These are two angels and their columns would have been used to place candles on. Apparently angels tended to be placed in pairs from medieval times, but I suppose that they don’t much want to be lonely. They date to around 1500 and were made in the Rhineland region, perhaps in Cologne itself.
The original location of the angels is lost to history, but they would have likely stood either side of an altar. They’re called Leuchterengels in German, the Leuchter means candle and is the same word origin as ‘light’ in English.
I think they’re well decorated without being overstated, it’s just a shame that the heritage of where they were once housed has now been lost.
Hmmm, I appear to have been so distracted with other pubs that during my visits to Reading, I’ve only briefly popped into the two JD Wetherspoon venues in the town. And this is one of the only two photos that I have of the Hope Tap which I would have taken for Untappd.
The chain say about the venue’s name:
“The site of this pub was once occupied by the Hope Brewery which had its own pub, The Hope Tap. According to the earliest trade directory, 103–104 Friar Street were occupied by the brewery, but by 1860 the brewery had gone.”
This map is from around 1900 and the Hope Tap is located just below the BM, with that inner courtyard now being part of the pub.
I mentioned I had another photo and it is from my visit in September 2025. The two photos are nearly four years apart but are both of the same beer, the Titanic Plum Porter, which was just £2.28 a pint on my recent visit.
Anyway, onto the reviews to amuse me, which are around average for the chain.
“A nine year association with this once good pub is at an end. I have used £sterling over the nine years and a mix of English and Scottish bank notes without question. Tonight I handed over a Scottish £20 note, to have it returned with a stern warning, “although it states Sterling, we do not accept Scottish Bank Notes”, is this racism, it felt like it, I was person non grata. I politely refused to hand over Sterling in an acceptable format. Thank you, Hope Tap for the humiliation.”
Racism because they have stopped accepting Scottish £20s in their English and Welsh pubs because of the amount of fraudulent notes in circulation?
“Ordered food 10.59pm, kitchen closes at 11. Come to my work at 4.59 and we’ll honour that by allowing your vehicle into our workshop for whatever repair/maintenance required. Hope tap didn’t allow us to get our food, a man just came to our table and refused to make us the food ordered, and didn’t answer why, he just smiled and laughed. Pretty poor customer service. Use to love this place. Now I’ll just go hungry, or even better, pop to McDonald’s for a cheese burger, as they’ll always accept money for food no matter what time, or however late from closing time.”
This reminds me that for a while they had a situation where some JD Wetherspoon pubs took food orders until 23:00 and also closed at 23:00 which felt like a sub-optimal arrangement. I personally wouldn’t dare order on the app at 22:59, but each to their own.
“Ordered a Doom Bar and an IPA via the App, arrived at the table, and the kid said, “I don’t know which is which”, then turned to leave. I asked if he could take them back and re-pour them to know for sure, and he proceeded to return to the bar with them, wait 30 seconds at the end of the bar, then return with the same drinks pretending to know. I took them up to the bar, and after explaining to 2 highly confused staff, finally a bad tempered ‘manager’ came in and reluctantly proceeded to pour new drinks with quite an attitude. Par for the course, I guess.”
I’ve had this and it’s not ideal, but I’m not sure I’d send them back as that would admit that I couldn’t tell the difference by taste. But, once again, each to their own. The attitude is understandable in my view….
“i was out for the night with some girls on holiday from Denmark. when we got our drinks, we clinked our drinks together and said woohoo. the short bouncer was very aggressive and kicked us out without finishing, saying we were too loud”
Good, there’s too much frivolity in pubs.
“Organised trip to meet family on basis of Google including it as accepting dogs, but it didn’t.”
How is that the pub’s fault?
Anyway, enough of this excitement. They’ve usually got six real ales on and the prices are about the brand average, although that’s all towards the lower end of the scale.
I’ve rarely lingered for long in here, it can get really quite busy and I prefer the vibe at Siren’s taproom over the road and there are a fair few interesting Good Beer Guide pubs around as well. But, I’ll likely pop back at some point and I might remember to take a couple of photos to surprise and delight my two loyal readers.
