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restaurant in kingston

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a restaurant in kingston

A restaurant, in a town like Kingston, prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money.

Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services.

Restaurants vary greatly in appearance and offerings, including a wide variety of the main chef's cuisines and service models.

While inns and taverns were known from antiquity, these were establishments aimed at travelers, and in general locals would rarely eat there.

Modern restaurants are dedicated to the serving of food, where specific dishes are ordered by guests and are prepared to their request.

The modern restaurant originated in 18th century France, although precursors can be traced back to Roman times.

A restaurant owner is called a restaurateur both words derive from the French verb restaurer, meaning "to restore".

Professional artisans of cooking are called chefs, while preparation staff and line cooks prepare food items in a more systematic and less artistic fashion.

In Ancient Rome, thermopolia (singular thermopolium) were small restaurant-bars which offered food and drinks to the customer.

A typical thermopolium had L-shaped counters into which large storage vessels were sunk, which would contain either hot or cold food.

They are linked to the absence of kitchens in many dwellings and the ease with which people could purchase prepared foods.

Besides, eating out was also considered an important aspect of socialising.

In Pompeii, 158 thermopolia with a service counter have been identified across the whole town area.

They were concentrated along the main axes of the town and the public spaces where they were frequented by the locals.

Food catering establishments, in a town such as Kingston, which may be described as restaurants were known since the 11th century in Kaifeng, China's northern capital during the first half of the Song Dynasty (960 to 1279).

With a population of over 1,000,000 people, a culture of hospitality and a paper currency, Kaifeng was ripe for the development of restaurants.

Probably growing out of the tea houses and taverns that catered to travellers, Kaifeng's restaurants blossomed into an industry catering to locals as well as people from other regions of China.

Stephen H West argues that there is a direct correlation between the growth of the restaurant businesses and institutions of theatrical stage drama, gambling and prostitution which served the burgeoning merchant middle class during the Song Dynasty.

Restaurants catered to different styles of cuisine, price brackets, and religious requirements.

Even within a single restaurant much choice was available, and people ordered the entree they wanted from written menus.

An account from 1275 writes of Hangzhou, the capital city for the last half of the dynasty: "The people of Hangzhou are very difficult to please.

Hundreds of orders are given on all sides: this person wants something hot, another something cold, a third something tepid, a fourth something chilled; one wants cooked food, another raw, another chooses roast, another grill".

The restaurants in Hangzhou also catered to many northern Chinese who had fled south from Kaifeng during the Jurchen invasion of the 1120s, while it is also known that many restaurants were run by families formerly from Kaifeng.

Restaurants on Greek islands are often situated right on the beach.

Restaurants range from unpretentious lunching or dining places catering to people working nearby, with simple food served in simple settings at low prices, to expensive establishments serving refined food and wines in a formal setting.

In the former case, customers usually wear casual clothing.

In the latter case, depending on culture and local traditions, customers might wear semi-casual, semi-formal, or even in rare cases formal wear.

Typically, customers sit at tables, their orders are taken by a waiter, who brings the food when it is ready, and the customers pay the bill before leaving.

In finer restaurants there will be a host or hostess or even a maitre d'hotel to welcome customers and to seat them.

Other staff waiting on customers include busboys and sommeliers.

Restaurants, in a town like Kingston, often specialize in certain types of food or present a certain unifying, and often entertaining, theme.

For example, there are seafood restaurants, vegetarian restaurants or ethnic restaurants.

Generally speaking, restaurants selling food characteristic of the local culture are simply called restaurants, while restaurants selling food of foreign cultural origin are called accordingly, Depending on local customs and the establishment, restaurants may or may not serve alcohol.

Restaurants are often prohibited from selling alcohol without a meal by alcohol sale laws; such sale is considered to be activity for bars, which are meant to have more severe restrictions.

Some restaurants are licensed to serve alcohol ("fully licensed"), and/or permit customers to "bring your own" alcohol (BYO / BYOB).

In some places restaurant licenses may restrict service to beer, or wine and beer.

Restaurants, in a town like Kingston, offering ethnic food have increased in North America, the UK and Australia in the past few decades.

One of many Italian restaurants in the Heights commercial district of North Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada Restaurant guides review restaurants, often ranking them or providing information for consumer decisions (type of food, handicap accessibility, facilities, etc).

One of the most famous contemporary guides, in Western Europe, is the Michelin series of guides which accord from 1 to 3 stars to restaurants they perceive to be of high culinary merit.

Restaurants with stars in the Michelin guide are formal, expensive establishments; in general the more stars awarded, the higher the prices.

The main competitor to the Michelin guide in Europe is the guidebook series published by Gault Millau.

Unlike the Michelin guide which takes the restaurant decor and service into consideration with its rating, Gault Millau only judges the quality of the food.

Its ratings are on a scale of 1 to 20, with 20 being the highest.

In the United States, the Forbes Travel Guide (previously the Mobil travel guides) and the AAA rate restaurants on a similar 1 to 5 star (Forbes) or diamond (AAA) scale.

Three, four, and five star/diamond ratings are roughly equivalent to the Michelin one, two, and three star ratings while one and two star ratings typically indicate more casual places to eat.

In 2005, Michelin released a New York City guide, its first for the United States.

The popular Zagat Survey compiles individuals' comments about restaurants but does not pass an "official" critical assessment.

