The Ford of the Golden Flowers... (Guildford in General)

Member Name: beckstrous

Product:	Guildford in General
Date:	08/07/02 (1060 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good shops, Picturesque, Historical

Disadvantages: Expensive!, Few "individual" pubs, Dodgy nightclubs

Mmmm, Guildford. Pub bombings, posh people in green wellies, anything else? I always tell people it's "a town quite close to London if you take the train", and they say "Mmmm...", nodding their heads in vague appreciation. But I think Guildford probably deserves a little bit more of a description than that, hence this op.

I was born in Guildford 26 years ago and apart from stints in Leicester and London, I have lived in the area all my life - so hopefully I am reasonably qualified to write this. It's probably going to turn out quite long, so I'll split it into sections.

THE HISTORY
============
The good burghers of Guildford like to boast that it is a town "steeped in history", so what do they mean when they make that rather nebulous claim?

The first settlers arrived in Guildford in the year 500 and called it "Gyldeforda", a Saxon name meaning "Ford of the golden flowers". I don't know what said flowers were but it sounds nice, doesn't it?

Guildford became quite a properous town thanks to the establishment of the Royal Mint (the town used to make its own silver coins) and the wool trade. In the 11th century the Norman invasion led to the building of Guildford Castle, which still stands today. It was the only royal castle in Surrey and under Henry III it became a luxurious royal residence, though it fell into decline after his death and in 1885 the ruins were purchased by Guildford Borough Council, who turned the castle grounds into a park.

After the decline of the wool trade Guildford continued to prosper as a stopping-off point between London and Portsmouth. There were several coaching inns along the cobbled High Street and one of them, The Angel Posting House & Livery, still operates as a hotel today.

Lewis Carroll is probably Guildford's most famous resident - he was not born in the town but lived in Castle Hill for a time (y
ou can find the house today as there's a plaque outside) and is buried in the town.

Guildford Grammar school was founded in 1509 and remains one of the top boys' schools in Surrey - Sky Sports Commentator Martin Tyler (who is also a Woking supporter!) is a famous old boy.

WHAT'S IT LIKE TODAY?
=====================
Guildford is a pretty town and has retained a lot of its charm. The old cobbled High Street and the famous Guildhall Clock are well-known Surrey landmarks and the surrounding hills and River Wey make Guildford a scenic place to spend an afternoon. London is within easy reach (40 minutes by train) and there are several beautiful villages nearby, such as Shere, Gomshall, Abinger Hammer and Wonersh (oh, and Cranleigh - not as picturesque as the rest on the list, but it's England's largest village!).

SHOPPING
==========
There are plenty of shops in Guildford and all the major chains are here. The Friary Centre houses several of them (Top Shop, HMV, Sports Soccer, Miss Selfridge), and the High Street and North Street are dotted with familiar brands. White Lion Walk (which connects the High Street and North Street) is dominated by Next, which takes up most of the second floor.

If you want something a little bit more individual then Guildford probably isn't as impressive as Brighton (nothing in the South East quite tops the Lanes) but the shops are there if you look for them. In Tunsgate Square (built on the old corn exchange) there is a craft shop called Topaz, which sells jewellery, ornaments and furniture from South America and Mexico. Also in Tunsgate is Ben's Collectors Records, which sells a variety of different types of second-hand music.

At the top of the high street, Thomas Thorpe's massive shop sells a range of books, new and second-hand. I found it very useful when I was studying English at university. In Angel Gate, there is The British Hatter (no explanati
on needed, I hope!), Ollie's Skate Shop is in Phoenix Court and tucked away in Haydon Place is East West, packed full of unusual alchemic and pagan gifts, incense and clothing (they also have a tarot card reading service).

Having lived in London only 30 minutes from Oxford Street, I have to say I still prefer Guildford for shopping because it is easier to get around, more compact and less crowded (though it can be hellish in the run-up to Christmas). There seem to be more chain stores springing up every year, but I hope the independents survive.

