When in London, meetup!

posted February 16, 2012 11:38 AM | |

Sun March 4 at 12:00 PM, Speaker's Corner, meet at Marble Arch

Hyde Park, 30 Baker St, City of Westminster, London W1U 3ER, UK (Map & Directions)

Oh good, I get to meet my Quonsee! I'm up for anything – Sunday 4 or Monday 5 would be best for me. Where in London will you be based? And is there anything in particular you're dying to do or see?
posted by HandfulOfDust at 1:45 PM on February 16, 2012

I'm giving a talk at Imperial so I suppose I'll probably be staying somewhere thereabouts, but I haven't actually been given info yet. Sunday's better than Monday for me.

I would like some scones and clotted cream. Fabulous bookstores/libraries are also always a good idea. Good British pubs are also hard to find in Michigan where I live now so I'd like to find those too!
posted by nat at 2:53 PM on February 16, 2012

Good British pubs are also hard to find in Michigan where I live now so I'd like to find those too!

What constitutes a good pub to you? Something old/historic? Some place the locals drink? A wide range of beers?

Imperial College... That's South Kensington, right? I dunno much about that area, unfortunately, maybe someone more knowledgable can make recommendations.
posted by dubold at 3:39 AM on February 17, 2012

The Queen's Arms was OK when we did this meetup. It was really busy on a work night though. Luckily it was warm enough to stand around outside most of the night, but that's less likely to be an option in early March.
posted by permafrost at 5:19 AM on February 17, 2012

Any meetup to do with scones is a good meetup to me.
posted by Gordafarin at 7:10 AM on February 17, 2012

Just throwing an idea out for Sunday – we could have a wander round Speaker’s Corner (MeFi soapboxes optional) and then head off for a pub lunch somewhere in Marylebone or Mayfair.

And of course there’s always the British Library. Pub/library/back to the pub sounds like a good scheme to me. So does pub/library/afternoon tea.
posted by HandfulOfDust at 7:13 AM on February 17, 2012

If we go to Speaker's Corner then I'm going to read out all my deleted comments. I may be there some time.
posted by permafrost at 8:05 AM on February 17, 2012 [2 favorites]

So we could filibuster the Speaker's Corner by reading out the whole Deleted Threads blog?

I'm a definite maybe for Sunday/Monday.
posted by ersatz at 10:11 AM on February 17, 2012

If we're going to be around the Mayfair area, we could have tea at Richoux on Piccadilly, which does the full afternoon tea (sandwiches, scones, cake) for £16.50 or there's this:
RICHOUX CREAM TEA - 9.25
Four warm baby scones, strawberry preserve, Cornish clotted cream with tea , coffee or mug of hot chocolate

I know that's quite a lot of money, but if nat wants scones and clotted cream in London, you're not going to get much better value than that. And it's 100 yards from The Ritz, so we could always pretend we went there instead.
posted by essexjan at 1:27 PM on February 17, 2012

Near South Kensington I can strongly recommend the Admiral Codrington.
It's not classically British, but the chef there is obsessed with making the worlds best cheese burger.

If you're near the British Library you can quite quickly get to the Bree Louise, on Coburg Street. It is a very british looking pub and does North London's best range of Ales.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 2:04 PM on February 17, 2012

So we could filibuster the Speaker's Corner by reading out the whole Deleted Threads blog?

Or the Treaty of Westphalia?

Or just heckle the hell out of everyone? "TL; DR!", "Get your own blog!", "Outrage-filter!", etc.
posted by Infinite Jest at 9:50 AM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm in if it's on a monday.

And I'd also like to suggest buying nice scones and getting decent clotted cream and jam, and having a scone picnic in the park if the weather is dry. Much more fun than paying through the nose in a hotel cafe! Research would be needed to find park and bakery. I can have my ninja team do this.
posted by greenish at 8:50 AM on February 21, 2012

I have to actually work during the day on Monday, but I could do Monday evening things.

Otherwise I do like several of these ideas. To me, good pub= place you can go to drink good beer and talk with friends while actually hearing them and having a place to sit, or at least a decent chance of a place to sit.

The Speaker's Corner idea sounds kind of fun, too. What do people think?
posted by nat at 11:13 AM on February 21, 2012

I can't do the Monday, I'm at the theatre.

If you want Speaker's Corner, then that's on Sunday mornings. I'd be happy to do that, along with tea at Richoux (see above, it costs a tenner, not completely extortionate and really very nice indeed).
posted by essexjan at 2:53 PM on February 21, 2012

I’d be well up for a stroll around Speakers Corner followed by afternoon-tea-as-lunch. (Or the pub. Or tea then the pub. Or the pub then tea.)

