Day 93
Watford - Watford High Street - Watford Junction - Wembley Central - Wembley Park
A day spent in the top left hand corner of the tube map today, as I travel to five stations concentrated in just two locations - Watford and Wembley.
Before I start though, a word or two about station names and locations.
You might assume - presented (as I am today) with a station called simply 'Watford' - that this is the main station for the town of that name, and that therefore it will be fairly central and close to all the local points of interest.
Similarly, the name 'Wembley Central', must by definition be in the centre of Wembley and one would expect the most interesting things in the area to be fairly close by.
You would, of course, be wrong in both cases.
In the case of the town of Watford, which has three stations, only one of them can be considered in any way 'central', and this is the second on my list - Watford High Street. In Wembley, neither of the main points of interest (the famous Stadium and its next-door neighbour the Arena) are anywhere near the 'Central' station and are instead closer to the final stop on my list - Wembley Park.
Which - frankly - is fairly typical of the sort of nonsense I've come to expect from the Underground network.
***
Anyway, enough of my quibbles - on with the day's travels.
I start at the aforementioned Watford Station, which lies about a mile to the west of the town centre. It is the terminus of the Watford branch of the Metropolitan Line and was built in the arts and crafts style of the 1920s.
Being some way out of town the area surrounding the station is mainly residential, apart from to the north where there is a large park and nature reserve called Cassiobury Park.
This was once part of the grounds of Cassiobury House, which was the ancestral home of the Earls of Essex from the time of Henry VIII. The house was demolished in 1927 but a large part of the grounds had already been sold to the council in 1909.
It's a big place - over 190 acres - and, as well as the usual wide open spaces and children's play-areas, has some interesting bits of artwork:
I head to the western edge of the park, where it meets the River Gade.
This is one of the three rivers meeting at Rickmansworth, which I encountered on my trip there not so long ago, though it has its source in Buckinghamshire and passes through Hemel Hempstead and Kings Langley on its way south through Hertfordshire.
Its waters were used here in Cassiobury Park both to power water mills and also to enable watercress to be cultivated.
And that's pretty much it for this part of Watford - time to head to the two other stations here, starting with Watford High Street, which I hope will prove to have a bit more going on around it...
***
The station is actually on Lower High Street, with the original High Street running north from it. However, since the latter is largely dominated by the enormous INTU Watford Shopping Centre, the station's location does at least give it a bit of breathing space.
The shopping centre here is run by the same company as that in Uxbridge, and the two towns feel very similar as I wander along the High Street. This isn't altogether surprising as both are in that amorphous stretch of commuter-belt suburbia known as 'Metro-Land'.
I head first to the south of the station, where there is a museum dedicated to all things Watfordian.
Unfortunately, and rather par for the course on this journey (or so it seems to me) the museum is only open on limited days of the week, and I've arrived on one of the days it is firmly shut.
Turning north again I head up to the High Street, which - despite the dominance of the shopping centre - does still have a reasonable supply of shops and cafés catering for the local crowds.
Again, there are some interesting pieces of public artwork dotted around the centre of town. The first of which is a giant insect, which seems an unnecessarily creepy thing to be looming over the innocent shoppers beneath.
However, the insect in question is a hornet, and is a reference to the nickname (The Hornets) of Watford FC, the local football team, famously supported (and at one point run) by singer Elton John.
A little further up the High Street is St Mary's Church, a mainly 15th Century building with a history that apparently goes back a lot further, making the church about 800 years old.
Here again are some interesting sculptures, though the significance of the four posts, each topped with a pair of back-to-back faces is sadly lost on me.
The final landmark I visit in the town centre is the Watford Palace Theatre.
This is one of the few regional theatres which, as well as hosting touring productions from other companies, produces its own work, and has done for over 100 years. In the 1960s it was run by Jimmy Perry - actor and writer, and one half of the creative team (alongside David Croft) who wrote some of British televisions best known sit-coms, such as Dad's Army, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, and Hi Di Hi.
Then it's on to my final stop in Watford, and one station along the Overground Line to its terminus - Watford Junction.
