Welcome to London! Your Guide to London. The All About London Team has lived and worked in London for many years. We have detailed knowledge of London, feel free to ask us about Places to visit, places to stay and things to do. London Tours, Attractions, Hotels, Accommodation, Events, Theatre, Shows and Places to eat.
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Monday, 17 January 2011
Sunday, 16 January 2011
THE MUSEUM OF BRANDS, PACKAGING AND ADVERTISING
THE MUSEUM OF BRANDS, PACKAGING AND ADVERTISING
A MUSEUM OF SOCIAL HISTORY, DESIGN, REMINISCENCE & CHANGING LIFE IN BRITAIN
100 YEARS OF CULTURE & LIFESTYLE REVEALED THROUGH HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS, TOYS, FOOD, POSTERS, BOOKS, CONTAINERS, POSTCARDS AND MANY MORE
THE ARTEFACTS OF DOMESTIC LIFE - AN EVER-EVOLVING COLLECTION OF ½ MILLION OBJECTS
The world famous Robert Opie Collection – an ever-evolving and unrivalled collection of seemingly everyday objects amassed over 45 years, is revealed in the Museum Brands Museum ’s time tunnel.
Decade by decade, the Museum identifies objects which have the power to unlock memories; products long since consigned to history, design classics, or long- forgotten childhood toys. But beyond the ability to inspire fond memories, the Museum traces changes in social trends, style, design, fashion, entertainment, communications, travel, transport and behaviour that have transformed life in Britain. Even a short time among the 10,000 items in the Museum galleries can reveal hidden meaning and significance behind seemingly one-dimensional objects.
The Museum also presents the great inventions of the past – among them the radio, television, computer, vacuum cleaner – with some well-loved examples, the 1895 Gower-Bell telephone, the 1911 Star Vacuum Cleaner, the 1890 Rippingille oil warming stove and the world’s first portable gramophone, the 1909 Pigmy Grand.
Robert Opie said: ‘On 8 September 1963, at the age of sixteen, I bought a packet of Munchies at Inverness Railway Station. While eating them I was struck by the idea that I should save the packaging and start collecting the designed and branded packages which would otherwise surely disappear forever. Forty years later, I am still collecting and have a list of about 1000 items which need to be collected. The Museum houses the highlights of my collection – evidence of a dynamic commercial system that delivers thousands of desirable items from all corners of the world, a feat arguably more complex than sending man to the Moon, but one still taken for granted. The collection has the power to stop visitors in their tracks as they reach a certain part of the Museum ’s time tunnel and the era which contains their first memories. This could be provoked by a can of Quattro, Texan bar, Kodak camera, children’s comic, 1950s jukebox, baked bean tin, packet of tea or bar of soap. Each object has its own significance for every person who enters the Museum .’
2 Colville Mews, off Lonsdale Road, Notting Hill, London, W11 2AR
Opening Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10am-6pm; Sunday 11am-4pm
Closed on Mondays – except Bank Holidays
Admission prices: Adults £5.80; Children (7-16) £2; Concessions £3.50; Family £14
Groups: 10% discount on groups of 10 or more. Pre-booking on 020 7908 0880. School groups welcome. Full disabled access, café and Museum shop.
For further information: Please visit www.museumofbrands.com
email info@museumofbrands.com or telephone 020 7908 0880
Travel/directions:
On foot: The Museum is two minutes from Portobello Road and Market
By tube: Nearest stations are Notting Hill Gate, Westbourne Park and Ladbroke Grove. Also nearby are Bayswater, Queensway and Paddington
By train: Paddington station
By bus: Closest stop number 23. Also stopping nearby: 7, 28, 31, 36, 52, 70 and 328
By car: Metered street parking. NCP car park 20-minute walk from the Museum
-ends-
Notes to editors:
‘Consumer historian’ Robert Opie began collecting in 1963 with a single packet of Munchies. His collection now numbers over 500,000 items and extends to all aspects of daily life – toys, comics, magazines, newspapers, technology, travel, royal souvenirs, fashion and design. In 1975, part of The Robert Opie Collection was displayed in the successful exhibition The Pack Age – A Century of Wrapping It Up at the V&A Museum , London. In 1984, Robert Opie opened the Museum of Advertising and Packaging in Gloucester. In 1985 he mounted an exhibition That British Feeling at the Trocadero in Piccadilly Circus, London. This was followed by the touring exhibition The Treasure and Pleasure of Childhood, which opened in Japan in 1993, and the opening of the Museum of Memories in Wigan in 1999. The Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising opened in Notting Hill in December 2005. Books by Robert Opie include Rule Britannia (1985), The Art of the Label (1987), Sweet Memories (1988) and The Packaging Source Book (1989).
The Museum ’s major sponsors are: Kellogg’s, Cadbury Trebor Bassett, Twinings, pi global, Vodafone and McVitie’s.
For further information or pictures, please contact Anna Mellows,
or email anna@museumofbrands.com
The Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising- Economy Frocks!
