Here at Ashlee House Hostel we love our city, in every season.
This summer we loved spending time in the nearby parks, enjoying the sun and the joyful atmosphere… and now that winter is up to come, we are all looking forward to the Holiday season… Christmas, of course, but first of all…

HALLOWEEN!

Halloween in London is always something special.

Not only all the pubs and shops are completely decorated, offering you themed food and drinks, but there are also many events, all around the city, ready to give you the most exciting and spooky time of your life.

Here is our personal list of…
10 THINGS TO DO IN LONDON AT HALLOWEEN

1 – The Blood And Tears Walking Tour – Special Halloween Edition!
Declan and his amazing rave-reviewed spooky tour were sold out two weeks in advance, last Halloween!! Be quick and book your place, if you don’t want to lose the chance to experience one of the very best walking tour in London. More info and details on the official website.
As a cherry on top, if you stay with us in Ashlee House, you will get discounted tickets!

2 – The London Dungeon
One of the most famous attractions in London, with people queuing for it day and night all year long, will be at its best on the Halloween days, with a special world-record program taking place from 18th October to 2nd November!
More info on the official website.
Book your ticket at Ashlee House reception desk: it will be not only discounted, but you will also jump the looong queue!

3 -  The British Library
Halloween is coming and the greatest library in London is ready to celebrate it.
Focusing on the period between the 1860s and 1930s, you can attend an illustrated talk examining the fascination that images of spirits, ghosts and ectoplasm held in the minds of the public, as well as high profile figures like Arthur Conan Doyle. This event is called ”Imagining The Impossible” and will be held by Gordon Rutter, head of the Charles Fort Institute and expert on strange phenomena. A good chance to talk to an expert about that shadow you saw last night… More info on the official website.
And the British Library is only 5 minutes by walk from Ashlee House Hostel!

4 – The Ministry of Sound
The Ministry of Sound, one of the most famous London nightclubs, plays host to another night of quality Halloween madness, with everything to keep your Halloween night pumping! Check the official website for more details and ask our Reception staff… if you give us candies, we might be able to get you on the Guest List!

5 – Fancy Dress Boat Party
If you feel creative and you want to show off your great costume, this is the party for you! A 4 hours cruise on the Thames on the London Belle, departing from Westminster Pier: great food, two fully stocked bars, large dance floor and a variety of great music, what better way to spend Halloween this year?
A mystery prize will be also presented to the best dressed!
Click here for more info.

6 – Madame Tussauds and the Chamber of Horrors
The most famous London day-out will be at its best also in the Halloween days!  Make all your Screams come true with a travel trough the most famous chamber of Horrors in London! Will you be able to escape?? Check the official website for more info… an if you buy the tickets at Ashlee House Reception, your screams will be discounted!!

7 – London Bridge Experience
This year, the London Bridge Experience brings you face to face with your deepest, darkest fears. Focusing on the fear of fear itself, the Phobophobia Halloween show will take you past walls that are dripping in blood, squeeze you through confined spaces and make you gasp in terror as you’re met with spiders, snakes, cackling witches and creepy clowns.
Need to know more? Check the official website! No worries, though… Ashlee House Reception is open 24h: if you’ll have nightmares, you can come and talk to us!

8 – Ripleys
One of the oddest museums in London will be ready to scare your socks off on Halloween days! Crammed with witchy artefacts and spooky objects, Ripleys Believe it or Not Museum is the perfect place for a little Halloween fun. Check out the shrunken heads, spell books, wands, and vampire killing kits… who knows, you might need one, sooner or later!
Go to the official website for more info.

9 – Chills in the Chapel: Horror Movie Nights!
What about four nights of terrifying horror films, with a backdrop just as spooky as the films you will be treated to, and all FOR FREE? The gothic Union Chapel – just a few minutes by tube from Ashlee House Hostel – with candles and atmospheric lighting, will be home to the screams of the terrified for four nights, including Halloween itself.
Check the official website for info and to pre-book your free place.

10 – Wicked!
Enjoy the most… wicked London musical, the untold story of the evil witches of Oz! This is the perfect time of the year to applaude this amazing west end show, running since more than 3 years and yet sold out every night!
More info on the official website.

AND… of course… the most important point is…

11 – Come and stay with us in Ashlee House! We offer you 10 % DISCOUNT ON YOUR STAY if you decide to come to London for the Halloween Celebrations!!

This year, London is definitely the best place where to be at Halloween, with your friends or your family!

Come and join us in the Halloween Fun! We will be waiting for you! : )

{Thank you very much to Paul Thomas, Marc Barker, Chris, Angelo Noziglia and Brian for the great photos attached to this post!}

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This time we have been proud to host nothing less than the South African Ladies Team attending the Eight Ball Pool World Championship 2009 in Blackpool!