There's not an awful lot to say about either the station or its surroundings. The former is - as the name suggests - a reasonably busy interchange of various train lines - not just the Overground but also trains going to the midlands and the Caledonian Sleeper to Carlisle.
The latter - the surroundings - are mainly office blocks by the looks of things, and are as uniformly uninteresting as that suggests.
In fact the only real point of interest here is a rather colourful bus standing outside the station, waiting to take passengers onwards to one of the most popular tourist attractions of recent years - a place in stark contrast to the uninspiring surroundings here at the station.
The Harry Potter phenomenon - both books and films - has dominated the cultural landscape for the last twenty years. The original books captivated the imaginations of millions around the globe, and the subsequent film versions could easily have been a severe disappointment to the many fans.
However, thanks in large part to the watchful eye of author JK Rowling and the fantastic attention to detail of the film-makers, the movie versions did justice to the magical world that young Mr Potter inhabits, as a visit to the Harry Potter Studio Tour at Warner Bros Leavesden Studios will show.
Having been to the studios myself a couple of times already, I don't feel the need to see it again, but I can share with you a few of my photos from those visits, to whet your appetite should you be considering a trip their yourselves.
The main thought that crosses your mind as you wander around the sets and props is one of sheer disbelief at the amount of detailed work that has gone into making something that might only be seen for a split second of screen-time, if indeed it is seen at all.
For example, how many of you who have seen the films, will have noticed this fully illustrated copy of a Wizarding Comic lying around the Gryffindor Common Room? And yet it hat has been painstakingly created in such great detail that you feel sure it must have played an integral part in some scene or other.
Some of the hard work does, of course, make it onto the screen for more than a split-second, and features in some of the more memorable moments from the films...
It's well worth a visit, whether or not you're a particular fan of the Harry Potter films, as it gives such an insight into what goes on behind the scenes of a feature film. On the other hand, you do have to put up with a certain amount of enforced geekery from the staff manning the main entrance and the (traditionally overpriced) gift shop at the end.
***
My next stop is Wembley Central, which - as I mentioned at the start of this post - is nowhere near the two major landmarks in the area - Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena.
Worse still, the High Road, on which it stands, is not the most salubrious of places to spend any time, despite some recent efforts to spruce it up a bit. The shops are fairly typical, though with rather more pawn-brokers and discount stores than in some wealthier places.
A new 'plaza' next to the station contains a few of the more well-known high street names, though even these are restricted to the Argos and TK Maxx type of establishment, rather than anything more upmarket.
So I stay only long enough to grab a bite to eat from the local branch of Costa Coffee, and head off as soon as practicable for my final stop of the day - Wembley Park.
You can tell, just from the station entrance, that this is more like it.
There's a 'grandness' about those steps, leading down to the pedestrianised 'Olympic Way', at the other end of which is the imposing structure of the world-famous stadium - and the whole area feels somehow cleaner and shinier than the High Road was.
Of course, a lot of this is relatively new - not least the stadium itself, or at least, its current incarnation.
The original stadium, with its twin towers, was opened in 1923 as the 'Empire Stadium'. It was built to house the British Empire Exhibition in 1924-25 though the first event to take place there was the FA cup final of 1923 - a fixture which was to take place at the venue every year following this.
It also hosted the 1966 World Cup - in which the England team were the victors for the first and, so far, only time. A memorial to that victory, and to one of its key players, captain Bobby Moore, stands outside the stadium.
The stadium has also become famous as a music venue, hosting concerts by every major band and singer from the worlds of pop and rock. Perhaps most spectacularly, it was the British venue for the 1985 Live Aid Concert - the 'Global Jukebox' - which, with its sister concert at the Philadelphia JFK Stadium, raised millions of pounds to help those affected by the Ethiopian famine of the mid 80s.
My own experience of concerts there is varied, but I think the one that stands out most in my mind, for personal reasons which shall become clear, is the "Zooropa" tour by U2, which I attended here on the 21st August 1993.