Julius Stafford-Baker (1904-1988) painted this view of the Eden Hotel in Berlin on 20 July 1945. He was particularly drawn to ruined Germany, which in artistic terms was understandable and I suppose there’s optimism that can come from the chaos. Although it was painted only weeks after the war in Europe ended, it belongs to that slightly odd period when the fighting had stopped but the consequences were still sitting in full view, impossible to tidy up with slogans.
The Eden Hotel itself had once been one of Berlin’s grand establishments, it was built in 1912 and it was situated on the Kurfürstendamm before it was destroyed in the war. It had become infamous in 1919 as it’s where the military who killed Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg were based, and the executions took place outside the hotel.
Stafford-Baker, eldest son of the illustrator, Julius Stafford-Baker (1869-1961), worked for the RAF Public Relations Directorate and he remained working as an illustrator after the war.
This is a family photo album from the 1930s and the museum uses it as an example of how people were manipulated by the Nazi regime. The text here talks about “the creator of Greater Germany” and the photo is of a “triumphal drive through old Cologne”. I don’t know if the creator of the album survived the Second World War, but I wonder whether they thought it was all such a good idea with millions dead, German’s size reduced by 25% and Cologne left in ruins.
This particular visit appears to be from when Hitler visited Cologne on 30 March 1938. He toured the city in his car and then gave a speech to 60,000 people at the Cologne Exhibition Hall. The museum doesn’t give more information about the album but it appears to be on loan from the city’s NS-Documentation Centre.
I went by the former Norwich Brewdog last night for the first time since it closed and all the signage was removed. It’s a little strange how a building can change its look so quickly, it now gives the impression of being an office building.
I imagine it’ll get let out again by the landlord relatively quickly, it’s a substantial amount of space that has gone through numerous different names over the years. CAMRA notes that it has been known as Hideout, Knowhere, Noir, Indulge, Hogshead, City Ale & Wine Bar, Gundry Whites Cafe Bar, Drummonds and Whites over recent years.
This is a quirky little exhibit in the Kölnisches Stadtmuseum which is effectively just a bit of the frontage of the former Underground club in Cologne. I mentioned that it was a brick in the title of this post, although it feels more of a clump. The museum notes that the Ehrenfeld district used to be an industrial area which wasn’t particularly well-off, although looking at Streetview images, it seems to have been gentrified a fair bit now.
Underground opened in 1988 and became an important part of the local rock scene, with the graffiti on the front changing regularly. As I doubt they had a focus on craft beer I can’t imagine I would have ever gone there, but I like things that are a bit edgy and on-trend.
The building was demolished in 2017 and the site is now used for a school. But it’s rather nice to know that one little clump of that frontage is safely placed in the museum as a memory of the whole arrangement.
As I was looking something else up, I found this list of JD Wetherspoon pubs from 1994. Different times and all that….
The Bankers Draft — 80 High Street, Eltham, London SE9 The Bankers Draft — 36-38 Friern Barnet Road, Southgate, N11 The Barking Dog — 61 Station Parade, Barking, Essex The Beaten Docket — 50-56 Cricklewood Broadway, London NW2 The Beehive — 407-409 Brixton Road, London SW9 The Bird In Hand — 35 Dartmouth Road, Forest Hill, London SE23 The Blacking Bottle — 122-126 High Street, Edgware, Middlesex The Camdens Head — 456 Bethnal Green Road, London E2 The Coliseum — Manor Park Road, Harlesden, London NW10 The Crown & Sceptre — 2a Streatham Hill, London SW2 The Dog — 17-19 Archway Road, London N19 The Drum — 557-559 Lea Bridge Road, London E10 The Elbow Room — 503-505 High