Kiwi Roaming

Circa 1990 Mike and I lived in Shepherd’s Bush, it was a great location for commuting into the city where I worked and a vibrant yet rundown neighbourhood. Lots of Kiwi’s and Aussies’ there then, we lived in a garden flat with all Australian’s (who had been on a Contiki tour together) in the floors above us.

Free London #12 Shepherd’s Bush and White City.

On one side Shepherd’s Bush is exactly the same, the market which has been an operating for over 100 years, is unchanged. A mixture of food, especially vegan or halal, places and fabric or women’s clothing dominate the stalls. It’s a fascinating walk through time and diverse ethnicities with interesting smells and a visual overload tbh.

If you are vegan this is an excellent place to eat, cheap and varied, lots of falafel places, Ethiopian cuisine and various interesting looking foods. There is a butcher and two fishmongers in the market as well as fresh fruit and vegetable stalls.

Surrounding the market is also remarkably unchanged shopping wise. With newer high street stables amongst the cellphone and barber stores.

A short walk to the north west of Shepherd’s Bush green (500m or so) you start to hit White City, specifically hitting the largest shopping mall in the UK first – Westfield London – which is simply enormous. We were here on a very very hot day (well into the 30’s C) so enjoyed the air-conditioning of the mall and elected to go there to eat rather than at the market. In the upstairs foodcourt there were plenty of meal deals and we eventually shared a half chicken, chips and salad for £14 which was a great meal for 2.

The mall is pretty much a mall but in an interesting building on a far larger scale than you can imagine. Out the far side however is an interesting area with seating an upside-down house and exhibition space. We came here primarily to see the Trojan Horse from the movie Odyssey, a large scape prop custom built for the movie. It certainly dominated the landscape and we did go “wow” as we passed it on the train at White City station (which is above ground).

I don’t remember what this 240,000 sqm site contained before, I am guessing disused factories and wasteland, but found it quite confronting how Shepherd’s Bush is now pretty much dominated by this modern structure.

There is a great bus depot here so we caught the bus to head south to Kensington quite easily.