Good Hotel Guide
Hostels and Hotels in Outer London
If you have a hotel in any of these locations then please contact us to list your hotel below, free of charge.
Acton, Aldgate, Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Barnsbury, Bayswater, Bayswater/Paddington, Bethnal Green, Bexley, Bishopsgate, Bloomsbury, Bow, Bowes Park, Brent, Bromley, Camden Town, Canary Wharf, Canonbury, Chingford, Chiswick, Clerkenwell, Colindale, Covent Garden, Cricklewood, Crouch End, Croydon, Dalston, Ealing, East Finchley, East Ham, East London, Electoral Reform Society, Enfield, Euston, Fenchurch Street, Finchley, Finsbury Park, Fleet Street, Forest Gate, Golders Green, Greenwich, Hammersmith, Hampstead, Hanwell, Harlesden, Harrow, Havering, Hendon, Highams Park, Highbury, Highgate, Hillingdon, Holborn, Holloway, Homerton, Hornsey, Hounslow, Kensal Green, Kensington, Kentish Town
For UK travelers going abroad, we recommend Tenerife, with feel of the UK yet all the sun of Tenerife. Read an extract below from More Ketchup than Salsa, the story of a English couple who left the UK to set up life in Tenerife. Info on how to buy the book can be found below.
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Below you will find short extracts from More ketchup than Salsa by Joe Cawley – not to be missed.
Short Extract
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Like many other British bar owners, the previous owners of The Rum Jug were regulars for our Sunday roasts. Theirs was one of the first English bars in the south. They’d seen many comings and goings from other sunshine landlords and landladies. ‘If you can get through the first six months and you’ve not divorced, gone mad or killed each other you might just make it in the bar world. In Tenerife it’s called the six-month itch. Ninety per cent fail in that first half-year,’ they warned. It was the end of July. We weren’t even halfway through the itch. This was by no means our first foray into Julie’s world of ceiling-high paperwork, half-empty coffee cups and interminable waits. Time was of no importance. Specific appointments were merely general indicators of the day you were requested to camp in her office. A quick drop-in to pick up a piece of paper could take three hours one hour waiting for her to show up, another hour before she managed to disconnect herself from the telephone, and another hour while she complained about how busy she was and what new problems this latest addition to our library of forms would bring. When we were eventually seen, at 5.30, Julie went through the lengthy process of repeating how we were running a high risk of Joy getting deported and that we should legally employ her and pay her a wage. However, this time, she added casually as if it were old news, that if we contracted her as a part-time worker, this would save on the tax bill and mean we only had to fork out a small amount on social security payments. Why didn’t you suggest that before?’ asked Joy.
Acton, Aldgate, Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Barnsbury, Bayswater, Bayswater/Paddington, Bethnal Green, Bexley, Bishopsgate, Bloomsbury, Bow, Bowes Park, Brent, Bromley, Camden Town, Canary Wharf, Canonbury, Chingford, Chiswick, Clerkenwell, Colindale, Covent Garden, Cricklewood, Crouch End, Croydon, Dalston, Ealing, East Finchley, East Ham, East London, Electoral Reform Society, Enfield, Euston, Fenchurch Street, Finchley, Finsbury Park, Fleet Street, Forest Gate, Golders Green, Greenwich, Hammersmith, Hampstead, Hanwell, Harlesden, Harrow, Havering, Hendon, Highams Park, Highbury, Highgate, Hillingdon, Holborn, Holloway, Homerton, Hornsey, Hounslow, Kensal Green, Kensington, Kentish Town
I rushed out of the kitchen, called two children out from behind the bar and grabbed Joy’s elbow just as she was about to bring in an order. ‘Grab a seat and act like a customer,’ I hissed. ‘I think the inspectors are here.’ Our gestoria had repeatedly warned us that it was only a matter of time before we were visited. Joy immediately sat at the nearest table and started to make small talk. Unfortunately it was a table of bemused Germans so she quickly sidled outside to a family of regulars whom we had got to know over the past week. Faith was leaning over the bar. ‘Joy. Joy,’ she shouted. From behind the two officials I motioned with my head at the two men in front and opened my palms like a book. Faith’s eyebrows launched into orbit. ‘Can you take these drinks to table five for me?’ she asked in a nervous high-pitched voice.
It was Motown madness on Thursday night. Maxi Belle had recommended a soul act who, apparently, used to be in The Drifters. It was not an uncommon boast, half of the black singers who threw in the obligatory ‘On the Boardwalk’ into their set also made the same claim. If you believed all the claimants, the Drifters would have had more members than the London Symphony Orchestra, and that was just in Tenerife. Having seen his act, whether he was ex-anything or not, we couldn’t deny that he was good. Gene Alexander had an ultra-smooth voice, dazzling footwork and was one of the most professional acts that we had seen on the island. However, he didn’t come cheap, especially when he found out that he’d have to travel out of town to accommodate the Smugglers into his schedule. But Gene didn’t disappoint. He was a huge hit with the holidaymakers and many residents from far afield, who would make their only appearance at our bar on the Thursdays when Gene was performing. Joy’s theatrical aspirations were briefly fulfilled as she joined Gene in a dance routine that they had worked on for ‘Up On the Roof’. It was only after a few weeks of Gene’s gigs that we found out he was capable of getting much higher than just the roof. One Thursday he had arrived over half an hour late and the audience were growing impatient. The two Johns were having a particularly annoying day: ‘I think your ex-Drifter’s an ex-Smugglers now,’ said John One.