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  • London – Bear and Staff

    London – Bear and Staff

    I like Nicholson’s pubs, they have some intriguing historic buildings around the country and plenty of choices in London. I’m less impressed at their food, it’s often just average, but the beer is fine and I’ve signed up to their app. Which is why I visited if I’m being honest, I was given a free pint by Nicholson’s for my birthday and so I decided to use it here.

    Nicholson’s Pale Ale brewed by St. Austell brewery, it’s not what I usually order, but it was entirely acceptable and at the appropriate temperature.

    The service at the bar was way above average, engaging, polite and friendly. I couldn’t recognise the accent of the barman, perhaps Russian and perhaps Polish, but either way, he was welcoming and had sussed this customer service thing out.

    Bit of history from CAMRA:

    “First licensed in 1714 and called the Bear and Ragged Staff until 1835, this is a late Victorian (re-built in 1878) corner pub that was one of the smallest in the area until extended into an adjacent shop in 1997, giving it two distinct areas”

    The shop bit is at the rear of this photo and that extension must have been really appreciated by locals as there was otherwise very little seating available downstairs.

    Firstly, I don’t usually go around taking photos in toilets, that sort of thing is quite rightly frowned upon. But, I couldn’t help noting that this is a design flaw for anyone who comes out of one of the cubicles. A slightly generous push of the door will lead to an oblivious customer being shunted into the urinal, which I’d say isn’t an ideal situation for anyone involved in the proceedings.

    One TripAdvisor review interested me, which was:

    “We were not informed that our visit would have to be short when we asked if we could have a table in the beginning. The server kept making remarks that this is central London, and a lot of people would be waiting to go in for their dinner, but as far as I’m concerned, I’m as much of a customer as those people were”

    The pub has replied saying that table reservations are for one hour and this should have been explained. One hour? That is perhaps one of the tightest dining times that I’ve come across in a pub.

    And the review of overcooked beef amused me:

    “I went to the bar to ask for a replacment, i was told by a dour eastern european lady she would have the meat warmed. I assumed this was a joke as it was already overcooked.”

    Anyway, I liked this pub and apparently so did Charlie Chaplin, as he was a customer when performing in the nearby theatres. And, since my pint was free, I have nothing bad to say. Well, I do actually, the toilets really weren’t clean at all, to the point that they would have put me off ordering food. But the beer was fine, the service was engaging and the pub was historic, so all rather lovely. Other than the toilets.

  • London – Sutton Arms

    London – Sutton Arms

    This pub, chosen by Nathan on our meander to London Liverpool Street railway station, felt like what might be called a traditional London boozer, although that’s not a word that I frequently find the need to use. Carpeted, old-fashioned and entirely indifferent to modern design trends, it ensured that it maintained its authenticity. What the pub did offer was an excellent array of real ale, including a couple of dark beer options from Burnt Mill, a small brewery near to Stowmarket.

    Excuse my crude editing here, but the lady was sitting in front of the list of beers and I was keen to take a photo of them to remind me of what there was available. In terms of the welcome, this was authentic and unforced, with a warm atmosphere and an unhurried ambience which isn’t always achieved in London. The customers were varied in all manner of ways, primarily including what appeared to be a mix of locals and visitors which is often a positive sign.

    CAMRA helpfully have the background on this pub, noting that it’s a former Whitbread outlet which is now a freehouse, as well as mentioning that the name is from Thomas Sutton, who founded nearby Charterhouse many centuries ago. The pub is closed on weekends and although I’m sure there’s a good reason for this, I’m not sure what it is. Anyway, I can see why this is a CAMRA favourite, although not so much that it has reached the Good Beer Guide. All I can say to that is the standards in this area must be particularly high for a pub like this not to be included.

    The pub serves food, which seems to be of a decent quality from the reviews, but it hasn’t gone done the road of being a gastropub, a route which has been so heavily overdone. This meant that drinkers knew that they were welcome, the Sutton Arms remains as a pub which is all about the beer, which makes it all rather lovely.

  • London – Boris Johnson Cartoon

    London – Boris Johnson Cartoon

    Located on Hatton Wall in London, quite an interesting cartoon painted onto an otherwise uninteresting wall….

  • Norwich – Starbeer

    Norwich – Starbeer

    Just as another of my little asides, this is one of the best cask beers that I’ve had this year. Expensive, although ordering only in thirds as it’s so rich made it affordable, this has an almost unhealthy richness of liquid peanut butter and caramel. It felt stronger than its 8.5% with an almost treacle like feel to it, with the cask almost certainly tasting better than the bottled versions of this beer.

    A marvellous choice from the Artichoke in Norwich…

  • London – Moon Under Water (Leicester Square)

    London – Moon Under Water (Leicester Square)

    We had several hours to kill before getting a train back to Norwich, so it seemed a sensible idea to get unhealthy amounts of coffee to ensure a wide awake approach to the rest of the day. There were, after all, several more pubs to get to.

    The Moon Under Water, which is what George Orwell described a perfect pub as being, has been in this central West End location on Leicester Square since 1992. CAMRA mention that it was formerly a steak club and it’s also the first Wetherspoons which opened in the West End, so it’s done really well to last for thirty years. It’s a long and narrow pub and when we visited it wasn’t easy to find a seat, we got rather fortunate to get a table right near to the back.

