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  • London – Tower Hamlets (Borough of) – Museum of London Docklands (St. Paul’s Church, Dock Street)

    London – Tower Hamlets (Borough of) – Museum of London Docklands (St. Paul’s Church, Dock Street)

    St. Katharine Docks, located near to the Tower of London, was once an important part of the city’s working docks, although it was damaged during the Second World War and is now more of a marina type affair. Back in the nineteenth century, the docks area was surrounded by slums and poverty, a dangerous part of London to be around.

    St. Paul’s Church was constructed on nearby Dock Street between 1846 and 1847, designed by William Cubitt & Co. Prince Albert came along to lay the foundation stone and the building was funded by wealthy donors and local seaman, who would have likely had little money. It could seat around 800 people and the church became an important part of the local community, trying to offer charity and guidance where it could.

    The church closed for religious services in 1968, but the building has remained and has now been converted into a nursery. There were hopes that a religious institution could continue to use the building, but it was finally sold in 1989. Anyway, this sign is one of the reminders of when the church was in operation, offering services throughout Sunday and offering a time when children could attend.

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 177

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 177

    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….

    Kissing Crust

    Sometimes Grose gets a bit obsessed with murder, crime and fornication, but with this definition it’s more playful, it’s “the part where the loaves have touched the oven”. There’s some debate, and there are probably more important things to talk about, about whether this is correct, as others have defined it as “the part where the loaves have touched each other”. This sort of makes a difference, at in Grose’s definition it would be a hard bit of bread, whereas with the second definition, it would be a soft piece of the bread.

    I don’t think I’ll over-worry about who is correct (although I’m not sure it’s Grose), but it’s a quite warming little term and a few bakeries around the world have used it as their name.

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Windsor Castle

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Windsor Castle

    This pub is listed in the Good Beer Guide and is named because when built it was possible to see Windsor Castle from here. It’s no longer possible to do that….. Anyway, it’s operated by Mitchells & Butlers and its foliage packed frontage is hard to miss.

    The interior is of historic interest and it’s a pub on the CAMRA list of nationally important historic interiors. The pub was busy when I visited and they were one of those locations where they had numerous empty tables for reservations later on, but didn’t allow customers to sit on them until those times. Everything seemed clean and organised at the pub and there’s usually a list of craft beers for customers to peruse. But not on my visit. The staff were friendly and efficient and there was a vibrant, but safe, feel to the environment. I went into the rear beer garden which was relatively sizeable for a city pub and, fortunately, nice and cool in terms of the temperature.

    There was nothing else particularly exciting when I visited, although some more interesting beers were marked as being on soon. Left with Timothy Taylor’s Landlord, which was adequate but unexciting, there was nothing else of note I could mention. Which is a shame, as I’ve noted they have sold beers from Moncada here before, my favourite of breweries. So, all rather average, but their beer selection is in usual times seemingly quite innovative. Given how busy the pub was, this seems like a popular community local though.

  • Hull – Hop and Vine (Second Visit)

    Hull – Hop and Vine (Second Visit)

    This was my second visit to the Hop and Vine in Hull, and it’s fair to say that my first visit last year impressed me. I can almost hear Nathan muttering about the bloody Hop and Vine given how many times I mention it, but it was my pub of the year for 2019. And Tony kindly did an interview for me a few weeks back.

    So, I went back with two other people and, to be honest, I wasn’t sure whether the engagement of my first visit could be repeated. Perhaps I was just fortunate the first time and it might all be a let-down. More on this later.

    This is what Richard ordered, a bottle of mead. It’s not something that I’d think to order, but he enjoyed it. I ordered a rather lovely dark beer, but, enough of that, let’s move briefly onto the food.

    The pork pies….

    And the cheese-board, for a bargain £5.

    I’m going to speed over the subject of food and drink, not because they were bad, indeed they were impeccable as ever. The choice of drinks was wide and carefully thought through, whether that was with the whiskies, the beers, the ciders or the gins. To me, the main part of this visit was seeing if the customer service was as good as I remembered it. And – it was.

    When we entered, and without the customers knowing who was coming in, someone moved to another table to make space for us. This is a very good start in any pub. But here, the customers were speaking to each other, whether they were locals or newcomers, and my plan to visit for an hour got ripped up as we stayed for over four hours. I’m not going to drone on about this pub again, it’s clear I think it’s the best pub I’ve been to in the country. It has community written all over it, it’s marvellous.

    All I’ll say is that I’ve no idea how a landlord can build up an atmosphere where customers feel welcome and, most importantly, they make other customers welcome as well. This pub in a cellar has an almost undefinable quality and only twice in the hundreds (probably thousands) of pubs I’ve been to have I experienced this level of engagement and both times it’s at this pub.

    This pub is as near perfection as I could want it to be. I will be back next year. And, to anyone visiting Hull, just pop in, I’m confident nearly everyone will be pleased that they did.

  • The Craft Beer Section of Fuller’s Web-Site

    The Craft Beer Section of Fuller’s Web-Site

    I make no comment about what displays on the craft beer section of Fuller’s web-site…..

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – The Union Tavern near Westbourne Park

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – The Union Tavern near Westbourne Park

    This is the Union Tavern, near to Westbourne Park underground station and it’s a Fuller’s pub which has embraced craft beer. I was perhaps unfortunate that I seemed to arrive at the only time during that part of the afternoon that a table outside wasn’t available (I nearly always avoid outside, but it was very humid), although I hadn’t booked and I didn’t return to the bar to see if I could move to be fair.

    The temperature inside was way too hot for me, so I made this visit relatively brief and didn’t sample as many beers as I would have done. Track and trace was in operation though, the staff member was polite and everything was clean and tidy.

