Why Does London Have A Road Sign Pointing To The Alps?
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- Опубликовано: 11 фев 2019
- On the eastern outskirts of London, there is a road sign pointing to the Alps. Mountains? Near London? I nearly started getting my crampons out, but this is Beckton, and nothing is quite as it seems...
The Oasis joke was perfect
LOL classic!
I did a double-take; had to stop and back-up the video at that point. :-)
@@epiendless1128 time code?
@@adhisopian7030 1:07
If not for you, I would have not noticed it.
Don’t slag off beckton😡 we have an Asda and a Lidl
And that pub opposite Asda and NatWest that looks like a social club where you can mix with the dodgy locals for a bit while you wait for your dealer to deliver to you by first class some shit quality Bugle dust.
george porge oooooh yes how can I forget
That makes it even worse :D
Michael Cawood you’ve missed the sarcasm here fella
A what now? An Isotta and a Lada? You have two cars in all of Beckton, one’s Italian and the other soviet... weird flex, but ok.
This video feels like it's made by Tom Scott's sarcastic cousin
Sarcastic and funny! 🙂
Thank you for saying “It’s February 2019” for immediate context. So many clueless youtubers say shit like “last year” or “next month” like this is live tv and not gonna be watchable forever.
I first parsed that as February 29, how funny a leap year ... een? Wait a minute.
But the video has the uploaded date right there. So unless there is a big gap between filming and uploading you can tell what they mean by. "Last year"
@@ieuanhunt552 - Yes, I love having to stop a video in the middle of watching it to go searching for the date it was posted in order to get some context. So convenient and easy.
@@danidejaneiro8378 why would you have to stop the video to search for anything. If your on a pc the current date is on the bottom right of your screen. And the upload date is right below the title.
It takes no effort at all to see both those things and compare them.
@@ieuanhunt552 - yeah because I don't watch stuff in full-screen or on my phone.
The ski slope had a single button lift and a run of maybe 150 yards. I learned to ski on Beckton Alps. It made my first trip to the real Alps even more amazing: snow is so much easier to ski on than a plastic mat!
I have no idea why, but the fact that the UK has a plastic ski lift is the least surprising thing I have read in a very long time
@@rhamlet5290 The ski slope was a plastic mat, the ski lift was stainless steel most probably!?!
1:07 "And by the time Oasis came here in 1997 to film the first single from their third album, it was all about to fall apart. And you could probably say the same about the gasworks behind them." Ouch! I pictured you dropping a mic at that point.
Wow, I've just realised I climbed the Beckton Alps one evening when I got lost coming back from Asda. Another one to tell the grandchildren.
Not sure which is the better story .. Climbing Beckton Alps or escaping from Beckton Asda with all limbs still attached :-D
"I once got lost and found myself on top of the Alp(s)"
‘If you’re from Beckton then yeah I understand’ lmaoooo
T Anjum lol imagine I asked you out on a date and took you there lol 😂 I’d expect you to fly kick me and block me 😂
Stooch Videography Brother. Instead of dropping sauceless comments about dates at 1am, go and pray tahajjud. And now you’re getting blocked. Jazak’Allah khair
T Anjum Wow banter is not a thing where your from I see.
The reason I said the date thing is because that’s what the guy said In the video , he said “If you want to go on a date to take your date to Beckton”. So don’t get it twisted . Please pray you have a sense of humour too .
Lol sorry Woman my bad then 🤷♂️
I was involved in a drainage project next to them many years ago and the groundwater was pure creosote and the sides of the trenches were multi coloured. Maximum toxicity! 😱
Mike Sarling - should have eaten a chunk, imagine it tastes great
BTEX goodness!
When I was kid in the 60s there was a fence around the slag heap with a ditch at the side that was a dark copper colour. My dad used to tell us never to go over there because it would kill us if we fell in.
You should go back, that gate has been broken and now you can get through.
Ahhh… the Lock Picking Lawyer has paid a visit huh!