I was a fresh-faced student at the time, and a big fan of the band, so the opportunity to see them live was one I eagerly grasped, despite the relatively high cost of tickets. The show - as you might expect if you know anything about U2's live performances - was a huge extravaganza of lighting, video screens, special effects, costumes and guest appearances, as well as the music they were world-famous for.
However, the thing that makes it most memorable for me, is something that lasted barely 10 seconds, but 10 seconds during which I may - just may - have set a world record.
Let me explain...
Before the show got under way, as people were drifting into the stadium with their plastic pint pots full of beer and trying to grab the best spots from which to see the band, a number of small booths dotted around the stadium were quietly videoing whoever wanted to pop in and say something.
Called 'Video Confessionals' - they were designed to film the concert-goer's confessions, the best/worst/most amusing of which were to be edited together and shown in the break after the main concert and before the band came back for the encore.
Being something of a wag, and not having anything I much to confess (or that I was willing to, at any rate) I joined the queue to the booth with something a little different in mind.
Of course, I had to frame it in such a way as to sound like a confession, so I chose my wording very carefully. This is what I said:
"My confession is that I've always wanted to break the world record for the largest number of people to say the word 'f**k' simultaneously. So here goes - one, two, three....!"
The cameraman gave a little chuckle as he filmed me, so I thought that at least I'd given him a laugh, if nothing else. However, you can imagine my shock as my own face was - later in the evening - projected onto 80 foot high video screens either side of the stage, and my message played to the gathered thousands.
Not only that, but they all did it! After my count of three, the entire audience (of 70-odd thousand) all shouted the specified expletive with gusto.
Of course, I have no idea if such a World Record exists, nor whether I managed to break it. And since no-one from the Guinness Book of Records was on hand to corroborate the event, and the exact number of people who were there and who said the word is debatable, the point is somewhat academic.
Nevertheless, I like to hope that the rest of the crowd, as well as myself, feel that they were part of something special and collaborative that night - and not just indulging me in a bit of puerile student-y showing off...
The old stadium was demolished in the early 2000s and its replacement opened in 2007. Rubble from the original was used to build the artificial hills at Northala Fields in Northolt, which have become a landmark of the A40 out of London.
***
Across the 'Olympic Way' is the second of Wembley's two venues - the Arena.
I say 'across the way', but as you can just about see from the bottom of the picture above, the way in question is currently in the process of being dug up - and the resulting construction of several blocks of flats running the length of Olympic Way will effectively divide the Stadium from the Arena like a modern day Berlin Wall, and surround the two iconic venues with concrete as far as the eye can see.
It's a shame, as the two buildings really need a bit of space around them to get the full impact of their architecture - but such is the way of the world these days...
My visit to the Arena is being made somewhat more personalised thanks to the fact that I happen to be jolly good chums with someone who works there, and who has offered to take me around some of the less publicly accessible parts of the venue.
'King Jon' (as he prefers, for reasons of his own, to be known), works in the Box Office, and is always ready to greet the paying public with a cheery smile and a friendly 'hello'.
He has asked the building manager to show me two points of interest, the first being the view from the roof of the building.
'King Jon' - despite his lack of any head for heights - accompanies us up the tall and rather precarious feeling ladder that is tucked away through a door behind the topmost rank of seating.
While I enjoy the view my friend stays well back from the edge and grips the nearest hand-hold so firmly that his knuckles turn as white as the shirt he is wearing.
I have no such vertiginous feelings and get some great shots of the plaza below me and of the Stadium next door (before the view is permanently obscured by tower blocks).
Then we head back down the ladder, and further, into the depths of the basement beneath the building, which was - in a former life - something very different...
The Arena, like the Stadium, is both a sporting and a concert venue, though these days hosts more of the latter than the former.
When originally built however, this was most definitely not the case, and few concert-goers these days probably realise they are tapping (or perhaps more likely stomping) their feet on a floor which sits above a former Olympic sized swimming pool.
The Empire Pool (as the Arena was originally called) was built for the 1934 British Empire Games - the forerunner of the modern day Commonwealth Games - and was also used for the 1948 London Olympic Games.
The pool itself is now - as I have mentioned - in the basement of the Arena building, and is not particularly well lit... or accessible.