In the United States Gault Millau is published as the Gayot guide, after founder Andre Gayot.

Its restaurant ratings use the same 20 point system, and are all published online.

The Good Food Guide, published by the Fairfax Newspaper Group in Australia, is the Australian guide listing the best places to eat.

Chefs Hats are awarded for outstanding restaurants and range from one hat through three hats.

The Good Food Guide also incorporates guides to bars, cafes and providers.

The Good Restaurant Guide is another Australian restaurant guide that has reviews on the restaurants as experienced by the public and provides information on locations and contact details.

Any member of the public can submit a review.

Nearly all major American newspapers employ food critics and publish online dining guides for the cities they serve.

A few papers maintain a reputation for thorough and thoughtful review of restaurants to the standard of the good published guides, but others provide more of a listings service.

More recently Internet sites have started up that publish both food critic reviews and popular reviews by the general public.

Their major competition comes from bloggers, particularly publishers of food blogs, also called foodies.

These writers and publishers represent the common dining aficionado rather than the gourmet, and thus do not provide "official" reviews, but nonetheless are capable of garnering large, loyal followings.

The first restaurant menus arose roughly one millennium ago, during the Song Dynasty in China - the only region of the world at the time where paper was abundant.

At this time, many merchants often congregated together in city centers and had little time or energy to eat during the evening.

Because of the large variation found in Chinese cuisine from different regions, the restaurants could no longer cater to the local palates, giving rise to the menu.

The word "menu," like much of the terminology of cuisine, is French in origin.

It ultimately derives from Latin "minutus," something made small; in French it came to be applied to a detailed list or resume of any kind.

The original menus that offered consumers choices were prepared on a small chalkboard, in French a carte; so foods chosen from a bill of fare are described as "a la carte," "according to the board.

" The original European restaurants did not have menus in the modern sense; these table d'hote establishments served dishes that were chosen by the chef or proprietors, and those who arrived ate what the house was serving that day, as in contemporary banquets or buffets.

In Europe, the contemporary menu first appeared in the second half of the eighteenth century.

Here, instead of eating what was being served from a common table, restaurants allowed diners to choose from a list of unseen dishes, which were produced to order according to the customer's selection.

A table d'hote establishment charged its customers a fixed price; the menu allowed customers to spend as much or as little money as they chose.

As early as the mid-20th century, some restaurants, in a town like Kingston, have relied on 'menu specialists' to design and print their menus.

Prior to the emergence of digital printing, these niche printing companies printed full-color menus on offset presses.

The economics of full-color offset made it impractical to print short press runs.

The solution was to print a 'menu shell' with everything but the prices.

The prices would later be printed on a less costly black-only press.

In a typical order, the printer might produce 600 menu shells, then finish and laminate 150 menus with prices.

When the restaurant needed to reorder, the printer would add prices and laminate some of the remaining shells.

With the advent of digital presses made by such companies as Canon, Kodak, Ricoh and Xerox, it became practical in the 1990s to print full-color menus affordably in short press runs, sometimes as few at 25 menus.

Because of limits on sheet size, typically no greater than 33 x 48 cm, larger laminated menus were impractical for single-location independent restaurants, and more restaurants began using menu covers to hold multiple sheets.

The use of covers also makes it possible to update one or more pages of the menu without discarding the entire product.

More recently, the advent of the Xerox iGen3 digital press allows sheet sizes of 36 x 57 cm, offering the option of larger laminated menus in press runs of as few as 100 copies.

The changing economics of offset printing in the early 21st century made it practical to produce press runs of as few as 300 menus, but some restaurants may want to place far fewer menus into service.

Some menu printers continue to use shells.

The disadvantage for the restaurant is that it is unable to update anything but prices without creating a new shell.

During the economic crisis in the 1970s, many restaurants found that they were having to incur costs from having to reprint the menu as inflation caused prices to increase.

Economists noted this transaction cost, and it has become part of economic theory, under the term "menu costs".

As a general economic phenomenon, "menu costs" can be experienced by a range of businesses beyond restaurants; for example, during a period of inflation, any company that prints catalogues or product price lists will have to reprint these items with new price figures.

To avoid having to reprint the menus throughout the year as prices changed, some restaurants began to display their menus on chalkboards, with the menu items and prices written in chalk.

This way, the restaurant could easily modify the prices without going to the expense of reprinting the paper menus.

A similar tactic continued to be used in the 2000s with certain items that are sensitive to changing supply, fuel costs, and so on: the use of the term "market price" or "Please ask server" instead of stating the price.

This allows restaurants to modify the price of lobster, fresh fish, and other items on a daily basis.

An 1899 menu from Delmonico's restaurant in New York City, which called some of its selections entremets, and contained barely English descriptions such as "plombiere of marrons.

" The main categories within a typical menu in the US are "appetizers," "side orders and a la carte," "entrees," "desserts" and "beverages.

" Sides and a la carte may include such items as soups, salads and dips.

There may be special age-restricted sections for "seniors" or for children, presenting smaller portions at lower prices.

Any of these sections may be pulled out as a separate menu, such as desserts and/or beverages, or a wine list.

Children's menus may also be presented as placemats with games and puzzles to help keep children entertained.

Menus can provide other useful information to diners.

Some menus describe the chef's or proprietor's food philosophy, the chef's resume, or the mission statement of the restaurant.

