The Olympic Studios

It has been some time, thank you for all your concern. Some thought we had died .. scone overdose somewhere. Others thought we had been kidnapped by over-enthusiastic sconeys. Well, none of the above, we have been in Londonland. Might as well call it that because it is completely detached from the rest of the country. Unlike vast tracts of Scotland where everyone speaks with a home counties accent … here, hardly anyone speaks English. The Range Rovers are almost as big as a £2m house. Mad, but great, all at the same time! Okay, okay, the scones, what about the scones?

Olympic 04The Olympic Studios, complete with it’s statue of Captain Marvel up on the roof, is a very popular haunt for us when we are in the deep south. Either for a meal or to see a film, but this is the first time we have been here in sconey mode. Would we be disappointed?

The building itself has had an illustrious past. Byfield House, the residence of the Governor of St Helena and its dependencies of Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, stood on this site until 1906 when it was demolished and  replaced by a cinema and theatre. Charles Haughtry and John Gielgud first trod the boards here. In 1908 Christabel Pankhurst, took to the stage and gave a rousing and provocative speech. Not about scones but something to do with votes for women. Six days later she was arrested at the House of Commons and imprisoned with more than twenty other suffragettes.

The great and the good

In 1966 it became the Olympic recording studio and was used by the Rolling Stones, Beatles, Led Zepplin, Madonna, Jimi Hendrix and our personal favourites .. Massive Attack!  U2 were the last to record here in 2009. Now it is a cinema again and is appropriately showing the newly released film, Suffragette.

More importantly though it has a restaurant and cafe .. selling scones. And what scones! Olympic 03By far and away the best scones we have had in ages. Very light and fluffy on the inside with a delicate crisp outside .. absolutely fabulous darling. At £3 for two scones with plenty jam and clotted cream, the price was not too difficult to swallow either. Another small but lovely touch in the Olympic is that they just give you water and glasses without you having to ask for it .. great! So there you have it, possibly the best scone in Londonland .. unless we find another of course! Olympic 05

Men as women?

One hundred years after the suggragette struggle, and after our great Winston Churchill spent a year refusing to speak to the first woman to enter the House of Commons, it seems beyond belief that, in 2015, women are still struggling to get equality. Someone (it must have been a man) said that the best way to make women more comfortable in the workplace was to double glaze the glass ceiling. Well, how would men feel if they were obliged to take the same maternity leave as their partners? Would they feel as secure in their careers? Would they wonder about reorganisations happening in their absence, new people coming in, others leaving. We don’t think men would handle it at all well.

Men don’t have it easy

That does not make men different from women because women find it just as difficult. And it is not as if having babies is some sort of peripheral activity. It is fundamental to absolutely everything. Mind you recent statistics reveal that twelve men commit suicide in the UK every day, far higher than the female equivalent figure. So men don’t have it that easy either. Anyway whoever, woman or man, made these scones, we are sure that Miss Pankhurst would have been proud. Probably even prouder it it was a man!

SW13 9HL      Tel: 020 9812 5161    Olympic Studios

3 thoughts on “The Olympic Studios”

  1. Now, those scones look and sound worth eating and I like the lopsided shapes. That neck of the woods reminds me of when we were driving through a high street, possibly Richmond, and suddenly there was a tall loppy naked man striding down the pavement, weaving in and out of shoppers (he had substantial shoes on mind you). Couldn’t take my eyes off him. Perhaps he was going for a cream tea when he disappeared into a department store! Despite being 7.30 am I am salivating at the thought of perhaps indulging in a “cream tea” sooner or later to help spread a little cheer during this blooming awful wet and windy weather down near Londonland. Roses, geraniums, echinops and so much colour in the ground still and green green grass. How lovely to see your granddaughters who will be giving you joy for years to come. We have two, one in her twenties and one 14, going on 20 – both v. beautiful. Keep on with your posts and politics, so enjoyed. Love to Falkirk. S

    1. Oh dear Soni, naked men in Richmond, perish the thought. No wonder you couldn’t take your eyes off him … how did Pete compare? Weather up here has suddenly turned very Novemberish but can’t complain because it has been mild up until now. Will be back down in Londonland in December to see the grand kids again. Take care, treat yourself to a cream tea! x

  2. Mmmmmmm lovely scones, I think we’ll go back to try again next time we’re down that way visiting our granddaughters and their parents. This trip we went down to meet the newest member of the family our beautiful little Ebba. It was lovely to spend time with her and her big sister Lola.

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