Open air travel, open air film screenings - which of London's piers are nearest an open air cinema?

You can steal and adapt the content of this post - I think it's quite important to share info about enjoying London as safely as possible.

To the extent possible under law, Jo Brodie has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to Open air travel, open air film screenings - which of London's piers are nearest an open air cinema?. This work is published from: United Kingdom. 

This means that you can copy, paste and amend the text of this post (and this post only) and republish it without my permission or without crediting me :) Tell everyone about the films and the ferries.

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Yesterday afternoon I went to see Moana at Archlight's open air cinema, at the Coaling Jetty at Battersea Power Station. I travelled there from Greenwich Pier on a Thames Clipper ferry and arrived at Battersea Power Station Pier around 40 minutes later and then made the reverse journey home later. Sometimes you have to change at Canary Wharf (or London Bridge) but mine was a direct service.

Archlight also linked up with Thames Clippers and offered a pair of free tickets to one of their events (not just cinema) and have a section on ferries in the 'how to get here' part of their page. 

Given that people are encouraged to avoid 'too many other people while inside' I think travelling to open air cinema screenings by ferry is rather on point. Nearly all of the Thames Clippers ferries have seats at the back which are open to the elements and it's rather nice, especially on a hot day, to enjoy the breeze. Quite a few of them have an on-board bar as well (also soft drinks and snacks).

NOTE: not all piers are open all the time, some routes miss some piers out and the last boat home may not include your preferred end or starting pier so do check timetables and delays info on Twitter before booking tickets.

Big list of open air film screenings in London
http://bit.ly/OpenAirCinemaLondon2021 

Thames Clippers ferries
https://www.thamesclippers.com/

Thames River Boats
https://www.thamesriverboats.co.uk/

Thames River Services
https://www.thamesriversightseeing.com/

The following piers are reasonably near an open air cinema screening.

Battersea Pier
Thames Clippers run a regular service to Battersea Power Station's pier which is right next to the place where Archlight's open air cinema is (exit the pier's gangway, turn left). 

[Summer Showtime at Battersea Power Station] [Archlight Open Air Cinema] [PDF of screenings] [Battersea Pier info - it's wheelchair accessible, Last boat to central London, Canary Wharf and Greenwich: 21:32 weekdays, 22:30 weekends. Last boat to Putney: 20:24 weekdays.]

 

Blackfriars Pier
Pop Up Screens will be showing The Greatest Showman, Moonlight, Philadelphia, The Beach, Dreamgirls and The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert at Guildhall Yard in the City of London, in August. The venue is about a 15-20 minute walk from Blackfriars Pier [route]. 

[Pop Up Screens] [Blackfriars Pier - it's wheelchair accessible]

 

Cadogan Pier (Chelsea)
Luna Cinema is showing four films (Top Gun, The Greatest Showman, Grease and Star Wars: A New Hope) at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea which is a 15-20 minute walk from Cadogan Pier [route], but note that the pier has only a limited service in the evenings. 

[Luna Cinema] [Cadogan Pier - is NOT wheelchair accessible. This pier is only open in the morning and evening, last boat to central London, Canary Wharf and Greenwich: 21:26 weekdays, last boat to Putney: 20:54.]

 

Greenwich Pier (Cutty Sark)
Tramshed in Woolwich are showing a free sing-along version of The Greatest Showman in Greenwich Park. Greenwich Pier is a short walk from Greenwich Park / National Maritime Museum and is well-served by Thames Clippers. The pier is right in the heart of Greenwich and is usually very busy, particularly in good weather. During busy times arriving is easier than leaving as you may have to queue for a departing boat and might not get on the first one. 

