English Rose's The UK Is Awesome Thread

[♥ Lily ♥]

Europes first Victoria's Secret store was opened in West London in 2012.
It's also the largest VS store in the world.
A VS spokesperson said the company plans to open even more VS stores in London
(they've already put another VS store inside the massive Westfield Shopping Centre in east London.)
The company has plans to expand more VS stores across the rest of the UK.

'A VS fragrance called 'London' was launched to celebrate
the opening of the Flagship VS store in West London.

The Victoria's Secret on New Bond Street store covers over four floors and 40,386 feet. It is massive.
This flagship store includes everything from Victoria's Secret Pink
to Victoria's Secret Designer Collection,
so really there's something for every price point here.

Occupying 40,386 square feet and spanning four floors,
the choice on offer is overwhelming, as is the décor.
Open until 9pm every weeknight, with music soundtracks, a gigantic mirrored staircase,
and fitting rooms and lavatories designed to look like boudoirs.

And as if that wasn't enough, a wall of 15 fragrances, including the latest limited-edition scent 'London',
created in the store's honour, welcome shoppers into the glitzy emporium.

However only the super-rich or super-famous will be invited into the top floor VIP section.
Suites inside the luxury Flagship Store comes complete with vintage-inspired bathrooms.

It's like a lingerie museum in there.
Everywhere you turn you're surrounded by images of supermodels aka Victoria Secret Angels
such as Miranda Kerr and Rosie Huntington Whiteley are inside the store.

Even the staircase showcases a two-storey video screen playing footage
of everything from shows to behind-the-scenes on commercials.'

Agent Provocateur is the worlds most glamourous lingerie line,
where supermodels like Kate Moss have advertised the lingerie from this UK store,
and their customers include David and Victoria Beckham.
Its main store is in Soho, London.
There's live catwalk shows in some of the larger West End department stores,
and also inside the massive Westfield centre too.

[♥ Lily ♥]

NYPD (New York Police Department) cars seen on some roads in London

[♥ Lily ♥]

North London Wildcats - Acrobatic Cheerleaders

[♥ Lily ♥]

Annual Summertime Roller-Skating Discos in London's Hyde Park
(there's boating lakes, horse-riding and a lot of people and families roller-skating in the big park during the summertime,
in addition to the big Party In The Park event where popular bands and singers perform each summer.)
During the winter months, Hyde Park turns into the Winter Wonderland
full of winter-themed fairground rides, an outdoor ice-skating rink, and a Magical Ice Kingdom.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Yo! Sushi stores across London are so cool.
You go inside them, select what you like from a conveyor belt,
and you when you're finished eating your fish, vegetables and fruit,
you take the coloured bowls to the counter,
And the price is determined by the colour of the bowls.
There's also flying trays to serve people too.

There's over 70 different types of world cuisines in Londons cafes, restaurants and shops,
including Greek, Italian, Lebanese, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Mexican, Russian, French, Spanish, Argentine,
fruits and vegetables from all over the globe in the markets,
and salads and fresh juice drinks from different cultures
can easily be found in the supermarkets and cafes.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Wembley Stadium, London.
The Home of Football.

Wembley Stadium is a large stadium used primarily for English national football games,
American Football (a game based on Englands game of rugby,)
rugby, and music concerts,
located in Wembley Park, north-west London, England,
which opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium.

(Some English people object to the use of our national stadium being used for American Football games,
but it actually brings in extra revenue and entertainment when the stadium is not in use for other events.)

The original and historic 'Twin Towers' Wembley Stadium was knocked-down and demolished in 2003,
so that a new stadium could be built to replace the Twin Towers stadium and host US Football games too.

Designed by HOK Sport and Foster and Partners,
it includes a partially retractable roof and the 134-metre-high (440 ft) Wembley Arch.
The stadium was built by Australian firm Multiplex at a cost of £798 million.

