Tales of Brunch and The Bank

Lowry & Baker And The Bank of England Museum

When: November 2012

Yes, this is an unusual concept but somehow it works, a tasty brunch followed by a trip to the Bank of England museum, OK...  the brunch was better than the bank but that probably wont be a surprise to anyone.

A long weekend living the tourist life in London instead of being at work, perfect, well, not exactly.  After spending a million hours deciding what we'd do during the run up to my birthday we settled on Lowry & Baker  just a short walk away and we'd then decide what to do over food.  Lowery & Baker is a small, earthy looking café serving the eclectic mix of customers you find at the Golborne Road end of Portobello Road and just out of reach of the average guide book tourist!  We had a nice table in the window and ordered some coffees and brunch.  We both went with poached eggs on toast, me with ham, my partner with smoked salmon.  The quality was excellent, perfectly cooked whites and soft runny yolks, the ham tasted nice as well, not like something from Tesco Value range or worse that you can often end up with.  The coffee was lovely as well, lots of different flavours going on for a simple americano, not your typical Costa Coffee blend!

 After stuffing our face to the point of bursting we debated and debated on what to do with the rest of our day.  After ruling out just about everything we settled on the bank of England museum and a nice walk along Portobello Road to Notting Hill Gate.  The museum had three things going for, it was open, it was free and we'd not been before.

 The museum is a few minutes walk from Bank station and we spent a few hours there (I'm not quite sure how!)  The museums patrons consisted of the retired, a few confused tourists and a group from a very posh looking school.  The museum traces the history of the Bank of England and the banking system from its birth till the present.  There are numerous display cases full of early forms of paper money, coins and relics from the bank.  There was a video about gold narrated by Stephen Fry and I managed to win a small prize, a small pin in the shape of a bar of gold.  Somehow it seemed as if this museum would have been just as good in a book for an 11-14 year old in a school library, though I can't imagine it ever getting taken out!

Lowry & Baker: 339 Portobello Rd, W10 5SA - 0208 960 8534

Bank of England Museum:  Threadneedle Street, London, EC2R 8AH - 020 7601 5545
Open: Monday - Friday, 10.00 - 17.00 Admission FREE