@@GaryNumeroUno "A little click on 2... And 3's set... And there we go."
And your a dry snitch won't go exploring shit I shouldn't with you you sing like a bird guaranteed that's the sort of thing you pm the guy about if your playing the game play by the rules yer.
This sounds like a comment someone would put if they want to associate someone else to a scene of a crime.
@@fauzirahman3285 lol! Want to come check out this bank in my local area? They let you look in the vault and you don't even have to ask xD
"I realize I'm now standing next to an airport wearing an anorak and holding a camera, so before people start to think I'm _some kind of weirdo,_ I'm going to go *climb a toxic spoil heap.*" 😲😮
Lol.
I love the humor.
The American spelling of realise.
Yeah. I thought he was Simon Pegg's weird cousin.........
And that Oasis joke at 1:07 until 1:18. He dissed the band properly lol.
Go *and* climb.
@@ben.taylor
It is so. Do you know why there's a difference? I've seen that in other words as well.
Are you English, as in from England?
Great film thank you, I lived on the opposite side of the A13 and saw the spoil heap every time I walked out of the front door (1970 ish ) in those days it was much bigger and as an 8/9 year old who was not allowed across the busy A13 it became a magnet for a disobedient child. I remember climbing it one day with a group of friends, and being chased off by some security guards who did not know the holes in the fence were big enough for a small boy but not a large security guard.
You could have mentioned the adjacent sewage works, again was one of the largest in Europe. The terminus for the northern outfall sewer.
My dad had his allotment opposite the ' alps' before it even became known as the alps. I should also mention the delightful smell from the Beckton slaughter house, a mile or so towards the city down Tollgate Lane. At school we did cross-country over the marshes to the Alps and along the sewer bank. Nothing like fresh air !
Jeff R - You must be about the same age as me,(69) we ran X-country over the dumps.
@@johnbird7357 Hi a bit younger lol - I was at South East Ham School when we did the cross 'country '
There’s enough of a delightful smell from that sewerage works…..
@@jeffrey01UK Don't forget the prefabs along there too. I lived off the Barking Rd ( Loxford Avenue) and also went to south east ham secondary school in about 1966
This is freaky, yesterday I stood with my partner at the Parcel Postbox by that very retail park, pointed up at that wooden structure on the hill and said "I wonder what that was..?" and the next day RUclips shows me this.
It was no accident. Google knows.
My wife and I love your videos! They're fascinating, clever, and well crafted. Thank you very much for making them.
Ah thank you Gregory! That's lovely to hear. I'll try and make some more then :)
Your funny remarks make these videos even better... Cheers!
You may enjoy Das Audi Auto window(tinted) licking for uber kool with a "K" hip trendy volk with a "V" @ze local bunker ....events.
I remember this through the 70’s and 80’s when I lived just off the A13. I remember being told by friends later that when it rains on the ski slope, you would get noxious gases coming off. Nice!
There was only ever one Alp, it used to be bigger before it subsided, there were two of those wooden viewing platforms until the early 2000's, one right at the top. We used to cycle up to the top platform on the park side of the hill and watch skiers fall over, it was great fun. It's a shame that it's not what it was as the views were amazing.
Well.. a good place for those who can't afford the fare to Switzerland
Fun fact: The only difference between a normal apartment and a luxury apartment is the price.
Location, transport links, views, space, rooms are all factored in. An apartment next to a Tube station or with views of St. Paul’s will cost more than one without.
@@gol.drodger5261 what about the ikea lamps ?
and the size
Fun horseshit more like
Well, maybe, the luxury apartments are grouped together? Then you'd have richer neighbours at least.
I used to live in East Ham and i remember this area in the 1970s before the 'alps' and Asda. The area was quite run down, even Savage Gardens had been demolished. But the area had Beckton FC, smallholdings and lots of prefabs along by the Royal Albert Dock with a little cafe where the 101 & 147's passed by/terminated. The whole area from the A13 to Albert Road in North Woolwich has been totally rebuilt......