    A well thought through selection of beers, by far and away the best I’ve seen at a Fuller’s pub. I also liked that they made the effort to print these sheets out for customers, they were very useful. I went for a Cambrian Root by Vibrant Forest Brewery and this was well-kept with a rich taste of chocolate. There’s a focus on beers from London, but there are some other options as well, and their web-site mentions occasional meet the brewer sessions.

    This is a really good canned beer list, with Siren Craft, Tiny Rebel and Brew York amongst the choices.

    That’s all I can write about the pub, it was potentially a joy, but the heat drove me away much quicker than I had anticipated. But, from all accounts, its position in the Good Beer Guide seems justified from what I saw with a welcoming vibe to it.

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – The Italian Job

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – The Italian Job

    I’ve never written a blog post like this.

    But, I walked out as I felt unsafe.

    I hope I never have to write another blog post like this again.

    Anyway, they are a company which has a few outlets, so I’ll try another one out of a sense of balance. And, as an update, I did, and it was much better. Which makes me feel much better about them, so all is well with the world again…

  • London – Westminster (Borough of) – Victoria (Paddington)

    London – Westminster (Borough of) – Victoria (Paddington)

    This is part of my continued meander around Good Beer Guide pubs and it’s located a relatively short walk away from Paddington railway station. It is named, as so many things are, after Queen Victoria and it might have opened on the same day as she was born. But this might be a myth, but it’s what CAMRA say might be true….

    The inside of the pub, which is listed on the CAMRA’s list of nationally important historic interiors. Much of what remains is mid-Victorian or inspired from the period, with the pub having avoided the modernisation that so many other locations have suffered from.

    The pub didn’t have any dark beer options, for which the staff member apologised and explained they weren’t busy enough to get the throughput that they’d need at the moment. So, I settled for half a pint of Fuller’s London Pride and some Mini Cheddars. The drink was as good a pint of London Pride as I’ve had, but it was just a little disappointing this was as exciting as it got.

    The service though was marvellous, engaging and helpful, with the staff being friendly and polite. It was clear that most of the customers were locals, but the pub still seemed to be offering a warm welcome to all. I think that the staff member who served me was actually the operator and if so, they’ve been here for over fifteen years. Fuller’s do perhaps need to take off their web-site though that this was their pub of the year in 2007 and 2009, there’s a limited amount that customers can do with that information given it is now ten years out of date.

    As an aside, CAMRA notes that Charles Dickens might have written some of his works here and, in 1966, David Bowie hosted a gig here. Certainly, an interesting pub and it justifies its place in the Good Beer Guide, but hopefully, they can return to a wider selection of drinks as things get busier again. The pub is well-reviewed (and the owner takes great care in responding to feedback which I like) and they were also taking trace and trace seriously, with everything seeming to be managed in a professional manner. All rather lovely and a comfortable location to have a drink or two.

  • London – Westminster (Borough of) – Brewdog Paddington

    London – Westminster (Borough of) – Brewdog Paddington

    I’m still working my way around Brewdogs in the UK, although, unfortunately, not quite as fast as I’d like. Anyway, this is their outlet in Paddington, a sizeable affair located by the Floating Pocket Park. There’s some work going on outside the front of the pub, but it is in there somewhere on this photo.

    This is probably a better photo, it’s what the Brewdog looks out onto.

    The beer list and I went for The Boogie Below, a milkshake IPA from New Bristol Brewery. They did have a very tempting imperial stout, the Brush from Omnipollo, but it was £8 for a third of a pint and I’m not as decadent as Nathan. Anyway, back to the drink I actually did have, it was suitably summery and refreshing with the pineapple and coconut being evident in the taste. A lingering aftertaste and at an appropriate chilled temperature, all rather lovely.

    This is a good idea, something that probably works alongside Deskdog, which is an area that people can get work done. I’m not sure how popular a designated separate area would be, as I like sitting in the main part of the pub, but it’ll be interesting to see how it evolves.

     

    And the interior is so on-trend it slightly hurts, but it’s still comfortable, welcoming and fun. The beer choices were excellent and there was a range of different styles, with the staff being knowledgeable as usual. This is rather a decent addition to the Brewdog chain, although it wasn’t particularly busy when I visited on a Tuesday lunchtime.

    The staff were friendly and engaging, with the track and trace requirements being met and everything was clean and organised. Brewdog took over here from Draft House, who still operate a few pubs across London, in early 2019. All told, a rather lovely visit.

  • London – Tower Hamlets (Borough of) – Museum of London Docklands

    London – Tower Hamlets (Borough of) – Museum of London Docklands

    After my trip to the Museum of London a couple of weeks ago, it reminded me that I hadn’t visited the Museum of London Docklands for eight years. Located near to Canary Wharf, it first opened in 2003 in former sugar warehouses and it’s an extensive collection that looks at the history of shipping and trade in London. It’s well put together and there’s plenty of material that is accessible to younger visitors, such as a recreation of a dockside scene.

    The museum ticketing process was all well managed and they didn’t have many people in the building at one time, I’m not sure whether by design or lack of demand. Like the Museum of London’s main location, they scan visitors in and out so that they know how many people are in the building. A visit here is likely to take a good ninety minutes or so, perhaps longer, with the museum being free of charge.

    The museum is very well-reviewed, they’ve only picked up three very poor reviews on TripAdvisor, which is some going. One of those was last week because someone came with a cabin bag and was confused they couldn’t get in, despite the museum making that clear in advance. Another person objected to being asked if they’d make a donation and the remaining negative reviewer complained that they spent thirty minutes in the cafe nearly to the last entry of the day and then were refused access to the galleries.

    Anyway, I digress. Here are some photos…..