PLAN YOUR LONDON MUST SEE THEATRE BREAK WITH LNER AND THE ECCLESTON SQUARE HOTEL
I never cease to be surprised, no matter how many times I visit, by the low altitude of passenger planes flying over London.
I’m reminded of this as I sit on the balcony of my King Room in the chic Eccleston Square Hotel – a converted Victorian townhouse in Pimlico, right on the border of Belgravia and Victoria in the City of Westminster, and just three doors down from where Winston Churchill once lived (or so the Blue Plaque on the wall tells me).
The distant rumble of jet engines is peculiarly relaxing, as is watching the great alloy and carbon-fibre birds gracefully power through the clouds. I’ve just checked in after what had been a long day. It started at 6am ahead of boarding LNER’s 8:30am East Coast Line service to King’s Cross, which included beautiful coastal views free of charge. It is the ideal service for a two-day theatre break, as it’s one of the quieter trains and arrives in London with time to spare. Indeed, if you want to make the most of your day, you can easily catch a matinee, which is my plan, leaving plenty of time to enjoy a leisurely evening getting to know your hotel and its surroundings.
For me, that means chilling on the aforementioned balcony, overlooking the 300-acre private paradise that is Eccleston Square Gardens. My adventures tomorrow will include exploring them after breakfast; a stay at the hotel comes with a swipe card to gain entry. It’s such a tranquil setting that I find myself feeling sorry for those poor travelers in the planes above – with long flights trapped in their seats ahead of them, or preparing for landing and the final leg of their journey: a commute home or a trip into tourist London to find their hotel having finally touched down.
London’s West End leaves you spoiled for choice, with up to 40 large-scale productions running at any given time. On this trip, however, my first choice is the longest-running stage play in the world: Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap at the St Martin’s Theatre, where it has been running since 1974.
Before that, it played at the Ambassadors Theatre, where it opened on Tuesday, 25 November 1952. Consequently, as the show approaches its 75th anniversary, this afternoon’s performance – directed by the production’s legendary director, Denise Silvey – was number 30,634. It proves to be the epitome of cosy crime: a twisty-turny whodunnit with a collection of curious suspects from which to choose. But no spoilers here!
Luckily for me, the Eccleston Square Hotel is just a couple of stops away on the Tube. Alighting at Victoria Station – with the Apollo Victoria Theatre on one corner and the Victoria Palace Theatre on the other – it’s just a five-minute walk from the homes of Wicked and Hamilton respectively.
A haven of calm amid the hustle and bustle of central London, the Eccleston Square Hotel is the perfect location to chill and recharge. My Balcony King Room comes in around £250 per night, sleeps two, and includes free Nespresso coffee and a tea service just a phone call away. Surrounded by Belgravia’s boutiques, cafés and the wellness community of Eccleston Yards, it’s certainly live up to its reputation as a refined, tranquil base in one of London’s most exclusive neighbourhoods.
As there’s nothing I like more than indulging in the easy comfort of hotel life, the Eccleston Square Hotel has everything I’ve come to expect from a boutique establishment and more. It prides itself on ‘blending timeless elegance with contemporary luxury and thoughtfully integrated modern comfort’, and it delivers – every room has a luxurious Hastens’ remote-control bed, air conditioning, advanced room technology, smart glass bathrooms, 4K Apple TV with Sonos sound and free super-fast Wi-Fi, all at the push of a button.
After a good night’s sleep, a light continental breakfast, and a coffee or three in the front lounge watching the world go by, a lazy Sunday awaits. It’s an opportunity to explore the area and the lush private garden before heading off to my second show of the weekend.
As I headed into the City of London to see Martin Shaw and Jason Watkins in a dramatised reading of John Mortimer’s play The Dock Brief (a forerunner to his better-known novel series charting the trials and tribulations of Rumpole of the Bailey), I found Victoria Underground Station awash with tiny green and pink witches. The afternoon’s family audience was just exiting a matinee performance in the company of Elphaba and Glinda. It’s good to see that, like Hamilton, Wicked is still packing them in.
