It’s my Birthday tomorrow and as a treat K arranged a day out in London with a trip to Battersea Power Station. I’ve been wanting to go and see the redeveloped site since it opened last year.
A bit of info about the power station..
The power station ceased to generate electricity in 1983 and as the site had been given grade 2 listed status in 1980 it meant that whoever took the site on had to return the building to its original state. There had been a few proposals of what to do with the site including an idea in the 1980’s to turn it into a theme park. When this was proposed the roof was removed exposing the building steel frame to the elements. The chimneys were also crumbling as the stastion had used a gas washing technique to remove sulpher from the emissions and this process resulted in a weak sulphuric acid solution which affected the steel and the brickwork.
So,after 30 years of neglect, the building was in a sorry state. It wasn’t until 2012 a wealthy malaysian consortium took the site on, and spent £1.15 billion redeveloping the site.
Its now a fascinating place to visit, its an upmarket shopping centre with plenty of cafes and restaurants. It also has Lift 109 which is fantantic experience. It’s a lift which takes you up and out of the top of the north west Chimney and you get a 360 degree view of London. it’s so cool, we had a bright sunny day and the views were amazing.
After The power station we went to a restaurant over in Kings Cross called the German Gymnasium Its a beautiful grade 2 listed building built in 1865 and was England’s first purpose-built gymnasium, with funding coming solely from London’s German community. The food was gorgeous, I had Schinkenknacker which was smoked and grilled pork sausage, sauerkraut, mashed potato and crispy onions SO good!
