- Joined
- Mar 5, 2002
- Messages
- 20,281
- Reaction score
- 1,794
26th July, 2008, Motor Show at Excel, Silvertown, E. London.
Five of us, managed to act like hooligans and almost get thrown out by security, this really isn't acceptable behaviour for a 57 year old, I hang my head in shame.
Complimentary tickets cos we know the local lads.
My first visit to Excel and | gotta be honest, I don't like it. It's a soulless, dull, concrete place. The Motor show has in the past been held at venues like Earls Court and Olympia, in West London. Those places have character and history.
Excel is just another new millenium concrete lump that, to me, exemplifies all that is bad about new architecture and planning.
I ain't saying all new developments are crap, but Excel is. Beer is overpriced, some of the security guards are a little over zealous (which is how we almost got thrown out on three seperate occasions).
Cheapest meal was a fiver, and was probably also the best as it happens - a chinese/thai stall, it was good.
Burger and chips - eight quid, which you had to eat in a dusty outdoor concrete passageway.
A bottle of Becks - £3.20.
I only found one bar selling Guinness, most just sold designer beers, wine and spirits.
Anyway, be warned
The Motor Show itself was quite good and it ran for two weeks. On each evening they had a band playing in a seperate stage area.
All old bands, obviously the organisers were trying to appeal to the age range they thought had money to buy a new motor. Bands, apart from Squeeze, included Alice Cooper, Deep Purple and Marc Almond. Quite odd.
Truth is though, you go to these Motor Shows and we all of us look at cars we just can't afford, lol. Still interesting though.
The last photograph in the pix I've posted show a young couple we met in one of the bars overlooking the river late afternoon. We got talking. They were in their mid-twenties I'd guess and they came from Tunbridge Wells. The girl was a big Squeeze fan and as it happens as we were making our way from the show to the backstage area for more drinkies after the show, we bumped into them again.
We thought we'd try and smuggle them in to the after show party. We said to them, 'We'll form a circle, get in the middle and walk quickly through the gate'
The security still shouted out 'hang on, who are those two? passes please' We said 'It's alright, they're with us' and to the couple 'Just keep walking quickly' and we got them in. It quite made their day and I felt good about that.
They were still there when we left.
Camera used is Nikon Coolpix S500 at maximum resolution.
Anyways, without further ado, here's a random selection of pix:
Five of us, managed to act like hooligans and almost get thrown out by security, this really isn't acceptable behaviour for a 57 year old, I hang my head in shame.
Complimentary tickets cos we know the local lads.
My first visit to Excel and | gotta be honest, I don't like it. It's a soulless, dull, concrete place. The Motor show has in the past been held at venues like Earls Court and Olympia, in West London. Those places have character and history.
Excel is just another new millenium concrete lump that, to me, exemplifies all that is bad about new architecture and planning.
I ain't saying all new developments are crap, but Excel is. Beer is overpriced, some of the security guards are a little over zealous (which is how we almost got thrown out on three seperate occasions).
Cheapest meal was a fiver, and was probably also the best as it happens - a chinese/thai stall, it was good.
Burger and chips - eight quid, which you had to eat in a dusty outdoor concrete passageway.
A bottle of Becks - £3.20.
I only found one bar selling Guinness, most just sold designer beers, wine and spirits.
Anyway, be warned
The Motor Show itself was quite good and it ran for two weeks. On each evening they had a band playing in a seperate stage area.
All old bands, obviously the organisers were trying to appeal to the age range they thought had money to buy a new motor. Bands, apart from Squeeze, included Alice Cooper, Deep Purple and Marc Almond. Quite odd.
Truth is though, you go to these Motor Shows and we all of us look at cars we just can't afford, lol. Still interesting though.
The last photograph in the pix I've posted show a young couple we met in one of the bars overlooking the river late afternoon. We got talking. They were in their mid-twenties I'd guess and they came from Tunbridge Wells. The girl was a big Squeeze fan and as it happens as we were making our way from the show to the backstage area for more drinkies after the show, we bumped into them again.
We thought we'd try and smuggle them in to the after show party. We said to them, 'We'll form a circle, get in the middle and walk quickly through the gate'
The security still shouted out 'hang on, who are those two? passes please' We said 'It's alright, they're with us' and to the couple 'Just keep walking quickly' and we got them in. It quite made their day and I felt good about that.
They were still there when we left.
Camera used is Nikon Coolpix S500 at maximum resolution.
Anyways, without further ado, here's a random selection of pix:
Nice pics FBS The legs are even nicer?
- loved the Top Gear stand