I very rarely go to the Hayward, but when I do, I love it. I think I like it so much possibly because I see it so rarely, and I’ve just seen excellent exhibitions.

Last year I saw the Gormley and I really enjoyed it. This year I went to see the Psycho Buildings exhibition which I thought was generally excellent but really far too expensive.

Also, one of the exhibits was closed (the boating lake) and they offered no discount or anything. I felt this was quite shabby on behalf of the Hayward, particulary in light of the limited number of exhibits (as most are so large they take up a lot of space each).

The ‘lottery’ system to get on the top part of the big plastic bubble I also thought was not especially great, again because of the closed exhibit and the fact that there were not many people when I went (mid-week morning), and everythere could feasibly have queued for it. I’m glad I got to go on it, because it was definitely the best thing in the whole exhibition despite the jobsworthy bloke doing the ‘lottery’ and the miserable woman in the bubble itself.

If my job was to lie on a cloub above London in glorious sunshine and say ‘don’t go too close to the edges’ I would be BESIDE MYSELF with glee. The woman who actually does it needs to appreciate what a great job she has and not be such a miserable bitch about it because she is arguably ruining the exhibit for everyone who has paid £10 to see it! AGH!

The gallery itself is part of the South Bank Centre and is testament to 1950’s architecture, which is both ugly and intriguing. Standing on one of the balconies and peering over the edge reminded me of Oblivion at Alton Towers. The views over London from the gallery’s outdoor spaces are fantastic, and Gormley’s bronze men were a brilliant bit of site-specific work which illuminated this area of London beautifully.

The Hayward is not a gallery I attend regularly, possibly due to its varying output of quality shows. The shows I have seen here (Dan Flavin, Anthony Gormley etc) have all been brilliantly curated and yet there have been other exhibitions that simply aren’t as attractive to me personally. The group exhibitions can sometimes be slightly generalised and tenuous leaving the viewer slightly lost in my own experience.

However, when I do go I am always surprised by its size and depth of range. It’s more than substantial and can take a good couple of hours to get around a show thoroughly.

Tickets are £7 and I think they’ve stopped doing half price Mondays. Which is obviously a bad thing.

The wayward Hayward. I’d only give ‘em three stars if it weren’t for the Gallery’s screening of surrealist/oceanographer Jean Painlevé’s films back in 06 (I think it was 06). Sadly, the Hayward is too much of an afterthought and struggles between being edgy and keeping up with the big boys. Still, from time to time, they squeeze out some cool stuff the big boys can’t grasp and the edgier galleries can’t afford or manage.

Located on the South Bank, just a hop, skip and a few jumps from Waterloo Station, this is where the ‘artworld megastars’ usually get to show their work when they come to London. Hyped up shows they may be, but always living up to the high expectations – but with the often steep cover charge – they would want to! Recently showing was a painting exhibition including works by Warhol, Richter, Dumas and Hockney among others. The programme’s changed now – check it out at www.southbankcentre.co.uk
I recommend having an art splurge and after finishing in the Hayward, stroll further along the South Bank to the Tate! The gallery shop also sells a good range of contemporary art magazines.

The Hayward is part of the Southbank Centre, which includes the Royal Festival Hall, Royal National Theatre and the BFI. It's been around since 1968 and is certainly a child of it's times in terms of architecture, concrete being the new and exciting material back then, it was used for everything, including crazily shaped museums and art galleries which no one really likes anymore. You'll catsh plenty of different and interesting exhibitions here though, as the Hayward caters for National Touring exhibitions and for the Arts Council Collection, which it manages on behalf of the Arts Council of England.

The Hayward Gallery - newly rebranded as The Hayward - is part of the Southbank Centre which includes the Royal Festival Hall, the Royal National Theatre and the British Film Institute. The 'brutalist' concrete architecture of the centre still divides critics - and its certainly not very welcoming on a gray, rainy British day. Still, the gallery space is very large and hosts several rotating exhibits a year. Well worth a visit.

Nearest tubes are Waterloo or Embankment.