Road, Tottenham, London N17 The Elbow Room — 22 Topsfield Parade, Tottenham Lane, London N8 The Foxley Hatch — 8-9 Russell Hill Road, Purley, Surrey The Fox on the Hill — 149 Denmark Hill, London SE5 The Gate House — 1 North Hill, Highgate, London N6 The George — 17-21 George Street, Croydon, Surrey The George — High Street, Wanstead, London E11 The Golden Grove — 146-148 The Grove, Stratford, London E15 The Good Yarn — 132 High Street, Uxbridge, Middlesex The Great Spoon of Ilford — 114-116 Cranbrook Road, Ilford, Essex The Grid Inn — 22 Replingham Road, Southfields, London SW18 The Half Moon — 749 Green Lanes, Winchmore Hill, London N21 The Hamilton Hall — Liverpool Street Station, London EC2 The Hart & Spool — 148 Shenley Road, Borehamwood, Herts The Harvest Moon — 141-143 High Street, Orpington, Kent JJ Moons — 3 Shaftesbury Parade, Shaftesbury Circle, South Harrow, Middlesex JJ Moons — 56a High Street, Tooting, London SW17 JJ Moons — 12 Victoria Road, Ruislip Manor, Middlesex JJ Moons — 397 High Road, Wembley, Middlesex JJ Moons — 553 Kingsbury Road, London NW9 JJ Moons — Departure Lounge, Terminal 4, Heathrow Airport JJ Moons — 80-82 Chiswick High Road, London W4 JJ Moons — 19-20 The Broadwalk, Pinner Road, North Harrow, Middlesex JJ Moons — 46-62 High Street, Hornchurch, Essex The Lamb — 52-54 Church Street, Edmonton, London N9 The Last Post — 227 High Road, Loughton, Essex The Lord Denman — 270-272 Heathway, Dagenham, Essex The Lord Moon of the Mall — 16-18 Whitehall, London SW1 The Man in the Moon — 40-42 Chalk Farm Road, London NW1 The Man in the Moon — 1 Buckingham Parade, Stanmore, Middlesex The Masque Haunt — Old Street, London EC2 The Moon & Stars — 99-103 South Street, Romford, Essex The Millers Well — 419-421 Barking Road, East Ham, London E6 The Moon on the Green — 172-174 Uxbridge Road, Shepherds Bush, London W12 The Moon on the Hill — 373-375 Station Road, Harrow, Middlesex The Moon on the Hill — 5-9 Hill Road, Sutton, Surrey The Moon & Sixpence — 250 Uxbridge Road, Hatch End, Middlesex The Moon & Sixpence — 1250-1256 Uxbridge Road, Hayes End, Middlesex The Moon & Sixpence — 185 Wardour Street, London W1 The Moon & Stars — 164 High Street, Penge, London SE20 The Moon on the Square — 30 The Centre, Feltham, Middlesex The Moon Under Water — 84-86 Staines Road, Hounslow, Middlesex The Moon Under Water — 148 High Street, Barnet, Herts The Moon Under Water — 10 Varley Parade, Colindale, London NW9 The Moon Under Water — 53-57 London Road, Twickenham, Middlesex The Moon Under Water — 115-117 Chase Side, Enfield, Middlesex The Moon Under Water — 10-11 Broadway Parade, Coldharbour Lane, Hayes, Middlesex The Moon Under Water — 28 Leicester Square, London WC2 The Moon Under Water — 1327 London Road, Norbury, London SW16 The Moon Under Water — 194 Balham High Street, London SW12 The Moon Under Water — 44 High Street, Watford, Herts The New Fairlop Oak — Fencepiece Road, Barkingside, Essex The New Moon — 25-26 Kenton Park Parade, Kenton Road, Harrow, Middlesex The New Moon — 413 Lordship Lane, London N17 The Old Suffolk Punch — 10-12 Grand Parade, Green Lanes, London N4 The Outside Inn — 312-314 Neasden Lane, London NW10 The Paper Moon — 55 High Street, Dartford, Kent The Railway — 202 Upper Richmond Road, Putney, London SW15 The Railway Bell — 13 East Barnet Road, New Barnet, Herts The Red Lion & Pineapple — 281 High Street, Acton, London W3 The Regent — 19 Church Street, Walton On Thames, Surrey The Rochester Castle — 145 High Street, Stoke Newington, London N16 The Sarsen Stone — 32 High Street, Wealdstone, Middlesex The Sovereign of the Seas — 109-111 Queensway, Petts Wood, Kent The Spotted Dog — 72 Garratt Lane, Arndale Centre, Wandsworth, London SW18 The Sylvan Moon — 27 Green Lane, Northwood, Hillingdon, Middlesex The Tally Ho — 749 High Road, North Finchley, London N12 The Tollgate — 26-30 Turnpike Lane, London N8 The Three Horseshoes — 28 Heath Street, Hampstead, London NW3 The Tigers Head — 350 Bromley Road, Catford, London SE6 179 Upper Street — 179 Upper Street, Islington, London N1 The Village Inn — 