Hot yoga London’s first dedicated hot yoga studio. Lined with fragrant Juniper logs and fitted with state of the art anti-bacterial technology, enter deep stretches and poses, and detoxify through perspiration, in a hot but fresh environment. Gym floor Soaring double height gym floor to lift the spirits. Packed with the latest equipment, from TRX rig to sprint track. Build your spirit as well as your body. Thermal suite Thermal experiences include an aromatic juniper log glass sauna, aroma steam room, luxurious day beds set against a backdrop of Iroko panelling and experience showers to cool off in. Cycle studio Intense cycling workouts that burn calories, improve fitness and get endorphins flowing all powered by designer light and sound, energetic music and best-in-class instructors. A truly immersive experience. Natural Fitness Food A daily changing, nutritionally formulated menu, natural snacks, organic cold-pressed juices and made to order smoothies. For the perfect pre and post-workout nutrition, find us at your new club reception. Pool A dramatic black pool, surrounded by polished concrete and glowing green glass; a luxurious world away from “tile-and-chlorine”. Mind & Body A dedicated mind and body studio for a wide range of yoga, barre and pilates classes led by inspirational and expert instructors. Rig and sprint track A bespoke functional training rig with an array of attachments – from Olympic rings to TRX to rip trainers. Plus kettlebells, plyo boxes and a mini sprint track. A serious alternative to traditional gym training. Join now and refer a friend to receive £50 of club vouchers to spend on food, training or treatments.

Tower Bridge today celebraties its 120th birthday and is still one of London's best known landmarks, attracting thousands of tourists each year. The suspension bridge over River Thames, which took eight years to complete, was officially opened on 30 June 1894 by The Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VII. Construction started on the iconic landmark in 1886 with the two huge piers containing over 70, 000 tons of concrete. Five different contractors worked on the bridge during the construction with over 400 workers employed on the site. The iconic building is 244 meters in length with two towers each standing at 65 meters high. The distance between the towers is split into two equal bascules, which can be raised to an angle of 86 degrees and allows the traffic on the river to pass under the bridge. In 1910, the walkways on the bridge, which were designed so that the public could still cross the river when it was raised, were closed down due to lack of use. To this day Tower Bridge is still one of the most visited and iconic buildings in London. 1 1886 The first pier starts to take shape over the River Thames 2 English Heritage/Heritage Images/Getty Images 1889 Three years in to the project, the construction is taking shape 3 London Stereoscopic Company/Getty Images The construction of Tower Bridge, London which was completed in 1894. 4 Getty Images 1893 Tower Bridge construction continues. 5 Royal Photographic Society/Getty Images Boats are docked on the River Thames with Tower Bridge in the background 6 Royal Photographic Society/Getty Images Huge vessels are seen alongside the iconic bridge 7 Getty Images 1893 View of Tower Bridge as building continues with river traffic in the foreground 8 London Stereoscopic Company/Getty Images 1893 Tower Bridge in London, nearing completion. 9 Guildhall Library & Art Gallery/Heritage Images/Getty Images 1893 The construction of Tower Bridge was begun in 1886 to designs by Sir Horace Jones and it opened in 1894. 10 Russell and Sons/SSPL/Getty Images Construction is nearing completion. The bridge is an example of a bascule bridge, where the central section can be opened drawbridge-style to enable shipping to pass through. 11 he British Library/Robana/Getty Images Putting the finishing touches 12 Mansell/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Members of the National Trust & English Heritage enter free and there are various other heritage passes that may include admission to Stonehenge. Even if you are entitled to free entry you still need to book your entrance in advance . There is 10% discount for groups of 11 or more visitors paying together plus a free place for every additional 20 paying passengers. Free entry for coach driver and tour leader. If you come by car you will park in the car park outside the visitor centre. It is free for people purchasing tickets to enter Stonehenge, there is a charge if you are not. Tour buses have their own separate coach park Before the visitor centre opened you could drive up to Stonehenge and get quite a good view of Stonehenge through the wire mesh fence. The old road to Stonehenge has been closed and grassed over, from the visitor centre Stonehenge is out of sight over the horizon. To enter the Stonehenge exhibition at the visitor centre you need a full ticket to Stonehenge, anyone can access the cafe, gift shop and toilets though. Note: the last bookable 30 minute time slot is 2.5 hours before closing time of Stonehenge. Closing times are variable according to month of the year. Admission Opening Times Adult £15.50 16 Mar - 31 May 09.30 - 19:00 Child (5-15) £9.30 1 Jun - 31 Aug 09.00 - 20:00 Students/Seniors * £13.90 1 Sep - 15 Oct Family Ticket † £40.30 16 Oct - 15 Mar 09.30 - 17:00 What Does Buying A Ticket Give Me ? A typical visit to Stonehenge will last 90 minutes to 2 hours. Your ticket buys you access to the exhibition centre and the shuttle up to view Stonehenge itself. The exhibition centre is well worthwhile and recommended, if you are going to understand what you are looking at when you get to Stonehenge. There is minimal information once you get to Stonehenge around the monument. Audio guides, (with a small charge) are available in ten languages, (English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Dutch and Swedish). Special Access Visits During normal opening hours you cannot walk up to the stones themselves. The nearest you will get to the stones is about 10 yards, the monument being roped off by a low barrier, (see picture below). However it is possible to walk up to and among the stones at Stonehenge outside public opening hours. These are called Special Access visits. During these sessions of one hour duration, only 26 people are allowed onto Stonehenge going beyond the barriers and walking amongst the stones. The fact that these Stonehenge Special Access visits are outside public opening hours mean that they are at dawn or evening. Given that London is 2 hours drive from London this obviously provides logistical issues in getting there. The Special Access Visits are also immensely popular, demand far outstrips supply and they are often sold out months in advance. We have dedicated pages for people independently wanting to partake in a Stonehenge Special Access Visit and also a page on scheduled Stonehenge Special Access Tours From London.

