It’s not exactly culture-shock visiting London for an Edmontonian such as myself, but you do notice differences. The elevators all talk, warnings to “mind the…” are everywhere (gap, elevator doors, etc), locals call the pound a quid, and the Coke bottles are oddly thin, among other things. I’ve also come across a few things that remind me of home.
One of the first things I picked up upon arriving in London was the pocket tube map. To my surprise, there was an Ikea advertisement on the back which included a list of locations:
And here I thought Alberta was the only place with an IKEA Edmonton! Another thing I found, near Leicester Square, was a Canadian pub:
The Maple Leaf is located at 41 Maiden Lane, and serves local and Canadian beer such as Sleeman’s. As I stood in the road taking the photo, a small group of people passed behind me and I heard a lady remark, “Why go to a Canadian pub when you can go to a British one?” I chuckled.
Finally, here’s another pub – this one is for Albertans!
The Northumberland Arms is located at 119 Tottenham Court Road. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, read this.
🙂
MasterMaq's Blog 
IKEA Edmonton (Enfield) actually is the first google hit for “ikea edmonton”, oddly enough.
Neither of your pubs actually ranks highly:
Northumberland Arms is here
As I tweeted to you, The Maple Leaf doesn’t rank as particularly exciting. Besides, aren’t 4 Hudsons more than enough already?
Edmonton, AB was named after Edmonton, Middlesex, but I didn’t realise they’d opened an Ikea there too!
Though I was born and raised, and currently am back living in Edmonton, AB, I did spend four years in London. There’s also a ‘Canada Store’, just down the block from the Maple Leaf Pub. It’s hard to see because it’s not a ‘store’ so much as ‘a dozen shelves’ at the back of the Australia/New Zealand/South African store.
I used to go all the time to buy overpriced Coffee Crisps, Wonderbars, Skor bars, Root Beer, Nibbs, Kraft Dinner and pumpkin pie filling in a can.
Apparently there’s a Tim Horton’s somewhere in the banking district too…
There is an Edmonton area near Camden Town in the northish part of London. Take to tube to the Camden stop. From there you can find cheap food and people who want to sell you weed, which is also slightly reminiscent of Canada.
Weird, a Tim Hortons does show up in Google Maps at 336 Ley Street, Town Centre, Ilford, IG1 4AF, UK.