The Smuggler - Pett Level

The Routemeister and myself walked over from Hastings, in the mud, wind and rain to The Smuggler at Pett Level, t'other day, and, not long after taking this photograph, hailstones, and then a rainbow impressed themselves on us... 

I hadn't been to The Smuggler for a while, and it's a bit of an achievement, worthy of an ale certainly. 3 ales on at the moment; they had Doom Bar and Sussex Best, not my favourite ales, but OK when nowt else available, but on this day they had a pearler! The Dark Star Hophead (3.8%) was in crackin' form, we enjoyed it immensely, pale and hoppy, as you'd expect, luvverly, indeed... 

More to come very soon, ales aplenty, cheers! 

Congratulations to the Tower and even more luverly ales!

So, many congratulations to Louisa at the Tower in London Road, (upper) St Leonards, Hastings, for having her pub added to CAMRA's 2014 Good Beer Guide, great stuff, and well deserved. So, despite having more obligations these days, I felt a visit was in order, well, not just one, of course, but a speedy return was required!  So, yesterday evening it was, and a rather exciting ale or three on offer too, great value, and warm chat and banter with Louisa herself, and many others this side of the bar...

4 ales, including a couple of new ones for moi, Sharps Doom Bar (4%), a well known ale from Cornwall, already reported on numerous times, one of my local favourites Dark Star American Pale Ale (APA, 4.7% and just £2.50 a pint here), an excellent pale ale, brewed using American hops, packed with body and flavour, notably grapefruit, with a citrus aroma, I do like Dark Star's 2 regular pale bitters, this and Hophead, but regular readers will already be well aware of that.   

The 2 new ales to me were Red Willow Endless Pale Ale from Macclesfield, which had a fruity aroma, sweet to taste at first, but turning bitter with a dry aftertaste, not bad at all for a 3.8% bitter, I liked it. So, why such a small photograph of the pump clip of the second new ale? Well, for some reason I forgot to take any photographs inside, and this was all I could find on Google, so this was it, the seasonal/monthly Dark Star Indian Summer IPA, and it does what it says on the pump clip, if you can read it... It's a wee bit darker than their usual pale hoppy ales, with plenty of body, not surprising since it is a 6% ale, very comparable to Thornbridge Jaipur IPA, which is probably the wanted result from the brewer. Now, I was silly enough to be eating a pack of Jalapeno bar snacks, so the flavour was effected big time, still very nice though.

OK, what have I had at the Dolphin at Rock-a-Nore in Hastings 'old town' recently? The usual local Dark Star Hophead (3.8%) and APA of course; and their other regulars, the local Harveys Sussex Best (4%) and Youngs Special (4.5%) have been available. But guest ales have included the 'rusty' coloured Demon's Eye from the Yorkshire brewer, Elland Brewery. This is another beer that starts off with a sweetish flavour but with a bitter dry aftertaste, very tasty indeed, and well liked by a number of the regulars too.

The Dolphin has also had Rudgate Volsung (5.2%) on, a well reported excellent pale bitter,  and, as I write, the Oakham ale Scarlet Macaw, a 4.4% pale bitter that I recently had at the Bricklayers Arms in Putney (I'll have to write that visit up, as I seem to have forgotten to, in all my business lately!). This tastes more than a 4.4% ale with plenty of body, with a fruity aroma and nice dry bitter flavour, I do like Oakham ales too, who brew excellent beer. So, if like me, you like pale bitter bitters, pop on down to the local CAMRA 2013 Pub of the Year, the Dolphin in Hastings. By the way, "Happy Birthday!" to Louise at the Dolphin for yesterday :-) 

Much congratulations in order all round. Cheers! 

Battle and its environs...

For a change, I'll start with the last pub we visited, for a number of reasons, including my forgetting to photograph the building myself, very unusual for me; so, many thanks to the Bull Inn (website), whose own photograph I've borrowed. 