Menus often present a restaurant's policies about ID checks for alcohol, lost items, or gratuities for larger parties.

In the United States, county health departments frequently require restaurants to include health warnings about raw or undercooked meat, poultry, eggs and seafood.

As a form of advertising, the prose found on printed menus is famous for the degree of its puffery.

Menus frequently emphasize the processes used to prepare foods, call attention to exotic ingredients, and add French or other foreign language expressions to make the dishes appear sophisticated and exotic.

Higher-end menus often add adjectives to dishes such as "glazed," "sauteed," "poached," and so on.

"Menu language, with its hyphens, quotation marks, and random outbursts of foreign words, serves less to describe food than to manage your expectations"; restaurants are often "plopping in foreign words (80 percent of them French) like "spring mushroom civet," "plin of rabbit," "orange-jaggery gastrique".

Brian McGrory quips that, when going to a high-end restaurant, he sometimes feels that he needs "an unabridged dictionary, a Biology 101 textbook, and a pile of Fun With Phonics just to figure out the meaning of gianduja ice cream, hazelnut financiers, yellow watermelon, and bulgur crackers just some of the inscrutable listings from the dessert menu".

Terry Pratchett satirizes this in his novel Hogfather, after a fancy restaurant has its stock of expensive foods replaced with mud and old boots.

The resulting menu features such items as Panier de la Pate de Chaussures (Mud mousse in a basket of shoe pastry), Cafe de Terre, and Spaghetti Carbonara (boiled boot laces).

Part of the function of menu prose is to impress customers with the notion that the dishes served at the restaurant require such skill, equipment, and exotic ingredients that the diners could not prepare similar foods at home.

In some cases, ordinary foods are made to sound more exciting by replacing everyday terms with their French equivalent.

For example, instead of stating that a pork chop has a dollop of applesauce, a high-end restaurant menu might state "Tenderloin of pork avec compote de pommes.

" Although the French term "avec compote de pommes" is an exact translation of "with applesauce," it sounds more exotic, and more worthy of an inflated price tag.

Menus may use the French term "concasse" to describe coarsely chopped vegetables or "coulis" to describe a puree of vegetables or fruit.

Another example is the French term "au jus," which means that meat is served with its own natural gravy of pan drippings.

In some fast food restaurants, each menu item has a number and patrons are asked to "order by number.

" Another phenomenon is the so-called "secret menu" where some fast food restaurants are known for having unofficial and unadvertised selections that customers learn by word of mouth.

Fast food restaurants will often prepare variations on items already available, but to have them all on the menu would create clutter.

Chipotle Mexican Grill is well known for having a simple five item menu, but some might not know they offer quesadillas and single tacos, despite neither being on the menu board.

In-N-Out Burger has a very simple menu of burgers, fries, sodas, and shakes, but has a wide variety of "secret" styles of preparations, the most famous being "Animal Style" burgers and fries.

This can also occur in high-end restaurants, which may be willing to prepare certain items which are not listed on the menu (eg dishes that have long been favorites of regular clientele).

Sometimes restaurants may name foods often ordered by regular clientele after them, for either convenience or prestige.

Menus vary in length and detail depending on the type of restaurant.

The simplest hand-held menus are printed on a single sheet of paper, though menus with multiple pages or "views" are common.

In some cafeteria-style restaurants and chain restaurants, a single-page menu may double as a disposable placemat.

To protect a menu from spills and wear, it may be protected by heat-sealed vinyl page protectors, laminating or menu covers.

Restaurants weigh their positioning in the marketplace (eg fine dining, fast food, informal) in deciding which style of menu to use.

While some restaurants may use a single menu as the sole way of communicating information about menu items to customers, in other cases, the meal menu is supplemented with ancillary menus, such as: * An appetizer menu (nachos, chips and salsa, vegetables and dip, etc) * A wine list * A liquor and mixed drinks menu * A beer list * A dessert menu (which may also include a list of tea and coffee options) Some restaurants , in a town such as Kingston, use only text in their menus.

In other cases, restaurants include illustrations and photos, either of the dishes or of an element of the culture which is associated with the restaurant.

An example of the latter is in cases where a Lebanese kebab restaurant decorates its menu with photos of Lebanese mountains and beaches.

Particularly with the ancillary menu types, the menu may be provided in alternative formats, because these menus (other than wine lists) tend to be much shorter than food menus.

For example, an appetizer menu or a dessert menu may be displayed on a folded paper table tent, a hard plastic table stand, a flipchart style wooden "table stand," or even, in the case of a pizza restaurant with a limited wine selection, a wine list glued to an empty bottle.

Take-out restaurants often leave paper menus in the lobbies and doorsteps of nearby homes as advertisement.

The first to do so may have been New York City's Empire Szechuan chain, founded in 1976.

The chain and other restaurants' aggressive menu distribution in the Upper West Side of Manhattan caused the "Menu Wars" of the 1990s, including invasions of Empire Szechuan by the "Menu Vigilantes", the revoking of its cafe license, several lawsuits, and physical attacks on menu distributors.

Some restaurants, typically fast-food restaurants and cafeteria-style establishments, provide their menu in a large poster or display board format up high on the wall or above the service counter.

This way, all of the patrons can see all of the choices, and the restaurant does not have to provide printed menus.

This large format menu may also be set up outside (see the next section).