However, having clambered under air-duct pipes and through miniscule hatchways, I stand beneath the floor of the Arena and look across the extremely dimly-lit former pool.
Impressive huh?
Ok - the lighting does mean you can't actually tell what it is from the photograph above, but I assure you that 'in the flesh' the shape and size of the pool is more obvious.
Other signs of the Arena's former use are more easily seen - including the depth markers printed on what were formerly the sides of the pool, and the glass 'portholes' in its walls, which - owing to the lack of electric lighting when it was first built - allowed natural light to illuminate the pool from the sides.
Back upstairs, perhaps sensing that the basement didn't quite convey the former glory of the pool as well as it could have done, King Jon shows me some photos in one of the Arena's dining areas, which do at least prove that there was a pool here once.
The pool was closed at the outbreak of WWII and only re-opened for the Olympic Games in 1948. But its days as a swimming pool were over, and after the Olympics it was permanently converted to a floored sports venue and, later, music venue.
It's as the latter that it is now best known, and some of the top names in Rock history have played here, not least the Beatles, who played in the 1960s at the New Musical Express poll-winners' concert.
Memorabilia from past performers is on display in the main entrance of the Arena, and includes not just programmes, photos and back-stage passes, but also instruments used by some of the groups who played here.
And that brings my personal tour of the Arena to a close.
I leave the building - passing under what was presumably the equivalent of a foundation stone for the original building, but which now appears to have been hung on the wall as a piece of decoration - and make my way home at the end of another successful day's Wombling.
Next up we begin our foray into the many 'West' stations - what larks!
Until then!
Before I start though, a word or two about station names and locations.
You might assume - presented (as I am today) with a station called simply 'Watford' - that this is the main station for the town of that name, and that therefore it will be fairly central and close to all the local points of interest.
Similarly, the name 'Wembley Central', must by definition be in the centre of Wembley and one would expect the most interesting things in the area to be fairly close by.
You would, of course, be wrong in both cases.
In the case of the town of Watford, which has three stations, only one of them can be considered in any way 'central', and this is the second on my list - Watford High Street. In Wembley, neither of the main points of interest (the famous Stadium and its next-door neighbour the Arena) are anywhere near the 'Central' station and are instead closer to the final stop on my list - Wembley Park.
Which - frankly - is fairly typical of the sort of nonsense I've come to expect from the Underground network.
***
Anyway, enough of my quibbles - on with the day's travels.
I start at the aforementioned Watford Station, which lies about a mile to the west of the town centre. It is the terminus of the Watford branch of the Metropolitan Line and was built in the arts and crafts style of the 1920s.
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| Watford |
Being some way out of town the area surrounding the station is mainly residential, apart from to the north where there is a large park and nature reserve called Cassiobury Park.
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| Croquet Lawn |
This was once part of the grounds of Cassiobury House, which was the ancestral home of the Earls of Essex from the time of Henry VIII. The house was demolished in 1927 but a large part of the grounds had already been sold to the council in 1909.
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| Cassiobury Park |
It's a big place - over 190 acres - and, as well as the usual wide open spaces and children's play-areas, has some interesting bits of artwork:
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| Carved artwork... |
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| ...finally answering the age old question of what bears do in the wood |
I head to the western edge of the park, where it meets the River Gade.
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| River Gade |
This is one of the three rivers meeting at Rickmansworth, which I encountered on my trip there not so long ago, though it has its source in Buckinghamshire and passes through Hemel Hempstead and Kings Langley on its way south through Hertfordshire.
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| Another river view |
Its waters were used here in Cassiobury Park both to power water mills and also to enable watercress to be cultivated.
And that's pretty much it for this part of Watford - time to head to the two other stations here, starting with Watford High Street, which I hope will prove to have a bit more going on around it...
***
The station is actually on Lower High Street, with the original High Street running north from it. However, since the latter is largely dominated by the enormous INTU Watford Shopping Centre, the station's location does at least give it a bit of breathing space.