So true. We got a 4 bed with a small garden in Plaistow for £140k in 2002. Sold it for £245k in 2005. Now got an 8 bed bungalow with a massive garden in south Lincolnshire, with no mortgage.
I lived in Beckton... this video makes it look nice.
Beckton has changed. It's comparatively nicer than it was. On the other hand, I did drive through Beckton last month. It was actually still crap. Just not as crappy as before...if that make any sense.
It's more of it being relatively mundane and not really having anything "there" - it just sort of exists
Just found you and your whimsical travel guides. Thanks for brightening my Sunday evening.
I used to live across the Thames in Plumstead and could see from my 18th floor flat the 'Alp' from my kitchen window. I've also been to the ASDA (pocket tap) in Beckton.
I remember the Beckton Alps from their heyday in the 60s. They were enormous back then, dominating the southern horizon over a long stretch of the A13... not so much high as w-i-d-e, you understand. I liked them best on cold winter days, when a certain amount of steam used to waft mysteriously around their summits...
.. quite poetic in aspect..
..(err.. not really).
Hey timmer.
Always appreciate your vocal timestamps at beginning of vids. Kinda helps me measure where I was v. Where i am today ( sitting at home lol).
This guy has such a great sense of humour! Brilliant !
This is the most brilliant bit of RUclips I have seen this hour
Thanks for sharing
Very informative indeed, I've worked that area for years as a Rac Roadside patrol and you've truly enlightened me.
Thank you.
On the opposite corner on the other side of the A13 is a church. The grounds became a mess as many graves were no longer looked after. Rather than spend money tidying it up the council named it "East Ham Nature Reserve" ,and that was long before the slag heap became a ski slope.
Yes, sore point. St Mary Magdalene. My nan and other family are buried there.One of the oldest churches,dates back to around 1180 I believe.
Your accent is not bad, you're us! Thanks for uploading this & all other videos. I was watching some travel videos & was also looking for videos of London and beyond. Thanks to YT for recommending your video. I didn't know anything about your channel. The first video I just watched (this one) added me to your watch-team. Thanks again for spending your time & money for creating these lovely videos, with nice presentation.
You didn't mention some important things about this place. This is now part of East Ham (now Newham) but originally/historically part of Woolwich, Kent, not Essex or London. This was an empty place for centuries without any proper name. This place was named after a Govt official known as Mr Beck in 1880s (if I'm not wrong). Before gas & sewage works, this place was used as an open coal storage ground, and distributed to almost all houses in East London.
I didn't like to commute & always lived where I worked. I spent years in different places in London. Especially in East London. Beckton is one of those places. Very close to those places you've mentioned. I had bad time there, especially when it was hard to cope with that stinky air. Sometime it was more than disgusting. I had to move to another place.
I think the owner of that airport is looking for buyer or wants to do some real estate businesses there. There's a small community hall at the end of the runaway. We used to enjoy parties there.
After retirement I moved to my quiet village, only 65 houses here, no shops, no street lights, almost no cars here. I was very tired of lights, running cars, dust, bad people etc. I'm now enjoying & recovering my health. After a long break, three years ago last time I went there to see that & other places. It's now a different place. Natives are fleeing, foreigners moved there en masse, especially those who became British citizens, Bengalis, Ceylones, Europeans (sorry, nothing wrong I'm trying to say here, I welcome them, we need them).
I'll always remember & miss this place. That Alps, super stores, people, everything. Sweet memories.
Gr Britian Wed 09 Oct 2019 2304
That piano rendition of Wish You Were Here singlehandedly made me smash Subscribe so hard.
Brilliant video!
Funniest video I've seen on RUclips in ages. Thank you!! 😁😁
It was called 'The Slag Heap' before they made it a ski slope. My father and his brothers used to bag it up and sell it as coal when they were kids 😅
And the name stuck after Lady Di opened the ski slope.
@Compliment Thief You need to grow up mate
what a low life you are. scumbag.