Carol, Janine, Florence, Miranda, Alta and Bev decided to come a couple of days earlier to visit London, so we took the chance to invite them to The Elbow Room, our favourite pool venue in London, for a friendly game, some drinks and a chat!

We had a very fun evening together!!

It does not happen every day to speak with someone who participate to World Championship, so we have been asking them how they started playing pool and what is that they enjoy the most about this sport.
That’s how we discovered that for Bev all started because his brother and father were playing and they thought it wasn’t a “ladies’ sport”! The same happened with Florence’s boyfriend… and yet these girls proved all them wrong!

What they like the most about playing pool is having the chance to share some quality time together with friends and family, and of course the fun and the adrenaline of every new challenge!

We have been playing together for all evening, chatting and sharing ideas and thoughts.
We have been talking about shopping, travelling, lifestyle in London compared to South Africa, and even about mortgages and public transport!!
… What’s sure is that we really want to go to visit them soon!! : )))

Some of our guests came to play pool with us, and they were very happy to have he chance to do so… it does not happen every day to play with World Champions!

We have been very pleased to have these fantastic ladies with us. It’s always so very rewarding when we get the chance to meet such amazing people!
It truly makes the difference.

We have been fantastically guested by The Elbow Room, our favourite pool bar, on Chapel Market, Islington, a few minutes away from our Hostel.
It’s a fantastic venue, lively and so very welcoming!
Thank you to Donald, Kit and all the great staff who gave us the chance to have such lovely time!

And if you like to play pool, even if you’re not a World Champion, do not miss the chance to play at The Elbow Room!
Every Monday playing pool is FREE all day!
If you’re up for some fun times with your friends, great music, great food and drinks, do not miss to pay them a visit next Monday!!

Thank you Carol, Janine Florence, Miranda, Alta and Bev for staying with us: we look forward to see you again soon in Ashlee House!!
(Or maybe will be us coming to South Africa! : )) )

For more photos, just check out our Flickr Photopage!

All photos © Sonia Bertacchini

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The first thing we think about, when we think of The Water Rats Theatre, is that they never return us the towels we loan them.
(We keep their deposit, though, so that’s fine).
We are pretty sure they must have a tiny room, somewhere, with piles and piles of white, forgotten towels.
One day, in a century or so, an archaeologist will find it, and that will lead to the writing of a very successful book about a mysterious towel-based religion. If by any chance he will also find a copy of Douglas Adams’ Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy, this will just confirm his idea, we fear.

Apart from kidding, we must admit it: The Water Rats are our favourite neighbours.
No, this does not means that we have mice in the hostel, and yes, we also think that’s a really cool name for a theatre.
It only means that we are lucky enough to have a fantastic and lively venue on our doorstep. Literally.
From the reception desk we always see loads of people queuing up, night after night, ready to have the most amazing time. Luckily, since they love us too – or maybe just because they feel guilty for all that towel issue – every Friday they have a huge bunch of free tickets available for our guests: all you have to do is coming down to Ashlee House reception and ask for it.

Yesterday night we decided to take advantage of these tickets ourselves, so we just left the coats in the Hostel (so handy) and we crossed the road.
Pablo was working, so we had to leave him behind, sadly, but life is tough, and anyway he was there the Friday before!
We missed him, of course, but we managed to have great time anyway, because the bands playing were absolutely fantastic, the dj inspired and the laughs easy: it has been super-fun!

The Monto Water Rats Theatre is a cosy, old fashioned venue, with a truly great atmosphere.
The room on the front has a bar, with a wide range of beers and spirits and a dj playing all night with a various mix of music, from electro to indie/rock. Drinking Magners while listening to a famous remix of a Radiohead song made us fall in love even more with the place.

The room on the back is the theatre, where you can enjoy the music of many artists, big names such as Skunk Anansie or Katy Perry as long as some of the best new indie band, from the precious mine of local artists, ready to choke up the worldwide radios in the next few years.

Yesterday we had such a great time that we would like to recommend you to check out especially two bands:
Motion Picture Soundtrack from Canterbury, Kent, and Harrison Hope from North London.
We truly loved their tunes and we will be playing their tracks in the Hostel for sure. Everyone around was bouncing and having a good time, but a special mention goes to a few guys on the front, jumping and screaming as for an AC/DC concert!!

If you want to have a dip in something authentic and run away from all the tourist-designed venues, The Water Rats Theatre is your place. Here you will be able to breathe the real London atmosphere, drinking a real good pint and discovering new bands that will rock the charts for sure!
We will be showing off, in one year time, saying “We were there, when they were not so famous, yet!”
Will you be doing the same? We truly hope so!
(The real autographs collector plays in advance, you know!)

Open from 7pm until 1am, The Water Rats Theatre is literally a few steps away from us, and you’d be fool to loose the chance to have an evening out in our favourite live music venue!
Ask the reception for your free ticket, and then, the day after, let us know which bands you liked the most: we always love to discover new songs to add to our Ipod playlist! : )

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