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| Watford High Street |
The shopping centre here is run by the same company as that in Uxbridge, and the two towns feel very similar as I wander along the High Street. This isn't altogether surprising as both are in that amorphous stretch of commuter-belt suburbia known as 'Metro-Land'.
I head first to the south of the station, where there is a museum dedicated to all things Watfordian.
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| Watford Museum |
Unfortunately, and rather par for the course on this journey (or so it seems to me) the museum is only open on limited days of the week, and I've arrived on one of the days it is firmly shut.
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| The High Street |
Turning north again I head up to the High Street, which - despite the dominance of the shopping centre - does still have a reasonable supply of shops and cafés catering for the local crowds.
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| INTU Watford Shopping Centre Entrance |
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| Hornet Sculpture |
Again, there are some interesting pieces of public artwork dotted around the centre of town. The first of which is a giant insect, which seems an unnecessarily creepy thing to be looming over the innocent shoppers beneath.
However, the insect in question is a hornet, and is a reference to the nickname (The Hornets) of Watford FC, the local football team, famously supported (and at one point run) by singer Elton John.
A little further up the High Street is St Mary's Church, a mainly 15th Century building with a history that apparently goes back a lot further, making the church about 800 years old.
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| Face Sculpture near St Mary's Church |
Here again are some interesting sculptures, though the significance of the four posts, each topped with a pair of back-to-back faces is sadly lost on me.
The final landmark I visit in the town centre is the Watford Palace Theatre.
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| Watford Palace Theatre |
This is one of the few regional theatres which, as well as hosting touring productions from other companies, produces its own work, and has done for over 100 years. In the 1960s it was run by Jimmy Perry - actor and writer, and one half of the creative team (alongside David Croft) who wrote some of British televisions best known sit-coms, such as Dad's Army, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, and Hi Di Hi.
Then it's on to my final stop in Watford, and one station along the Overground Line to its terminus - Watford Junction.
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| Watford Junction |
The latter - the surroundings - are mainly office blocks by the looks of things, and are as uniformly uninteresting as that suggests.
In fact the only real point of interest here is a rather colourful bus standing outside the station, waiting to take passengers onwards to one of the most popular tourist attractions of recent years - a place in stark contrast to the uninspiring surroundings here at the station.
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| Bus to the Harry Potter Studio Tour |
The Harry Potter phenomenon - both books and films - has dominated the cultural landscape for the last twenty years. The original books captivated the imaginations of millions around the globe, and the subsequent film versions could easily have been a severe disappointment to the many fans.
However, thanks in large part to the watchful eye of author JK Rowling and the fantastic attention to detail of the film-makers, the movie versions did justice to the magical world that young Mr Potter inhabits, as a visit to the Harry Potter Studio Tour at Warner Bros Leavesden Studios will show.
Having been to the studios myself a couple of times already, I don't feel the need to see it again, but I can share with you a few of my photos from those visits, to whet your appetite should you be considering a trip their yourselves.
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| Costumes in the 'Great Hall' |
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| Text Book in Potion Class |
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| Gryffindor Common Room |
The main thought that crosses your mind as you wander around the sets and props is one of sheer disbelief at the amount of detailed work that has gone into making something that might only be seen for a split second of screen-time, if indeed it is seen at all.
For example, how many of you who have seen the films, will have noticed this fully illustrated copy of a Wizarding Comic lying around the Gryffindor Common Room? And yet it hat has been painstakingly created in such great detail that you feel sure it must have played an integral part in some scene or other.
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| 'The Adventures Of Martin Miggs the Mad Muggle' |
Some of the hard work does, of course, make it onto the screen for more than a split-second, and features in some of the more memorable moments from the films...
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| Gringott's Bank Vault Door |
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| Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes |
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| Tom Riddle's Grave |
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| Hagrid Model |
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| Hogwarts Model |
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| Shop on Diagon Alley |
It's well worth a visit, whether or not you're a particular fan of the Harry Potter films, as it gives such an insight into what goes on behind the scenes of a feature film. On the other hand, you do have to put up with a certain amount of enforced geekery from the staff manning the main entrance and the (traditionally overpriced) gift shop at the end.