The stadium's signature feature is a circular section lattice arch of 7 m (23 ft)
internal diameter with a 315 m (1,033 ft) span,
erected some 22° off true, and rising to 133 m (436 ft).
It supports all the weight of the north roof
and 60% of the weight of the retractable roof on the southern side.
The archway is the world's longest unsupported roof structure.

The stadium hosts major football matches including the FA Cup Final
and home matches of the England national football team.

Wembley Stadium is a UEFA category four stadium.
With 90,000 seats it is the second largest stadium in Europe
and the largest stadium in the United Kingdom.
It is owned by The Football Association
through their subsidiary Wembley National Stadium Ltd (WNSL).

In addition to the FA Cup Final, the stadium hosts the season-opening FA Community Shield,
the League Cup Final, the Football League Trophy and the Football League play-offs.

It hosted the 2011 and 2013 UEFA Champions League Final,
the Gold medal matches at the 2012 Olympic Games football tournament,
and will host both the semi-finals and final of UEFA Euro 2020.

The stadium also hosts the rugby league Challenge Cup Final,
NFL American Football International Series and music concerts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wembley_Stadium






















Facts and figures

0 Pillars or columns to obstruct spectators' views.
1 Kilometre, the circumference of new Wembley.
1 Time capsule that was buried under the pitch in December 2005.
1 Access cart that can be driven through the inside of the arch
to allow routine inspections and maintenance to be carried out.
1 Special beacon, which is fitted on the apex of the arch
to act as a warning to low-flying aircraft.
1 Bronze statue of Bobby Moore.
2 Giant screens, each the size of 600 domestic television sets.
2 Pairs of changing rooms, with a warming-up area in between each pair.
3 Interior concourses, with each one having a one-kilometre circumference.
3 Tiers of seating, with the lower tier holding 34,303 spectators,
the middle one 16,532 and the upper one 39,165.
4 Metres lower down - the pitch at new Wembley compared to the one at the stadium.
4 Pounds, the cost of a hotdog
5 Years that the new stadium took to build.
7 Pounds, the amount that a portion of fish and chips will set you back.
7.4 Metres, the diameter of the arch, which is wide enough
for a Channel Tunnel train to run through.
8 Different floor levels, including the pitch as well as spectator and hospitality areas.
11 Acres, the size of the roof. Four acres of the roof are moveable.
20 First-aid rooms.
50 Centimetres, the standard seat width, compared to 41cm in the old stadium.
52 Metres, the height to which the stadium roof rises above the pitch.
54 Kilometres, the length of the rows of seating if they were placed end to end.
68 Degrees, the angle that the arch stands from horizontal
80 Centimetres, the standard depth of a seat, compared to 64cm in the old stadium.
80 Kilometres of speaker cable.
87 Kilometres of security cable.
98 Kitchens, with the biggest one being one third the size of the pitch
100 Trains an hour that can arrive in the vicinity of the new stadium on a major event day.
107 Steps that the players will have to climb to collect their trophies from the Royal Box,
as opposed to 39 steps in the old stadium.
130 Kilometres of fire-alarm cable.
133 Metres, the height of the arch above the level of the external concourse.
The Twin Towers at the old stadium were 35 metres high.
150 Toilets designed for disabled access.
310 Spaces for wheelchair users (and 310 companions), as opposed to 160 at old Wembley.
315 Metres, the span of the "steel-tiara" arch,
which is the longest single-span roof structure in the world.
380 Pitch floodlights.
400 Metres, the combined length of the escalators.
460 Tonnes, the weight of the arches on White Horse Bridge.
500 Security zones.
688 Food and drink service points. There were 152 in the old stadium.
1,294 Wash-hand basins.
1,750 Tonnes, the weight of the steel in the arch -
as much as 275 double-decker buses or 10 Jumbo Jets.
2,000 Jobs created in the construction period.
3,500 Catering staff on major event days.
4,000 Piles that form the foundations of the new stadium,
the deepest of which, at 35 metres, is as deep as the twin towers were tall.
5,450 Pounds, the cost of an annual Corinthian Season Ticket, excluding VAT.
6,000 People employed on a major event day.
7,000 Tonnes, the weight of the roof.
7,000 Smoke/heat detectors.
7,500 Permanent jobs that are being created by economic activity directly related to the stadium.
10,500 Available seated meal covers per event,
including capacity for 2,000 guests in the capital's largest banqueting hall.
12,000 Tonnes of pulling force that were required to raise the arch into place -
the equivalent pulling strength of a fleet of 6,000 four-wheel drive vehicles.
17,000 The number of seats that are dedicated to Club England.
21,000 Sprinkler heads.
22,161 Tonnes of stone, gravel, sand and soil used to create the pitch.
23,000 Tonnes of structural steel used in the stadium construction.
50,000 Gallons of water that can drain through the pitch in one hour.
90,000 Seats, with every one of them pointing towards the centre circle
165,000 Pounds, the average annual cost of a corporate hospitality box.
180,000 Square metres of internal floor space.
4,000,000 Cubic metres -the space inside Wembley's walls and under its roof.
It would take 25,000 double-decker buses or seven billion pints of beer to fill it.
40,000,000 Pounds, the amount that the Exchequer will receive each year from stadium-related activity.
229,000,000 Pounds, the total expenditure by visitors that is expected per annum.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/231...d-figures.html

