I love London but I’m not a Londoner. Stray too far north of the Thames and I’ll rapidly be lost. I wouldn’t even venture to the south because, well, why bother, right? But there is a place, nestled between the metropolises of the City of London and Canary Wharf that I love to spend time in: the city of Wapping.
Ok maybe not. Feeling more like a hamlet or village at best, Wapping is a place I’ve always enjoyed visiting in London. It’s ‘famous’ for being that random bump in the river just after Tower Bridge that no one really knows what’s there. Dig a little deeper and it’s widely seen as all about pirates and pubs. But most recently I visited the Met Police’s taskforce open day at the marine policing unit based in Wapping. A grade two listed building conceals a high security facility used to maintain the fleet of vessels that keeps London’s, and the surrounding waterways, safe.
I imagine if James Bond had been far less rugged and a little more handsome, he’d have felt like me on that day, ambling through Q branch looking at the latest gadgets. The guide proudly demonstrated their new fleet of counter-terror boats which were required as the old models were a little rough on the posterior of the counter-terror police during rough weather. So, whether it’s police boats or a pint, Wapping might just be your next place to visit in London!
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