We have now over the past 4 years given this at least 6 chances to prove that it could be a good place to meet friends and have lunch. Unfortunately it has failed on all occasions!!. Today’s lunch should have been simple, chicken breast burger with chips and salad………..Yer, right, the chicken had been microwaved, (they deny this) but you just know, how else could something be solid in the middle, then they say it was defrosted in the microwave, well same thing, it still cooks it and then lightly tanned with a griddle pan to make it look as if its been cooked! Hence, tough, chewy, anaemic no taste pieces of chicken in a bap with nothing else….. chips were good. Sent back to the bar staff who asked would I like anything else, asked for a beef burger without the bap this time, simple, Nope….. ended up with a BEAN BURGER, the chips were still good but I like my meat. Would I go back, nope, sorry you have had too many chances to get the basics right and I can understand why the staff are rude, you need get a decent cook in, they are the ones that have to deal with the complaints!!

To keep the rating score and review content relevant for your upcoming trip, we archive reviews older than 24 months. Only a customer who has booked through Booking.com and stayed at the property in question can write a review. This lets us know that our reviews come from real guests, like you. Who better to tell others about the free breakfast, friendly staff, or quiet room than someone who’s stayed at the property before? We want you to share your story, both the good and the bad. All we ask is that you follow a few simple guidelines. Reviews vision We believe review contributions and property responses will highlight a wide range of opinion and experiences, which are critical in helping guests make well-informed decisions about where to stay. Reviews principles Contributions to Booking.com are a reflection of the dedication of our guests and properties, and are treated with the utmost respect. Whether negative or positive, we will post every comment in full and as quickly as possible, provided the guidelines are met. We will also provide transparency over the status of submitted content. We will use the same guidelines and standards for all user-generated content as well as the property replies to that content. We will allow the contributions to speak for themselves, and we won’t be the judge of reality. Booking.com’s role is that of a distributor of feedback from both guest and property. Guidelines and standards for Reviews These guidelines and standards aim to keep the content on Booking.com relevant and family-friendly without limiting expression of strong opinions. They are also applicable regardless of the sentiment of the comment. Contributions should be travel related. The most helpful contributions are detailed and help others make better decisions. Please don’t include personal, political, ethical, or religious commentary. Promotional content will be removed and issues concerning Booking.com’s services should be routed to our Customer Service or Accommodation Service teams. Contributions should be appropriate for a global audience. Please avoid using profanity or attempts to approximate profanity with creative spelling, in any language. Comments and media that include 'hate speech', discriminatory remarks, threats, sexually explicit remarks, violence, and the promotion of illegal activity are not permitted. All content should be genuine and unique to the guest. Reviews are most valuable when they are original and unbiased. Your contribution should be yours. Booking.com property partners should not post on behalf of guests or offer incentives in exchange for reviews. Attempts to bring down the rating of a competitor by submitting a negative review will not be tolerated. Respect the privacy of others. Booking.com will make an effort to obscure email addresses, telephone numbers, website addresses, social media accounts, and similar details.

