Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: London

London – Lewisham (Borough of) – Brockley Barge Pub

I haven’t visited the Brockley Barge recently, this is just something of a tidying up exercise to write a few riveting words about a pub that I’ve been to which is in the Good Beer Guide. It’s a JD Wetherspoon operated venue and they’ve been listed in the Good Beer Guide for several years now. The Wetherspoon history of the pub is quite brief, namely:

“The name of this pub recalls the barges which plied their trade on the Croydon Canal. Opened in 1809, the canal was replaced (in 1836) by the railway line, which was laid largely along the same course.”

A large chicken jalfrezi and I have to note that I’ve only got a few photos here, so excuse the lack of interior shots of the pub. The venue has been operated by JD Wetherspoons since 2000, it was the Breakspear Arms before that which had first opened as a licensed premises in 1868. It closed in 1994 after some turbulent years and was left with an uncertain future for six years until JD Wetherspoons reopened it.

As I have a lack of interior photos, here’s some fish and chips I had in the pub a few years back. The pub has always been busy when I’ve visited before, it’s not that substantial in terms of its size and it is clearly a popular venue within the local community. Incidentally, if I revisit I’ll actually take photos of the interior, rather than having to rely on old photos of food which I accept have rather limited excitement to my large readership of two people.

The reviews for the pub are generally positive but I had a little look through to see what excitement was going on.

“My friend who is heavily pregnant was in urgent need of the toilet. We knocked on the door a couple on minutes after closing to which they heard of her pregnancy and walked away. The manager then came and shouted at us through the window, as I told her by the law an establishment should let a pregnant woman in to use the toilet”.

I’m fairly sure it was never in the licensing rules for the pubs that I had which said it was the law to open up a closed pub to a pregnant customer to use the toilets…… Mind you, there’s a myth that pregnant women have the legal right to urinate in a policeman’s helmet on request, another falsehood that amazingly persists.

“They didn’t answer the phone when I called to wish them happy new year”

Hmmmmm. That’s as exciting as the reviews get to be fair…..

At the time of writing the pub is offering six real ales, priced between £1.71 and £2.78 per pint, including Sambrook’s Wandle Ale and Sambrook’s Nightshift Mild. A pub with a mild can’t be a bad thing. Although it’s important to mention micropubs and other independently run pubs, it seems to me a real positive that this venue has been saved by JD Wetherspoons as there would otherwise have been a realistic possibility that it would have become another outlet of Tesco Express.

April 30, 2023
London – Waltham Forest (Borough of) – Signature Brew

Fourth and final on my list of bars I visited on the Blackhorse Beer Mile, because I needed to get back for my train, was Signature Brew. I only had time for one beer here and it was also the busiest of the venues that I visited on my Thursday evening peregrination.

The outside of the large complex that they’ve got going on here. It had started to rain but the outside area looks decent for when the weather is more agreeable. I write things like this, but I’m very much an indoor person, I don’t like sitting outside with cigarette smoke and bees.

The menu board.

I went for the Black Vinyl Stout from the brewery, a reliable dry stout along with my suitably paired crisps. I put a lot of thought into selecting the most appropriate crisps, although ideally they would have had Hula Hoops or Wotsits here.

The set-up here felt more commercial than the other taprooms, but I’m not sure that’s a negative, it’s a bigger venue and a larger outfit.

My friend Nathan, who is like a peripatetic and travel obsessed Alan Whicker, has been here and recommended this lunch deal. I had already eaten and was too late anyway, but this seems very acceptable to me for anyone who is around the area at the appropriate time.

My visit here was relatively brief due to timing issues, relating to a late arriving train in London caused by the theft of cabling in London, but I’ll come back and spend longer here. The environment was inviting, the staff were friendly and the choice of beers looked intriguing. I feel the need to come for the lunch deal, perhaps next time I’ll go from south to north on the beer route, rather than the north to south option I took. It all meant that I didn’t have time to have a drink in Big Penny Social, but next time!