Also, we'd walked quite a way by now, my brother, Dan the Routemeister, and me, so were well deserving of a drink, and a great pub too, rebuilt in 1688, with Caen stone from France, via the virtually destroyed abbey kitchens (during Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries).  This is a lovely old inn, selling 3 real ales, the regulars being the ubiquitous Harveys Sussex Best (4%) and, brewed especially for the Bull, Old Dairy Top Bull (4%), though, unluckily for us, they were out of this (another trip will be required, obviously). However, this was replaced by another Old Dairy brew Gold Top, a nice refreshing 4.3% golden bitter. Their 'guest' ale was from Hastings, ie the FILO Churches Pale Ale (4.2%).

We also met many people here, on entry, I straight away headed for the 2 lads at the bar, the 'Battle Boys', Chris and Al, more often seen by me at the Dolphin in Hastings, also Al's daughter, the lovely Claire (always pleased to see a young woman happy to be out drinking with us older types). Our ale was admirably served by Joss, and I also had a chat with the landlady Kerri, nice one. Sadly we had to leave after just the one pint as the last bus from Battle to Hastings left at 18.20hrs! But I'll be back...  

The first pub of the day we'd visited at lunchtime in nearby Catsfield, The White Hart, a 17th century building, but only a pub from 1840. Another nice friendly pub, with a low ceiling and quite large bar, and just the 2 real ales on sale. They had Sharps Doom Bar (4%), all the way from Cornwall, and, you guessed it, Harveys Sussex Best (4%). Anyway, I hadn't drunk Sussex Best for a while, and for the thirsty me, it hit the right spot, not a bad bitter, if a bit light on hops. 

After negotiating confusing woodland paths, that apparently weren't open to the public, we managed to get to The Squirrel Inn, on the A271, 15 minutes before it closed at 15.00hrs. Surprise surprise, the 2 regular ales were Sharps Doom Bar and Harveys Sussex Best, but there were 2 local ales from smaller breweries as guests. We didn't have the Long Man Best Bitter (4%), but each had a pint of Pig & Porter Ashburnham Pale Ale, a 3.8% light copper coloured bitter, very easy to drink, which was just as well. Not the easiest of pubs to get to on foot, but a nice building, and definitely worth a visit, but allow yourself time.

Anyway, amazing how there was a place called Battle in this part of Sussex, quite convenient for the Normans to ring up the Brits and say "let's battle at Battle", and, well, there's another story...

Cheers! 

Yet another excellent ale, plus more...

A trip or two to the Tower at St Leonards, Hastings, found, not just the, now regularly, excellent Dark Star American Pale Ale (APA, 4.7%, and at a great value £2.50 a pint), but also, among it's 4 ales, the same brewery's Sunburst (4.8%, and already reported on) and Red Shift, and Sharps Doom Bar (4%).  The Red Shift, well, is something else!  Yes, it's a fine 5.5% ale, but the aroma is like taking in strong alcoholic Ribena, and the extreme fruitiness doesn't get lost in the flavour either, full of body and 'fruits of the forest' with a dry aftertaste, very nice; and Louisa behind the bar for much of the time too, cheers m'dear!

The Dolphin at Rock-a-Nore, Hastings, too, in addition to the usual 4 ales at this time of year, Dark Star Hophead (3.8%) and APA, Youngs Special (4.5%), and the ubiquitous Harveys Sussex Best (4%), has had two from Woodforde's, Norfolk, recently.  The quite regularly found Nelson's Revenge (4.5%) and the one off 'special', I presume, Bure Gold (the Bure being a river in Norfolk). The Bure Gold (4.3%) is a golden bitter with a hint of malt, slightly fruity and quite dry, not bad at all! Oh yes, and the Dark Star Red Shift will be available here next week, you heard it here...

I have also been to the First In Last Out (FILO) in High Street, Hastings, again, pleasant company both sides of the bar, and, from among their own 5 FILO ales on sale, the Crofters is a very good session ale, and the Gold (4.8%), an enjoyable stronger pale bitter, which I have been trying quite a few pints of recently, nice one! They also recently had St Austell Trelawny (3.8%); that brewery having improved their selection of ales very much since I lived in Cornwall and only had Tinners to (hardly) appreciate, and every now and then, their very good HSB.

