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Tag: London

  • London – City of London – The Telegraph Pub

    London – City of London – The Telegraph Pub

    Firstly, thank you to Fuller’s for my free drink, which will of course influence everything else that I now write….. This is one of what I consider to be their upmarket pubs, located near to Moorgate and likely popular with city workers when there are any workers in the city…..

    The lighting wasn’t ideal for these photos, but a shot of the interior.

    And the bar area.

    My free drink was a pint of London Pride, which was entirely acceptable. I treated myself to the cheese and onion crisps, which seem to be sold throughout the Fuller’s estate, although I wish they’d stock Brannigans. Not that they can because Brannigans have been discontinued, which I find very annoying indeed. And I’ll try not to complain about this savage decision from KP Snacks too often.

    The pub is a bit tucked away and visitors to London are unlikely to just stumble upon it, unless they get a bit lost. It had around ten customers on Friday afternoon, none of whom were dining, but the food menu was available. This is quite an expensive pub for food and drink (unless you get a free pint) and I found it just a bit formulaic. Given the history of the area, it’s all a bit sterile for my liking. The building itself is though new, built in 2003, replacing the Butlers Head pub which was demolished in 2002. The staff were though friendly and helpful, so the welcome seemed authentic and genuine.

    Anyway, since this was rather a cheap visit for me, I can’t complain.

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Ibis Styles Kensington (Fifth Visit)

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Ibis Styles Kensington (Fifth Visit)

    If my blog had a higher readership then I probably wouldn’t post about this hotel, but it hasn’t, so I will. The reason is that this Ibis Styles is offering continually cheap prices, whereas their fellow Accor hotels are charging more again. It seems they’re keen to fill the hotel, whereas other hotels are trying to stabilise pricing, but I don’t know. Either way, this is what I think is my fifth visit to this hotel and I’m hoping that these lower prices continue.

    I booked a single room, but it was again upgraded to a double room. I’ve still yet to get the same room twice in my game of room bingo that no-one else is going to be interested in. The room isn’t overly large, but it’s clean and comfortable. The bathrooms in this hotel are generally small, but the rooms have been carved out of former residential properties which didn’t used to have shower facilities in every room and space is at a premium.

    The Tiger was the welcome drink I went for (I won’t tut again that the hotel could do more here), which isn’t high on my list of favourites, but it adds some variety to proceedings. There’s a rather more decadent kettle in this room than in the other ones….

    My room was on the third floor which offered some quite decent views, mainly of pigeons flying about.

    The basic breakfast is included and hasn’t much changed over recent weeks, it’s all acceptable given the low room rate. This sort of set-up is quite simple for guests and the hotel, it’s a fair compromise to the whole breakfast arrangement.

    Anyway, although I’ve written about this hotel before and can’t add much, it’s served me well over recent weeks. It’s a short walk from Earl’s Court underground station and is near to numerous shops and restaurants. There’s a 24-hour reception and a bar area which has a basic range of drinks, crisps, noodles and the like. And the staff here have always been friendly, so although I haven’t had any challenging problems for them, I suspect they’d be happy to resolve them.

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – National Army Museum (Note Written in Blood)

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – National Army Museum (Note Written in Blood)

    Well, this is cheery, a note written in 1810 by Joseph Fenwick in his own blood. The note reads “I am shot thro the body and arms – for God’s sake send me a surgeon, English if possible. If I do not recover God bless you all”. Unfortunately, Joseph died shortly afterwards.

    The note was written to Colonel Richard Blunt and this note was given to the National Army Museum by his grandson, Lieutenant-Colonel G E E Blunt. Fenwick had been wounded at Chamusca, in Portugal, whilst fighting for the 3rd Foot Regiment (the Buffs) in the Peninsular War.

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – National Army Museum (Wellington’s Despatch Case)

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – National Army Museum (Wellington’s Despatch Case)

    This is the despatch case that was used by the Duke of Wellington during the Peninsular War of 1808 until 1814 and at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The National Army Museum acquired it in 1973, but their web-site isn’t very good at providing the provenance of items or where they’ve been. The museum notes Wellington’s quote, when asked why he was so successful, of “I was always on the spot – I saw everything; and did everything for myself”.

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Antelope

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Antelope

    This pub was built in 1827 and was designed to be used by the servants who worked in the neighbouring large residential properties. Today, it’s operated by Fuller’s and is listed in the Good Beer Guide, so the latter reason meant that I felt the need for a quick visit.

    It’s quite an atmospheric pub, my photo is limited in scope here because there were people standing on the right-hand side who might not have wanted to be included. The welcome was prompt and polite, with the pub taking orders via the app, although table service did seem to be offered. I ordered via the app whilst sitting about a metre from the bar and I nearly reached across and got the drink before the staff member came to deliver it, but I thought that might break their system. There are some separate rooms, all traditionally decorated, with a cosy feel though.

    A sporting theme runs through the pub, although I’m not entirely sure why or for what reason in particular.

