A Freedom of Information request asking if the occasional District Line service from Earl’s Court to Kensington Olympia will return to mid-week service has revealed that it will return between 12th to 15th August.
When TfL withdrew the service during week days, they said that it would resume if there was a significant event taking place at Olympia.
What is happening at Olympia in the early weeks of August?
Nothing less than the Great British Beer Festival.
So, London Underground is laying on its very own “ale-train” for the beer drinking visitors, although possibly with a sense of irony, as of course, drinking beer on the train itself will be very naughty indeed.
Not that I would expect a beer geek to permit themselves to down a pint of finest artisan ale in the 3 minutes its takes for the train journey. That’s more for the Fosters drinking classes.
And just in case you are interested, the week day service will also run between 16th-19th December and on the 22nd December — which is the International Horse Show.
I had the joy of experiencing the replacement bus service from Earls Court to Olympia last week after a ‘significant event’ in my view, the Love Natural, Love Organic show. Coming back from Olympia we waited and waited for the shuttle bus. When it arrived the driver was clearly in a rush. After shutting the doors on a woman with a buggy who was being slow to get on, in his view, the driver was then maniacally driving on his accelerator and brakes in the evening rush hour traffic, blaring his horn at pedestrians, cyclists and car drivers alike, and narrowly missed causing 2 accidents. At Earls Court the driver leaped out in front of passengers and lit up a cigarette – presumably he needed it to calm his nerves. It was one of those scary bus journeys that reminded passengers of journeys in far flung corners of the globe, not Kensington. I won’t be going back to Olympia until they reinstate the trains.
Because of the time between trains (and because I usually have a one-day travelcard), I always found it quicker to go by tube to Kensington High Street, then catch a bus outside the station towards Olympia (Services 9,10,27 or 28).
You can find far better beer around London all year if you know where to look. 3.5% CAMRA-approved dishwater with sexist pump clips does not excite.
What a ridiculous comment. Simon, you either haven’t been to the Great British Beer Festival, or were too drunk to remember the huge choice of quality beers.