[♥ Lily ♥]

The O2 Arena,
(the worlds busiest entertainment arena
including NBA American Basketball League games,
music concerts, cinemas, restaurants, shops,
and NHL Hockey games featuring teams from Canada and the US,)
located on the Greenwich Peninsula
in the south eastern region of Central London, England.

The O2 Arena was formerly known as The Millennium Dome,
and is colloquially referred to simply as 'The Dome,'
which was the original name of the large dome-shaped building,
originally used to house the Millennium Experience,
a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millennium of time.

The dome is now a key exterior feature of The O2 Arena.

The Prime Meridian of time passes the western edge of the Dome
and the nearest London Underground station is North Greenwich on the Jubilee line.
The Blackwall transport tunnel underneath the River Thames is close to The Dome,
in addition to overhead sky cable cars over the river and next to the Dome.
Driverless DLR trains operate closeby in the Docklands Islands
which travel past the skyscrapers in Canary Wharf
(London's third city and second largest financial district after the City of London)

The dome is one of the largest of its type in the world.
Externally, it appears as a large white marquee with twelve 100 m-high yellow support towers,
one for each month of the year, or each hour of the clock face,
representing the role played by Greenwich Mean Time.
In plan view it is circular, 365 m (one metre for each day in a standard year) in diameter.

It has become one of the United Kingdom's most recognisable landmarks.
It can easily be seen on aerial photographs of London.
Its exterior is reminiscent of the Dome of Discovery built for the Festival of Britain in 1951.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Dome

The cost of developing the whole Greenwich Peninsula area was estimated at GBP£4 billion in 2006.

Nearly one-third of the ground floor of the dome awaits development in Phase II.
A mezzanine level is also located on the western side of the dome
in which AEG are still determined to locate a super casino.

Alternatively, an attraction is required that would attract enough tourist
who would wish to stay overnight and bring in sufficient investment to allow Phase II
to proceed as well as the building of the planned hotel.

It has been suggested that The O2 could be a cruise terminal as an alternative to a super casino.
if the super casino were not possible.
In late 2007, Marine engineering consultancy, Beckett Rankine,
were appointed to investigate the possibility of the cruise terminal being built.
The remaining land around The O2 Entertainment District will be filled with shops and offices.
Short term car parks are currently being built.

Various buildings are housed within the dome structure including an arena,
known as The O2 arena and an Entertainment Avenue consisting of various restaurants and bars.
There is also a VIP club lounge, an operations room, a media centre with high definition facilities
and a number of dressing rooms as well as a VIP entrance/exit for performers.

All the venues in the complex use the latest lighting, sound and security technology,
including RFID smart card tagging of staff and VIP guests, and digitally managed sound.
There are four computer server rooms to provide this technology.

The complex is also covered by CCTV and security personnel.
Arena visitors and their bags are screened with X-ray machines
and metal detectors at the main entrance.

