We asked you to write about a restaurant, shop or other business housed in a historic, unique, spectacular or interesting building (outside of the US) that can be entered without paying an admission fee. We weren’t looking for a place like the Hard Rock Café that just has pictures and antiques everywhere but, if it is a café, a place where the architecture is as much the experience as the meal. Or it can be a working library in a castle. Or a butcher shop in an old cathedral. Or any really quirky or truly beautiful modern building being used for retail, a service-oriented business or public offices. Also, it should be a place where people dropping by for a look won’t disrupt business (much). Following are some of the responses received, with more to come.
Stand in the middle of Trafalgar Square in LONDON, facing north, and, to your right, on the corner of St. Martin’s Lane, is a church dating back to 1721: St. Martin-in-the-Fields (London, UK; phone 020 7766 1158).
Not only are classical concerts held there regularly but, down below, there is a lovely, brick-vaulted crypt where you will find the London Brass Rubbing Centre, a really nice gift shop and — our favorite — the Café in the Crypt. (Crypts have multiple uses these days!)
We like to treat ourselves to afternoon tea complete with scones, strawberry preserves and clotted cream. Delicious! We were last there in November ’11, and the set afternoon tea cost about £6 (near $10). They also served fish-and-chips (£8.50) on Fridays and roast beef (£7.95) on Sundays! It’s open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday and 8 a.m.-8 p.m. the rest of the week. Tea is served 2-5 p.m.
• In the north of England, we stumbled across Barter Books (Alnwick Station, Alnwick, Northumberland; phone +44 [0] 1665 604888) two or three years ago while on our way to visit Alnwick Castle, located in the market town of ALNWICK, halfway between Newcastle and the Scottish border.
Housed in a particularly lovely, old Victorian railway station, Barter Books is now one of the largest secondhand-book shops in Britain. As well as browsing amongst the books, you can sit and read the newspapers, buy coffee and cookies, warm yourself by the open fire on a cold day, and so on.
What was once the Ladies’ First Class Waiting Room is now the “Oversize Book” room, while the Gents’ First Class Waiting Room is for rare books on history and topography. In short, it’s a book lover’s dream. It’s open daily from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. (9-5 in winter).
An interesting footnote — a rare original of the WWII poster “Keep Calm And Carry On” was found in a box of old books at this shop. When the owners had it framed and displayed, it proved so popular, they started producing copies for sale. These days, you see it all over the place — on posters, mugs, T-shirts, doormats….
Monica Conrady
San Francisco, CA
The building that houses the Bingley Arms pub (Church Lane, BARDSEY, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS17 9DR, U.K., phone +44 [0] 1937 572462) is an American’s idea of what an “olde” English pub should look like (although some of it is not the original construction). About nine miles northeast of Leeds city center and founded in AD 953, the Bingley Arms is one of the oldest pubs in England.
My wife, Sally, and I and my son, daughter-in-law and grandson enjoyed our visits there on trips to England in 2009 and 2010. For about £80 ($129), the five of us had a good lunch, including vegetarian food for my daughter-in-law and a couple of ales. The gardens in the back were lovely in early spring.
The walls of the pub have interesting reproductions, including one of the Domesday Book, the original census of England under William the Conqueror.
There are two “priest holes” in the fireplace whose purpose was to hide priests from King Henry VIII’s men. A visit to another nearby free site, the ruins of Kirkstall Abbey, gave us a sense of the religious violence in England at that time. The Bingley Arms was then known as The Priests Inn and was a stop for priests traveling between the abbey and York.
Bingley Arms is a working pub with good ale and good food. The owners are aware of the interest in the building and do not seem to object to having visitors politely view the grounds during the less-busy hours.
Milton Lilie
Rye, NY
It probably won’t make the list of the top 10 unusual buildings holding businesses, but my favorite is the McDonald’s Restaurant (11 Pride Hill, Shrewsbury, SY1 1DQ, UK; open daily 6-8) in the pedestrian-only zone of SHREWSBURY, England.
