Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: UK

  • London – The Harp

    London – The Harp

     

    This pub in Covent Garden is sufficiently notable to have its own Wikipedia page, primarily as it is one of the few pubs which has won national CAMRA pub of the year. Formerly the Welsh Harp, the premises have been licensed since at least the late eighteenth century, but became particularly well known when Binnie Walsh owned the premises. Fuller’s purchased the pub in 2014, but have sensibly stayed out of the way to ensure that the premises can be run in the style of a freehouse.

    The beer choice was extensive and well balanced, with a range of beer styles available. The service was prompt, efficient and unusually friendly for such a central and busy location. The pub was busy, but this seems to be a common issue, although such a well run pub charging reasonable prices is inevitably going to be a crowded one in a city such as this.

    Pump clips showing the range of beers which have previously been sold here.

    The interior decoration, where it can be seen through the hub of people, is quirky and different.

    There are nearly no negative TripAdvisor reviews, other than the usual ridiculous ones. This is a favourite:

    “Does not allow even one small sleeping infant. Didn’t want to forfeit space to paying clients even though the place was empty. Disappointing”

    It’s almost as though a busy pub with highly limited amounts of space is an ideal place for a small sleeping infant…..

    Another review seems more justified when complaining about a manager, with the pub’s reply being:

    “I’m sorry to hear this news but very interested by your comments and I believe I might know of whom out of the management team you are referring to. If I’m correct in my assumption, then you will be pleased to know that he is moving on to pastures new at the end of this week.”

    Certainly honest.

    And just to show how bloody useless TripAdvisor is as any sort of useful resource, here’s another of the few negative reviews for the pub:

    “Went with the family stopping by the harp on our way to Niagara Falls. The idea was to experience some Irish foods since this is our heritage. We were very disappointed with the food. Our group ordered fish & chips (very very greasy), meatloaf, Shepard pie- both of which had a very bland yet strange taste to them, a cheeseburger( completely bland and dried out”

    This review was meant to be for the Irish Harp pub at 245 King Street, Niagara-on-the-Lake in Canada. Easy mistake to make…..

    All in all, absolutely lovely, something entirely unexpected in the heart of Covent Garden. It is still winning awards, not just from the CAMRA, winning the 2019 Evening Standard London pub of the year. Inevitably given all of this, the pub is deservedly in the Good Beer Guide.

  • 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….

  • London – Greggs Stratford

    London – Greggs Stratford

    After we’d got off the Megabus from Norwich to London, there was one cultural highlight of London to visit, the Greggs at Stratford Westfield…..

    Cakes.

    And beautifully presented pastries.

    Greggs are giving free Walkers crisps to lots of people who have the Greggs App, which complemented my hot sausage roll beautifully. Friendly service and top quality products, what a quite marvellous way to start a weekend away…..

  • Norwich – Megabus to London

    Norwich – Megabus to London

    We needed to get to Heathrow cheaply and easily, but doing this in the morning is a challenging exercise to do cheaply on the trains. So, Megabus were the perfect option, costing around £7 per ticket to get from Norwich to Stratford in London. I’ve caught this bus many times and it’s a stress-free experience usually, with no need to print the tickets out, just showing the driver the e-mail order.

    Boarded first, so had a choice of the seats. Since there was no Donovan (excuse the Inbetweeners reference), we decided to sit at the back like some rebels….. It was a very smooth journey and Nathan’s alcoholic drinks the night before didn’t give him any sickness issues. We arrived into London safely at just before 10:00, having set off at 07:30, so the timing of the journey was good and as expected.

    The driving was professional, the bus was clean, the driver was professional and it was just a short walk to the Central Line at London Stratford underground station. All very lovely.

  • Norwich – Brewdog (Out of Office)

    Norwich – Brewdog (Out of Office)

    How marvellous, Brewdog nationally this week are running an “out of office” campaign, so anyone who comes to one of their pubs between 12:00 and 14:00 can claim a free pint of beer from a handful of choices. Quite marvellous. Technically, since I take my laptop and get so much work done in pubs, cafes and restaurants, I sort of ‘came to the office’ to take part in this promotion.

    But, nonetheless, a generous campaign and the pint of Punk IPA was all very acceptable.

  • Great Yarmouth – Community Garden

    Great Yarmouth – Community Garden

    I haven’t noticed this before, it’s a community garden which is located outside of Great Yarmouth’s library. Once this space was occupied by Rows 104 and 106, but they were destroyed by bombings during the Second World War and this area was remodelled. The hand-crafted totem pole is part of the community garden’s art project, designed alongside the sculptor Jason Parr and installed here in 2011.

    This is an interesting survival, it’s the former sign above the entrance to the Corn Hall on Howard Street, which opened in October 1871. The building was used by a corn merchants and a general sale room before it was demolished in the 1960s due to road widening.