April 29, 2023
London – Waltham Forest (Borough of) – Exale Brewing and Taproom

Exale Brewing’s taproom was the third location that I visited on my little tour of the Blackhorse Beer Mile. Open on Thursdays to Sundays, this was one of the breweries that I was looking forwards to visiting as I’ve numerous of their beers over recent years. They brew the Krankie Iron Brew Sour which I liked the sound of, but it wasn’t quite as rich and innovative as I had hoped.

Customers walk through this area to get to the taproom, I think it’s quite exciting to feel part of the whole brewery process. I very much enjoy the Bermondsey Beer Mile, but it no longer feels quite as authentic as it once did, whereas the Blackhorse Beer Mile really was surprising and delighting me.

There’s the beer menu and it looked suitably tempting to me.

The taproom area with its mezzanine level and my bag on the left enjoying its latest trip out. How that hasn’t fallen apart I don’t quite know.

I asked if they served in thirds and the helpful team member explained that they didn’t, but she then suggested that I could have a flight and this was seemed a perfect solution and was reasonably priced. When serving flights, I’m always pleased when they make clear which beer is which and they were written clearly on the little card. The Monster Munch was so delicious that I went back for another pack, I was very pleased with those.

The Bossa was my favourite of the four, a blueberry sour which was rich and smooth. It apparently also had lychees in its, but I couldn’t remember what they tasted like, and I was already content with the blueberry sour and it reminded me of the free blueberry juices handed out on Finnair flights. But nicer of course because it had an alcoholic edge to it.

The Oona was also though also delightful, a hazy and hoppy NEIPA.

Some of the brewing equipment.

It does add somewhat to the drinking experience when sitting in front of the brewery’s tanks.

There is a food option available and it’s supplied by the nearby Lacy Nook restaurant.

This was the third delightful visit in a row, an inevitably on-trend, authentic and exciting taproom where the service was friendly, the beers were suitably decadent and I had a rather lovely time if truth be told. I imagine I’ll be back to all of the bars along here and this is certainly no exception to that plan.

April 29, 2023
London – Waltham Forest (Borough of) – Beerblefish Brewing Co

There’s an element of this looking like something that I’ve arranged, a paper sign and a couple of tables outside with a variety of different looking chairs. But, it feels more authentic like this, I don’t need polished, I like seeing breweries just trying to make customers feel welcome in their taproom. This was the second venue that I visited on the Blackhorse Beer Mile, after having gone to the Hackney Brewery taproom.

A pleasant taproom with numerous benched seating and not that busy on the early Thursday evening that I visited, so plenty of space.

I was going to have half of each of the keg options, but their melon lager wasn’t behaving so I switched that out for half of the 1820 Heritage Porter.

There’s the Organic Hazy Pale which was OK, some citrus taste coming through but not much more exotic than that. The crisps are from Two Farmers, I went for the Hereford Bullshot and I decided that these complemented the beer nicely. To be fair, I rarely find that crisps don’t complement the beer I’ve ordered, they’re a very reliable foodstuff.

The 1820 Porter which had a traditional feel to it, nice roasted taste to it with flavours of chocolate and coffee, very drinkable.

I haven’t heard of the Toilet Twinning project before, but it certainly seems to be a worthwhile concept.

Some venues perhaps overthink toilet accessibility, this sort of arrangement seems to be a practical one.

I liked the whole arrangement here, although it was quite rustic in its set-up. The taproom is open from Thursdays to Sundays and although they don’t do food, they do have an agreement with Yard Sale Pizza who deliver here for free. There’s a community feel to the taproom and it’s smaller scale than some of the other venues on the Blackhorse Beer Mile. I’d merrily come back here again, very decent, with the service being friendly and efficient.