The Dock Brief was being held in Middle Temple, the legal heart of London. As I walked from the Tube to the historic, gated enclave, a sense of déjà vu washed over me as I passed Arundel House – the place where I started my journey as a professional writer more than 40 years ago.
Once the London residence of the Bishops of Bath and Wells and later the Earl of Southampton, it was eventually sold to the 12th Earl of Arundel. Though it was later demolished – leaving only Arundel Street to keep the name alive – the current Tudor Revival-style Arundel House was constructed in the late 19th century. Today, it serves as a conference centre and is home to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Back when I knew it, however, it was the home of Marvel Comics UK, hosting titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine, and, bizarrely, the My Little Pony comic.
After a quick walk up Arundel Street, past the Royal Courts of Justice on The Strand, and onto Fleet Street – the spiritual home of print journalism – I reached Middle Temple. As I passed through its historic gatehouse at the top of Middle Temple Lane, which was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1684, the feeling of stepping into the past was palpable.
The maze of buildings, instantly recognisable from TV legal dramas such as Silk, includes Middle Temple Hall. Built between 1562 and 1574, it is London’s last active Elizabethan hall, having survived both the Great Fire of London and the Blitz during World War II. The spectacular venue for this evening’s performance of The Dock Brief, it famously hosted the first recorded performance of William Shakespeare’s play, Twelfth Night, on 2 February 1602.
Intimate and steeped in history, the hall is an exquisite choice of venue for The Kalisher Trust‘s one-night-only fundraising evening of theatre. The delight of the performance is made all the more exhilarating by the knowledge that the Bard himself, along with his troupe of players, once appeared in this very room.
Shaw, who won an army of fans as television’s Judge John Deed, is a Patron and Vice President of the Trust – a charity dedicated to broadening social mobility and diversity at the criminal bar by supporting talented individuals from underrepresented or less economically advantaged backgrounds.
As he and Watkins take their bows at the end of the piece, it is easy to imagine the ghosts of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men silently applauding their approval, content that their ‘playhouse’ is still bringing drama to audiences more than 400 years after their own theatrical exploits.
Back at the hotel, another comfortable sleep and another cold collation buffet breakfast – complete with a choice of health-promoting shots (Ginger for me, and boy, does it have a kick!) – set me up for the journey home.
At King’s Cross, I reflect on how much the station has changed since I first alighted in London, just 15-years-old and eager to explore the city for the first time. Back then, it could be a dark, foreboding place – somewhere to arrive and depart as quickly as possible. Today, it’s unrecognisable from that earlier iteration so perfectly captured in the Pet Shop Boys‘ video for King’s Cross, itself a melancholic reflection of the urban decay and political disillusionment of the time. Today, it’s a bustling mix of food and drink outlets, not forgetting the ever-present queue for a photograph at the fictional ‘entrance’ to Platform 9¾ outside the Harry Potter shop.
The trains have changed, too. Long gone are the Class 55 Deltics belching diesel smoke and the then-newly introduced high-speed InterCity 125s that once operated the East Coast Main Line. Stepping on board my eco-friendly Azuma back to Edinburgh – with ‘at-seat’ ordering from a locally sourced menu, mood lighting, and traffic light seat reservations – I can’t help but ponder on how times have changed.
With an average journey time of just four hours and 11 minutes, I’m back in Edinburgh for lunch and in plenty of time to prepare for that evening’s press night. This makes rail travel with LNER the ideal choice for a theatre break or even a day trip. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve nipped down for a matinee performance and returned on the same day, but that’s a feature for another day.
In collaboration with LNER. For timetables and to book travel visit lner.co.uk
In collaboration with Eccleston Square Hotel, London. To book your stay visit www.ecclestonsquarehotel.com