The simplest large format menu boards have the menu printed or painted on a large flat board.

More expensive large format menu boards include boards that have a metal housing, a translucent surface, and a backlight (which facilitates the reading of the menu in low light), and boards that have removable numbers for the prices.

This enables the restaurant to change prices without having to have the board reprinted or repainted.

Some restaurants such as cafes and small eateries use a large chalkboard to display the entire menu.

The advantage of using a chalkboard is that the menu items and prices can be changed; the downside is that the chalk may be hard to read in lower light or glare, and the restaurant has to have a staff member who has attractive, clear handwriting.

A high-tech successor to the chalkboard menu is the 'write-on wipe-off" illuminated sign, using LED technology.

The text appears in a vibrant color against a black background.

Some restaurants, like a restaurant in kingston, provide a copy of their menu outside the restaurant.

Fast-food restaurants that have a drive-through or walk-up window will often put the entire menu on a board, lit-up sign, or poster outside, so that patrons can select their meal choices.

High-end restaurants may also provide a copy of their menu outside the restaurant, with the pages of the menu placed in a lit-up glass display case; this way, prospective patrons can see if the menu choice is to their liking.

As well, some mid-level and high-end restaurants may provide a partial indication of their menu listings, the "specials", on a chalkboard displayed outside the restaurant.

The chalkboard will typically provide a list of seasonal items or dishes that are the specialty of the chef which are only available for a few days.

With the invention of LCD and Plasma displays, some menus have moved from a static printed model, to one which can change dynamically.

By using a flat LCD screen and a computer server, menus can be digitally displayed allowing moving images, animated effects and the ability to edit details and prices.

For fast food restaurants, a benefit is the ability to update prices and menu items as frequently as needed, across an entire chain.

Digital menu boards also allow restaurant owners to control the day parting of their menus, converting from a breakfast menu in the late morning.

Some platforms support the ability allow local operators to control their own pricing while the design aesthetic is controlled by the corporate entity.

Various software tools and hardware developments have been created for the specific purpose of managing a digital menu board system.

Digital menu screens can also alternate between displaying the full menu and showing video commercials to promote specific dishes or menu items.

Websites featuring online restaurant menus have been on the Internet for nearly a decade.

In recent years, however, more and more restaurants outside of large metropolitan areas have been able to feature their menus online as a result of this trend.

Several restaurant-owned and startup online food ordering websites already included menus on their websites, yet due to the limitations of which restaurants could handle online orders, many restaurants were left invisible to the Internet aside from an address listing.

Multiple companies came up with the idea of posting menus online simultaneously, and it is difficult to ascertain who was first.

Menus and online food ordering have been available online since at least 1997.

Since 1997, hundreds of online restaurant menu web sites have appeared on the Internet.

Some sites are city-specific, some list by region, state or province.

a restaurant in kingston

Kingston upon Thames is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in southwest London.

It was the ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned and is now a suburb situated 10 miles (16 km) south west of Charing Cross.

It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan.

In 838, it was styled Kyningestun famosa illa locus.

In Old English, tun, ton or don meant farmstead � so the name Kingston may have been thought to mean farmstead of the kings.

Seven Saxon kings are traditionally said to have been crowned at Kingston, while seated on a large stone � The Coronation Stone � that stands outside the Guildhall.

There is a local tradition that these Saxon coronations gave Kingston its name, but the records of the 838 council disprove this.

Kingston upon Thames appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Chingestone and Chingetun(e).

For much of the 20th century, Kingston was a major military aircraft manufacturing centre specialising in fighter aircraft � first with Sopwith Aviation, H G Hawker Engineering, later Hawker Aircraft, Hawker Siddeley and eventually British Aerospace.

The legendary Sopwith Camel, Hawker Fury, Hurricane, Hunter and Harrier were all designed and built in the town and examples of all of these aircraft can be seen today at nearby Brooklands Museum in Weybridge.

Well known aviation personalities Sydney Camm, Harry Hawker and Tommy Sopwith were responsible for much of Kingston's achievements in aviation.

British Aerospace finally closed its Lower Ham Road factory in 1992 part of the site was subsequently redeveloped for housing, the river side part of the site remains as a community centre and sports complex.

The growth and development of Kingston Polytechnic and its transformation into Kingston University has made Kingston a university town.

Kingston upon Thames formed an ancient parish in the Kingston hundred of Surrey.

The parish of Kingston upon Thames covered a large area including Hook, Kew, New Malden, Petersham, Richmond and Surbiton.

The town of Kingston was granted a charter by King John in 1200, but the oldest one to survive is from 1208 and this document is housed in the town's archives.

Other charters were issued by later kings, including Edward IV's charter that gave the town the status of a borough in 1481.

The borough covered a much smaller area than the ancient parish, although as new parishes were split off the borough and parish eventually became identical in 1894.

The borough was reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, becoming the Municipal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.

It had been known as a Royal borough through custom and the right to the title was confirmed by George V in 1927.

Kingston upon Thames has been the location of Surrey County Council since it moved from Newington in 1893.

In 1965 the local government of Greater London was reorganised and the municipal borough was abolished.

Its former area was merged with that of the Municipal Borough of Surbiton and the Municipal Borough of Malden and Coombe, to form the London Borough of Kingston upon Thames.

At the request of Kingston upon Thames London Borough Council another Royal Charter was granted by Queen Elizabeth II entitling it to continue using the title "Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames" for the new borough.