Museum Of Brands, Packaging and Advertising- Brands of Yesterday
Old London Menus- Trocadero
Menu Collection
This collection of menus emanate from the days of J Lyons Restaurants and its subsidiary
company Strand Hotels, they include the Trocadero, Popular Café, Corner Houses, Maison
Lyons, The Cumberland ,Strand and Regent Palace hotels. ( link to J Lyons Web site) Most of
them are for special events or Christmas and New Year arrangements you will see very little to
match this today. Many date from the 1930’s and our rare in their own right. Note the signature
of the artist who provided the design for the front in some of the more attractive menus Do
you know who the artist was? Relative? Friend and what else did they produce in fact if you
have an old menu from this time we will happily display it. Some of the designs and displays
on opening an individual menu were very creative such as the ones for the Cumberland Hotel
in the 1950’s. My favourite is probably the 3D version from 1955. Also from this time were the
amazing Cabarets provided at the News Years Eve Gala’s best example of this is the 1953
Christmas arrangements at the Cumberland . Muffin the Mule (TV 1960’s) Joan Turner, still
going strong Stubby Kaye ( Hollywood Actor) Bernard Miles and David Niven ( had his own TV
show.
The Trocadero
This prestigious restaurant was open from late 1890 and closed in 1965 it was renown
throughout London for the Long Bar ( meet me in the Long Bar after the war was a famous
quote from the trenches of the first world war) It introduced the tea dance and cabarets to
London in the 1920’s. The only menus I have date from 1934 and show the care taken over
their design. All in French and several courses.
Image 1 Front of Trocadero Christmas day evening menu beautiful design lavish menu.
Image 2 Menu
Image 3 Menu designed by Clarki Hutton do you know who this was ?
L.Smith
1935 Childrens Menu from The Trocadero
Childrens Lunch menu ( sorry little battered after 74 years)from 1935 note how the
rabbit pops out. of the hat menu in English and if the little darlings don’t like fish they can have
scrambled eggs Ah! Copyright LS
Saturday, 15 January 2011
A Date in History- Westminster Archives-15th January
Haberdasher James Hetherington first introduced the top hat to London's high society on 15 January 1797. The top hat soon became an essential complement to the fashionable London gentleman's wardrobe. Here, London 'dandies' are shown sporting the hat at one of the newly fashionable bicycle riding schools in London
Image ref: WCA00264
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Friday, 14 January 2011
A Date in History- Westminster Archives-14th January
The ruins of the Pantheon: 14 January 1792
Ruins of the Pantheon after the terrible fire of 14 January 1792. Image property of Westminster City Archives
The Pantheon is a lost piece of London's social and architectural history. James Wyatt's spectacular building opened in 1772 on the southern side of Oxford Street, and soon became a favourite venue for masquerades and concerts amongst the gentry.
The Pantheon's fortunes dipped in the 1780s. Masquerades were on the wane, and the venue became known instead for its blockbuster exhibitions, such as Lunardi's hot air balloon.
Finally, in 1789, another business opportunity arose. The King's Theatre, Haymarket, was destroyed by fire, and the Pantheon made a successful bid to receive an opera performance licence. The winter season of 1790-1 went well, and the alterations to the building met with great acclaim, with The Times asserting that "this beautiful Theatre is now left without a rival".
Sadly, this good fortune was short-lived. It was on 14 January 1792, in only its second opera season, that the Pantheon suffered at devastating fire. Its beautiful interiors were gutted, as shown by this sketch by Rowlandson, above. The remaining masonry was left in a very poor state, and had to be demolished in early 1793.
Two more theatrical buildings were erected on the site; neither was terribly successful. In the 1830s a clean break was made, when a shopping bazaar opened there.
Today the site is occupied by a Marks & Spencer store, and is still known as 'Oxford Pantheon'
Image ref: Ashbridge 735.4 (Acc 1106)
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Thursday, 13 January 2011
A Date in History- Westminster Archives-13th January
'Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...' - Skating in Regent's Park, 1838
Advertisement for winter fashions of 1838 and 1839, by B Read & Co. Image property of Westminster City Archives
Saint Hilary's Feast Day, on 13 January, is commonly said to be the coldest day of the year. This folk belief may date back to the great frost of 1205, when the severe weather caused the Thames to ice over and even saw ale and bread freeze solid.
The cold weather does have its compensations however, as testified by the skaters in this view of Regent's Park. The people in the foreground are well dressed for the cold, modelling fashionable designs for the 1838-1839 season.
Image ref: A09A3418
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Wednesday, 12 January 2011
A Date in History- Westminster Archives-12th January
The opening of the Astoria, 12 January 1927
The building of the Astoria had a chequered history. Originally a pickle warehouse on Charing Cross Road, it was transformed into a stylish entertainment complex, boasting a cinema and a grand ballroom that could accommodate over a thousand people.
Changing fashions in entertainment had a profound impact on the Astoria over the years. As the taste for cinema waned, the 1970s saw the auditorium converted for theatrical performance. Later, in the 1980s, the Astoria became a nightclub and concert venue.
Both cinema and dance have since seen a revival, but sadly not in time to save the Astoria. The venue closed its doors for the last time in January 2009, and has since been demolished.
Image ref: A10A4255
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Tuesday, 11 January 2011
A Date in History- Westminster Archives-11th January
Charing Cross station opened on 11 January 1864 by South East Railway. The frontage shown in this picture postcard was completed a year later, in 1865, and housed the Charing Cross Hotel. Its architect, Edward Middleton Barry, had already made a name for himself with his iconic designs for the Royal Opera House and Floral Hall in Covent Garden.
Although the facade of Charing Cross Station has changed little since the 1860s, the roof of the station was had to be completely rebuilt after it collapsed on 5 December 1905, resulting in several fatalities.
The new railway line across the Hungerford Bridge continues to count as one of the capital's main arteries, transporting millions of people into the heart of the West End each year.
Image ref: F137 Charing Cross Station (014)
Monday, 3 January 2011
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