[Tramshed screening] [Greenwich Pier - is wheelchair accessible, last boats from Greenwich Pier to North Greenwich, Royal Wharf and Woolwich: 23:11 weekdays, 23:29 weekends, last boat to Canary Wharf, central London and Putney: 21:38 weekdays, 21:36 weekends]

 

Hampton Court
Luna Cinema are showing five films (The Dark Knight, Top Gun, Dirty Dancing, The Greatest Showman [sing-along] and Bohemian Rhapsody) at Hampton Court this year. There is a pier here but at the moment there are no ferries from Westminster running, but there are occasional services from Richmond Pier. I'd not rely on this for a timed performance though, it's also very dependent on the tide. 

[Thames River Boats] [Luna Cinema]

 

London Bridge City Pier
#SummerByTheRiver at Scoop, More London (next to City Hall and near HMS Belfast) screens free subtitled films every Tuesday evening at 7.30pm. London Bridge City Pier is the closest and on the same side of the river. Tower Bridge is also very close too but its piers (there are two) are on the opposite side of the river. 

[London Bridge City's Summer By the River] [London Bridge City Pier - is not wheelchair accessible. Last boat to Canary Wharf, Greenwich and Woolwich: 22:44 weekdays and 23:02 weekends. Last boat to Westminster, Battersea Power Station and Putney: 22:04 weekdays and 21:59 weekends.]

 

London Eye pier (Waterloo)
Bar Elba in Waterloo is screening loads of films on its rooftop and London Eye pier isn't far away (granted trains /buses are closer!).

[Bar Elba] [Film screenings PDF] [London Eye pier - is wheelchair accessible, last boats from London Eye pier: 22:29 weekdays, 22:11 weekends but on weekends it's a ~10m walk across Hungerford Bridge [route] to get to Embankment Pier for a last boat to Greenwich at 22:50]

 

Millbank Pier
Luna Cinema is screening three films (Romeo + Juliet, Sister Act and Moulin Rouge!) at Victoria Tower Gardens in Westminster (8.45pm 3-5 August) and the venue is closest to (and on the same side of the river as) Millbank Pier, but note that ferries can get you to the cinema but not back again as the last boat leaves before the film begins. 

[Luna Cinema] [Millbank Pier - is wheelchair accessible, last boats from Millbank Pier to Embankment, Tower and Bankside (for Tate Modern): 17:20 weekdays, 20:45 weekends, last boat to Battersea Power Station or Putney: 16:28 weekdays, 20:20 weekends]

North Greenwich Pier
Pop Up Screens is showing Grease, Back to the Future and 500 Days of Summer this weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun / 23, 24, 25 July) at Greenwich Peninsula.

[Pop Up Screens] [North Greenwich Pier - is wheelchair accessible, last boat towards Woolwich: 23:19 weekdays, 23:37 weekends, last boat to Canary Wharf, central London and Putney: 21:30 weekdays, 21:26 weekends]

 

Putney Pier
Pop Up Screens is showing Rocket Man, A Star is Born and The Greatest Showman in Bishop's Park Fulham on the 3-5 September, and 10 Things I Hate About You, Dirty Dancing and The Goonies in the same place from 24-26 September. Putney Pier is on the opposite side of the river, cross Putney Bridge. 

[Pop Up Screens] [Putney Pier - is wheelchair accessible. Last boat to London and Canary Wharf: 21:00 weekdays. First boat arrives there at 17:08 so the ferries can get you there but not home, for these screenings.]

 

St George Wharf (Vauxhall)
Summer Screen Vauxhall has some free (need to reserve a ticket) screenings, every Tuesday, from 27 July to 17 August: Emperor’s New Groove, Mamma Mia!, Paddington 2 and Black Panther - all start at 7pm and take place at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens which is not too far [route] from St George Wharf, Vauxhall.

[Summer Screen Vauxhall] [St George Wharf - is wheelchair accessible. Last boat to central London, Canary Wharf and Greenwich: 22:44 weekdays, 23:02 weekends. Last boat to Battersea Power Station and Putney: 20:18 weekdays, 22:22 weekends] 

 

Tower Bridge piers
St Kat's Floating Film Festival is screening Rocketman (today 22 July, 7pm), Jojo Rabbit (23 July 7pm), Aladdin Live Action and Misbehaviour (both on 24 July, 2pm and 7pm) and The Lion King - live action (2019) on 25 July at 2pm. The screening pontoon is near Cote, by Tower Bridge.

