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  • London – Shoreditch – Goose Island Brewpub

    London – Shoreditch – Goose Island Brewpub

    This one was Nathan’s recommendation (he’ll be here next week to buy an expensive bottle, more on which later on in this post) which was the Goose Island Brewpub, located a short walk from London Liverpool Street railway station.

    All on-trend and modern, there was a relaxed atmosphere and the staff member at the bar was friendly and helpful. Actually, the staff were always engaging and welcoming, the service style was all quite American.

    The beer selection is chalked up on the board and it’s also printed out and available on-line. Goose is an American company and they have a few brewpubs there, so that’s somewhere else that I have to go when I return to the United States. Their main operation is in Chicago, which I visit most years (well, those when there’s not a pandemic on), so I shall make sure I go there for the real deal (that sounds a dreadful phrase, but let’s live with it). They also have international outlets in Seoul, Shanghai, San Paulo and Toronto, as well as this one in London.

    There were no shortage of tables when I went, and it remained relatively quiet during the entire time that I was in there.

    The downstairs brewing area.

    On the left is the Eire of the Dog, a rather luxurious little beer which has caramel and chocolate flavours, very decadent after my meal. On the left, which was my starter before the food (and during it) is the Ruby which is a rhubarb sour. There was a suitable sharpness from the rhubarb, but it remained drinkable and I liked the flavour, although the aftertaste wasn’t particularly rich.

    As it was a Wednesday when I went, the food was half price as part of the Government’s ‘eat out to help out’ campaign. So, this pizza was around £6 and was larger than I had expected, even though they said it was 12 inches on the menu. All filling and the Italian sausage was excellent, very sausagey. I liked the serving style as well which wasn’t on a plate, it made it easy to plough on with work whilst sitting in a bar. I say this, I spend most of my time doing work in bars, restaurants and pubs, but I must admit a little bit of that time is used faffing around on WhatsApp. Perhaps I need to get out more….

    The payment process was swift and I was pleased to see that, unexpectedly, the Amex Shop Small kicked in, which meant that I got £5 off the bill. So, all of this meant that I was able to get two drinks and a pizza for £7.50. How very lovely. I await to hear how much Nathan spends next week when he cracks open the bottle of Bourbon County Brand Stout, which I must admit sounds rather delicious.

  • Demise of Sam Smiths Pubs….

    Demise of Sam Smiths Pubs….

    There are very few pubs that I won’t visit, but Samuel Smiths have made their outlets so hostile and soulless that I’ve given up going to them. I’m conscious from reading reviews that a fair few of them are still good as the staff at least partly ignore their Head Office, but it’s difficult to know which are which. Which is a shame, they’ve got some fabulous buildings packed with history and heritage, as well as some marvellous staff. Their ban on any mobile devices is inevitably careering them towards disaster, and they have launched one of the biggest round of price increases in recent weeks that I can recall from any pub chain. And now they have admitted that they are unable, and unwilling, to operate track and trace in a final fingers up to their staff and customers.

    The Morning Advertiser quoted their spokesperson:

    “There is also confidentiality – there was a man who followed a pretty woman into a pub and saw her write down her name and phone number and then copied it and bothered her”.

    Normally, I’d be astounded that any pub company used such sexist communications in their messaging, but nothing surprises me about Sam Smith pubs. They’re also refusing to accept cards and they seem blithe to any notion of staff safety, as nearly every other major pub chain encourages customers to use cards.

    Anyway, people can do what they want, but I recommend any pub in the Good Beer Guide instead. Or indeed pretty much any pub instead.

  • London – Lambeth – Imperial War Museum (Air Raid Damage in Norwich)

    London – Lambeth – Imperial War Museum (Air Raid Damage in Norwich)

    From the collections of the Imperial War Museum (© IWM HU 140004), I’ve never seen this photo before. There’s no address on it, but it was taken in Norwich following a Baedeker Raid which took place on 29 April 1942. The man was the owner of the shoe shop which had been destroyed, looking through to see if he could salvage any of his stock.