According to speakerscorner.net, the agenda is as follows: ‘Speakers' Corner Sunday meetings: Socialist, Marxist, Christian, Catholic, Christian Atheist [?], Post-Modernist, Black Supremacist, Sex and love speaker, "It is gonna get worse" corner, Sunni, Shia, Independent Islamic, born again evangelists, long live Israel, free hugs, and much more...’. A home from home, in other words.
posted by HandfulOfDust at 6:32 AM on February 22, 2012 [2 favorites]

That sounds like a plan, HoD.
posted by essexjan at 10:46 AM on February 23, 2012

Yes, it sure does. Which location should I list?
posted by nat at 4:06 PM on February 23, 2012

How about we meet at Marble Arch - it's at the right corner of Hyde Park for Speaker's Corner, and you can't miss it, it's a huge great marble arch in the middle of the road. Sunday 4 March, 11am?
posted by essexjan at 1:20 AM on February 24, 2012

That's a good idea! – although annoyingly, google maps doesn't seem to register Marble Arch as a location – the actual Arch, I mean – so you'll have to specify that in the blurb at the top. I'll rock up at whatever time we decide to kick off, but I'd favour a slightly later start - say midday.
posted by HandfulOfDust at 5:08 AM on February 24, 2012

Yes, midday is fine.
posted by essexjan at 8:25 AM on February 24, 2012

Should we also specify a pub/tea location for latecomers?
posted by nat at 9:58 AM on February 24, 2012

Well, you did want clotted cream and scones, so are we going to Richoux for tea? The one in Mayfair at 41a South Audley Street is closer to Speaker's Corner than the Piccadilly one.
posted by essexjan at 1:02 PM on February 24, 2012

There's also a pub, The Audley, round the corner from Richoux.
posted by essexjan at 1:06 PM on February 24, 2012

I think Richoux looks great. Does it take bookings, do you know?
posted by HandfulOfDust at 4:28 AM on February 25, 2012

I just remembered that I have a phone, and could therefore find this out all by myself. Anyway, yes - they do take bookings. Are we going to go there before the pub (assuming everyone's up for Richoux)? They do serve proper 'lunch' type things as well as tea.
posted by HandfulOfDust at 4:53 AM on February 25, 2012

Yes, I think before the pub.
posted by essexjan at 3:15 PM on February 25, 2012

I'm in favour of Richoux; been wanting to do a traditional afternoon tea for a while.

(Also Jan, whisper this but it's Spurs v Man Utd at 4pm on Sunday.....)
posted by Infinite Jest at 3:11 AM on February 27, 2012

I know, IJ, but that's what Sky is for. I'll record it and watch it when I get home.
posted by essexjan at 9:23 AM on February 27, 2012

Or they might even be showing it in the pub :-D
posted by essexjan at 9:28 AM on February 27, 2012

When should we make a booking by? I'm obviously a fan of the tea concept, and if it requires a booking, I suppose we should do that. I could add that as the location or just put a bit in the blurb at the top.
posted by nat at 2:14 PM on February 27, 2012

This part of London is fairly quiet on Sundays, so I'd be surprised if we have to book, but I'll give them a call tomorrow just to make sure.
posted by essexjan at 5:07 PM on February 28, 2012

I just spoke to someone at Richoux who said that Sundays are unpredictable - they could have a queue through the door or we could walk right in. I said I was unsure on numbers - it could be five or six, it could be eight or nine, so she said that we can phone on the day an hour or so before we want to be there, as they'll need to put some tables together to accommodate a larger party.

So, that's fine, we can phone on Sunday once we know how big a party we'll be and what sort of time we're looking at to be there. It's probably a 10-15 minute walk from Speaker's Corner, maybe a little longer if we're in a group and dawdling along.
posted by essexjan at 1:50 AM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm out of town this weekend, but have a good time folks!
posted by TheophileEscargot at 8:14 AM on March 1, 2012

The weather forecast for tomorrow is heavy rain. Dress accordingly.
posted by essexjan at 9:18 AM on March 3, 2012

There was a mixup with my travel plans, so I won't be attending. Have fun today!
posted by ersatz at 2:29 AM on March 4, 2012

I am still at home but will catch you at Speakers Corner; if I'm really late go ahead to tea and I'll see you there. But I shouldn't be too late.
posted by Infinite Jest at 3:10 AM on March 4, 2012

Metafilter: I'm not debating, I'm telling you!

(Above is a quote from one of the nuttier Speaker's Corner ranters, a Jamaican evangelist, who appears to have the same debate week-on-week with a Muslim, who was altogether rather more tolerant. )

The meetup was excellent, although the freezing cold rain meant only the most dedicated nutters were out at Speaker's Corner. Tea in Mayfair was lovely, total carb overload, and from there we went to Daunt Books and then everyone (but me) went to the pub.

Great to see everyone, and to meet Nat.
posted by essexjan at 10:34 AM on March 4, 2012

Thanks for the photos, essexjan. And good to meet my quonsar (one who quonsed? quons-er? hmm..) as well, HandfulofDust.

And of course the rest of y'all too.
posted by nat at 7:03 PM on March 5, 2012