Kingston was built at the first crossing point of the Thames upstream from London Bridge and a bridge still exists at the same site.

Kingston was occupied by the Romans, and later it was either a royal residence or a royal demesne.

There is a record of a council held there in 838, at which Egbert of Wessex, King of Wessex, and his son Ethelwulf of Wessex were present.

In the Domesday Book it was held by William the Conqueror.

Its domesday assets were: a church, five mills, three fisheries worth 10s, 27 ploughs, 40 acres (160,000 m2) of meadow, woodland worth six hogs.

It rendered �30.

In 1730 the chapel containing the royal effigies collapsed, burying the sexton, who was digging a grave, the sexton's daughter and another person.

The daughter survived this accident and was her father's successor as sexton.

Kingston sent members to early Parliaments, until a petition by the inhabitants prayed to be relieved from the burden.

Another chapel, The Lovekyn Chapel, still exists.

It was founded in 1309 by a former mayor of London, Edward Lovekyn.

It is the only private chantry chapel to survive the Reformation.

Kingston straddles two Parliamentary constituencies: the area north of the railway line is part of Richmond Park which is represented by Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith; the area south of the railway line (which includes the ancient town centre) is part of Kingston and Surbiton represented by Liberal Democrat Edward Davey.

Central Kingston is a busy predominantly retail centre, with a small number of commercial offices and civic buildings.

It has a great amount of car parks, connected by a one-way system.

It is one of the main centres of the south west London bus network, and it is connected to Twickenham, Richmond, Wimbledon, and London Waterloo by National Rail trains.

Shopping is well catered for and is generally towards the upper end of expectations, with a good mixture of familiar High Street chains and more select boutiques.

The shopping centre includes a shopping mall, "The Bentall Centre", containing the Bentalls department store and large branches of chain stores found in many British high streets.

There is a large branch of the John Lewis department store group, with a Waitrose supermarket, located in the basement.

The Rotunda, located in the former Bentalls furniture depository building (a local landmark), includes a bowling alley, fitness centre, a 14-screen Odeon multiplex cinema and some restaurants.

Recent developments along the riverside south of Kingston Bridge have added bars, restaurants and a theatre, the Rose Theatre which opened in 2008 with Sir Peter Hall as the director.

The ancient market is still held daily in the Market Place.

Kingston's civic buildings include the Guildhall which houses Kingston Council and the magistrates' court, There is also the county court, a local museum and public library.

A short distance away is the new crown court building, adjacent to the County Hall Building which houses the main offices of Surrey County Council.

Until local government re-organisation in 1965 when Kingston became one of the 33 boroughs of Greater London, it was the County Town of Surrey.

Guildford now has this title as Kingston is no longer administered by Surrey.

Plans to move these offices to Woking have been scrapped.

Kingston's main open space is the River Thames, with its lively frontage of bars and restaurants.

Downstream there is a walk through Canbury Gardens towards Teddington Lock.

Upstream there is a promenade crossing the Hogsmill river and reaching almost to Surbiton.

Across Kingston Bridge is a tree lined river bank fronting the expanse of Hampton Court Park.

Kingston has many pubs and restaurants, though several public houses in the centre have closed in recent years to become restaurants or bars.

The more traditional pubs tend to be in the northern part of the town (Canbury) and include the Park Tavern, Wych Elm and Willoughby Arms.

Further south are found the Druid's Head, the Spring Grove, The Cricketers, The Duke Of Buckingham, and several small local pubs around Fairfield.

The Druid's Head is notable as one of the first taverns to make the famous dessert syllabub in the 18th century.

There are several Chinese, Indian, Thai and Italian restaurants.

The local newspapers are the weekly paid-for Surrey Comet, which celebrated its 150th year in 2004, and the free Kingston Guardian.

In research from 2010 on retail footprint, Kingston upon Thames came out as 25th in terms of retail expenditure in the UK at �810 million.

This puts it as generating the fifth most amount of money from the retail sector in the Greater London area, passing Croydon.

In 2005, Kingston was 24th with �864 million.

The most notable dramatic arts venue is the Rose Theatre.

This theatre opened on 16 January 2008 and seats approximately 899 people.

The audience are arranged around the semi-circular stage, thus making the theatre feel cosy and enclosed.

All Saints Church is host to classical choral and music concerts mostly on Saturdays and houses a Frobenius organ.

There are a number of choral societies including the Kingston Orpheus Choir and the Kingston Choral Society, an amateur symphony orchestra the Kingston Philharmonia, and the Kingston and District Chamber Music Society.

A number of annual festivals are organised by the Council and Kingston Arts Council including Kingston Readers' Festival, Think-in-Kingston and the Festival of the Voice.

Kingston University runs the Stanley Picker Gallery and Kingston Museum has a changing gallery on the first floor.

'Singing it Back' singing groups come from Kingston Upon Thames and run in the local area.

John Galsworthy the author was born on Kingston Hill and Jacqueline Wilson grew up, and went to school in Kingston and still lives there today.

Both are commemorated at Kingston University � Galsworthy in the newest building and Wilson in the main hall.

Also commemorated at the University is photographer Eadweard Muybridge who was born at Kingston and changed the spelling of his first name in reference to the name of the Saxon king on the Coronation Stone.

He was a pioneer in the photography of the moving image.