Yes- only ever knew it as the slag heap. We lived in Beckton Prefabs in the 60s
Every now and then RUclips recommends a fantastic up and coming Channel... so glad I clicked on the suggestion. 🙂
Ah thank you Michael!
I'm so happy that
1)Based on your posts about subscribers, the RUclips Al Gore Rhythm discovered you
2)It pointed me towards your incredibly fun channel!
Main *Wildlife* is rats but are as large as small wart hogs so are special.. they sit eating the Big Macs thrown out car windows on A13 a grow big and strong I keep expecting to see David Attenborough and his new series Life by the Roadside...
2:59 on your left, the fence has been broken and you can just walk straight through. It’s very easy to miss though
Thank you for these interesting tidbits. You have done well and stand out nicely and pleasantly from the background radiation of the rest of youtube. There’s lots of good, Lots of rubbish and here are you, gently and politely saying, look at all this interesting stuff here where I am and I thank you for it. Well done mate, thank you.
Out of all the videos i've ever seen, this is definitely one of them.
This video earns a like from me for mentioning wearing an anorak while suspiciously filming airplanes landing and the references to how the Beckton Alps got the name.
Lived in newham all my life a few miles from beckton and didnt know the history of the alps or beckton . I remember the skiing closing.down i never went . Nice video thank u
1:51 Don't you dare mocking plane spotters mate :D
Haha, oh dear, now I'm worried that one day future historians will point to this as the moment when the war between plane-spotters and toxic-waste-dump-climbers began... :D
Well even gricers need someone to look down on.
He was mocking people wearing 'anoraks' -- it's a larger population set!
I wonder whose side train spotters will take.
@@LuizAlexPhoenix you mean RailFanners? Ok now you've angered us to
I was hoping this was about the gas works and I‘m glad you mentioned the FMJ context as most people don’t know! I did NOT expect one of our national treasures, Franz Klammer, to appear in this!
Hilarious commentary. Love your sense of humour on all your videos 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
"With Valentine's Day fast approaching, here's a video about toxic waste". Wow, a perfect example of British humour - I'm happy that I wasn't drinking anything when I heard your comment - or my desk would be a total mess now!
Gosh, sat down with a cup of coffee and I see this. You posted just in tim.
I really do quite enjoy the more deadpan delivery the jokes have in these older videos. The channel's genuinely been funny since the beginning
I learned to ski there. Love your videos.
This shows the hidden true glamor that makes London what it is.
Ita in the biggest shit hole i know i went there once and all there was is some drunk chavs and a man with his knife out lol
I was born, raised and spent 50 years in that borough. As kids we played all over that slag heap. You see the whole place differently when you're an adult. Only 1 in 6 of the 320,000 population of Newham is white English these days.
I was working on the site next to JJB Sports when the manager there was murdered. I came out of the building to see the whole car park taped off and loads of police cars and ambulances dotted around. It was only when I got home and looked at the news that I saw what had happened.
I worked at the industrial estate from the eighties until 10 years ago, Becton Alps had a great pub when the Ski School was open. Many a happy lunchtime with a Caffreys in hand.
It was called the "Eidelwess"
My dad used to climb up that when it was a bare slag heap and would go home covered in black soot. My Nan would go mad at him 🤣 I even remember before the ski slope being bare and watching scramblers attempting the climb up it .. ahhh the memories
This is the most hilarious thing I have seen today
got my sub
Subscribing to this for the sarcasm alone!
Greatly enjoy your sense of humour.
The 'Sewer Repair' sign at the end tops it for me!!! Next on the unmissable places to (not) visit list!
Love the accent Tim. Clear, crisp, light, easy to understand and pleasant to listen to.
Tim, you need to do a collaboration with Chris Broad (from "Abroad in Japan") if you ever travel to Japan. Really loving your work. Thanks so much.
Thanks for this. It made me lol out loud at least a few times. So glad i live in West London.
Down the A40 to the other ski slope ?
Thank you for the chuckle.