The O2 Arena (referred to as the North Greenwich Arena for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics)
is a 20,000 capacity venue, primarily used for live music.
It is located at the centre of The O2 and is the first American-style,
multi-purpose arena in London.
It is the second largest arena in Europe after the Manchester Arena,
but is the busiest music arena in the world.

The arena has hosted multiple music and sporting events,
and in 2008 exceeded ticket sales for both Madison Square Garden and the Manchester Arena.

The O2 has a 2720 capacity live music club for smaller music events, club events,
after shows, corporate and private events.
It contains four bars: two on the main ground floor area in front of the stage,
one in the V.I.P lounge called the Purple Lounge and one in the stalls, called Bleachers.
The V.I.P Purple Lounge is not in direct view of the stage, but V.I.P guests have access
to "Kings Row"; the best seats in the venue.
The circle is on the top floor, above "Kings Row".
There are no seats with obstructed views.

The O2 Bubble is a two-storey bubble-shaped exhibition space
built to museum standards, which opened in November 2007.
It is made from ETFE, the same material used for the Eden Project,
and the bubble itself is reportedly based on the Eden Project.
Tutankhamen and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs
was the first exhibition in the Bubble and after that was Body Worlds.
In October 2009 it was Michael Jackson: The Official Exhibition, a collection of Jackson's personal items
from his estate and Neverland Ranch, costumes and props from his tours and videos.

In 2009, the third floor of the bubble became a permanent exhibition called the British Music Experience,
a sixty-year retrospective of British popular music.

The Entertainment Avenue is a wide pedestrian avenue within The O2,
with artificial palm trees and other decorations,
built around the circular arena building which takes up the centre of the dome structure.
The entertainment avenue has buildings on either side,
which are leased to tenants who run bars and restaurants, and resembles a shopping centre.

The buildings on the Entertainment Avenue include a music club known as indigO2,
an exhibition space known as The O2 bubble,
a cinema managed by Cineworld and 25 bars and restaurants.
The cinema includes 11 screens over 2 levels including one 770 capacity auditorium (Sky Super Screen)
which is the third largest screen, by screen-size, in London, and the sixth largest screen in the UK.
It uses the vista ticketing system, where tickets can be purchased from any stall selling refreshments.
Cineworld began operating the cinema, taking over from Vue in 2010.

Fast food outlets have been banned from the development as the theme is 'aspirational but accessible',
trying to avoid it being seen as a shopping centre but more like Covent Garden.

Announced in 2011, Up at The O2 officially opened on 21 June 2012.
It involves an expedition across the roof of The O2 along a 190m long tensile fabric walkway
Halfway, a central platform provides 360 degree views of the city,
before a descent down to the base of the venue on the other side.
From the platform, visitors can see the Olympic Park, Thames Flood Barrier,
The Shard Skyscraper, Historic Royal Greenwich World Heritage Sites,
such as The Royal Observatory
(which played a major role in the history of astronomy) and Canary Wharf.

The O2 also has one multi-purpose indoor events space for live music and night clubbing.
Competing with other similar events spaces such as Brixton Academy, the club is called Building Six (formerly Matter & Proud2).

Special events or minor events which do not require or cannot be held in the indoor venues are held in the piazzas
– The London Piazza, Peninsula Square outside the main entrance of The O2, and the area around the main entrance.
The London Piazza has featured an indoor beach, ice rink and dry ski slope.

Brooklyn Bowl, a bowling alley and live music venue combined was also launched in the O2 Arena.

The O2 Arena also hosts numerous music concerts and shows, NBA American Basketball League games,
NHL Hockey games with teams from Canada and the US playing at the London O2 Arena.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_O2
http://www.theo2.co.uk/

[♥ Lily ♥]

Wimbledon, south-west London.
The Home of Tennis.

The Championships, Wimbledon;
The Wimbledon Championships or simply Wimbledon,
is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and widely considered the most prestigious.

