How to get to London 2012

This week, as the official games mascots Wenlock and Mandeville were launched to the world, I had the opportunity to visit East London to see for myself the progress being made on the Olympic Park.

An unpromising start…

For those wondering if there’s anything interesting for members of the public to see yet, the answer has to be a resounding yes. In fact walking tours of the main site, such as the one I joined, led by an official blue badge guide, are now available.

The tours start from Bromley By Bow station(one of the stops on the District Line going towards Upminster). You might think on arrival that you’ve come to the wrong place, as you emerge from the station onto a dual carriageway, and believe me, the traffic noise is pretty horrendous, and the fragile looking skeleton of the Olympic stadium is only just visible in the middle distance.

Worry not. Hang on in there, and seemingly in a flash the guide leads you down a flight of steps below the road level. You then cross under the road, and pass down the side of a Tesco superstore occupying land reclaimed from former use as a chemical factory. This unlikely start then takes you over a bridge into a new side of East London, starting with The Three Mills, a conservation area and home of a restored tidal water mill on the River Lea, called House Mill. Incidentally the river Lea has been the beneficiary of a huge clean up operation, and is now part of a network of restored navigable waterways that are adding to the area’s emerging attractiveness.  Also nearby is a large park and the Three Mills film studios, Londons largest, but least well known.

Of the original three mills (one of which is now demolished),  House Mill has  recently been restored and converted into a visitor attraction, with the ground floor of the Millers House turned into a pleasant waterfront cafe.   Plans are afoot and money is being raised to convert the mill to generate hydro electricity in the future. It’s one of the  earliest known tidal mills in England, and was one of several providing flour for the bakers of Stratford-atte-Bow, who supplied bread to the City of London.

A surprising discovery in a watery grave

Our guide explained that the original plan had been to use the recently restored waterway network around the Olympic Park to transport visitors to the games; but this plan has not been actioned because of security fears.

Continuing along an adjacent waterway, we were astounded to hear about recent plans to  rescue the original Euston Arch, which was discovered dumped in a watery resting place here,  in Prescott Channel (NOT named incidentally, after a certain former UK deputy Prime Minister of the last government).

The Euston Arch originally stood  outside the London railway station of the same name, but was demolished in 1961 following the failure of a campaign to save it led by the late Sir John Betjeman. The campaign to rescue the arch and restore it to a position outside the current Euston station, is being led by historian Dan Cruickshank, who located the remains after some persistent detective work. Read about his campaign. You can support the campaign to re-erect the arch by contributing to the blog, or join the Facebook group.

The green way to Stratford

On our tour we also heard about the Greenway to the Olympic Park, a flat walking route for pedestrians to access it,  which will run all the way from Beckton on the north bank of the Thames in East London.  Our guide told us that the route is not yet fully complete as I write. However it seems that it could be a good move for Londoners in 2012 to get to the Olympic Park by taking the District or Hammersmith and City line tube to West Ham, one of the three designated Olympic gateway stations, from where the Greenway will be well signposted.

Another option for locals and visitors will be to take the tube to Stratford at the end of the Jubilee line, particularly convenient for the new Westfield shopping centre which is scheduled to open at the Olympic Park at the end of 2011; but I bet that’s going to experience a huge volume of passengers! Incidentally, having seen what it’s like at the moment, my advice is to not bother going to Stratford for shopping until Westfield opens.

Coming from Kent, it already seems to be obvious that the best way to get to the Olympic Park from there will be to leave the car at home, and take a Javelin high speed train to Stratford International, which links in to the other end of the Westfield complex from the Jubilee line station. Read my post about the high speed Javelin service.

At the Park site
The closest station to the stadium construction site at the moment is Pudding Mill Lane on the Docklands light railway; but that particular station will be closed for the duration of the games, because it will be unable to handle the large volume of visitors that would otherwise be experienced.

To view the Olympic Park construction site, including the stadium and the Aquatic Centre, already dubbed ‘The Pringle’ (owing to the shape of its curved roof like the eponymous potato crisp brand), a viewing platform, visitor interpretation centre and small cafe has been set up, called the View Tube, which can be booked for group visits.

In conclusion, a walking tour is probably the best option at the moment to find your way around the Olympic Park and receive informed commentary about the games.

News and information about London 2012. Or visit Inside the Games.

Can I help you?

Are you looking for insider information and informed comment about destinations or tourism in Britain? You could commission me as a freelance photo journalist, to undertake desk research or market intelligence  work. For more information contact me at Manifold Associates.

Until next time…

What happens when reality kicks in…

A week in politics…
Following the election, reality has kicked in for politicians this week, with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats being forced to work together in coalition.

