London Skybar

[bstl]

Well done London on getting the banner once again! (3rd time this year?)
But is anyone else having trouble accessing xl.SSC today?

[Ejit]

Originally Posted by bstl

Well done London on getting the banner once again! (3rd time this year?)
But is anyone else having trouble accessing xl.SSC today?

Nice shot I think.

Yeah.
In fact I haven't been able to for a few days now.

[alonzo-ny]

According to Goth it is getting worked on.

[Nightjar]

Slowly.

[SkyscraperSuperman]

It will return Mid-August, apparently...

[Sy]

Originally Posted by Octoman

I got up at 5:30 this morning to get the 6.09 train to work only to be stuck for half an hour because of 'signal problems'.

South West Trains = Shit West Trains

Indeed, I've been commuting on thme for 4.5 years now. They are pretty bad at managing the services but at least the trains have improved for my line. (thanks to Government investment).

[Octoman]

I think there are plans for a major upgrade of the route into Waterloo (although who knows now). It certainly needs it anyway. Its horribly overcrowded and the trains are among the crappiest on the network.

I can live with a delay while we prioritise budgets but I really hope that the plans arent shelved altogether.

[Octoman]

Oh, and while I think of it I had lunch at the Tate Modern today and I can reliably say that 99% of the contents are total shite. I assume we are making it bigger so we can find space for more shite.

Some of the shite is fun though I'll give it that and I like the big turbine hall exhibits. But to my dying day I am sure I will never understand how a piece of rusty metal is art though. I think the best part of Tate Modern is walking round loudly calling everyting shite.

[Bob]

I'd rather more people could live in the centre and walked/cycled to work rather than spending a fortune in tax payers money just to force us all to commute. It's much cheaper to remove the need for the journey in the first place and is the most common setup world over.

Compared to the post Hatfield nightmare which was the outcome of 20 years of Conservative rule the train network is in superb shape. I remember once totting up 19 delays out of 20 journies on my commute from Essex in the early noughties. That's unheard of today.

[bstl]

Hi,
I'm going away to China for the next 20 days and was wondering whether or not SSC is available there or if it's a banned site. Could anyone in the know let me know as I desperately need to access the site during that time.
Cheers,
bstl

[pakboy]

what are your favoirte eatries in london?

[Octoman]

I think Tony Benn has gone senile.

[bstl]

Just in case anyone was wondering, SSC is available in China
Greetings from Shanghai!

[wjfox]

Originally Posted by bstl

Just in case anyone was wondering, SSC is available in China
Greetings from Shanghai!

Hello.

Are you going to get some pics of the city?

[bstl]

But of course!
I'm actually travelling around the country, so if you happen to visit my flickr page over the next few weeks you can expect to see photos of Shanghai, Yangtze River, Xian, Beijing and also Hong Kong. At some point in the next couple of days I'm going to be visiting the Shanghai Urban Planning Center (the one with the scale model of the city - videos of which were posted in one of our London threads some time ago I believe). I've taken a few shots of Shanghai so far, so I'll put them up soon.
The cityscape here is truly amazing - the Oriental Pearl Tower (468m) and World Financial Center (492m) dominate the skyline, dwarfing the surrounding buildings which in actual fact are massive themselves. Still, I'd rather have the Shard and Pinnacle in London than any of these. All is relevent of course.

[SE9]

Flagship Apple Store, its largest ever, to open in London on Saturday
August 2010

ThinkQ
Apple will open its 300th retail store this Saturday and the Mac maker says it will be its biggest and best.

The existing Apple Store in Regent's Street is already the outfit's busiest temple of consumerism and is reputedly the most profitable retail space in the whole of the capital.

Now the Cupertino company is hoping to have the same impact on London's historic Covent Garden with the largest Apple Store in the world, a massive three-story building with a skylight-covered central atrium and all of the usual fancy glass staircases and chic design touches.

Judging from the pictures posted on Tech Radar, the company has let the existing building shine through with modern display units complimenting the bare brick walls and Victorian architectural flourishes.

The new store, which opens its doors for the first time this Saturday (August 7th) will employ 300 people and have 56 Macs, 30 iPads, 40 iPods and 30 iPhones on display for sticky-fingered punters to prod.

In addition to the now familiar workshops and Genius Bar, Apple said, "For the first time in the UK, local companies can make an appointment in the Apple Store Covent Garden's Briefing Room for free business workshops or to get help finding the right technology solutions to meet their business needs."

Evening Standard

Apple was today putting the finishing touches to a historic building in Covent Garden that is expected to become London’s most profitable shop when it opens on Saturday.

The store, Apple’s 300th and the biggest it has constructed, is built around a large courtyard covered by a glass roof. Originally built so horses could make deliveries easily to the building, the arches surrounding the courtyard have been painstakingly restored by Apple.

“We want to be the gold standard of retail,” said Ron Johnson, senior vice-president of retail operations at Apple, “and this is our best store yet.”

Last year the flagship Apple store in Regent Street was named as the most profitable per square foot in the capital. Takings soared to £60million a year, or £2,000 per square foot - more than double the estimated sum made by Harrods. The new store could eclipse that.

“We are located on the most popular entrance to Covent Garden, and we have an entire building - we hope we have captured the soul of the area with the store,” said Mr Johnson.

He also acknowledged the huge success of the Regent Street store.

“The store that has taught us most was Regent Street, and it worked, and was so busy and we have to expand it by 50% after a year. It is our highest traffic store in the world, we get more people than in our fifth avenue store in New York.”

The three-floor Covent Garden store, on the edge of the piazza, is larger than Regent Street and expected to attract huge numbers of tourists passing through. Staff will roam the floors of the store with iPods that double as mobile checkouts, allowing people to buy anywhere within the building.

As well as the store, the building is expected to contain offices for Apple staff, and will also be used for exhibitions and even music performances, along with a room that can be used by schoolchildren and other groups.

The computer firm also pledged the new store would ease stock shortages of its most popular products - iPhone 4s and iPads are sold out in many stores across the capital. “Some of our products have been a little difficult to get hold of lately - we will have more iPads and iPhone 4s here than anywhere else in the world when we launch on saturday,” said Mr Johnson.

[GeneratorNL]

Originally Posted by pakboy

what are your favoirte eatries in london?

Without any doubt Inamo!

[Octoman]

There were quite a few nice restaurants with outside tables in that building.

Thanks a lot Apple.

[SE9]

Here's what its been turned into:



/video can't be found on YouTube search, hence only 300 views.

[BorderBoy]

Originally Posted by Octoman

Oh, and while I think of it I had lunch at the Tate Modern today and I can reliably say that 99% of the contents are total shite. I assume we are making it bigger so we can find space for more shite.

Some of the shite is fun though I'll give it that and I like the big turbine hall exhibits. But to my dying day I am sure I will never understand how a piece of rusty metal is art though. I think the best part of Tate Modern is walking round loudly calling everyting shite.

I can reliably say that you are clearly an intelligent and sensitive individual with an aware personality and sense of modesty and self doubt.