Ely

I met a lot of Colombians as well.

I didn't even think there were so many Colombians in Italy.

It was just like, I thought I was just the only one.

Yeah.

Something that really shouldn't be there.

A little piece of medieval Ely, dropped into Holborn.

And to find it, you go to one of those places where London performs one of its favorite tricks.

You're walking along a busy street.

And then you turn.

And suddenly, London changes century.

Welcome to Ely Place.

A gated little street.

So when we often think about the fact that the Viking age is over now, well, here we are in 1070 still, and there's still Vikings marauding around the, the east coast of England in particular.

And, uh, one of the, the bands comes a- a- ashore, and they end up making it to Ely.

And Ely at this point is a tiny island in the middle of a huge marshland.

So you've, you've got Ely kinda cathedral going on there.

Um, but it, it's a place that is utterly impassable.

Unless you're a local and you know the ways across the marshes, you simply can't get to the island of Ely during this period.

Hmm.

So it's a, it's a great place for rebels to base themselves.

So half a century later...

No, okay, so Jones was 26 when he started working at the Prince Albert in Ely, Cambridgeshire, back when a pint cost about 20 pence.

Half a century later, he has served under six landlords and is still behind the bar Thursday to Sunday, with no plans to retire anytime soon.

How old is he?

So, yes, start thinking.

How are you going to organise your Christmas market visits? Now, I'm going to a small market in Ely.

is in cambridgeshire i'm going to do the london markets again and then the third visit will be near my birthday to beautiful antwerp for a couple of nights that's my plan so i'm going to get lots of christmas markets in i wish my own city had one maybe i should start one up So yeah, there's my little note this week.

It's just a little message about getting out there, experiencing the sights and the smells, the aromas.

And My vendor there was honestly so lovely and wonderful and left me the most glowing review.

That was really, really special because so many people in Italy were talking about it because everyone had seen the big house that had been up for sale for so long.

It was a bit of a talking point because it was a very... unique executive home that really stood out in Ely.

You know, you get those sorts of things anyway, don't you? And yeah, to be able to have sold that was just amazing.