One of the more fascinating aspects of the aftermath of the election was seeing news being created before our eyes. Friends and colleagues confessed to being fascinated by the ongoing possibility of hearing indiscretions in off the cuff remarks, hastily organised press conferences and opportunistic pavement interviews. There’s no doubt in my mind that thanks to this type of reality television, we’ve been able to witness history in the making and gained more insight into the workings of politics.

Incidentally, Weston Super Mare MP John Penrose has been appointed to the new post of Tourism Minister, and Jeremy Hunt confirmed as Secretary of State for Culture, Media, Olympics and Sport in the new UK coalition government.

…demonstrating the power of reality television

The election aftermath also made me appreciate even more the power of reality television. Production companies love it because it’s relatively cheap television to make, yet the ‘fly on the wall’ approach can provide great entertainment value. So this week I wanted to look at winners and losers in reality shows featuring businesses involved in tourism and the UK visitor economy.

A poisoned chalice for accommodation providers?

Accommodation providers featured in reality shows can expect immediate efects on business. I can be certain of this because I’ve interviewed some recent participants. It also helps of course that accommodation providers take advance bookings, and have the opportunities to ask people how they heard about the business either when they enquire, or during their stay.

‘Three in a Bed’ is the latest and greatest Channel 4 tourism reality show I’ve seen(Wednesdays 8pm). It features three bed and breakfast accommodation providers each week testing out an overnight stay in each others premises, and paying what they think it’s worth on check out afterwards. They also take their fellow operators off on a jaunt to a local visitor attraction to give them a flavour of the destination.

I urge you to watch it, partly for its sheer entertainment value; but more importantly as an opportunity to learn from the successes and mistakes of others if you’re operating in any type of service industry.

The opportunity to see yourself as others see you, another thing that this programme highlights,  is an extremely useful exercise. That’s one of the reasons why most of the successful operators featured in the series pay to have themselves inspected and graded by Visit Britain.

It’s become apparent that it’s not always the most highly graded business that ‘wins’ the collective accolade from fellow owner managers each week. It seems to be more down to hard work, attention to detail when it comes to customer service, and value for money.  Part of the deal is that guests are free to choose to overpay or underpay for their stay on check out, depending on how they feel. The greatest entertainment value comes mainly from seeing victims of criticism and underpayment burning with resentment for the entire programme as a result of their experience.

In actual fact, none of the Visit Britain 5 star Gold award winning establishments featured in the programme has won any of the programmes I’ve seen. What’s fascinating is that it actually doesn’t appear to really matter who wins. The programme’s a winner because what it does is to show up, and indeed showcase,  the strengths and weaknesses of each business and business owner, and how they handle people, praise and criticism.

Tourism is a people industry, and the programme shows clearly that people who take genuine pride in giving excellent customer service can expect to be successful. Great people can make a huge impact.

What this programme also demonstrates that there are some people who need real help if they’re ever to make a success of hospitality. They need to learn to be accepting of constructive critism, and above all to enjoy working with people. To be truly successful in hospitality, you need more than drive and passion; you need empathy.

Do programmes deliver measurable business?

I interviewed two businesses featured in recent episodes of ‘Three in a Bed’ (neither of them a ‘winner’ of the programme in which they featured). I wanted to guage whether they thought that their business had benefited from the coverage. The results of this admittedly unscientific straw poll were overwhelmingly positive.

Jenny Hadfield of Jeakes House,  Rye, was very positive and told me that she’d received a lot of interest in the form of enquiries since the programme was broadcast. Her email inbox had got jammed at one point, and she was pleasntly surprised to find that a lot of the interest was from past guests and other friends.  She also felt particularly pleased ‘to have the opportunity to show a good bit of Rye off on national television’, something that she felt could benefit th ancient Sussex town as a destination in the longer term.

Anna Deacon of the funky new Arthouse Bed and Breafast, Canterbury was also very positive about the benefits of participation.  She told me that she’d received 87 email enquiries on the same evening the programme was broadcast, and 10 bookings the following day, with many people commenting that they loved her idea of the relaxed self service continental breakfast they offer. It might not be for everyone, as it was something unanimously criticised by the other business owners in the programme, who pride themselves on the breakfasts they provide.

Longer term benefits for visitor attractions ?

I have to declare a personal interest, in that I was once filmed by Keo films for a BBC2 reality show, at work delivering a marketing training course. It was attended by Tom Hart Dyke of Lullingstone Castle in Kent. Although the  footage was destined for the  series ‘Save Lullingstone Castle’, my moment of fame ended up on the cutting room floor. It could happen to you.