That's about it really, for now, having a week or so off ale for financial reasons, and it doesn't hurt to drop a few pounds in weight either, though I do have some subjects around beer to chat about, so I shan't be completely quiet, it just depends on my access to the internet, which may still be difficult for a week or so, we'll see...

Cheers!

2 new pubs in the High Weald.

The Routemeister and I decided a shorter walk was required after the 'marathon' yesterday (Rye Figure of 8, last Tuesday), so we didn't add on to the already reasonably challenging walk planned in the High Weald, but we did get in hop fields, and 2 new pubs for us...

Our lunchtime destination was Burwash, where we visited The Bear Inn (website), which had a very interesting looking menu, and the food we saw being dished up to others appeared of good quality and measure.  They also have a good view from their garden, and we had a wee watch of the Ashes cricket match...

Ale-wise, there were 2 regulars, Sharp's Doom Bar (4%) and Harveys Sussex Best (4%).  There was only 1 guest ale this day, but they often have 2 guest ales. We went for the guest, Cottage M.G.A. (4%); they seem to like the 4% strength, probably related to drivers visiting the pub/hotel for food, which did seem to be being devoured by most customers there, other than us, we had a packed-lunch, of course.  I recounted the story of a lad I used to know who had built an MGA from scratch, following finding a chassis and body in decent nick, then scrounging around all over the place for parts; it was an impressive car when he'd finished building it.  The beer itself, described as "a golden cask ale", had a slight nuttiness in the flavour, and was quite refreshing, but lacked hops for a hoppy lad like me; and Dan is becoming a bit of a hop freak too! 

We carried on for a bit of a walk, passing by Rudyard Kipling's old home, Bateman's (named after a brewer, obviously, not), and our second 'tick' pub of the day, The Wheel Inn, Burwashweald (facebook), which is just down the road from Burwash, if driving, but we did our usual circuitous route through fields, to avoid roads as much as possible, and following the established walk from Dan's book.

The Wheel Inn had 3 ales on, 1 regular, the ubiquitous Harveys Sussex Best (4%), and 2 regularly changing guest ales, which, on our visit, were Sharp's Doom Bar (4%) and Morland Old Speckled Hen (4.5%).  We had the Old Speckled Hen, which I hadn't drunk for quite a while, it still remains an enjoyable dark bitter with plenty of flavour. The young barmaid was friendly, as was another customer, sitting at the bar as I asked questions, quite chatty and good to meet, cheers!



Richmond, Surrey (Wednesday 15th May 2013)

What to do, what's the weather going to be like? We'd decided to make our 'country walk' tomorrow, so Wednesday was to be our River Thames wander, which turned out to be a much longer walk than tomorrow's, this day, only about 22 miles...

From Dan's in Putney, we walked westwards along the River Thames to Kingston, a few miles, indeed... then up to Kingston Gate and into Richmond Park, on to the Pen Ponds in the centre of the Park, and out to Richmond Gate and a short way down the hill to the famous view above.  

We could have gone into the Roebuck at the top of the hill, another good pub, but decided to wander down the hill and visit one we hadn't been to for quite a few years, The Victoria Inn, Richmond Hill, which used to be a rather too smokey pub in the 'old days', as it is a small one-bar building, though with a garden out the back, and now a Punch Taverns' house. 3 ales here; 2 regulars, Sharps Doom Bar (4%) and Youngs Bitter, or 'Ordinary' (3.7%), and the guest on this day, Thwaites Wainright, a 4.5% golden ale, not bad, and the pub has improved in the smoke-free atmosphere, nice sights out of the window, and bragging a warm landlady, Denise, inside, cheers m'dear!