I visited the set of full metal jacket with my cousin and uncle (cousins dad) who was an on-set electrician for that movie (and many other movies and tv shows) think i was around 12/13 at the time! Fun days!
1:17 I did not expect that pun. Well played, Tim! Well played.
There's a sign on the A39 in Cornwall pointing to "London and the midlands". It's always amused me, especially as it directs you to north Devon..
I've always enjoyed the sign on, I think, Upper Street in Islington, which simply says "The NORTH"
@@TheTimTraveller You beat me to it - I was going to mention just that! Every time I take the motorway from Coventry to visit my friend in Leeds and pass a sign that says "The North", I marvel at its sheer informative value.
@@TheTimTraveller I remember a sign from Portugal which just said "Spain". It was like 100km from the border.
@@TheTimTraveller Yes, you're right, I remember seeing that sign! On this side of the pond, if you go to Santa Monica, CA on Interstate 10 you'll find a sign reading "Jacksonville FL 2460 miles" (and apparently there's a reciprocal sign in Jacksonville)
The Tim Traveller - If you are interested, it’s just outside my front door. But there is no street name, for the street running North outside Barbican station, where it meets Aldersgate. This is because here in central London, in fact on the boundary of the City of London, is the start of the A1. Crazily enough you can follow that road all the way to Edinburgh, without turning off! So really they could have a sign at Smithfield market saying “Turn left for Edinburgh”. I’ve no idea if anyone has done a video on this yet, but it certainly deserves one.
We used to drink up at the ski lodge at the top. Nice bar with a nice view. I heard it was an old slag heap from coal but we were never told it was toxic. Before the ski slope it was just dirt and we used to slide down it on bin lids! 🤣.
I remember when the ski slope was operational. Going past on the A13 you’d see the ski lift seats going round.
I think I'm a bit out of touch, I had no idea that it had closed down.
Great informative video, I went in January 2020 and there was a gap in the fence so was able to go in, tried to go again this week and the whole park is still closed at the road level
Ahh those happy summer days sliding down the alps with my mates in the 80s. There used to be a bike trail along the other side too.
You made me lol a few times with your very dry jokes...
My Dad took me and my sister here about six years ago. We stood on the wooden platform at 3:10, although it was a lot less caved in then. Good view, though.
I remember the artificial ski slope very well. Shame they took it away.
Used to ski up on the beckton alps! Gosh its been about 25/30yrs ago!
You made a grim(y) subject very funny. Thanks for cheering me up.
Lool i live in beckton and as kids we used to slide down the ski slope on pieces of card, when it was closed. Also the old smashed up buildings were known as ghost town. Endless days of playin run-outs there
A short drive from London's east end? It still is the east end, it has an E.6 postcode for East Ham.
i grew up around there in the 50s and 60s, i worked there as a forklift driver moving the Palm Trees about during filming Full Metal Jacket
"With Valentine's Day fast approaching, here's a video about toxic waste." For that line alone this video deserves a like.
Learnt to ski there it was then a big learning curve when meeting snow later
Interesting video! I might go and have a look next time I'm bashing the Docklands Light Railway!
It was quite a popular ski slope, there was a bar halfway up but early 2003 there were fights after closjng time. i used to collect loads from Britvic at the end of Alpine Way which is the main industrial road, and i had to dodge the fighting yobs. i think thats why they closed it.
That's not that weird. Interstate 94 in the US state of Montana has a direction sign indicating the exit for Regina, which is 410 km north of the road, in Saskatchewan.
Interstate 95 had a gap in it until 13 months ago.
And your point is ... what?
I grew up on a prefab estate in Beckton in the 60s and it was the slag heap.I never heard it referred to as alps.
You must've left before the 80s- lucky you, unless you moved to Basildon, or ( it really is the) Pitsea.
Nice vid Tim good job!
Cheers point point!
Very interesting films. You should be on the telly.