Tom can confirm that both series, including the subsequent ‘Return to Lullingstone Castle’, had the benefit of raising awareness of Lullingstone (and him as a self confessed ‘plant nut’ and horticultural expert)  as well as helping to turn the fortunes of the family run estate around.

A more recent programme in the Channel 4 series ‘Country House Rescue’ fronted by Ruth Watson, aimed to do a similar job for the gardens of Riverhill House, near Sevenoaks, also in Kent. It looks like they’re making a good go of the positive boost to their profile given to them by the programme, and I wish them good luck with the Himalyan themed landscape garden.

Nearby Sissinghurst Castle has also been the beneficiary of reality TV, but as that series of programmes showed, part of the reality concept’s enteratinment value is that it does tend to give a warts and all portrait of participating personalities. Some of it may be down to judicious editing, but I feel it likely that Sarah Raven may not have completely satisfied with her portrayal in the saga of tablecloths and menu changes she wanted for the property’s restaurant in the teeth of strong resistance by staff.

Generally though, reality television can be a great way for visitor attractions to boost awareness,  and through that, to increase visitor numbers or admmissions in the longer term.

As Anna Decon of Arthouse bed and breakfast in Canterbury admitted to me  at the end of our conversation ‘ we were a bit naive when we went into it’; but there’s no doubt that she and partner John Taylor also found the overall experience beneficial. Her parting advice to businesses thinking of signing up for exposure in a reality show?  ‘Be careful’.

I work for Manifold Associates, and my colleague Vivienne Boucher develops and delivers PR, marketing and e-business training for tourism businesses. Much of this work is delivered on behalf of Tourism South East and East of England Tourism.

Until next time…

Oh to be in England…now the blossom’s out!

Spring has well and truly arrived at last! In our area of Kent it’s arrived about two weeks later than usual. Our bluebell woods, marking remnants of ancient woodland  across the Weald of Kent that have never seen a plough, are in full bloom right now – although normally they flower in mid April.

Unusually this year, apple and pear trees are also in bloom across the Garden of England at exactly the same time as bluebells, and rain has come at exactly the right moment to conspire to make the English countryside look its best for the photo opportunities of the election campaign, and the day itself on Thursday – one reason perhaps, why this time of year makes a popular choice for politicians to go to the polls!

I wanted to show you in the pictures accompanying this post, just how beautiful the English landscape is at this time of year, so you don’t miss out. I lived in London myself for over 20 years, and unfortunately in cities you’re hardly conscious of the turn of the seasons.

Weather predictions

Another thing I noticed as I drove up across more beautiful couyntryside to Suffolk this week, was that ash trees had come into leaf before the oak. According to ancient English folklore, it doesn’t bode well for summer weather when trees come into leaf in a different order than usual. It seems from my evidence that we could be in for a rainy summer this year because:

When the oak before the ash, then we can expect a splash,

When the ash before the oak, then we can expect a soak!

Following last summer’s unfortunate predictions about a ‘barbecue summer’ and the recent flak received over what might now be being viewed as an a possible over reaction to the volcanic ash cloud emanating from Iceland, I somehow think that the Met Office may be hoping for a lower profile on its long term weather predictions.

But honestly, I don’t think it matters if it sometimes rains in the English countryside occasionally. Most rain that falls in spring or summer seems to me to be of the gentle type that makes the English countryside such a green and pleasant land, the temperatures remains pleasant and showers rarely last long. Whether you’re a visitor or a host, simply find out the weather forecast and expected temperature, or check online, so that you can be prepared, and take an umbrella and showerproof clothing if necessary. More often than not the short term forecast will be correct, as it’s based on radar readings these days.

And if you do get caught out in a shower, many savvy retailers (Boots the chemist being an example), have cottoned on to the idea of selling compact umbrellas by their tills, that you can keep in the car or in your bag.

Now’s one of the best times to take a break in the countryside, when everything’s green, fresh, and pleasantly uncrowded (with the possible exception of Easter and bank holiday weekends). If you’re looking for recommendations for destinations and places to stay, try checking out the Enjoy England website, or you could do worse than to read my post about three of my favourite southern market towns where you may be able to escape the masses.

If you already live and work in the English countryside like me, my advice is to learn to appreciate the beauty on your own doorstep. You might also like to read my post from last summer on the subject of marketing the rural idyll. Clean air, picturesque views, friendly  neighbours, encounters with local wildlife, and people who actually talk to you in shops, are things that we can all too easily take for granted. To people who live in cities, hearing a cuckoo call, or seeing the moon and stars at night can be an amazing experience.

Did you realise that you could commission Virtual Viv to write about and photograph your local area or business. I can create or write anything from website content or advertorials to news releases – and I’ll take real pride in doing a great job for you too! Contact me at Manifold Associates

Until next time….