We then dropped down the hill to the river again, and visited one of our favourites, the Waterman's Arm's, a Youngs' pub, that now outsells it's always well-kept Special (4.5%) and Ordinary (3.7%) with the regular guest here, Twickenham Three Naked Ladies (4.4%); I do like this beer!  The Irish landlord, a regular conversationalist, was away, we believed, but didn't ask, however, we missed his chat and updates.  We then headed back to Putney...

 

Tomorrow, and into the deep excesses of Surrey (honest!) cheers!

Some disappointment in Hastings...

Not so much at the Tower in London Road, though, but then again... The lovely Sara was working, always pleasant, and some great ales on sale still, Ilkley Lotus IPA and Dark Star Revelation and APA (which I appeared to get the last pint of, thanks very much, but the other 2 are just to strong to only be drinking at a lunchtime visit, and, quite frankly, Doom Bar is very much a reserve for me, like if I'm dying of thirst!). I miss Hophead here at the Tower, longing for its return...

So, to the White Rock Hotel, down at the seafront, which did have Dark Star Hophead on sale, but nothing from the other 3 pumps, though it was after 12 noon, and it appeared 2 other ales may be pulled through at some time, but the lad behind the bar wasn't sure. OK, Hophead at £3.10 a pint, instead of the £2.30 the Tower charges, but... Quite frankly, that's me, 'frank' to the point of candour, I was reminded that, despite selling ales daily from 10.00 here, it's getting close to summer, and the beer was a bit warm, had definitely not been pulled through at all, and I wouldn't serve it up so cloudy (it was OK to drink-ish, and I always say I don't drink with my eyes, so can't be hypocritical, but I'll have no problems with my bowels this week!), this is why I don't drink in this establishment much during the summer, shame, as I like sitting out on the verandah looking at the sea...

So, where did I end up? At the General Havelock, to get my 'loyalty card' stamped and drink a decent pint of Hophead, but at £3.40 a pint now (inflation in a day). They also have Timothy Taylor Landlord and Harveys Sussex Best as regulars, and the Hophead of course, and Dark Star American Pale Ale (APA) as a guest on this day.  They usually sell Westons Old Rosie cider too, but a busy bank holiday weekend had seen that go down many gullets!

Good value food at the General Havelock too, had a wee chat to the lovely Ellen, serving today, and Jamie, the manager came in too, so pleasant company. For £4.45 I had a very nice cheese and red onion sandwich with mayo in brown bread, and a bowl of thick cut chips (the oil seemed a bit 'tired' and they were a bit fatty, but can't complain about the good value).  Cheers for another day...

Back again, Hastings updates...

Sadly, mostly because of a 'bug' that decided to help me lose 6 or 7 pounds in weight, ie be ill for 5-6 days, I haven't been drinking for a while, so a bit of 'catch up' required. First, again, sadly, Franks Front Room closed down in Hastings on Saturday 4th May, a loss, indeed!  Good luck to the ex-owners, I see the building is already going up for auction... 

But I have been to the Tower, London Road, with 5 ales there on the day; I just missed the Hopback Summer Lightning as it went off before I could order a pint, but it was replaced by the also excellent Ilkley Lotus IPA (5.6%), already commented on. There was also Sharps Doom Bar for the maltier ale lovers and 2 pale-ish ones from Dark Star too, the virtually ever-present American Pale Ale (APA, 4.7%) and Revelation, at 5.7% a bit more interesting, and, again, been reported on before. So, 4 excellent paler ales, and the Doom Bar of course...

I visited the Dolphin on the May Day public holiday and they had a Kelham Island beer on, a 'ruby mild' called Mistress Flames, 5% and a hint of spice in the aftertaste, loadsa body, smooth, frankly, delicious!  There were also the usual Youngs Special, Harveys Sussex Best, and Dark Star's Hophead and American Pale Ale, and one other new guest, ie Harveys Bogie Man (4.3%), brewed especially for the Hastings May Day celebrations, apparently; it was pale, a bit thin, with a strange flavour I couldn't distinguish properly, but certainly a biscuity maltness flavour in the bubbles.

