The loos in the bank vault

Yes that’s right, and it’s definitely a first - even for me - but it was kinda fun, and very well done. Before we get to the loos though, we were in Nottingham for a visit to the opera, like you do. Well we don’t that often actually, it’s probably only our third or fourth opera and it was a fabulous production of Romeo and Juliet by Northern Ballet. It was our first time in the Theatre Royal, which was a lovely old theatre and completely in contrast to the Concert Hall which we’ve been to many concerts and productions in before.

Before the opera though we went for pizza - we’d seen a restaurant we wanted to try on a previous visit, and then neither of us could remember its name or where it was. But, after some internet searching we found it and so found ourselves enjoying pizza and mocktails in Rudy’s Pizza admiring the architecture, the high ceilings and the plasterwork and so much more.

How beautiful and grand is it? It’s definitely a statement of wealth and prestige. So even before my visit to check out the loos we knew we were sitting in an old banking hall - we’ve both been in a fair few of those in our time working in the City!

The thickness of the wall and doorway into the Ladies confirmed the prior use of the building - the thickness of the wall confirmed this was a previous bank vault.

And the safe’s doubly confirmed it!

It makes total sense to leave them in situ - as not only will they be heavy (to say the least) they’re huge and more than likely would struggle to get out of the vault, and they definitely wouldn’t have got up the stairway I went down. The ladies cubicles were built around the safe, sadly though I wasn’t able to look inside the one with half a safe in so I’m not sure if it was visible inside or not. Though I’ll happily go back and try another time as the pizzas were pretty good too!

So quite a different vibe here, but one that reuses a space creatively and with a nod to the building’s heritage - and another post in the Loo Series, which just a week or so ago I wasn’t sure when the next one would be! And I’ve another one to share too, but I’ll save that one for a moment.

The sputnik in the loos at the Nevile Arms

It’s been a while since I’ve shared a post in the Loo Series, and as you’d expect often I don’t know when I’ll find a loo worthy of sharing. So when it happens, who knows, but here I am sharing a loo from after our circular walk from Kinoulton to Hickling.

At first I didn’t notice what you’ll come to see dominates my pictures, but once I’d spotted the light fitting I was mesmerised. I mean it’s a great light fitting, and it totally gives the small space (they’re mostly a small space aren’t they?!) it’s character.

I told you it was a great light fitting, didn’t I?

The rest of the decor was pretty classic and smart, but the sputnik light fitting added the character. Though while it caught my attention, it wasn’t the only design feature.

Both the cherry blossom-like garland around the mirror and the floor tiles would usually have captured all the attention - and the floor tiles especially are just fab (shame I don’t need any new tile inspiration for my new house!). But the three together - garland, tiles and light - made a small space pretty special.

Here’s to the renewed energy to this series of this posts, who knows when I’ll share one next!

Market Halls Loos

We’ve been watching MasterChef: The Professionals and luckily were up to date ahead of our trip to London last week, which at least meant we would only have a few episodes to catch up with on our return. But what we didn’t realise was that the episode where the finalists cooked in a pop up kitchen would shape our trip. When the camera showed outside the venue - Market Halls - MOH and I looked at each other and said Oxford Street.

And we weren’t wrong, and while the MasterChef finalists weren’t cooking we guessed there’d be some pretty good food on offer. We weren’t wrong again!

We popped in for lunch last Friday ahead of our train home. The venue is a mix of industrial and glamour, as you’ll see from the pictures below. It had a buzz, which came from the hubbub of small kitchens grouped together, and their customers milling around to choose their food - and from the pager which buzzes when you’re food is ready to collect.

We chose Hotbox, but then struggled to choose from their menu so instead opted for a selection of their smoked meat with some fries. This worked out well for us as we got to try more than we would have done otherwise, and we didn’t have to make that choice!

But you’re right, this is the first loo series post in a while - and so far, there’s no loos.

Thankfully for a large-ish venue, the loos were a decent size. There’s nothing worse than being in a large venue, then discovering there’s four (or less) loos in the Ladies is there?

A row of sinks, mirrors above, tiled walls and flooring - nothing too extravagant, or ground breaking, but looking again and noticing the graduating wall paint colour within each cubicle, now that was smart, subtle but yet impactful.

And that wasn’t all, the vinyls on the mirror were also true to the venue - and definitely made me smile, as did the food we ate - we’ll definitely be going back at some point!

HEY GOOD LOOKING, HAVE YOU CHECKED OUT OUR COOKING?