April 29, 2023
London – Waltham Forest (Borough of) – Hackney Brewery & High Hill Taproom

I feel that I’ve mostly completed the Bermondsey Beer Mile, so it seemed an appropriate time to start work on the Blackhorse Beer Mile in North London. I arrived at the northern end of the run just as the Hackney Brewery & High Hill Taproom was opening and I was suitably surprised and delighted to see that they have some very generous prices on Thursdays of £3.50 per pint.

There was a friendly welcome and the helpful server told me that the first seven beers on this menu were part of the core range which were £3.50. So I started on some of those as that seemed the most polite thing to do.

Here’s the full beer list and I noted the Lervig Original Sin, I had a version of that (the Quebecois Maple Barrel) in Oslo and it was quite beautiful. But today was a day for concentrating on the Hackney Brewery beers and there were no shortage of tempting options here.

The brewery set-up.

The Millions of Peaches which had a whole load of peach taste in this beer as the name suggests, but there’s a complementing aftertaste of basil which works well. This was my favourite of the several beers that I tried here.

Although this Billions of Cherries wasn’t far behind it, a very decent sour which didn’t disappoint on the cherry flavours. They were just setting out the tables in the brewery area when I arrived, but there’s a large enclosed area in which I was sitting where the main bar was located. I noticed, but didn’t acquire, plenty of crisps as well for those who fancied some food. On Fridays and Saturdays they have Oli Babas serving Middle Eastern food, it’s quite a small food menu, but wraps, fries and olives with a beer sounds pleasant to me.

This is a genuinely agreeable set-up, the service was personable, the atmosphere was laid-back and comfortable, with the surroundings being informal. The servers had a strong knowledge of the beers, which isn’t surprising but it’s always a relief, with the helpful staff member ensuring there was a power point I could charge my depleting phone battery at. I felt welcome, the prices on Thursdays are remarkably cheap for the quality and I shall be coming here again and I am unanimous in that.

April 28, 2023
London – City of London – London Liverpool Street Proposed Upgrade

There seems to have been some opposition to the proposed upgrade of London Liverpool Street railway station, but for what it’s worth (which I accept isn’t a great deal), I’m in favour of the whole thing. There’s a little exhibition area at the railway station, along with some external posters explaining the reasoning for the project, although I fear that it’ll all be in vain as there appears to be organised opposition against it, not least from the Victorian Society.

The concourse design dates primarily to the 1980s upgrade which was modern and vibrant when it was completed, but the whole railway station is now struggling with passenger numbers. The toilets aren’t large enough, there’s insufficient seating, there are no power points for passengers and the disability access is terrible (as I’ve experienced with trying to manoeuvre a wheelchair around the concourse). It’s over-crowded, cluttered and I think needs modernising and extending.

This all looks quite creative to me, the historical elements that I want preserving do remain in place. Over-shadowed perhaps, but they’re kept.

I accept that it’s not necessarily the most inspiring of building designs and it will obscure some exterior views of the railway station, but functionality seems to be more important to me. And since the floors placed on top of the building will be profitable for the developers, that means no cost to the rail passenger or taxpayer.

I’m less convinced about the need for this, but I suppose it’s a useful amenity.

We’ll just have to see what the planners and ultimately Sadiq Khan think about the whole arrangement, but as I’ve mentioned, I think it’s overall a positive addition to the railway station. The Victorians hacked about with their stations all the time, expanding and improving them. Although perhaps the developers could also fund the restoration of Brandon railway station which is currently falling down since Greater Anglia have ignored it (or tried to demolish it). Maybe they could put a swimming pool, or lido, on top of that as well.

For anyone interested, the plans are at https://www.upgradelss.com/.

April 26, 2023
London – Wandsworth (Borough of) – Battersea Brewery

The rain was pouring down in south west London and so I thought that the best thing I could do was to find a brewery to rush into in order to keep dry. It’s important not to panic during such occasions and this brewery is in the shadow of the former Battersea power station seemed a sensible option.