The Park Story Windsor Castle Park became a reality as the result of the vision of Joseph W. Luter lll, founder and former CEO of Smithfield Foods. The nature of his business required a considerable amount of travel across the country and he had seen way too many cities and towns consumed by development and urban sprawl. For several years, he lived in New York City and came to appreciate Central Park - considered one of the urban wonders of the world and a green oasis in the great concrete, high-rise landscape. The park is such a natural part of the Manhattan environment that many people may not realize it is entirely man-made. It was the opportunities, which have been lost forever of far too many communities to set aside land for recreational use, that led Mr. Luter to consider purchasing property in his beloved hometown for park development. In March 2009, he donated the staggering sum of $5, 000, 000 to the Town of Smithfield to acquire 208 acres of land known as Windsor Castle Farm for such a purpose. During the construction process, he realized the true gem that was in the making and contributed an additional $2, 200, 000, for a grand total of $7, 200, 000 towards the park's development. Construction of the park actually began on March 23, 2008, and was completed in the record time of just over one year. The park was dedicated in a ceremony on May 22, 2010, with congratulatory remarks by Governor Robert McDonnell.

What’s more, there are plenty of vacancies that need filling. Posts currently available include: Sous chef (45 hours per week, salary £25, 000). Based at Buckingham Palace. There’s no more important job than feeding the royal family and their guests. Poisoning a visiting president because you forgot to look at the sell-by date on the venison is going to land you in the same kind of hot water in which you normally boil eggs. It’s about the same level of responsibility as the person who used to have to roll over the monarch’s bed pre-sleep, just to make sure there weren’t any swords sticking out. This could be your workplace Recruitment adviser (37.5 hours per week, salary £30-35, 000, plus “rewards package”). Based at Buckingham Place but responsibilities across the realm. Impress your friends by telling them you’re employed in the Privy Purse and Treasurer’s Office. You’ll need a degree plus the ability to recruit everyone from helicopter pilots to building conservators. There’ll be no time to put up your golden slippers; as well looking after the 1200 staff on the permanent payroll, you have to take on 400 summer-only workers for the gallery-visiting season. Staff restaurant operations manager (45 hours a week, salary £28, 000). You’ll hardly have time for a sandwich, you’ll be so busy in this role. Not only will you be an integral part of the Master of the Household’s Office, you will also be a key figure in F Branch (hush-hush, it’s rumoured to stand for Food). You must be “hands-on”, “a good communicator” and able to butter sandwiches while working out next week’s menus. Unlike Cinderella, you won’t be stuck in the kitchen doing drudge work, either; for three months of the year, you will be taking your catering skills on tour. Back of house manager (40 hours a week, salary £26-30, 000). Windsor Castle. You may not get the same face-to-face time with world leaders as your front-of-house colleagues, but you will be doing the kind of unsung, nuts-and-bolts work keeping WC (that’s Windsor Castle) in good order. It’s up to you to boss around builders, electricians and window cleaners, as well as carrying out a rolling programme of repairs and improvements (the palace has been occupied for 1, 000 years; there is bound to be wear-and-tear). Retail assistant (average of 38.37 hours per week, salary £15, 263). Windsor Castle. Your job is to “ensure that all our visitors from around the world leave with both amazing memories and a souvenir of their visit”. You will also be required to “have a flexible approach to the requirements of the role”. Which means not making a fuss when asked to work late. Work at Windsor Castle - it beats stacking shelves in the supermarket Superintendent, Windsor Castle (37.5 hours, salary described as “competitive”). Reading between the lines, you have to be the iron fist within the jewelled glove. This, says the job description, is “a unique and challenging role”. You may not be able to throw troublesome employees into the dungeons, but you definitely aren’t going to take lip from anybody. Not even the corgis. There aren’t many job ads these days which require the applicant to have “gravitas”. That said, it’s not all hard work, being a royal retainer. There are plenty of perks on offer: a film club once a month in the Buckingham Palace private cinema, an annual staff quiz, plus all kids of sports clubs (football, cricket, golf) and less strenuous activities such as bingo and themed walks.