R C Sheriff the playwright is also associated with Kingston, writing his first play to support Kingston Rowing Club.

An earlier writer born in Kingston was John Cleland.

Kingston has been covered in literature, film and television.

It is where the comic Victorian novel Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome begins; cannons aimed against the Martians in H G Wells' The War of the Worlds are positioned on Kingston Hill; in The Rainbow by D H Lawrence the youngest Brangwen dreams of a job in Kingston upon Thames in a long, lyrical passage; Mr Knightly in Emma by Jane Austen regularly visits Kingston, although the narrative never follows him there.

Kingston is referenced (and used as a filming location) in episodes of Monty Python.

More recently, a scene from Mujhse Dosti Karoge, a Bollywood film starring Hrithik Roshan as the leading actor, was filmed by the toppled telephone boxes sculpture in Old London Road.

A scene in the television programme The Good Life sees Richard Briers get on a 71 bus in 'The Avenue' towards Kingston town centre (albeit this route never served the east side of Surbiton where the series is set).

Nipper, the famous "His Master's Voice" (HMV) dog, buried in the town under Lloyds Bank.

His owners lived nearby in Fife Road.

Also, the 2008 series of 'Primeval', shown on ITV1 in January, featured almost an entire episode filmed inside the Bentall Centre and John Lewis department stores.

Kingston featured in Primeval again in May 2009 with several scenes shot in and around the Market Place.

Most of the BBC program Vexed is filmed in Kingston.

Kingston Green Fair was held annually from 1987 to 2008 in Canbury Gardens, next to the river, on the Spring Bank Holiday.

The word "Green" in the title refers to the ethos of the fair as promoting sustainable development.

For instance no meat or other products derived from dead animals were allowed to be sold, and no electricity was permitted on the site unless generated by wind, sun, or bicycle power.

Kingston is also home to Crack Comedy Club which opened at The Grey Horse Pub in 2002.

One of the more unusual sights in Kingston is several disused red telephone boxes that have been tipped up to lean against one another in an arrangement resembling dominoes.

This sculpture by David Mach was commissioned in 1988 as part of the landscaping for the new Relief Road, and is called Out of Order.

The town is served by three railway stations on a line into Waterloo Station via New Malden and Wimbledon or via Richmond upon Thames (the long way round).

The local stations are Kingston, Norbiton and Hampton Wick.

Norbiton is east of the town centre near Kingston Hospital, and Hampton Wick is to the west across the river Thames.

Two additional railway stations are located on the main line in nearby Surbiton (which has a more frequent service) and Berrylands.

The town originally restricted the coming of the railways as much of its wealth and status were as a direct consequence of the road and stagecoach network developed as a result of its placing as a crossing on the Thames.

Local landowners would not consent to the line coming through their land, and in 1838 the rail station was built a few miles out at Surbiton, which was known as 'Kingston Upon Railway".

This led to the development of Surbiton.

Kingston recognised the need for the railway, and in the 1860s Kingston opened.

The line however, due to the landowners resistance, had to take a longer route via Richmond upon Thames.

Only later did the line get permission for a faster link, connecting to London Waterloo via Norbiton.

The A3 road runs from central London towards Kingston before by-passing the town to the east.

The "Kingston bypass road" was one of the first arterial roads to be built in Britain.

It was originally proposed in 1912 to relieve the pressure of traffic in the town centre, but World War I delayed the start of work until 1924.

It was opened by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin on 28 October 1927.

Kingston is also served by the A240, the A307 (Portsmouth Road), A308 and A310.

Riverboats run regularly between Kingston and Hampton Court as well as Richmond all during the summer season.

There are also direct services to Putney and Westminster from Hampton Court.

Kingston is the location of Kingston University and Kingston College.

There are 34 Primary schools (including Infant and Junior), of which 14 are Church Schools,10 Secondary Schools and 14 Private schools which provide education for all age ranges.

Some of Kingston's most notable Primary Schools include Latchmere School and Fern Hill Primary School.

Its most notable private secondary school is Kingston Grammar School.

The most notable public secondary schools include Tiffin School and Tiffin Girls' School.

Ecclesiastically, Kingston lies in the Church of England Diocese of Southwark and Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark.

The suffragan or Area Bishop of Kingston is the Rt Rev Dr Richard Ian Cheetham.

Kingston is also the home of the Kingston Surbiton & District Synagogue and Kingston Liberal Synagogue.

Kingston also has a Quaker meeting house, a Mosque and a Sikh Gurdwara.

Kingston is the home of three association football clubs, AFC Wimbledon and Kingstonian FC, both of which play at the Kingsmeadow Stadium, and Corinthian-Casuals FC who play in nearby Tolworth.

AFC Wimbledon will play in Football League Two as of the 2011-12 season, whereas Kingstonian FC and Corinthian-Casuals FC are both non-league clubs.

Kingston Athletic Club and Polytechnic Harriers � as of 2009, competing in the National Two division of the British Athetics League � are based at the neighbouring Kingsmeadow athetics stadium.

Kingston Rugby Club is based on the outskirts of the town and Kingston Rowing Club is based on the River Thames.

Kingston Regatta takes place on the river at the town in July.

Sport in Kingston is promoted and encouraged by Sport Kingston, an organisation funded by the Royal Borough of Kingston.

The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames is a borough in southwest London, England.