Last week I saw an earlier screening of Jojo Rabbit at St Kat's, on a floating pontoon at the St Katharine Docks marina. I took a ferry there and back again which was perhaps overdoing it a little for water-based entertainment. There are two piers, Thames Clippers has a more frequent service stopping at Tower Millennium Pier - if you arrive after the riverside passage through the Tower of London has closed use the grey route here, otherwise the blue is fine. Tower Bridge Quay is closer and served by Thames River Services but boats are less frequent and stop early.

[St Kat's Floating Film Festival] [Tower Millennium Pier (Thames Clippers) - is wheelchair accessible] [Tower Bridge Quay (Thames River Services) - accessibility not listed, serves Westminster, Embankment, Tower Bridge Quay and Greenwich (Cutty Sark) piers]

 

Wandsworth Riverside Quarter Pier
Luna Cinema is showing Some Like it Hot, Bohemian Rhapsody and The Princess Bride but note that while you'll be able to arrive using the Thames Clippers you're unlikely to be able to get the last boat home (9.10pm) to London / Canary Wharf. The films all start at 7.30pm and the one with the shortest run time is The Princess Bride (at 1hr 38).

[Luna Cinema] [Wandsworth Pier - is not Wheelchair accessible, but nearby Putney Pier is, and is on same side of the river. The pier is only open in the morning and evening, first boat arrives at 17:03. Last boat to London and Canary Wharf: 21:10]

 

Westminster Pier
Luna Cinema is showing Knives Out, The Dark Knight, The Greatest Showman and Notting Hill at 9pm from (29 July to 1 August) at Westminster Abbey, nearest pier is Westminster but you won't be able to take a boat home as they stop too early.

[Luna Cinema] [Westminster Pier - is wheelchair accessible. Last boat towards Tower, Canary Wharf and Greenwich: 22:25 weekdays, 22:45 weekends. Last boat to Battersea Power Station, Millbank (for Tate Britain) and Putney: 22:20 weekdays, 22:15 weekends]

 

Woolwich Pier
St George's Garrison Church is a ~20 minute long walk (uphill, route) from Woolwich Pier, and is showing Coco on 14 August and Dunkirk on 3 September, both free (but need a ticket for August, not for the September screening).

[St George's Garrison Church] [Woolwich Pier - is wheelchair accessible. Woolwich is a terminus pier (on weekdays it's open in the morning and evening - first boat arrives at 17:22). Last boat to Greenwich, Canary Wharf and central London: 21:20 weekdays, 21:00 weekends]

Day trip to the Isles of Scilly (well, one of them) on the Scillonian III ferry from Penzance

by @JoBrodie, brodiesnotes.blogspot.com

Part One: Overnight sleeper Paddington to Penzance, and back again
Part Two: (this post) 
Part Three: On the Isles of Scilly (for one day only) - day trip to Scilly part three

Oooh Scilly - more pictures from this trip here

Yesterday I arrived rather early in the morning in Penzance having taken the overnight sleeper train from Paddington, which was lovely (see part one of this post series, linked above). Penzance's harbour / pier for the ferry trip to the Isles of Scilly is a ten minute walk from the station and very well sign-posted - I didn't get lost once which is (for me) remarkable.

I'd booked my ferry tickets online and you don't need to print anything out but you do need a photo ID and your surname. You'll also have a 6 letter code but I didn't really need that either. I used my passport on the journey out and tried out the photocard that accompanies my 1-3 zone travelcard railcard on the return journey - both worked fine. No-one checked the weight of my bag which was supposed to be less than 5kg (it probably was).