Wimbledon is famous for its elegantly dressed, chic and stylish spectators
(like with the annual glamourous Chelsea Flower Show and the Royal Acscot Horse Racing events in England)
and for limousines, champagne, and strawberries & cream.

It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877.
It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments (Majors),
the others being the Australian Open, the French Open (Roland Garros) and the US Open.

Since the Australian Open shifted to hard court in 1988,
Wimbledon is the only Major still played on grass, the game's original surface,
which gave the game its original name of "lawn tennis".

The tournament takes place over two weeks in late June and early July,
culminating with the Ladies' and Gentlemen's Singles Final,
scheduled for the second Saturday and Sunday respectively.
Five major, junior, and invitational events are held each year.

The hard court (Plexicushion) Australian Open and clay court French Open
precede Wimbledon in the year, and the hard court (DecoTurf) US Open follows.

For men, the grass court Queen's Club Championships, in London, England,
and the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, serve as warm-up events;
for women, the Aegon Classic in Birmingham and two joint events,
the Topshelf Open in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands and the Eastbourne International.

Wimbledon traditions include a strict dress code for competitors,
the eating of strawberries and cream by the spectators, and Royal patronage.

The tournament is also notable for the absence of sponsor advertising around the courts.
In 2009, Wimbledon's Centre Court was fitted with a retractable roof to lessen the loss of playing time due to rain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cha...ips,_Wimbledon

[♥ Lily ♥]

The Olympic Stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park,
known as the Olympic Stadium, is a stadium
located in Stratford, East London, England.
It was built close to the massive Westfield Shopping Centre
in Stratford City, East London.

It is located at Marshgate Lane in London's
Stratford district in the Lower Lea Valley.

It was constructed primarily to serve as the host stadium
for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics,
where it hosted the track and field events,
along with its opening and closing ceremonies.

The stadium is located 6.5 miles (10.5 km) from Central London,
but six minutes travel away from
the Central London St. Pancras International rail station
via Stratford International Highspeed rail services.

The stadium is currently under renovation,
having been closed since 2013 for transformation works.

Arguments happened between Tottenham and West Ham football clubs in east London
as they both wanted to have ownership of the stadium for their clubs.
The London Mayor intervened, along with the Greater London Authority,
to decide on which London club should be allowed to keep the stadium.

Once re-opened in 2016, it will have a standard capacity of 54,000
and will be the long-term home of West Ham United Football Club and British Athletics.

As part of the renovation, the lower seating bowl will be replaced
with a retractable seating system
allowing for acceptable seating for both Athletics and Pitch sports.

As of January 2015, the existing roof, with the iconic triangular floodlight towers,
has been removed and is being replaced with a new one re-using a similar design style
and the original floodlight lamps in a similar arrangement as before.

The stadium will also host both the 2017 IAAF World Championships in Athletics
and the 2017 IPC Athletics World Championships.
(London won the bid to host the 2017 World Athletics Championships,
and England will host the World Rugby Cup in 2015
across various stadiums and arenas in London and England.)

The stadium had a capacity of 80,000, making it the third-largest stadium in England behind Wembley and Twickenham.

The Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park, in East London, is a sporting complex
originally built for the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
It contains the athletes' Olympic Village and several of the sporting venue
including the Olympic Stadium and London Aquatics Centre, besides the London Olympics Media Centre.

The park is overlooked by the ArcelorMittal Orbit,
an observation tower and Britain's largest piece of public art.
It was simply called Olympic Park during the Games but was renamed afterwards
to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II,
(though it is not an official Royal Park of London).
The park occupies an area straddling four east London boroughs;
Newham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Waltham Forest.
Part of the park reopened in July 2013,
whilst a large majority of the rest of the park
(including the Aquatics Centre, Velopark and Orbit observation tower) reopened in April 2014.

http://queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic...m_%28London%29

The Stadium in Stratford City, East London.


The ArcelorMittal Orbit, an observation tower and Britain's largest piece of public art,
was built in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford City, East London.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Arsenal ('The Gunners') Emirates Stadium, North London.