***
My next stop is Wembley Central, which - as I mentioned at the start of this post - is nowhere near the two major landmarks in the area - Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena.
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| Wembley Central |
Worse still, the High Road, on which it stands, is not the most salubrious of places to spend any time, despite some recent efforts to spruce it up a bit. The shops are fairly typical, though with rather more pawn-brokers and discount stores than in some wealthier places.
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| Wembley High Road |
A new 'plaza' next to the station contains a few of the more well-known high street names, though even these are restricted to the Argos and TK Maxx type of establishment, rather than anything more upmarket.
So I stay only long enough to grab a bite to eat from the local branch of Costa Coffee, and head off as soon as practicable for my final stop of the day - Wembley Park.
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| Wembley Park |
You can tell, just from the station entrance, that this is more like it.
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| Man Catching A Star - sculpture outside the station. |
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| Olympic Way - with Stadium at the end. |
Of course, a lot of this is relatively new - not least the stadium itself, or at least, its current incarnation.
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| Wembley Stadium (Mark II) |
The original stadium, with its twin towers, was opened in 1923 as the 'Empire Stadium'. It was built to house the British Empire Exhibition in 1924-25 though the first event to take place there was the FA cup final of 1923 - a fixture which was to take place at the venue every year following this.
It also hosted the 1966 World Cup - in which the England team were the victors for the first and, so far, only time. A memorial to that victory, and to one of its key players, captain Bobby Moore, stands outside the stadium.
 |
| Bobby Moore statue |
The stadium has also become famous as a music venue, hosting concerts by every major band and singer from the worlds of pop and rock. Perhaps most spectacularly, it was the British venue for the 1985 Live Aid Concert - the 'Global Jukebox' - which, with its sister concert at the Philadelphia JFK Stadium, raised millions of pounds to help those affected by the Ethiopian famine of the mid 80s.
My own experience of concerts there is varied, but I think the one that stands out most in my mind, for personal reasons which shall become clear, is the "Zooropa" tour by U2, which I attended here on the 21st August 1993.
I was a fresh-faced student at the time, and a big fan of the band, so the opportunity to see them live was one I eagerly grasped, despite the relatively high cost of tickets. The show - as you might expect if you know anything about U2's live performances - was a huge extravaganza of lighting, video screens, special effects, costumes and guest appearances, as well as the music they were world-famous for.
However, the thing that makes it most memorable for me, is something that lasted barely 10 seconds, but 10 seconds during which I may - just may - have set a world record.
Let me explain...
Before the show got under way, as people were drifting into the stadium with their plastic pint pots full of beer and trying to grab the best spots from which to see the band, a number of small booths dotted around the stadium were quietly videoing whoever wanted to pop in and say something.
Called 'Video Confessionals' - they were designed to film the concert-goer's confessions, the best/worst/most amusing of which were to be edited together and shown in the break after the main concert and before the band came back for the encore.
Being something of a wag, and not having anything I much to confess (or that I was willing to, at any rate) I joined the queue to the booth with something a little different in mind.
Of course, I had to frame it in such a way as to sound like a confession, so I chose my wording very carefully. This is what I said:
"My confession is that I've always wanted to break the world record for the largest number of people to say the word 'f**k' simultaneously. So here goes - one, two, three....!"
The cameraman gave a little chuckle as he filmed me, so I thought that at least I'd given him a laugh, if nothing else. However, you can imagine my shock as my own face was - later in the evening - projected onto 80 foot high video screens either side of the stage, and my message played to the gathered thousands.
Not only that, but they all did it! After my count of three, the entire audience (of 70-odd thousand) all shouted the specified expletive with gusto.
Of course, I have no idea if such a World Record exists, nor whether I managed to break it. And since no-one from the Guinness Book of Records was on hand to corroborate the event, and the exact number of people who were there and who said the word is debatable, the point is somewhat academic.
Nevertheless, I like to hope that the rest of the crowd, as well as myself, feel that they were part of something special and collaborative that night - and not just indulging me in a bit of puerile student-y showing off...
