as one of her clients.

In the early 1990s I used to consult a psychic ‘Michele of Covent Garden’ at her office in Neal Street. Michele was unusual in that her mother Madame Bruna was also a famous psychic. It was as if psychic ability was passed through the genes. Michele was uncannily accurate with her tarot card readings.

When we tried to go home in the late afternoon Covent Garden tube station was closed due to overcrowding. We simply walked down the whole of Neal Street, which connects with Shaftsbury Avenue. After a 10-minute walk down Shaftsbury Avenue we reached Cambridge Circus. Nearby is Leicester Square tube station.

If you visit London my advice is to give Covent Garden a try.