FLY INTO LONDON’S PULSATING HEART
Enda Leahy discovers that City Airport leaves more time for food and drink
Arriving in London in spring sunshine is wonderful, particularly after an Irish winter. London is relentlessly abuzz with activity, from the thrumming roar of passing black cabs and the howling whistle of the wind on the tube, to the endless parade of people with a fashion sense that would make Irish mammies weep in their tea and who couldn’t care less what anyone might think.
CityJet have been promoting their route to London (including running a contest for free flights – see below) with great prices, which was why I found myself landing in City Airport for the first time in three decades of travelling to London.
I have to say, I’m an instant convert. Arriving that close to town just beats the other airports hands down. You’re right there in the heart of it immediately. I was on the light railway minutes after getting off the plane (without the two-mile walk to the platform you have in Heathrow), and found myself standing in Hyde Park strolling by the Serpentine in the sunshine half an hour after that.
The other odd thing about travelling to City Airport is arriving in the East End and the City of London.
It’s a place with all that amazing London history that you forget about when walking down Oxford Street.
Towering over all the streets with their quirky names (Threadneedle Street, Cock Lane, Poultry) is the magnificent St Paul’s Cathedral but this time I thought I’d spend an afternoon trying a couple of markets for a London gourmet experience. Arriving into the city meant I was near to some of London’s best.
I started at Borough Market, across the river, where the food offerings run from cheeses aged in wine to traditional Argentine empanadas, all found underneath the railway arches at this, London’s oldest market.
Situated in the shadow of Renzo Piano’s iconic Shard and just a short stroll from London Bridge, Borough Market’s food stalls and traditional pubs provide one of the most satisfying ways to spend an afternoon refuelling and people-watching.
And in the unlikely event you can’t find anything to whet your appetite then a stroll away, among the narrow streets surrounding Southwark’s Ropewalk, is Maltby Street Market. I rounded off the stroll with a chocolate fix from Dark Sugars (though I was torn between there and the Bad Brownie) and grabbed a seat at Little Bird Gin’s pop-up bar – locally distilled and no finer way to round off an evening in traditional London style.
The food-crawl set me up perfectly for my one night on the town with friends. But, honestly, the best bit of that particular trip was discovering how much easier it is to get back to Ireland when you’re not using Stansted, Heathrow or Gatwick.
For a guy who has missed maybe half a dozen flights from London to Dublin by miscalculating the 80-minute minimum tube journey to Heathrow, getting from my hotel to the check-in desk at City Airport in half an hour is a treat not to be taken lightly.