    Wetherspoons themselves have some history of this pub, noting:

    “This famous square was laid out in 1670 by Lord Leicester. The first house on the site of this pub was occupied, in turn, by a Lord Chancellor, two princes and the famous Scottish surgeon John Hunter. ‘Hunter’s House’ was demolished in 1892 and replaced by the present building.”

    I found this particularly interesting, as John Hunter was heavily involved in body snatching, a surgeon who didn’t ask any questions about where his bodies came from. His house here on Leicester Square was once used as his personal museum and he had a connected property at the rear of this house which was used as a dissecting house. That property was located on Castle Street, which has since been renamed Charing Cross Road.

    A chicken wrap, chips and unlimited coffee was something like £6.59, which given the location really isn’t too bad. The chicken was a little light (I think they’d used one chicken strip instead of two, although I can’t say that I dwelled unnecessarily long over this), but it all tasted perfectly fine and was sufficient. The visit was more about the coffee than expecting any fine cuisine, although this is the first Wetherspoons I’ve seen with only one coffee machine, space is just very limited.

    The service was efficient and polite, plates collected promptly and the pub environment was all clean and tidy. I have visited here before on a few occasions, but they were several years ago and I had forgotten the theatre posters which line the corridors to the toilets.

    I had a little look at TripAdvisor to amuse myself, and there were some marvellous reviews, such as:

    “We ordered chips and they came literally after 2 secs completely cold!!!”

    I’d highly doubt it took “literally two seconds” if I’m being honest, but who knows….

    Anyway, for those visiting central London and wanting a cheap and affordable option, with real ale and craft beer, there are many worse….

  • Bonn – Namen und Steine

    Bonn – Namen und Steine

    I wasn’t quite sure as to the meaning of this installation as it looked like some random names mixed with celebrities, but it transpired that this is deliberate. It’s located next to the Haus der Geschichte and is a timeline of when people have died from AIDS and it’s part of a series of similar installations, all entitled Names and Stones, across Germany.

    The Freddie Mercury stone, with this installation having been created in 1994.

    Ralf Kuklinski, aged 26 years old at the time, wrote to the press on World AIDS day in 1992:

    “I’m tired of the fact that every year a few people try and promote understanding for people with HIV and AIDS, but hardly anyone cares. Anyway, except lip service, nothing comes – or say almost nothing. I tell you, 10 000 domestic dogs with an infectious disease and the nation would rage, the animals would not be saved from love.”

    I like these projects, they give a voice back to the people who might otherwise been forgotten when only the celebrities are remembered.

  • Bonn – Cafe Orange

    Bonn – Cafe Orange

    I’m not sure whether this cafe is on-trend or not, but it’s certainly quirky and is located in what appears to have been a residential unit at one stage. The ordering process, something I often get confused about, isn’t entirely logical, but there’s table service offered which keeps things simple. The service incidentally was attentive and friendly, the cafe had a welcoming feel.

    The cafe looks relatively small when entering, but there are two larger rooms at the rear. The counter has some sufficiently tempting options available, not least all that lovely chocolate.

    The atmosphere in the cafe was laid-back and I liked that there were some customers using laptops, some reading, some drawing and some meeting friends. All very much a home from home, which is what a traditional cafe should really be about.

    The cherry cheesecake, which was a little heavy, but had a pleasant taste to it. Due to some translation issues I ended up with a small freshly squeezed orange juice, but this was entirely lovely, albeit small. The prices for the food and drink were moderate, with the cafe being located near to the maths museum, Arithmeum.

    Bonn doesn’t have a widespread acceptance of credit and debit cards, but this cafe did accept cards and there were also plenty of power points around.

  • Bonn – Model Railway

    Bonn – Model Railway

    I don’t have any background on this, but what a lovely little set-up in a shopfront in the centre of Bonn. It was proving very popular with children, a little bit of Christmas magic…..

    And the control mechanism, I can imagine that the volunteers behind this get a lot of pleasure out of it as well.

  • Bonn – Martinsbrunnen

    Bonn – Martinsbrunnen

    This fountain celebrates St. Martin’s Day, where children would often collect geese for the celebration meal, which in itself was probably not the easiest of challenges…. The fountain, located outside Bonn Minster, was designed by Heinrich Götschmann and was installed here in 1902, with a restoration taking place in 1958.

    St. Martin’s Day is commonly celebrated throughout much of Europe, although less so in the UK, and takes place on 11 November each year, with parades of lanterns through many German cities. Although Remembrance Day is the primary event in the UK on that day, there are some historic traces of Martinmas, particularly in Scotland where it’s still used to describe term times in schools.

    I hadn’t realised that there’s apparently a fountain season in Bonn which runs from May to September, which explains the lack of water when we visited in December….

  • Bonn – Mean Average by Tony Cragg

    Bonn – Mean Average by Tony Cragg

    This installation by Sir Tony Cragg is located at Remigiusplatz and was unveiled in 2014. Cragg is a British sculptor, but he has lived in Germany for long periods, having being knighted in 2016 for not just his artworks, but also for improving Anglo-German relations.

    Apparently, the artwork is meant to highlight the “mediocrity of the economically orientated environment”, so its presence is a boost for the square in which it resides. It also has no correct angle for viewing, although I’d claim that the descriptive panel in front of the sculpture undermines that a little as, by necessity, it has created a front to the sculpture.

    I have no in-depth knowledge of sculpture, or indeed any knowledge of sculpture, but it’s an interesting piece of artwork from which I can derive little meaning at all.