I remember when the ski slope was open at Beckton alps
Hi, quite a heritage after former gasworks. Same story, different city - in Granton, Edinburgh there's a site that makes the developers desperate. Such a chunk of land they could build on. But it's contaminated so the last gasometer and surrounding areas are fenced off and strictly off limits to public. Makes me wonder about rats, the crows there are the biggest I've ever seen.
By April 2001, the investigation of the 46-hectare site was complete. As expected, the ground was found to feature localised patches of severe contamination.Along with diesel, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and phenols, the ground was riddled with more cyanide than an Agatha Christie novel, in the form of spent oxide or 'blue billy' created during production of coal gas.
Before work started, Mr McCusker's team had to find somewhere to put all of the material removed from the site.The severity of the contamination meant a Scotland-wide search was instigated to find a suitable landfill site..
A park with bridges over water has been opened and building of Scottish Gas stands across the road. All good but then:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-38757289
www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/people-should-avoid-area-after-15185783
I used to go Raindance raves in the early 90’s somewhere around there...
Jenkins Lane. Hardcore, you know the score
There's also an Alps just outside Cardiff. It's a quarry.
Germany still got the largest alps. Twice. Our spoil tip in Hambacher Forst is the largest in the world. 😙🎶
@@RubenKelevra are you sure it wasnt named after the welsh Alps?
@@nathanbloke yes
I've lived in Custom House most of life and know that dump quite well. An earlier comment about drainage and creosote is spot on. When we were kids we would get over there out of curiosity. It was flooded at the bottom and always was toxic and smelt of paint/creosote. I was brought to believe there was an ICI factory there and that was the dump for there. There is another called Beckton Dumps not far from there, where there is a mental institution in the Newham hospital. That was a Victorian dump. Dig up interesting medicine bottles and all sorts.
Is that near brampton school?
@ M Brampton school is next door to the 6 acres that hold Newham General Hospital. Before the hospital was built it was the landfill site for the whole of Newham, and known as Beckton Dumps to locals.
James Bond dropped Blofeld down a chimney in Beckton Alps in For Your Eyes Only. Useless fact of the day.
Allegedly. I understand they didn't have the rights to the character of Blofeld at that time. They had to strongly imply that it was Blofeld.
@@toddnolastname4485 Indeed. That scene deftly 'killed off' the problem.
somehow I missed this video of yours until now but it was worth viewing for the puns :)
We skied here when we were kids 😝 only live down the road still…. Bring back the ski slope 🤙🏻
My Father worked for North Thames Gas Board. As a kid in the late 1950s I went on site there with my dad and older brother in our Bedford van. The place was a vision of hell to me as a 6-7 year old. It was like something from the Quatermas experiment.
I'm going to drink coffee in my local retail opportunity made me chuckle more than it should have
I'm not surprised there's a sign in London pointing to the Alps. After all, there's not only a Swiss Cottage in London but one which has an Underground station named after it!
You'd expect the alps to between Swiss Cottage and Petty France, wouldn't you?
Missed tourism opportunities number 67! Will make sure I miss this on my next trip to the UK. LOL
You should do one of Gallows Corner near Romford where the A12 and A127 Arterial Road meets. And probably do Thamesmead, Barking Riverside, Canning Town, Bromley-by-Bow, Isle of Dogs and Stratford in East London.
Yeah especially mention the “temporary” flyover that is erm still there. I believe there was once a mention of a UFO sighting as well some years ago in the Romford Recorder.
Great stuff. Subscribed.
Becton also had a tramway , which linked It to Barking
That needs a video.
Lived in Beckton for years before escaping to Billericay, Essex. Used the ski slope a couple of times, broke one of my fingers there, nobody's mentioned the Swiss style pub chalet at the ski slope, used to play pool there too. I regularly visit the area to see my dad most Saturdays, and think to myself" What a shit 'ole" Newham's become, but I lived there for 40 odd years and I still think of it as home, "my" Eastham, "my" Beckton, still somehow, someway, like it still. The beggers at the A13 to high street north junction are a bloody disgrace though, the whole place needs a powerwash!
1:16 Ouch! I mean it's true, but still...