402-408 Rayners Lane, Pinner, Middlesex Wetherspoons — Victoria Station, London SW1 Wetherspoons — Landside, Terminal 4, Heathrow Airport Wetherspoons — 33 Aberconway Road, Morden, Surrey Wetherspoons — 552-556 London Road, North Cheam, Surrey The Whispering Moon — 25 Ross Parade, Woodcote Road, Wallington, Surrey The White Lion of Mortimer — 125-127 Stroud Green Road, London N4 The White Lion of Mortimer — 1-3 York Parade, West Hendon Broadway, London NW9 The White Lion of Mortimer — 223 London Road, Mitcham, Surrey The Whole Hog — 430-434 Green Lanes, Palmers Green, London N13 The Wrong ’Un — 234-236 The Broadway, Bexleyheath, Kent The Square Peg — 115 Corporation Street, Temple Court, Birmingham The Moon in the Square — 4-8 Exeter Road, Bournemouth, Dorset The Old Manor — Grenville Place, Church Road, Bracknell, Berkshire The Red Lion — Departure Lounge, North Terminal, Gatwick Airport The Falcon — 9 Cornmarket, High Wycombe, Bucks The Elms — London Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex The Moon Under Water — 68-74 Deansgate, Manchester The Bell — 5 Orford Hill, Norwich, Norfolk The Berkeley — 18-19 Queen’s Road, Clifton, Bristol, Avon The Commercial Rooms — 43-45 Corn Street, Bristol, Avon The Moon & Spoon — 86 High Street, Slough, Middlesex The Last Post — Weston Road, Southend, Essex The Golden Cross Hotel — 20 High Street, Bromsgrove, Hereford and Worcester Wetherspoons — 93-97 Lord Street, Southport, Merseyside The Last Post — 77 The Broadway, Chesham, Bucks Wetherspoons — 78-92 Foregate Street, Chester, Cheshire The Playhouse — 4 St. Johns Street, Colchester, Essex The Monk’s Retreat — 163 Friar Street, Reading, Berkshire Wetherspoons — 51-57 Chertsey Road, Woking, Surrey The Moon Under Water — 53-55 Lichfield Street, Wolverhampton, West Midlands
I’ve visited the Moon and Spoon in Slough a couple of times, but I have entirely failed to take any useful photos of it. So here’s a photo with the word Slough on it, which I accept is slightly sub-optimal. The pub is one of the older ones in the JD Wetherspoon estate, it’s included in their 1992 list of pubs, so it likely opened in the late 1980s.
Using the chain’s history of the venue, they note:
“The author George Orwell described his ideal pub in a newspaper article and called it ‘Moon Under Water’. It is why ‘moon’ is used in the name of several Wetherspoon pubs. This pub stands on the site of the Black Boy Inn. First recorded in 1679, it was demolished in 1910 and replaced by the Fulbrook Motor Works. Later known as Fulbrook House, it was home to Slough’s first supermarket and then the Halifax Building Society.”
This was evidently a very different Slough, it’s a little difficult to picture it being a quaint town some way from London. It’s now rather more urban and vibrant shall we say.
This is the only photo that I took inside the pub, as obviously I didn’t want to neglect Untappd. For reference, as if anyone could possibly care, this is the Diablo from Mad Squirrel Brewery which was £1 for a half and was an interesting beer with a bit of lemon in the flavour.
The venue is one of the older style JD Wetherspoon outlets, quite a dark design and not overly large, but the team members were all friendly and welcoming. The online reviews are positive and towards the high end of the scale for the chain, but I like looking at some of the angry ones.
“Visiting home town Slough and was feeling merry and having a laugh with family as walking in Place looked like it needed some life and colour. Got refused a drink because we were having a laugh.”
I’m with the pub, I doubt that it did need life and colour.
“Went with my son for a drink.. ordered Stella by App.. all good, second Stella ordered by app came in non Stella glass. Tasted awful after a few sips. (due to the glass)…”
I mean, yes, Stella would say that their beer tastes better in their own branded glass. In reality, I would doubt anyone would be able to taste the difference, but the claim that the beer somehow tastes awful is something that the pub should ignore. And they did, they refused a replacement.