The main town is Kingston upon Thames and it includes Surbiton, Chessington, New Malden and Tolworth.

It is the oldest of the three Royal Boroughs in England, the others are Kensington and Chelsea, also in London, and Windsor and Maidenhead.

(The present London Borough of Greenwich is to become a Royal Borough in 2012) Kingston upon Thames, on the south bank of the River Thames has existed for many hundreds of years.

Many Roman relics have been found in the surrounding areas.

A church has stood on the site of All Saints Church, in the centre of Kingston, for more than a thousand years, an earlier church was sacked by the Vikings in 1009AD.

Kingston was the site of the coronations of seven Anglo-Saxon monarchs.

* Edward the Elder, son of Alfred the Great), 900AD * Athelstan 925AD.

* Edmund I 939AD.

* Eadred 946AD.

* Eadwig 956AD.

* Edward the Martyr 975AD.

* Ethelred the Unready 979AD.

The Coronation Stone, on which they are said to have been crowned.

now stands outside the local council offices, the Guildhall.

A coin from the reign of each of those kings is set into the base of the stone.

The present borough was formed in 1965 by the merger and the transfer from Surrey to Greater London of the Municipal boroughs of Kingston-upon-Thames (which itself was a Royal Borough), Malden and Coombe and Surbiton.

The name of the new borough omits hyphens to distinguish it from the similarly named former municipal borough.

Kingston, now administratively part of Greater London, contains County Hall, the seat of Surrey County Council, and, except for the Kingston Vale area in the north-east which has a London SW15 postcode, was part of Surrey for postal purposes until postal counties were abolished in 1996.

The borough includes the whole of the Kingston and Surbiton Westminster Parliamentary Constituency and part of the Richmond Park Constituency, both constituencies were created in 1997.

The previous constituencies re-arranged to form these two had been essentially Conservative.

In 1997 the Liberal Democrats won both seats.

Dr Jenny Tonge took Richmond Park constituency and in 2005 Susan Kramer became its Liberal Democrat MP with a majority of 3,731 but she was beaten in the May 2010 election by Conservative Zac Goldsmith with a majority of 4,091.

Edward Davey overturned the previous Conservative majority of more than 10,000 in Kingston and Surbiton, to win by 56 votes after three recounts.

He retained the seat in 2001 with a majority of 15,676 over the Conservative candidate David Shaw.

In 2005 Davey's majority was 8,961 and in the May 2010 general election he again retained the seat with a slightly reduced majority, beating the Conservative candidate Helen Whately.

The Borough Council was controlled by the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1986, when a short-lived SDP-Liberal Alliance minority administration took over, it lost several by-elections due to its attempt to abolish the Borough's grammar school system.

The Conservatives regained control in 1987.

The 1990 election gave no party a majority but the Conservatives kept power with the casting vote of the Mayor.

In 1994 the Liberal Democrats took the Council for the first time.

In 1998 the Liberal Democrats lost their majority on the Council and a minority Conservative Party administration was formed.

This minority administration was weakened in 1999 by the expulsion of Tim Brown for expressing concerns about the leadership of the local Kingston & Surbiton Conservative Association.

In 2001 St Mark's ward Councillors Dennis de Lord and Jan Jenner resigned in protest at hypocrisy within the Conservative group on the Council and with Tim Brown formed a new Independent Group of Councillors with Dennis de Lord as leader and Tim Brown as deputy leader, to put People Before Politics.

This was the first time that four parties were represented on the council and the Mayor of Kingston Jeremy Thorn officially opened the new Independent Group's office at the Guildhall.

The group did not stand for re-election following the continuing ill-health of Dennis de Lord.

At the 2002 elections, the Liberal Democrats took control of the Council with a majority of twelve seats and they retained control of the Council in 2006 with a majority of two.

This was the first time any party had retained control of the Council since 1986.

The only neighbourhood where the Liberal Democrats increased their majority was Surbiton where they took control of Berrylands ward, ousting Kevin Davis the leader of the Conservative Group on the Council.

Kevin Davis was subsequently replaced as the Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Kingston & Surbiton by Helen Whately.

In 2007 Shelia Griffin, one of the two Labour Councillors, resigned the Labour whip and became an Independent.

In the 2010 local elections the Liberal Democrats increased their majority from two to six seats, and retained control of the Council for a third term.

Councillors unseated included the veteran Steve Mama (Labour) Kingston's longest serving Councillor, the Conservative election campaign co-ordinator Nick Kilby from his previously safe Surbiton Hill ward, and Paul Johnston, the former local Conservative Association chairman and trustee.

The composition of the Council is: * Liberal Democrats 27 * Conservatives 21.

Modern day Kingston benefits from one of the biggest and most visited shopping areas outside of central London, with a varied selection of high street stores, and a large number of independent boutiques and retailers.

The most famous shop in Kingston is Bentalls, started by Frank Bentall in 1867 in Clarence Street, where it (or at least the completely rebuilt) Bentalls Centre stands to this day.

Close to Kingston, and located between Kingston, Richmond and Roehampton, is Richmond Park, one of the oldest Royal parks.

The borough is home to the highest number of South Koreans in Europe, in the town of New Malden.

Kingston has many attractions in and near it, ranging from nature attractions and historical attractions to theme parks.

Some of the borough's attractions are: * Chessington World of Adventures Resort in the south of the borough, the closest railway station is Chessington South.