The old stadium was demolished in the early 2000s and its replacement opened in 2007. Rubble from the original was used to build the artificial hills at Northala Fields in Northolt, which have become a landmark of the A40 out of London.
***
Across the 'Olympic Way' is the second of Wembley's two venues - the Arena.
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| Construction in front of Wembley Arena |
I say 'across the way', but as you can just about see from the bottom of the picture above, the way in question is currently in the process of being dug up - and the resulting construction of several blocks of flats running the length of Olympic Way will effectively divide the Stadium from the Arena like a modern day Berlin Wall, and surround the two iconic venues with concrete as far as the eye can see.
 |
| The Arena |
It's a shame, as the two buildings really need a bit of space around them to get the full impact of their architecture - but such is the way of the world these days...
My visit to the Arena is being made somewhat more personalised thanks to the fact that I happen to be jolly good chums with someone who works there, and who has offered to take me around some of the less publicly accessible parts of the venue.
 |
| King Jon at work... |
'King Jon' (as he prefers, for reasons of his own, to be known), works in the Box Office, and is always ready to greet the paying public with a cheery smile and a friendly 'hello'.
 |
| ... and the fruits of his labours. |
He has asked the building manager to show me two points of interest, the first being the view from the roof of the building.
 |
| Up on the roof - looking towards Harrow On The Hill |
'King Jon' - despite his lack of any head for heights - accompanies us up the tall and rather precarious feeling ladder that is tucked away through a door behind the topmost rank of seating.
 |
| King Jon being very brave |
While I enjoy the view my friend stays well back from the edge and grips the nearest hand-hold so firmly that his knuckles turn as white as the shirt he is wearing.
 |
| Fountain in the plaza in front of the Arena |
I have no such vertiginous feelings and get some great shots of the plaza below me and of the Stadium next door (before the view is permanently obscured by tower blocks).
 |
| The Stadium in all its glory |
Then we head back down the ladder, and further, into the depths of the basement beneath the building, which was - in a former life - something very different...
The Arena, like the Stadium, is both a sporting and a concert venue, though these days hosts more of the latter than the former.
When originally built however, this was most definitely not the case, and few concert-goers these days probably realise they are tapping (or perhaps more likely stomping) their feet on a floor which sits above a former Olympic sized swimming pool.
The Empire Pool (as the Arena was originally called) was built for the 1934 British Empire Games - the forerunner of the modern day Commonwealth Games - and was also used for the 1948 London Olympic Games.
The pool itself is now - as I have mentioned - in the basement of the Arena building, and is not particularly well lit... or accessible.
However, having clambered under air-duct pipes and through miniscule hatchways, I stand beneath the floor of the Arena and look across the extremely dimly-lit former pool.
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| The Empire Pool - no really, it's a swimming pool, honest... |
Impressive huh?
Ok - the lighting does mean you can't actually tell what it is from the photograph above, but I assure you that 'in the flesh' the shape and size of the pool is more obvious.
Other signs of the Arena's former use are more easily seen - including the depth markers printed on what were formerly the sides of the pool, and the glass 'portholes' in its walls, which - owing to the lack of electric lighting when it was first built - allowed natural light to illuminate the pool from the sides.
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| Depth Markers (the numbers, top right) and portholes. |
Back upstairs, perhaps sensing that the basement didn't quite convey the former glory of the pool as well as it could have done, King Jon shows me some photos in one of the Arena's dining areas, which do at least prove that there was a pool here once.
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| Construction of the pool - with the portholes visible in the sides. |
The pool was closed at the outbreak of WWII and only re-opened for the Olympic Games in 1948. But its days as a swimming pool were over, and after the Olympics it was permanently converted to a floored sports venue and, later, music venue.
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| The pool in use |
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| NME poll winners' concert memorabilia |
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| Guitar signed by the members of Duran Duran |
And that brings my personal tour of the Arena to a close.
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| A concrete slab |
I leave the building - passing under what was presumably the equivalent of a foundation stone for the original building, but which now appears to have been hung on the wall as a piece of decoration - and make my way home at the end of another successful day's Wombling.
Next up we begin our foray into the many 'West' stations - what larks!
Until then!
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