EATING OUT
===========
Guildford has plenty of restaurants, from the identikit chains like Pizza Hut, TGI Fridays and the lovely Pizza Express to various different curry houses and Italian and Chinese restaurants (the Mandarin on Epsom Road is particularly recommended, but I've not been there). There's nothing out of the ordinary in the town and I haven't eaten out in Guildford for a while, but my favourite place there is probably the Rum Wong on London Road. This is an excellent Thai restaurant where you can chose to sit in the Western style or at a lowered table with your shoes off in a separate room, traditional Thai style.

CULTURE
=========
Quite a lot of it actually. There's the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre by the river, which gets a fair few plays before they go to the West End (Pete Postlethwaite has been there recently with Scaramouche Jones). The Electric Theatre - so-called because it's on the site of the old electricity works - houses a lot of comedy and amateur theatre. At Bellairs Playhouse you can see the Guildford School of Acting perform, and the Civic Hall has occasional concerts (though not as many as it should, in my opinion).

Guildford has a music festival every year and this summer, the town is housing some open-air drama as the Pranksters Theatre Company put on Terry Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters in the Castle Grounds.

SPORT
& LEISURE
================
Guildford Spectrum is a large greenhouse - sorry, leisure centre! - on the parkway. It's still fairly new and has an ice rink, sports halls, ten pin bowling, gym, athletics track and various different swimming pools. The ice rink is also home of the Guildford Flames Ice Hockey team. I think most of the players are from Canada.

Now that Guildford City FC are sadly extinct I have to give a plug to my beloved Woking FC, who play rubbish football against better teams in the Nationwide Conference a few miles from Guildford. It's £9 to get in, and yes - I would recommend it (everybody's got to once, yes?).

If you like the movies (and surely everyone does) the 9-screen Odeon cinema is pretty good, although they often seem to run out of the best varieties of Haagen Dazs if you get there late.

NIGHTLIFE
==========
Three tacky "ritzy" nightclubs - Bojanglez, the Drink and Cinderellas. I expect they're all as bad as each other. Next door to the Drink is Bar Mambo, where you can learn to salsa (and hey - you can also pay £3.50 for a bottle of Beck's too). Round the corner are Yates's Wine Lodge, Edwards and all the usual suspects, McPubs galore. The Wetherspoons is massive and houses over 2,000 people on two floors. It's very noisy and usually attracts the pre-club crowd but it's quite cheap.

I can't really enthuse about many of the pubs in Guildford but if you like your Hogsheads*, your Scruffy Murphys and your Finnegan's Wakes then you'll doubtless be quite happy here.

If you prefer the one-off pubs then I recommend the Royal Oak near the Holy Trinity Church (well, it used to be good) or the Star at the bottom of the High Street, Guildford's oldest pub. Let's hope it doesn't become a Slug & Lettuce!

*Having said that, I do quite like the George Abbot pub, which is part of the Hogshead chain. Naughty me.

PLA
CES OF INTEREST
===================
I'd recommend a visit to the Castle. In 1985 it cost 50p to go up to the top of the keep, from where you get a great view of the town. It's probably a bit more expensive these days but even so ...

The River and the area around it is lovely on a summer's day. You can hire boats and row to Godalming if you want. The pubs are better there.

Loseley Park has an Elizabethan mansion with some spectacular gardens and Winkworth Aboretum and Busbridge Lakes (both at Godalming) were amongst my favourite places to visit as a child. Pewley Down is a lovely place to go walking, and from the Mount you get a great view of the town (rumour has it that students and ne'er-do-wells smoke pot up there in the summer evenings: surely not?).

There are also several villages to explore in the surrounding area.

THE REST
===========
Guildford is quite an expensive place to live, whether you are buying or renting (I cannot afford either at present!). There are some lavish houses up towards Pewley Down but I used to live in Stoughton, which is a bit more down to earth (some would say "scabby" but I wouldn't hear of it). When I was a student I used to get a little bored in Guildford because the nightlife is nothing special (even though it is a university town) but now that I'm older I appreciate the place a lot more. It has a hellish rush-hour and can be a nightmare for parking at weekends but I think it's got the best shopping centre in the area by far and has a lot of other things to offer. I'm probably biased.

One other thing: there are two Starbucks in Guildford. Why?

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