Chessington is one of the UK's premier theme parks attracting thousands of visitors from all around the UK to its rides, roller coasters, aquarium and zoo.

* Thames Riverside - Flowing beside Kingston and Surbiton.

The River Thames gives visitors a peaceful getaway either feeding the swans or enjoying a cup of coffee next the river.

Closest railway stations are Surbiton or Kingston plus moderate walks.

* Coronation Stone - Situated outside The Guildhall in Kingston, this ancient rock was the crowning point of some of England's early kings and is what gives Kingston its name.

* Richmond Park - One of the world's largest urban parks, three times the size of Central Park in New York City.

Richmond Park's Kingston Gate is situated within the borough's boundary.

Full of nature and deer, its a peaceful walk away from the city.

* Kingston Town Centre - One of London's biggest shopping destinations, with hundreds of shops, cafes and restaurants, as well as a large entertainment complex consisting of Pizza Express and other restaurants, Odeon Cinema and Tenpin Bowling.

Also in the town centre is a historic market which has been running for hundreds of years.

* Hampton Court Palace and Palace Grounds - The home of King Henry VIII, the magnificent palace is situated in Hampton Court just a short drive from Kingston.

* Rose Theatre.

Kingston has almost three miles of one of the most attractive stretches of the River Thames.

The attractions, on and off the water, remain undiminished.

There are pubs and restaurants along the riverside, boat trips during the summer months and a wide variety of craft for hire.

Charter Quay has further enhanced the River Thames area.

There are walks and cycle routes to Hampton Court, Teddington and Richmond along some of the most picturesque stretches of the Thames.

There are also walks along the Hogsmill river , a tributary of the Thames, which is by the stone Clattern Bridge.

North of Kingston Bridge is Canbury Gardens, a leafy spacious park providing something for everyone.

The wide riverside pathway ensures a pleasant walk and there are facilities for the more energetic.

The gardens are thriving with wildlife and have become a popular spot for fishing, picnicking and feeding the ducks and swans.

Sega Amusements Europe has its head office in Chessington, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.

Primary responsibility for education in the borough lies with the local education authority.

Primary schools, (N) indicates with Nursery classes.

CE indicates Church of England, and RC indicates Roman Catholic.

* Alexandra Infant (N).

* Burlington Infant (N).

* Burlington Junior.

* Castle Hill Primary School (N).

* Christ Church New Malden CE.

* Christ Church CE.

* Coombe Hill Infant.

* Coombe Hill Junior.

* Corpus Christi RC (N).

* Ellingham Primary (N).

* Fern Hill Primary (N).

* Grand Avenue Primary (N).

* Green Lane Primary (N).

* King Athelstan Primary (N).

* Knollmead Primary (N).

* Latchmere School (N).

* Lovelace Primary (N).

* Malden Manor Primary and Nursery School (N).

* Malden Parochial CE (N).

* Maple Infant (N).

* Our Lady Immaculate RC.

* The Mount Primary (N).

* Robin Hood Primary (N).

* St Agatha's RC (N).

* St Andrew's and St Mark's CE.

* St John's CE (N).

* St Joseph's RC (N).

* St Luke's CE (N).

* St Mary's CE (N).

* St Mathew's CE (N).

* St Paul's CE Primary.

* St Paul's CE Junior.

* Tolworth Infant (N).

* Tolworth Junior.

Secondary schools.

* Chessington Community College (Mixed).

* Coombe Girls' School.

* Southborough High School (Boys).

* Coombe Boys' School (formerly Beverley Boys School).

* Hollyfield School and Sixth Form Centre (Mixed).

* Tiffin Girls' School.

* Tolworth Girls' School and Centre for Continuing Education.

* The Holy Cross School (Girls) (RC).

* Richard Challoner School (Boys) (RC).

* Tiffin School (Boys).

* Canbury School.

* Kingston Grammar School.

* Surbiton High School.

* Marymount International School London.

* Kingston College.

* Hillcroft College.

* Kingston University Kingston is one of five London Boroughs which have no London Underground station.

It has no current connections with London Overground that serves Richmond next door to the borough or London Tramlink that serves Wimbledon on the neighbouring brough of Merton.

It has nine National Rail stations and two centrally located bus stations.

In 2008 sixty four bus routes served Kingston.

Coaching interests in Kingston opposed the plan of the London and Southampton Railway to run its line to Southampton near Kingston.

The line consequently avoided the town with a station opened in 1838 southwest of the town; it was later resited to the present site of Surbiton station.

In 1863 a branch was built from Twickenham to a terminus in Kingston.

That line was extended to the main line in 1869 to form the Kingston Loop Line.

Railway stations in the borough.

* Berrylands.

* Chessington North.

* Chessington South.

* Kingston.

* Malden Manor.

* New Malden * Norbiton.

* Surbiton.

* Tolworth.

The Kingston coat of arms is almost identical to the coat of arms of the Swedish historical province (landskap) of Angermanland.

Both coats of arms can be traced back to the 16th century.

Although not officially 'twinned', The Royal Borough of Kingston has a partner city of Oldenburg in Germany and Gwanak-gu, an administrative subdivision of Seoul, in South Korea.

Some road signs announce that Kingston is linked with Delft in the Netherlands but this official link has ended.

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Last Updated: 2012/05/16