To keep the rating score and review content relevant for your upcoming trip, we archive reviews older than 24 months. Only a customer who has booked through Booking.com and stayed at the property in question can write a review. This allows us to verify that our reviews come from real guests like you. Who better to tell others about the free breakfast, friendly staff, or their comfortable room than someone who’s stayed at the property? We want you to share your story, with both the good and the not-so-good. All we ask is that you follow a few simple guidelines. Reviews Vision We believe review contributions and property responses will highlight a wide range of opinions and experiences, which is critical in helping guests make informed decisions about where to stay. Reviews Principles Contributions to Booking.com are a reflection of the dedication of our guests and properties, so we treat them with the utmost respect. Whether negative or positive, we'll post every comment in full and as quickly as possible, provided the guidelines are met. We'll also provide transparency over the status of submitted content. We'll use the same guidelines and standards for all user-generated content, and for the property responses to that content. We'll allow the contributions to speak for themselves, and we won’t be the judge of reality. Booking.com’s role is to be a feedback distributor for both guests and properties. Guidelines and Standards for Reviews These guidelines and standards aim to keep the content on Booking.com relevant and family-friendly, without limiting expression or strong opinions. They're also applicable regardless of the comment's tone. Contributions should be travel related. The most helpful contributions are detailed and help others make better decisions. Please don’t include personal, political, ethical, or religious commentary. Promotional content will be removed and issues concerning Booking.com’s services should be routed to our Customer Service or Accommodation Service teams. Contributions should be appropriate for a global audience. Please avoid using profanity or attempts to approximate profanity with creative spelling, in any language. Comments and media that include hate speech, discriminatory remarks, threats, sexually explicit remarks, violence, or the promotion of illegal activity are not permitted. All content should be genuine and unique to the guest. Reviews are most valuable when they are original and unbiased. Your contribution should be yours. Booking.com property partners should not post on behalf of guests or offer incentives in exchange for reviews. Attempts to bring down the rating of a competitor by submitting a negative review will not be tolerated. Respect the privacy of others. Booking.com will make an effort to obscure email addresses, telephone numbers, website addresses, social media accounts, and other similar details. The opinions expressed in contributions are those of Booking.com customers and properties, and not of Booking.com. Booking.com does not accept responsibility or liability for any reviews or responses. Booking.com is a distributor (without any obligation to verify) and not a publisher of these comments and responses.

On July 10, 1940, Nazi Germany launched a surprise airborne raid against a British shipping convoy in the English Channel. The strike is now considered the opening thrust of the Battle of Britain, a prolonged aerial duel that saw the German Luftwaffe and the Royal Air Force struggle for domination of the skies over England. From July to October, British airmen stubbornly faced down German bombers and fighter planes and stymied a planned invasion, prompting Winston Churchill to say that “never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” Seventy-five years after it began, check out 10 fascinating facts about the battle that decided the fate of Great Britain during World War II. It got its name before it started. Winston Churchill during an air raid warning. (Credit: Library of Congress) The stage for the battle was set in May 1940, when Nazi Germany launched a massive blitzkrieg against Western Europe. Hitler’s armies overran Belgium, the Netherlands and France in only a matter of weeks, leaving Britain as the lone standing Allied power. During a June 18 speech, Prime Minister Winston Churchill predicted a showdown with Germany when he said, “The Battle of France is over. I expect the Battle of Britain is about to begin.” Hitler tried to convince Britain to surrender without a fight. Despite being fresh off his lightning conquest of France, Hitler was wary of invading Britain. The island nation was protected by the English Channel, and its Royal Navy was superior to the German Kriegsmarine. He instead hoped that Britain would acknowledge “her militarily hopeless situation” and sue for peace. A small contingent of British politicians also favored a compromise, but Winston Churchill brushed off talk of surrender and announced that Britain was determined to fight on. He rallied the public by characterizing the coming battle as a struggle for national survival, and when the Nazis dangled the prospect of a peace treaty in early July 1940, he rejected it outright. It was only then that Hitler reluctantly approved plans for Operation Sea Lion, an amphibious invasion originally scheduled to unfold in mid-August. It was the first battle in history waged almost exclusively in the air. A Supermarine Spitfire (foreground) and a Hawker Hurricane. (Credit: Fox Photos/Getty Images) Hitler’s plan to invade the British mainland hinged on Germany first annihilating the Royal Air Force and winning air superiority over England. With this in mind, the fight for Britain transformed into an all-air contest between the Luftwaffe’s bombers and Messerschmitt Bf109s and British Fighter Command’s Hawker Hurricanes and Supermarine Spitfires. Luftwaffe commander Hermann Goering initially believed he would easily sweep the RAF aside in just a few days, but the dogfights dragged on for three and a half long months. By the time the battle ended in late-October, Germany had lost more than 1, 700 planes—nearly twice as many as the British. The battle included one of the earliest uses of radar in combat. While the Luftwaffe enjoyed an edge in total aircraft during the early