UKC

Hi

i am about to start working in London Tuesday to Thursday, right through the summer. Am going to try and train twice a week at Mile End wall.

can anyone advise if the bouldering there is any good and if there is a decent circuit board, if it gets mega busy, quieter times etc.

i am based up north and use the works a lot in sheff, how does Mile End compare to this.

thanks in advance for any input.

mart.

Obviously not as good as the climbing works, but that's quite stiff competition! It is a good centre though, I haven't been much in the last year or two but it was my regular wall for nearly 10yrs before that. Has a separate training room which is reasonably well kitted out with campus boards, 45' training board, etc. 

As with all London walls, it gets busy at peak times (post work midweek) but i used to find it more manageable than the arch, which is unbearable after work. If you're in that part of town, going a bit further north to stronghold is also worthwhile - really good wall, quieter and with good facilities 

Nice one, thanks

Haven't been for over a year. It used to get pretty crowded on Tuesday evenings and I don't think there's a circuit wall there. If you can get to the Stronghold (near Tottenham Hale on Victoria line) then I'd recommend it as a much better training wall

As a regular at Mile End and Works, I'd say the route setting is superior at Works, but only slightly. Mile End is probably the best bouldering in London, and the only one in London with that kind of 'Works' atmosphere where you can actually chat to people you don't know. There has been a decent circuit board, but it was being reset the last time I was there. There's a 'Monkey Room' not altogether unlike Works' roof traverse, ok training facilities, and a spot of lead climbing/auto-belays - but nothing to write home about. The most interesting route setting tends to be in the 'outside' area (basically inside with scaffolding and a tent thing). Overall, if you like Works, you won't do better in London, but expect crowds in weekday evenings.

Edit: also, everyone in Mile End will be French, so cries of 'allez allez' are not being delivered ironically.

This may not be useful if you're already based out east, but the Arch in Bermondsey is a good wall that opens at 6am.

When I lived down there it was my go-to place, even coming in from 10 miles out, purely due to how much more pleasant it was at a quiet time early on. I can't comment for Mile End but at the Arch in the evening I found it wasn't great for training.

It was either having to constantly asking people to move from under the board/campus area due to them doing yoga, or people getting annoyed that you were doing more than a single circuit on the board and then jumping on whilst you were still going.

Though that may just be due to how popular it was. They began to operate a 1 in 1 out policy recently I believe and with one of their walls closing (they have 2 next to each other) this could be made much worse soon...

Thanks James

thats good knowledge, sounds anything but ideal for training. Will give mike End a shot and if it’s toobusy will explore elsewhere. 

Thanks again.

The training room at the arch (50 inch wall, systems board, moonboard, campus rungs) is actually pretty quiet even at peak times when the rest of the wall is heaving so may still be a good option.