Around the stations 18/1/12

Today we wanted to stay close to Euston and St. Pancras. The cafe bar at the Wellcome would have been nicer had we not been turfed out to make way for a 'private function' on the dot of 6.
If you ever want to meet a bluestocking, we can thoroughly recommend this bar by the way. They could rename it 'The Intelligent, Academic Woman Cafe Bar'. But it wouldn't be very catchy. Today we thought of another two variables that we could have included: 'intelligence level of customer' and 'extent to which darkness reigns'. The Wellcome bar would have scored low on the latter, as it was as bright as a summer's day. Anyway. To the marks.

NAME OF VENUE: The Wellcome Collection Cafe (Euston Road, 18/1/12)
Variable	Scale	Rating (mean of 2 rater’s scores)
Presence of beautiful people	1 to 5	2
Art factor	1 to 5	2
Number of games	Numeric	0
Food snacks	1 to 5	1
Extent to which other people initiate conversation	1 to 5	1
Psycho-geography	1 to 5	1
Price of crisps	Numeric	N/A
Number of seats per square metre	Numeric	.5
Number of people per square metre	Numeric	.4
Saturation with habitual drinkers	1 to 5	1
Average age	Numeric	43
Extent of acting out	1 to 5	1
Star bar potential	1 to 5	1
Number of children	Numeric	0
Number of animals	Numeric	0

And on to 'The County Bar' (County Hotel). The website for this budget, central London hotel (£45 per single room, 1 bathroom between 4 rooms) boasts that "The County Bar serves wholesome food and guest ales.". We can't comment on the ales, but the food certainly didn't smell at all wholesome. Rather, off-puttingly greasy. Altogether a rum sort of do, this venue. Decor unchanged since the 80's, with the exception of a large flatscreen TV (showing Hollyoaks to an audience of one) plonked in the perfect spot to cease conversation amongst groups of visitors. Closer inspection revealed lots of original (30's?) detailing, and a trip to the downstairs toilets was made even more worthwhile as they have a museum of candles and wineglasses in the basement foyer. Obtaining the crisps (for research purposes) was tricky: we were directed to a vending machine in the main foyer, which, despite having rows of crisp packets in many flavours on display, kept displaying the peevish message "Item out of Stock". The County Bar would have scored highly on the 'extent to which darkness reigns' variable we haven't included, and probably also on a host of other variables including 'unfriendly atmosphere' and 'depth of dirtiness'.

NAME OF VENUE
Variable	Scale	Rating (mean of 2 rater’s scores)
Presence of beautiful people	1 to 5	1
Art factor	1 to 5	2
Number of games	Numeric	2
Food snacks	1 to 5	2
Extent to which other people initiate conversation	1 to 5	1
Psycho-geography	1 to 5	2
Price of crisps	Numeric	60
Number of seats per square metre	Numeric	.33
Number of people per square metre	Numeric	.09
Saturation with habitual drinkers	1 to 5	3
Average age	Numeric	50
Extent of acting out	1 to 5	1
Star bar potential	1 to 5	1.5
Number of children	Numeric	0
Number of animals	Numeric	0

A freezy day in Margate, and a little trip to London

Amalgamating the data from two evenings. First, the Turner Gallery Bar, Margate:

Turner Gallery Bar, Margate, Jan 2012
Variable	Scale	Rating (mean of 2 rater’s scores)
Presence of beautiful people	1 to 5	2
Art factor	1 to 5	3
Number of games	Numeric	0
Food snacks	1 to 5	3.5
Extent to which other people initiate conversation	1 to 5	1
Psycho-geography	1 to 5	3
Price of crisps	Numeric	N/A
Number of seats per square metre	Numeric	?
Number of people per square metre	Numeric	.27
Saturation with habitual drinkers	1 to 5	1
Average age	Numeric	35
Extent of acting out	1 to 5	1
Star bar potential	1 to 5	1
Number of children	Numeric	0
Number of animals	Numeric	1

This is, of course, an exercise in pure data collection, but I feel I have to mention that the snacks were superb. Could there be a better use of Wasebi peas than the Turner's glass of crispy japanese bits? (They called them something else, although 'crispy japanese bits' is a perfect snack name).


The next week, London's Redchurch Street. First, the Owl and The Pussycat - what a mess they've made of the interior, but that's another story.

Owl and Pussycat, Redchurch Street, London. 11th (?) Jan 2012
Variable	Scale	Rating (mean of 2 rater’s scores)
Presence of beautiful people	1 to 5	2.5
Art factor	1 to 5	2
Number of games	Numeric	0
Food snacks	1 to 5	3
Extent to which other people initiate conversation	1 to 5	2
Psycho-geography	1 to 5	3.5
Price of crisps	Numeric	100
Number of seats per square metre	Numeric	.5
Number of people per square metre	Numeric	.25
Saturation with habitual drinkers	1 to 5	2
Average age	Numeric	35
Extent of acting out	1 to 5	2
Star bar potential	1 to 5	1
Number of children	Numeric	0
Number of animals	Numeric	0

and on to possibly one of the world's nicest cocktail bars...

Redchurch Bar, Redchurch St., London E1 11th (?) Jan 2012
Variable	Scale	Rating (mean of 2 rater’s scores)
Presence of beautiful people	1 to 5	2
Art factor	1 to 5	3.5
Number of games	Numeric	0
Food snacks	1 to 5	3
Extent to which other people initiate conversation	1 to 5	2
Psycho-geography	1 to 5	3
Price of crisps	Numeric	100
Number of seats per square metre	Numeric	1.1
Number of people per square metre	Numeric	.2
Saturation with habitual drinkers	1 to 5	2
Average age	Numeric	40
Extent of acting out	1 to 5	1
Star bar potential	1 to 5	3
Number of children	Numeric	0
Number of animals	Numeric	0