The rear wall of the restaurant, which can be seen in their downstairs seating area, is the only remaining part of the original 13th-century town wall. We visited in 1997.
Kenneth R. Wadland
Albion, RI
Opposite the east entrance of the Sri Meenakshi Temple in MADURAI, Tamil Nadu, South India, my husband, Clyde, and I visited the Pudhu Mandapam (aka the Puthu Mandapam, or New Hall) on a trip in January-March 2006.
The mandapam (hall), built in 1635 as an eastern addition to the huge temple complex, was originally used for religious rites and dances. Curiously, as much of the temple complex has been rebuilt, this “new hall” is now older than most of the present temple buildings.
A very busy city street separates the mandapam from the present entrance to the temple. You can’t enter the mandapam from the eastern end, which is properly the beginning of the processional route, because it’s fenced off.
Within the mandapam, the huge central aisle remains vacant. The side aisles are where the action is today. The interior is dark, and, when you come in from the brilliant sunshine, your eyes need time to adjust. Then you see the bright, sharp glare of unfrosted electric bulbs hung on strings down the aisles.
In the dim light, men sit on the floor or on stools surrounded by their wares. Tailors in a line work feverishly at their ancient foot-treadle sewing machines. You pass stall upon stall selling trinkets, knives, kitchen implements, religious articles, ready-made clothing and fabric.
I spent a long time shopping for shawls among the carved stone pillars of this enormous hall. Clyde became very familiar with the building while waiting for me to make my final selections before participating in our “good cop/bad cop” routine to bargain the prices down.
Westerners visit this place so infrequently that the vendors remember each one. I glanced at a shawl while passing through one day, and on a later day the shawl merchant recognized me and quickly fetched out the very same shawl.
It’s a pity more travelers don’t stop in for a look after seeing the wonders of Sri Meenakshi just across the street.
Jane B. Holt
Hinesburg, VT
In BELFAST, the Crown Liquor Saloon (46 Great Victoria St., Belfast, BT2 7BA, Northern Ireland; phone +44 [0]28 9024 3187) is open daily. My husband, Earl, and I enjoyed lunch there in May 1998, and I remember very well what an attractive, unusual place it was.
The Crown is a Victorian-era public house with fine woodwork, stained-glass windows and colorful mosaics. Gas lamps hang from a carved ceiling. The bar top is red granite, and the bar’s footrest was heated. Even the building’s exterior is magnificent, with marble columns and more mosaics and stained glass.
We sat in an ornately carved wooden snug. A snug is a booth or cubicle originally used by people wanting privacy (such as priests or ladies) when drinking. A metal plate affixed to the wood was once used, when smoking was allowed, for striking matches.
The saloon was renovated in 1885. After it became a property of the National Trust in 1978, it was restored to its original Victorian state, and it was restored again in 2007.
Barbara McIntosh
Roseville, CA
My husband, Jack, and I had an overnight at PARIS’ CDG Airport in January ’06. We took a cab into the city and, on a whim, walked over to the Eiffel Tower to have lunch at one of the world’s most recognized structures.
At the ground-level private entrance to the restaurant Le Jules Verne (Tour Eiffel, Ave. Gustave Eiffel, 75007 Paris, France; phone +33 1 45 55 61 44), we went into the door under the yellow canopy and found ourselves in a small reception area. Greeted by an attendant, we asked if a table for two was available. He made a phone call to check, and then we boarded a small, private elevator and were whisked up 400 feet to the second level.
There, we were ushered into a lovely room with windows all around. The decor was all gray and black; the magnificent views provided all the color and decoration needed.
The food was divine and the service impeccable. The waiter made us feel welcome and as though we were the only people he was serving; we felt very well taken care of.
Our lunch cost $297 for two, including cocktails, appetizer, entrée, dessert and champagne. It was worth every penny for an afternoon we will always remember.
Yvonne Prevo
McKinney, TX