There are a couple of cafes on the way if you need snacks before boarding and you can see the boat itself pretty early on into the walk (and from outside the station) so it's helpful to know what it looks like.

The large-ish white boat on the left is the Scillonian III. Picture credit: Me!

What the Scillonian III looks like close-up

Keep walking as far as The Dolphin pub then turn left - basically follow everyone else making this journey. Once you've checked in you're given what looks like a poker chip as your boarding token, which you then hand to the person onshore who waves you onto the boat.

Boarding chip

Bring something waterproof
It's summer, the weather's nice, you might want to sit outside. But it's also been raining and so the wooden chairs are wet. I had a sort of cagoule thing with me (lightweight) so I sat on that and stayed dry. The sun came out shortly after we set sail and dried things off quite nicely, and then the winds picked up a bit so it was simulatneously baking hot and freezing cold. I regret not bringing sunglasses and the day later I also regret not bringing sun cream (I look like a red panda).


Deck sense
The Scillonian III has four decks where you can sit (the top has outside bits) and a couple of cafes [cash only], loos are in the basement. You board onto one of the middle decks so head to the stairwell and look at the map to find out where you are.

Deck plan

If you're staying on one of the islands in Scilly you can take one of the coloured baggage tags and plonk your checked baggage into one of the little freight containers which are then winched onto the ship (some neat work with a forklift truck too, which was terrifying to watch so close to the pier). At the other end you can collect your bag yourself or for £1.40 per bag it'll be delivered to your island / hotel.

Buying tickets for trips to other islands
You used to be able to buy tickets for boats to other islands on-board the Scillonian but this is no longer the case and you buy them from the boats themselves - they can do you a deal on return fares and I think, in the case of Tresco (where I planned to go) can give you an all-in-one ticket for the boat journey and entry to the Abbey Gardens botanical garden.

You'll need cash / Cafe
There are no card facilities on-board, I'm not sure if that's because there's no signal when at sea or some other reason, but bring cash. They also have loads of guidebooks and maps if you've not managed to sort that out.


Sea-sickness
On a choppy visit you might feel queasy. Our journey got a bit choppier about halfway through and I did feel a tiny bit queasy but nothing too bad. There are paper sick bags everywhere and the cafe sells barley sugars (any boiled sweet seems to help with sea sickness, I suspect it's a nice placebo distraction more than anything really but I did feel better) as well as tea and sandwiches.

There are also recommendations that sitting in the lower decks can help but I like to be able to see the horizon even if it's moving. I also found sitting in the middle (from a front-to-back perspective) of the boat to be the most helpful - presumably it's a bit like a pivot point. Looking behind me I could see the horizon leaping in and out of view as the back of the boat pitched up and down, that didn't help much, but looking out to the side it looked a lot calmer - though the boat moves in all sorts of directions not just in the front / back direction. It was a fairly calm crossing (even calmer on the way back) so I was very lucky.


I doubt my regular trips on the Thames Clippers ferries will have prepared me for travelling on the Atlantic Ocean* though. *Technically the Western English Channel.

Reclining seats
Some of the seats have a little gear stick on the right hand side which lets you move the backrest back a little bit, I managed to sleep very comfortably on the journey back to Penzance. 

Wifi / 3G
There's none once you're out at sea, 3G fine while near Penzance. I had no internet signal at all while in Scilly but phone was okay.  

Disembarking and getting local boats
All very straightforward, there are free loos at St Mary's harbour and within a ten minute walk there's a Co-op and plenty of other shops (incluing outdoor ones and lots of tourist shops).

There are loads of smaller boats ready to take you to other islands and all sorts of other day trip events. I took one look at the pier for the boat to Tresco and thought better of it - it reminded me of trying to get into a small boat in Venice. Never again. I need handrails and tethered walkways.

Fortunately I'd paid attention to the excitements of St Mary's, our arrival island, and knew that there was a little airport inland which I'd enjoy visiting. I got over the brief disappointment of missing a chance to see Tresco's beautiful gardens and headed off to explore the airport... 