stages of the battle, the RAF had a secret weapon in the form of Radio Direction Finding, better known as radar. Shortly after the technology was developed in the 1930s, the British built a ring of radar stations along their coastline. These “Chain Home” stations were still primitive—a civilian Observer Corps was required to spot low-flying aircraft—but they nevertheless became a crucial part of Britain’s strategy. By pinging approaching Luftwaffe raiders with radio waves, the RAF could pin down their location and scramble fighters to intercept them, thereby robbing the Germans of the element of surprise. Nazi leaders never appreciated the importance of British radar, and their failure to degrade it allowed the RAF to consistently remain a step ahead of the Luftwaffe. The Royal Air Force’s squadrons included many foreign fighter pilots. Polish pilots from the 303 squadron. Of the more than 2, 900 RAF pilots who served in the Battle of Britain, only around 2, 350 were British. The rest were natives of Commonwealth territories such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, as well as expatriates from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Belgium and other countries under Nazi occupation. There were even a handful of American pilots, most notably Billy Fiske, a 29-year-old sportsman who had previously won a gold medal for bobsledding at the Winter Olympics. The international contingent proved especially deadly in the cockpit. The Polish No. 303 fighter squadron downed 126 German planes during the battle—more than any Allied unit—and the RAF’s top scoring ace was Josef Frantisek, a Czech aviator who singlehandedly claimed 17 aerial victories. Pilot exhaustion and personnel shortages plagued both sides. For men on both sides of the Battle of Britain, combat fatigue was as persistent a foe as enemy Spitfires and Messerschmitts. German morale sank to dangerous lows as the battle wore on, and British airmen were beaten down by grueling 15-hour shifts and constant Luftwaffe bombing raids on their airfields. Pilots often flew several missions a day on only a few hours of sleep, and many took amphetamine pills just to keep themselves awake. In a bid to bolster its used up fighter force, the RAF eventually cut the training time for new pilots from six months to just two weeks. Some recruits even ended up on the front lines with as little as nine hours’ experience in modern fighter planes. A British pilot famously rammed a German bomber to prevent the destruction of Buckingham Palace. Wreckage of the bomber that Ray Holmes brought down. (Credit: Planet News Archive/SSPL/Getty Images) During one of the battle’s most frantic periods of fighting over London, RAF Sergeant Ray Holmes spotted a German Dornier bomber headed in the direction of Buckingham Palace. Holmes had already used up all his ammunition in an earlier dogfight, but rather than retiring, he steered his Hawker Hurricane straight at the enemy aircraft and rammed it with his wing. The blow sliced the Dornier’s tail clean off and sent it plummeting into nearby Victoria Station. Holmes’ Hurricane was also wrecked, but he managed to bail out and land dangling from the roof of an apartment complex. The astonishing incident was partially captured on film, and Holmes was hailed as a national hero for having saved the royal residence from potential disaster. The Spitfire was not Britain’s main aircraft. Thanks to its sleek lines and blistering speed, the Supermarine Spitfire has gone down in popular lore as the plane that saved England during the Battle of Britain. Yet Spitfires only made up a third of the British fighters during the campaign. The bulk of the RAF force consisted of the less glamorous Hawker Hurricane, an older wood-and-fabric fighter that was slower than the Spitfire but reportedly sturdier and more forgiving in combat. While the two planes carried the same armaments, the Hurricane’s superior numbers meant that it was responsible for the vast majority of Luftwaffe losses during the battle. Hitler’s decision to bomb London turned the battle in Britain’s favor. Damage in Balham, London, following a nighttime air raid on October 14, 1940. (Credit: William Vandivert/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

Amritsar: British Prime Minister David Cameron says a giant diamond his country forced India to hand over in the colonial era that was set in a royal crown will not be returned. Speaking on the third and final day of a visit to India aimed at drumming up trade and investment, Cameron ruled out handing back the 105-carat Kohinoor diamond, now on display in the Tower of London. The diamond had been set in the crown of the current Queen Elizabeth's late mother. One of the world's largest diamonds, some Indians - including independence leader Mahatma Gandhi's grandson - have demanded its return to atone for Britain's colonial past. "I don't think that's the right approach, " Cameron told reporters on Wednesday after becoming the first serving British prime minister to voice regret about one of the bloodiest episodes in colonial India, a massacre of unarmed civilians in the city of Amritsar in 1919. "It is the same question with the Elgin Marbles, " he said, referring to the classical Greek marble sculptures that Athens has long demanded be given back. "The right answer is for the British Museum and other cultural institutions to do exactly what they do, which is to link up with other institutions around the world to make sure that the things which we have and look after so well are properly shared with people around the world. "I certainly don't believe in 'returnism', as it were. I don't think that's sensible." Britain's then colonial governor-general of India arranged for the huge diamond to be presented to Queen Victoria in 1850. If Kate Middleton, the wife of Prince William, who is second in line to the throne, eventually becomes queen consort she will don the crown holding the diamond on official occasions. When Elizabeth II made a state visit to India to mark the 50th anniversary of India's independence from Britain in 1997, many Indians demanded the return of the diamond. Cameron is keen to tap into India's economic rise, but says he is anxious to focus on the present and future rather than "reach back" into the past.