The beer menu, which is also available on Untappd, was self-effacing and also I thought reasonably priced for London. The service at the bar was timely and friendly, the whole arrangement felt inviting and comfortable. They seem to pride themselves on loud music judging from some of their marketing, which is something that I certainly would have avoided but fortunately it was all quiet and relatively peaceful when I visited.

I went for the Your Local MP which is one of the brewery’s own beers, a drinkable if not exceptional sour which had some mango flavours flowing through it. I liked the brewery’s description of this beer which is “sourer than Liz Truss against the wokerati”.

A table with a slope which I frankly thought was sub-optimal.

There’s a central bar area with a reasonable amount of seating around it, including some extra upstairs, which was all clean and organised.

I could note that I was watching the world go by from where I was seated, but I was mainly watching the rain pour down.

And some inspirational reading material. The venue does bar snacks such as crisps, pork scratchings as well as sausage rolls, chicken wings and toasties which are again all reasonably priced.

The on-line reviews are generally positive, although there are a few angry people out there, not least:

“I’m familiar and accepting of the cost of a beer in London. I will pay £6+ with nothing but a sad memory of what things were like before. But £10 pounds for a bottle of Augustiner helles is robbery. And I paid for 2. I was told that this was because of the cost of importing… This fine German lager can be found online at the beer merchants website for £3.60.”

I’m with Battersea Brewery on this one, they’re selling their own beers which are reasonably priced but have bulked up the menu with some additional choices. The cost of importing is currently often horrendous and a quick look at other venues in London suggests to me that this beer is retailing at something between £6 and £10, so it doesn’t seem unreasonable. Looking at their Untappd list, it seems that they don’t sell the beer now, but their other guest options aren’t unnecessarily high and it must be soul destroying to see reviews like this when it’s apparent upfront what they’re charging anyway. I applaud locations that are a verified venue on Untappd as it gives me clarity on what beers are available and usually what prices are being charged.

Anyway, before I get distracted with reading endless reviews, all seemed well to me during my visit. I’ve never had a beer from this brewery before and I think they’re relatively niche as they’re still small, but it seems a worthwhile endeavour to set up a taproom. They’re in an area which is becoming more popular with tourists and where more people are moving to, so I can imagine that this will remain a profitable little enterprise.

April 25, 2023
London – Westminster (Borough of) – Oxford Street – Hard Rock Cafe (4th Visit – with Robot)

And another visit to this central London hotel, restaurant and bar, with this meal being funded by TheFork.

I tend to notice different music memorabilia every time I visit here, this time the star of the show looked to me like this piano once played on by Freddie Mercury.

It looked quiet from this angle, but they must have had over 100 customers in for lunch. It’s the busiest that I’ve seen it recently for lunch, another sign of the tourists returning to London.

The menu mentioned at the top to ask the server for details of what craft beers they were offering. I asked and she said Heineken, which didn’t entirely surprise and delight me if I’m being honest. I ordered the Brixton Coldharbour Lager instead.

The beer tasted as expected, with the chicken wings being to the usual high Hard Rock cafe style.

This seemed quite exciting, as they were using robots to deliver around half of the meals. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the excitement (I’m easily pleased) on this occasion, so I took a photo of the neighbouring table receiving their child’s meal. Apparently there are two of these robots meandering their way around the restaurant, named Bellabot and Holabot, with customers clearly being impressed by the whole arrangement. Some diners weren’t quite sure whether to take their own food or wait for a staff member, as the policy seemed mixed, but the robot patiently waited before returning back to the kitchen.

I had gone for the chicken fajitas which came with a staff member telling me to be careful of the hot dish, which likely explains the lack of robot interaction.

And there’s the rest of the dish. It’s one of my favourite items on their menu, although the four wraps are never enough for the quantity of food which is provided.

The server returned to tell me that I had under-spent the allowance offered by TheFork and I could have a free dessert, but I had already gone through enough food, so they brought over half a pint of Guinness instead. That seemed a fair compromise, Guinness is like a meal, so that’s all well and good.