Part Three: On the Isles of Scilly (for one day only) - day trip to Scilly part three
Part One: Overnight sleeper Paddington to Penzance, and back again

#Tubestrike tips for London

For those not working from home and trying to navigate across London here are some useful tips from a fellow Londoner :)

Good luck!

Citymapper
Best known as a phone app it's also a website so you can plot routes beforehand and play around with it https://citymapper.com/london and see also their How to Survive the August 5-6th Tube Strike advice which tells you about the adjustments the app's made to discount non-functioning tube bits and highlights the cycle hire system as a Plan B.

The (open) data comes from TfL who of course have their own Journeyplanner https://tfl.gov.uk/

Google Street view
If your journey involves walking in unfamiliar bits you can rehearse the journey by using Google Streetview - that's where they've driven around London and photographed everything and then knitted it all together to form a 3D view of London.

Go to Oxford Street, wait for the page to load and spot the little person icon in the bottom right. Click and drag it onto one of the roads paying careful attention to the little green circle below it, that's what you're lining up with the road you're interested in. Drop the little person and see what they see, you can then walk through the roads online.

Find a bus
All bus stops in London have a 5 digit code which can be appended to the following unfinished address to bring up the Countdown page to tell you when your bus is due.
Web: http://countdown.tfl.gov.uk/#|searchTerm=
Web example: http://countdown.tfl.gov.uk/#|searchTerm=50082
Mobile: http://m.countdown.tfl.gov.uk/arrivals/
Mobile example: http://m.countdown.tfl.gov.uk/arrivals/50082

Rail departure boards
Find out what your nearest railway station's three letter code is (eg Blackheath is BKH) and add it to the end of this unfinished web address to see when the next train is - works for all UK rail stations, not just London! http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/ldbboard/dep/

• Example - Blackheath: http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/ldbboard/dep/BKH/
• Example - London Bridge:http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/ldbboard/dep/LBG
• Example - Cannon Street: http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/ldbboard/dep/CST
• Example - Charing Cross: http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/ldbboard/dep/CHX/
• Example - Liverpool Street: http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/ldbboard/dep/LST

Thames Clipper ferries
They'll probably be every bit as busy as everything else but if your travel involves the following places it might be worth looking into. If you have anything travelcard-like you can get ⅓ off the cost.

Find your pier

• London Bridge City Pier (London Bridge Walk, London SE1 3UD)
• Chelsea Harbour Pier (SW10 OXD)
• Waterloo: London Eye Pier (Westminster Bridge Road, City of London SE1 7PB)
• Embankment Pier (Victoria Embankment, London WC2N 6NU)
• Blackfriars Pier (Victoria Embankment, City, London EC4V 3QR)
• Bankside Pier (Bankside, London SE1 9DT)
• Tower Millennium Pier (Lower Thames Street, London EC3N 4DT)
• Canary Wharf Pier (Docklands, London E14 8RR)
• Surrey Quays: Greenland Pier (South Sea Street, London SE16 7TE)
• Greenwich Pier (Greenwich Promenade, Greenwich, London SE10 3QT)
• North Greenwich Pier (Peninsula Square, Greenwich, London SE10 0PE)
• Woolwich: Royal Arsenal Woolwich Pier (Royal Arsenal Woolwich, Woolwich, London SE18 6TL)
• Millbank Pier (Millbank, Westminster, London SW1P 4QP)
• Putney Pier (SW15 1JW)
• Wandsworth Riverside Quarter Pier (SW18 1LP)
• St George Wharf Pier (Riverside Walk SW8 2LE)
• Chelsea: Cadogan Pier (Chelsea Embankment, London SW3 5RQ)
• Isle of Dogs: Masthouse Terrace Pier (Napier Avenue, Isle of Dogs, London E14 3QB)
• Hilton Docklands Riverside (265 Rotherhithe Street, London SE16 5HW)