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Kingly Court on a cold London evening

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I have hundreds of old pictures that I could put up here, but the last few posts and the response to them had me craving to click more NOW. London is full of opportunities and stories, every street, every street corner is different from the next.

I decided to visit Carnaby Street today. As I turned into Brook Street from Regent Street to get to Carnaby though, I got accosted (literally) by Kingly Court - a stunning shopping and lifestyle courtyard conversion built about 6 years ago.

(click on pictures to enlarge)
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The three storeyed development consists of a central courtyard surrounded on all sides by pretty fashion and lifestyle boutiques and trendy cafes and bars. Since it's a Tuesday and I went in after lunch, it wasn't as crowded as I'm used to seeing it.


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The most magnificent part of the court, however, is the tensile fabric canopy that covers its length and breadth.


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I was met with a few curious glances and one very suspicious glare by an Asian woman as I went about clicking. That's terrorism-era-London for you. For the most part though, people didn't seem to be too bothered by me. A couple of people including a bar bouncer did try to peep into my camera's large LCD display to check what I was upto, and I let them, without making it apparent to them that I was letting them! :)

The gentleman on the left is 'posing' for me here - he deliberately sauntered into the frame and then smiled at me once I was done clicking! Not that I'm complaining - he lent some interesting symmetry to this frame.


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What I really love about this place, apart from the uber cool shops and boutiques, is the cool laidback-ness of the place in the middle of the frenzy of Regent Street and Carnaby Street that lie just outside it. People hang about alone or in groups, snog a kiss or hog a drink or two, or just pass through from Regent Street to Carnaby, while the signboards ooze their quirky urban charm and take me in.


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click on pictures to enlarge

I guess Carnaby Street will have to be another post then.


11 comments so far:

Anonymous said...

Nice images here...vibrant in colors! I liked the fabric canopy the most!

Bhavna Bhatnagar said...

Miss the 'guilty' poster pic ;-)

Are these recent pics or old? Love the first one..

Anonymous said...

thanks for dropping by on my blog. i have a soft corner for b/w pictures. lovely blog.

Shilpa Bhatnagar said...

Abhijit: Thanks. I love the canopy too! It's simple but beautiful.

Bhavna: Thanks:) Recent pics - clicked yesterday in fact!

blinkandmiss: Thank you so much! And thanks for visiting. :) I love black and white photography too, but I feel I'm not too adept at it at the moment. So I click largely in colour and try a few shots in BnW here and there.

Anonymous said...

blinkandmiss....great nik for a photographer, how many times has that happened?

Good set, makes me pine for the days I spent in London as an insurance salesman. Mind you the cold, dark, bleak winter days do nothing for me!

Happy I emigrated to Gilligans Island in the sun.

Shilpa Bhatnagar said...

Val: Thanks! Lucky you - I always feel like going into hibernation every November and waking up in April.

Thanks for visiting:)

Anonymous said...

Lovely. And I like the Black and white pics too. So what story will u have for us next?

Shilpa Bhatnagar said...

Thanks! I'm choosing from three...you'll know soon!:)

Anonymous said...

Great pictures. What was this place like before it got 'renewed'? Who lived here?

Dipinder said...

Great work ! I love the black and white one :)

Shilpa Bhatnagar said...

Thanks Dipinder :) And thanks for dropping by!

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