  • London – Lambeth – Imperial War Museum (Still Smiling After Air Raid)

    London – Lambeth – Imperial War Museum (Still Smiling After Air Raid)

    I’m still rummaging through the Imperial War Museum’s on-line collection of photos (© IWM HU 36206) and this is very much smiling in the face of adversity. Perhaps it’s a little stage-managed, but maybe the home-owner is pleased to be at least able to save their plant and clock. The exact location was never noted, but the photograph was taken in London in 1940.

  • London – Kensington – Natural History Museum (Snake…..)

    London – Kensington – Natural History Museum (Snake…..)

    I’m sure I saw a snake just like this last year when walking near to Hoveton….. They’re everywhere….

  • London – Westminster – Tate Britain (Captain Thomas Lee by Marcus Gheeraerts)

    London – Westminster – Tate Britain (Captain Thomas Lee by Marcus Gheeraerts)

    I like the sign to the left of this painting by Marcus Gheeraerts (1561/2-1636) which reads “what would you wear in a photo if you really wanted to impress someone?” as this certainly looks like some sort of dare. But, it’s not, it’s very serious and it was the uniform of an Irish soldier, who kept their legs bare for reasons that I’m not sure that I can understand (but is probably related to the need to fight in Irish bogs). The embroidered top isn’t quite part of the uniform, that’s just an indication of how wealthy Captain Thomas Lee (1551-1601) was. The painting is also seen as an attempt by Lee to impress Queen Elizabeth I, although his life plan didn’t quite work out as he was executed at Tyburn in 1601 and the Queen didn’t stop it.

    The artwork was painted in 1594, which was the prime of the artist’s career as he fell a little out of favour after this. The museum holds a few paintings by Gheeraerts, but I’d say that this one is the most spectacular looking and the gallery was able to acquire this painting in 1980.

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 155

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 155

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

    Hobbledygee

    This is quite apt, thinking about my plan to walk the LDWA 100, it’s defined by the dictionary as “a pace between a walk and a run, a dog-trot”. I’m not sure that I walk that fast, as my walk pace tends to be between a walk and a walk, there’s no running involvement. The word origin is sadly a little lost, it can also mean someone who walks with a bit of a limp, which is more like me if I’m tired. If I can work out how to pronounce this, then I might just try and use it in conversation on LDWA walks, as there are a few members who naturally walk at this hobbledygee pace.

  • London – Westminster – Tate Britain (Lady Kytson by George Gower)

    London – Westminster – Tate Britain (Lady Kytson by George Gower)

    This artwork doesn’t make Lady Kytson (1547-1628) look the most glamorous, but it wasn’t the done thing at this time to smile for portraits. She was a brave lady and remained a Catholic at a time when this wasn’t perhaps entirely wise under the Protestant rule of Queen Elizabeth I, meaning that Kytson was arrested and her activities were monitored.

    The artist was George Gower (1540-1596) who was a popular portrait painter of the period (there were more P’s there than I initially intended). This artwork was acquired by the Tate in 1952 and is the oldest surviving work by Gower, along with the portrait of her husband, Sir Thomas Kytson. By 1581, Gower had become the Serjeant Painter to Queen Elizabeth, meaning that he had become something of a court favourite. As an aside, the gallery only worked out what the hat she was wearing was meant to look like when the painting was thoroughly cleaned in 1995.

  • London – Kensington – Natural History Museum (South Shields Sunday Stone)

    London – Kensington – Natural History Museum (South Shields Sunday Stone)

    Not all rocks are old…. This exhibit at the Natural History Museum was formed in a coal mine in the 1800s, when the white mineral barium sulphate met coal dust. This only happened when miners were at work, so there’s a wider gap on Sundays, or “a calendar in rock” as the museum calls it.

  • London – Lambeth – Imperial War Museum (Troops on Sheringham Beach)

    London – Lambeth – Imperial War Museum (Troops on Sheringham Beach)

    And my last photo (for today at least) from the Imperial War Museum archive (© IWM H 11689), this is a photograph of Sheringham beach which was taken on 12 July 1941 by Captain Len Puttnam. The military had allowed the public to access the beach, but they were present to ensure that they didn’t stray too far, with the men of 2/5th Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment overseeing proceedings.