    Fuller’s pubs rarely offer me my desired dark beers of decadence, but the beers that they have seem to nearly always be well kept. This isn’t my normal beer style of choice, but the Gale’s Seafarers Ale was fine, quite a light and fruity flavour. The pub has a good reputation for food looking at the reviews and there were a few customers dining when I was there, although I limited myself to Mini Cheddars. For anyone visiting here, it’s probably also worth popping into the nearby Star Tavern as well.

  • London – City of Westminster – Star Tavern

    London – City of Westminster – Star Tavern

    I suspect most people have to come looking for this pub, it’s not one you’d easily stumble on, tucked away on Belgrave Mews. It’s in the heart of the diplomatic area of London, with the German and Austrian embassies being located over the road.

    The history is one of the selling points of the pub and although it has been serving customers since the Victorian period, it’s the 1950s and 1960s that perhaps are the most notorious. This period was when the pub was frequented with criminals and also many celebrities from the period, not least figures such as Princess Margaret, Diana Dors, Clement Freud, Elizabeth Taylor and Bing Crosby. It’s also where the Great Train Robbery was planned, in the room upstairs, and where corrupt police officers were known to hang out.

    The pub themselves have some history about the building and its characters on their web-site, I like it when an effort is made like this. The pub also haven’t glorified the crimes that took place, which caused substantial suffering to many, so it remains an intriguing part of the history.

    The main room downstairs, all rather comfortable and cosy. The welcome was friendly and the beer selection reasonable, mostly Fuller’s since it’s one of their pubs.

    The half pint of ESB and bacon crisps, reasonably priced for the location, and the beer was everything it should be in terms of the taste and temperature.

    I liked this pub, all laid-back and comfortable, with the clientele seemingly much more genteel than they perhaps once were. The pub is listed in the Good Beer Guide, but that might be an under-statement, it has been in every single issue which as of 2017 was an achievement just five pubs had managed. These are this pub, the Buckingham Arms in Westminster, the Square & Compass in Swanage, the Queen’s Head in Cambridge and the Roscoe Head in Liverpool. They received their 45th entry award in 2017 which was presented by the brilliant Roger Protz, so not long until they hit 50 years of entries in the guide. A remarkable achievement.

  • London – Reform Club Dress Code

    London – Reform Club Dress Code

    I’ll firstly note that I’m not trying to join or visit the Reform Club, I was just reading something that the formidable and brilliant Michael Palin had written about the club so was meandering through their web-site. I just liked how the club are clearly so appalled at the thought of hiking boots crossing their threshold that they’ve listed them twice in the prohibited list, alongside trainers and sports style footwear, as the thought of such depravity is clearly too much to bear. But, to be fair this is why I’ll never join a club like this, they wouldn’t have someone like me and that is probably for the best…..

  • London – Central London – Farringdon – Hoop and Grapes

    London – Central London – Farringdon – Hoop and Grapes

    I had a little visit here as it’s a pub in the Good Beer Guide that I haven’t visited before, a rare survival of an historic licensed premises which was nearly demolished in the 1990s. It’s fortunate that it has survived, it’s got some history as being a location for where Fleet marriages took place and it’s also built on a former burial ground.

    The welcome was a bit stilted with the staff member looking at me confused that I’d come into the pub. At a guess I’d say that anyone coming into a pub and standing by the entrance, where it says to wait, is probably a customer and might need assistance. Anyway, I was seated and when I asked what real ales they had and was told a list of their lagers, which isn’t quite the same thing.

    I went for a half a pint of Spitfire and it puzzled me, as the pub must surely have enough volume of this beer to ensure it doesn’t taste off, but this pint was only just on the right side of me sending it back. At the prices charged, I thought it should have been better, especially from a Shepherd Neame pub since it’s their beer.

    The rest of the service was much better and was from a different staff member (who I think was the licensee), so there was more engagement and interest in me as a customer. Not that I really needed any interest, but it made me feel more welcome. The pub was clean and organised, with a nice olde world charm. The pub was also following all of the rules, two multi-household groups came in and admitted they weren’t in the same household, with one asking the licensee to turn a blind eye. I’m not sure that’s a very fair thing for a customer to do, but the staff member apologised and turned them away.

    I liked the building and the service ultimately was fine, but I’m not sure that there was anything else of interest here beyond the history and heritage. But, it was a pleasant location for a drink and it was relatively busy during the early evening. The pub normally has a good reputation for food, but they’re offering a reduced menu at the moment, mostly curries and snacks. The downside was that it felt like a Greene King pub, but I won’t digress down that line of thinking….

  • London – Camden – British Museum (Beer for the Workers)

    London – Camden – British Museum (Beer for the Workers)

    This is rather sweet and is one of the oldest examples of writing to have been found. It dates from around 3300 to 3100BC and, even more excitingly, it’s a beer token issued by a temple for workers. It’s from Uruk in Mesopotamia and when this token was issued, the settlement was likely the largest urban area in the world. The drink the workers received was barley beer, although they weren’t fortunate enough to be able to express their views on it using Untappd.

  • London – Camden – Uplifting Message on Northington Street

    London – Camden – Uplifting Message on Northington Street

    Some central London positivity….