Brutal Brompton visit

Last week I paid a visit to a friend at Barbican. Despite being there many times over the years, I always enjoy going there. I cycled there on my Brompton and parked it up, leaving it nice and secure and headed inside. 

Barbican is a mixture of residential properties and next to the Barbican Arts Centre and former Museum of London - now closed and will eventually move down the road to Smithfield Market. The whole site is a rather fine example of brutalist architecture and has a Grade II listing. The estate was built between the mid 1960s and 1970s and not intended as social housing. My friend bought their property a few years ago when it was rather expensive. It is now eye-wateringly so and as many are leasehold, various annual charges can be £10,000 plus. 

The Conservatory is always a particular favourite of mine. It is the second largest in London - the Princess of Wales Conservatory at Kew Gardens taking top spot. 

I am not really a fan of Kew Gardens and much prefer the brutal backdrop to the one within Barbican.  Unless you have a friend who lives at the Barbican Estate, there are only certain times that you can pay it a visit. It really is worthwhile. 

There is lots of access to the estate but naturally lots of it is not accessible to non-residents. Go there and you will almost certainly see many people, who are fans of all things brutalist, paying the estate a visit. 

The estate has been used many times in film and television over the years and I was amazed to hear that its most recent use was for the Disney+ series, 'Andor.' 

If you are in London and want to see something a little different, do pay it a visit. 

Until next time, stay safe out there people!