I’ve been heading to Meridian Gate and Soverign House for work, for a couple of years now, so I thought it might be handy to write up some of the facilities nearby that I have found useful for any first time visitors who might stumble upon this post.
Places to Stay
The International is really bad, but much cheaper than the Hilton. Both located really close to South Quay station. If your budget doesn’t allow you to stay at the Hilton, and you don’t want to stay away in central London and travel into E14 from somewhere else, then go to the International, but don’t leave anything in your room by day. Once, I stayed at the hotel, and although I had booked in for several days, they stripped my room of my clothes during one of the days, and I had to urgently dash to Canary Wharf to get replacements to wear the following day. I never did get back my favourite The Strokes t-shirt either.
Some of their double rooms are just two single beds, made individually, close to each other. If you can get an even-numbered room in the International, then you should be on the side of the building that faces towards the dock and Canary Wharf, hence a better view. You’ll need a good view to enjoy when you’re confined to your room after they steal all of your clothes. There’s free Wifi in some rooms and in the bar.
Eating
There are two cafes at Meridian place, the nicest coffee comes from Chicory Cafe (020 7515 2415) which is the cafe closest to the Meridian Gate data centre. This cafe is really small, but I have never seen it full or even busy, and there is an outdoor seating area that looks over the goods-in and parking area for Soverign House – handy if you are waiting for deliveries or colleagues!
My favourite place to go for lunch is Sandwich Plus, at Harbour Exchange Sq (020 7538 1808). Cross the road away from Soverign and Meridian, and head towards South Quay, under the DLR. A left turn onto a pathway leads to this sandwich bar. The hot sandwiches are really, really good. Loads of flavour. The staff are Italian, I think and very lively.
Spinnakers is a pub which does fairly bland meals, but reasonable burgers. They have Abbot and Greene King on tap for those datacentre trips that are either really easy ones, or really bad ones.
The Isle of Dogs branch of Dominos will deliver to Redbus (and the security guys in Sov have no problem dealing with the delivery guys for you!). 020 7517 9494
Cash Machines
There’s a Lloyds at Harbour Exchange Sq. near to Spinnakers, and a NatWest just beyond and across the road from the South Quay tube stop. (Walk away from the Redbuses towards the International Hotel.)
Asda at Limeharbour
Head down the road called Limeharbour, and as you get to the Crossharbour DLR station there is an Asda store. This place will become your saviour. Over the years, I have replaced screwdrivers that I have broken, bought (really good) storage units to leave in suites for people, and bought clothes so that I can stay down in London for extra, unexpected days. It’s full of useful stuff.
Asda can help with the tools you need that are household ones, but can’t help with patch leads and fancy allen keys wont be there. A new branch of RS is opening soon in Shadwell which will be convenient (close to the DLR stop).
Drinking
The Cat and Canary is good. Head down Marsh Wall away from the Redbus locations, and near South Quay, you see signs for the Canary Wharf footbridge. Cross that and head through the buildings until you hit the water-side. This will hopefully be Fisherman’s Walk – it’s on that street. Follow signs for Cabot Square and then head to the water if you get lost. It’s a Fullers pub, so the ESB is really good.
As someone who’s regularly worked with Andy in SOV and MER, I can concur with most of his comments. My 2 penneth worth:
The International – Generally, it’s a fairly average ‘business’ hotel, but it’s showing its age, and the proliferation of eastern European staff can make dealing with delicate situations (like the theft of your clothes, for example!) a bit tedious. Some of the rooms are really nice – and, as Andy said, afford a nice view of Canary Wharf and the Millennium Dome, but some are pretty fucking grotty – and their tactic of using two separate single beds and pitching it as a ‘double’ is deplorable – yes, they push the beds together, but they don’t even give you double-bed linen! You get two singles, squashed together, on wheels! I wouldn’t like to be, *cough* ‘active’ on them!
There’s also a Barclays cash machine at South Quay station itself, neare the ticket machines, which is useful.
I quite like the Spinnaker pub myself. It’s not a great drinking pub – with only the Abbot and Greene King ales on tap – but it does have a pleasant dockside setting, and the meals aren’t quite as bland as Andy makes out – the Sausage and Mash is actually quite palatable!
If you’re in a real pinch, and need really, really cheap accommodation in the Docklands – you can try the Custom House Hotel, which is right next to the Custom House DLR stop. It’s one step above a Travelodge – but it’s clean, fairly quiet, and – most importantly – cheap. Their cafe/restaurant also does a mean burger at 2am, when you come in pissed from the Cat and Canary.
Posted by james | January 20, 2007, 12:43 am