Hastings seems to have more celebrations than anywhere else I've ever known, the May Day celebrations including a significant motorcycle rally, and 'Jack in the Green', it's very own fertility tradition, procession etc, so many people are dressed in greenery.  Here is the Dolphin's very own living Pre-Raphaelite portrait, Maz, serving up a fizzy drink; I tried to get a good picture serving up real ale, and, if I'd persisted, I would have got a good one, but, I have to own up, I lost patience, and this is a very good photograph, nice one...

I'm back... Cheers! 

9th January - Tower, Hastings Plus

I'm starting to grow increasingly fond of this pub, specifically because of the pale hoppy ales, or full-flavoured stronger ales, they are providing at a very fair price for punters, and the lovely staff and interesting clientele.

There was the excellent 5.7% Dark Star Revelation, with it's abundance of hop flavours, which, of course, I drank, also the same brewer's 4.7% American Pale Ale (APA), which is not quite bitter enough for me to really enjoy, though it's pretty damn good.  A blast from my past up in South Yorkshire, Thornbridge Lord Marples (4%) and Sharps Doom Bar (4%), which wasn't around when I lived in Cornwall, were also available, and a nice chat with the landlady, Louisa, was partaken too, cheers!

An update for the Dolphin, which is currently selling it's current 3 regulars of, one of my favourites, as you'll be aware, Dark Star Hophead (3.8%), Harveys Sussex Best (4%), and the new regular, Young's Special (4.5%), it's seasonal ale, Harveys Sussex Old (4.3%), and two guests still (despite their usually cutting down to only 5 ales at this time of year, it still is 6); from the Nottingham brewery, Milestone, Loxley Ale, a 4.2% 'biscuity' malty flavoured ale, and Anchor Springs Riptide, a light coloured ale with hints of dry roasted nuts and 4.1%.  Cheers to Mark (the landlord) for maintaining the quality and numbers of ales.

Cheers to you too!

New Year 2012-13 - Hastings

Happy New Year!

So, apart from visiting the Dolphin, Rock-a-Nore, 'Old Town', have I been anywhere different, or drunk anything special over the New Year?  Well, yes, actually... The Dolphin had it's usual Dark Star Hophead, Young's Special and Harveys Sussex Best on, as well as the Harveys Sussex Old and Hastings Porter, plus the 4.2% St Austell 'Cornish Pale Ale' Tribute, another pale and hoppy beer, so Christmassy beers no more...

But not at the White Rock Hotel, on the seafront, vitually opposite the Pier, where I wandered in on the off chance to see if the Dark Star Imperial Stout, a massive 10.5%, was on tap yet, and, luckily, it was being drawn through by Kerry as I waited!  A whopping £2.50 a half, but then, when considering the strength, a half of this is like drinking a pint of strong ale at an equivalent 5.2%, so not so expensive really. "What was it like?" I hear you ask, well, it was nothing like the 10% Imperial Stout I remember drinking many years ago, that was brewed by Durham Brewery, in fact, if given this in a blind tasting, I would have guessed it was either a barley wine or Christmas beer, because it released a Christmas Pudding basinful of flavours in my mouth, very full bodied and nice, but a tad too sweet really for me really.

What else did I get up to? I visited the Tower, London Road, to watch a football match on Sky, and to take advantage of their excellent value ales. I started with a couple of pints of the Kent KGB, that I recently reported on, gave the Sharp's Doom Bar (only £1.99 a pint for a seasonal special price until New Years Eve), and even the Dark Star APA, a miss, because the 5.7% Dark Star Revelation was available at £2.90 a pint, crackin' ale and crackin' value...  The Revelation, as I've probably said too often, is a revelation, a pale ale bursting with hops and flavour, and from this month, it becomes a permanent ale on the Dark Star inventory, crackin'!   