This is a well run restaurant and there are plenty of attentive and helpful staff members around, although it’s not the cheapest for those paying for their meal as mine would have cost around £44 before the tip. And if I get chance for another meal here, I will most certainly take it and hopefully next time I’ll get more robot interaction during the service.

April 25, 2023
London – Wandsworth (Borough of) – Battersea Power Station

I wasn’t quite sure what was currently inside the former Battersea Power Station, but given that it was pouring down with rain it seemed a place to dry off if nothing else.

I certainly didn’t expect anything this decadent in the former turbine hall, part of a building which once produced a fifth of the city’s power. I also hadn’t realised that there were two turbine halls, each with two chimneys, with a connecting building in between them. Turbine Hall A was completed in 1935 and Turbine Hall B was completed in 1955, being decommissioned in 1975 and 1983 respectively. I must say that I was surprised and delighted with the whole arrangement.

This is the connecting building in the middle.

After the site was decommissioned it was left derelict for just over three decades with numerous different projects suggested and then rejected or left unfunded. It was granted Grade II listed status in 1980 and that was upgraded to Grade II* in 2007.

This is the second hall, with this impressive brick arrangement at one end looking out towards the River Thames.

And looking down the second hall. The food venues seem to mostly be quite high end, but there’s a Nando’s there to mix things up a bit. But no Greggs I note.

Control Room B looks rather decadent, it’s now an all-day bar and some of the historic equipment is located here from when the building was used to produce electricity. It’s not really a place for me though, they concentrate on wine, champagne and cocktails, with a dreary selection of bottled beers that looks like someone has popped to the Tesco Express down the road. Anyway, I digress.

I liked this mural of Britishness. There are some more photos of this mural as well as a few more from around the building at https://www.flickr.com/photos/julianwhite-uk/albums/72177720307752196/. There’s also more information at the developer’s web-site at https://batterseapowerstation.co.uk/about/.

April 24, 2023
London – Tower Hamlets (Borough of) – Boxcar

I’m writing about my visit to Boxcar a little earlier than I had anticipated as Nathan has just told me that it has permanently closed down since I visited in mid February 2023, just one week before the brewery issued a statement saying they were going into administration, posting on social media that “due to an unworkable situation with our landlords, partly due to the pandemic and overhanging debt, we had to leave our premises on 23rd February”.

I was the first customer of the evening and I managed to get muddled up with the door and couldn’t get in. Fortunately, a staff member heard me being incompetent and rushed to open the door for me. My usual making great first impressions and all that.

The interior and I remained the only customer for the entire time that I was there, which was the best part of an hour. The staff were perfectly friendly although there wasn’t much depth of engagement, but that’s completely understandable now as they were likely just a little distracted. It remained an inviting and welcoming atmosphere though and I liked the design of the venue.

I’ve known Boxcar for their milds and I’ve had a couple of them before, including the 9% Triple Dark Mild. And I had just eaten, but otherwise I would have been very tempted by the Hula Hoops and Mini Cheddars, with particular praise for having two different flavours of the latter. The King’s Head in Norwich has normal and smoky BBQ Mini Cheddars such is their level of professionalism in bar snack options.

To ensure I tried a new beer, this is the Double Dark Mild, a beautifully rich and smooth beer with an ABV of 6.3%. Full-bodied with flavours of dark fruits, suitably decadent and it’s disappointing to know that this is now no longer brewed.

The Solar Flare, a hoppy NEIPA coming in at 5.2%, a perfectly pleasant taste and it had the smoothness that I was looking for.

All very sad that the venue has now gone, but on the positive side, there is the hope that Boxcar can start again in new premises, so all is not lost. I’m pleased that I took the opportunity to go when I did since they shut the week after I visited, but they seem optimistic that they can return at a different time in a different place as they’ve been able to keep the brand which means they can become a cuckoo brewery for a while. It must be soul destroying to have their dreams set back when they’ve got such a solid reputation, but they seem to have a strong supporter base which will help them to recover.

March 22, 2023