My first ‘Thing’ To Do in London, was more about where to stay for around £20. My Second ‘Thing’ is not so much linked to Literary London and the London Literary Pub Crawl, as America! And specifically, Texas.
That my second ‘Thing’ is Texas-orientated is for two reasons. Firstly, because recently a young woman from Austin, Texas, who had flown in to London the morning of the Literary Pub Crawl and not eaten or slept for 48 hours, got a bit tipsy. Only a bit, you must understand. (In fact in nearly five years of the Pub Crawl, we’ve only had two or three people ‘tired with the wine’! And that’s usually when I host the show and get carried away, as it were!)
The second reason is that we are trying to raise some money to promote the London Literary Pub Crawl and expand into other areas, and a friend of mine who used to live in London is from Austin, Texas. He bought a £2k share in the company. Or a ‘Unit’ as they're known in the theatre world. Sort of like non-tradable shares. So I’m loving the USA. And Texas. And especially, Austin, Texas. It’s apparently a growing area in the USA, and has an annual arts and music festival. As a struggling writer, I can’t afford to go there yet - although I did wonder about creating a poetry slam or doing some readings, but that is perhaps for another time - but if you are from America or Texas, then this is what you should do in London.
Because in 1842, Texas was an independent republic. Nope, nothing to do with the USA.
In fact the Diplomatic address of Texas was in St. James! So, Thing Two To Do In London is to get to Texas in London! St James is the diplomatic area. To visit Texas, go to St James’s Street - or more precisely, Pickering Place. The nearest tube station is Green Park. The tiny Pickering Place is an alley off the east side of St. James's Street near St. James's Palace in a building that also houses Berry Bros. & Rudd, a prestigious wine merchants' that has been there since 1730.
On the north side of the building is a plaque - in fact there are TWO plaques - marking it as the site of the Texas legation. At least until 1845, when Texas decided to be less independent and became a United State of America. Then they left London, but didn't pay the rent. In fact the outstanding rent bill, due to the wine merchants next door, wasn't actually settled until the 1980’s! Then 26 Texans dressed in buckskin, showed up at the wine shop to settle the Republic’s outstanding debt of $160, repaid on the spot in Republic of Texas bills.
This may be due to the fact that an organisation called the Anglo-Texan Society - who had author Graham Greene as a member - came over in 1963 and installed a commemorative plaque. In 2013 they installed another plaque, probably relieved that their forebears finally sorted the rent. At the far end of the alley lies Pickering Place, a paved square with a sundial in the centre. One of London’s smallest public squares and once a notorious venue for duels and bear-baiting apparently. Pickering Place also boasts that it was the last place in London where a duel was fought and the place where Napoleon III plotted his return to France (he was in exile in England between 1838 and 1848).
But never forget this is all next to a wine merchants. That in itself should be worth a visit!
Yee-hah! Go see!
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