“Worst visit I have ever had in a Wetherspoons. Served by a girl with an IQ of about 5, three times had to point at Windsor Knot that I ordered, then served the beer that was at least 10% short of a full pint.”
Perhaps she was nervous that it would be a customer that would bully her and post all over Google abuse about her.
“Alcoholic drinks that you pay, they will bring them to the table. Free tap water, you need to get up and get it yourself. I believe they missed the point of why tap water is free in England on any establishment selling alcohol.”
I’m not sure there’s a law which requires tap water to be brought to the table by a team member because a customer doesn’t want to get it themselves….
“If you like going to the library the go its so quiet this pub”
Good.
Anyway, that’s enough review distraction and I note that at the moment the venue offers six different real ales, including from breweries including Mauldons, Hanlons and Peerless.
The pricing here is towards the lower end of the JD Wetherspoon scale, which is already pretty cheap. There’s more of a vibrant atmosphere here than in the newer and usually larger venues that they operate, but it’s all reliable enough and it’s been here long enough now.
I’m not usually much interested in vestments, in the same way as weapons, ceramics and silverware never really attract my attention in museums. But this one had an interesting story, and I can’t resist something with a bit of an intriguing history.
The cope, which is namely a ceremonial cloak, was made in England in the early sixteenth century. It was designed to be made for export and it’s quite a glamorous little effort which was initially destined for the Carthusian order near Grenoble. And it would have stayed there if it wasn’t for the Napoleonic troops that were storming across France closing down monasteries and seizing their possessions.
The last prior of the monastery in Grenoble evidently wasn’t entirely convinced about this end of Catholicism so he fled and took this cloak with him. His destination was Dorsten in Westphalia and the cope remained at St. Agatha’s Church in the town until 1910, when it was acquired by the museum. I can sort of imagine this being packed up by an angry French prior who was probably very happy where he was without all this moving hassle.
I quite like that this is an English cope, designed to be used in a French monastery but which ended up in a German church for various political reasons. And the museum seems very proud of this exhibit which depicts the Virgin Mary in the centre surrounded by the trappings of angels and bells. Very decadent.
We normally do 2Js to pubs and licensed venues which we feel might surprise and delight us, but this visit was to the local Government hustings being held at Norwich Playhouse.
The debate was introduced by Stephen Crocker, the Chief Executive of Norwich Theatre, and moderated by the editor of the EDP, Richard Porritt (on far left, although I don’t mean that in a political sense). Then we have Steve Morphew (Labour), Nick Taylor (Reform UK), Jan Davis (Green), James Wright (Liberal Democrats) and Andrew Jamieson (Conservative).
There was perhaps one error here from the organisers which is that they ended up with five male middle-aged candidates, which is great, but it didn’t feel very representative. Although the organisers said that they just asked every party to field a representative, there should have perhaps been some more joined up thinking here. James Wright mentioned that as soon as the situation was apparent he made efforts to find a different representative, but it seems they weren’t given enough notice. The issue was brought up by a member of the audience, and Richard Porritt was asked why he had selected two men to ask the first two questions from the audience.
The tickets were free of charge and the venue was around two thirds full. The audience seemed quite well balanced in terms of age, gender and political views, with no one group dominating the arrangement.
Julian had got us tickets on the balcony, which I didn’t even realise existed, and this gentleman was selected to ask a question. The set-up was that every candidate got ninety seconds to introduce themselves, then there were questions from the audience and then every candidate got some time to sum up why people should vote for their party.
Jan Davis.
James Wright.
Andrew Jamieson.
Nick Taylor.
Steve Morphew.
I won’t go into my political thoughts about the candidates as I think it was really useful that they all turned up for a debate such as this. There were interesting questions on the environment, local Government reform, younger people in politics, policing, public transport, care homes, well-being and culture.
One of the candidates seemed a little inexperienced when he bit back at the audience in a way that felt inappropriate, that was perhaps the only low point of the debate. Otherwise the debate was always polite and well mannered, although I always prefer just a little drama. There was a considerable amount of experience from the individuals being questioned and an evident passion for their local communities.
Anyway, this was an enjoyable ninety minutes or so and credit to the organisers for using their space in this manner to further the democratic process. As Stephen Crocker said at the end, the main thing is though to vote.