Finally, I also visited the Hastings Arms, George Street in the 'Old Town', a Shepherd Neame pub, so the choice was... well, as you can see in the photograph above. Although the ale you can see me about to drink is in a Bishop's Finger glass, I had that fine ale last time I was here, as recently reported, but I drank the 5% Christmas Ale, at £3.50 a pint, more the norm for Hastings prices, a more easier to drink ale than the Imperial Stout, which had tasted like a 'Christmas' ale to me, maybe even like one of those big beers from Belgium, like Gulden Draak.  No, Shep's version of Christmas Ale was lighter than expected, quite bitter, and with a nutty, maybe 'walnut', hoppy aftertaste. Liked it! 

So that was it, I've plans to go further afield soon, but in the meantime, it's Hastings for me, cheers!  

5th December and The Tower, London Road, Hastings

I get a bit confused if this is St Leonards up the hill here in London Road, or Bohemia?  Whichever, I visited the Tower and Louisa, and had a few ales. The photograph below is from a few months ago, but I forgot to take a photo this time, and it's quite nice and sunny in this picture, anyhow, I did take a photograph of the beer pumps and fire, further below:

Louisa is great company, keeps a friendly house, and serves up well-conditioned ales at some of the lowest prices in Hastings.  The 4 ales on offer today were Fullers London Pride (4.1%), I hadn't drunk a pint of Pride for a few months, so had to taste it, still a good ale, no doubt about that, despite my tastebuds now going for more pale and bitter ales, and at £2.40 a pint, had some mates of mine, I bragged to by text, very envious.  Similarly, I bragged about the excellent 5.9% Thornbridge Jaipur at £3.00 a pint to another set of friends; I'd forgotten how good Jaipur is, so I can only imagine what it would have been like to be drinking their Kipling!

 

Louisa also had two Dark Star ales on, the American Pale Ale (4.7%) at £2.40 a pint and Rock Star (6%), an "American Brown Ale" that was a collaboration with Magic Rock Brewery, at £2.90 a pint.  A Christmas visit could well be a priority for me, as for the week from 18.00 hrs on Christmas Eve, until 18.00 hrs on New Years Eve, she will be selling Sharps Doom Bar (4%) at £1.99 a pint!  As the pub is also open on Christmas Day from 11 to 3pm, I may just pop in on Christmas Day, just to wish everyone a merry Christmas, whatever, I will be there at some time during the festivities...

 

 

...and another real fire!

Cheers Louisa :-) 

Sunday 8th July - General Havelock

The Routemeister visited for a few days, so started drinking at the General Havelock in Hastings Sunday afternoon...

The General Havelock has up to 5 ales on now, today were Youngs Special, Sussex Best, Landlord, Doom Bar (which had just gone off) and Adnams Flame Runner, which I drank, 3.9%, a sharp pale bitter, with a rather strange aroma...

Then we went off to the Dolphin, Rock-a-Nore, where we enjoyed Dark Star Hophead, cheers!

Hastings 1 - Old Town, West Side

Yesterday, visited the Old Town, Hastings, really the medieval part of Hastings, a little along from where the Normans first set up shop at the castle (above where I now live), and where the 2 oldest churches in Hastings now sit on the East and West Hills of The Bourne (was a stream, now a road).

The First In Last Out (FILO), a cracking pub with its own micro brewery, was inside the pub, but now moved up the hill to a new home. No food for now, as the kitchen has been moved within the pub out to the back, and should be ready by the end of March (looking forward to my next meal there). Above you see the focus of the pub, the very interesting and positively addictive fireplace, with Elaine at the bar. Also, met Mike, the landlord, and Tony, the manager, for the first time in a while.

The ales at the FILO above, 4 of their own ales and one guest ale is the usual offering. My favourite, Gold, wasn't on the bar on this day, but the Crofters is a great session bitter, and the newer Church Pale Ale (10p a pint goes towards the Church, I believe), a paler bitter.

Finally, for this blog, the Jenny Lind, just down the road from the FILO, 5 ales on at any time, all well known; Directors, Old Peculiar, Betty Stogs, Doom Bar and Wainwrights.

29 Feb - Crooked Billet, Wimbledon Common

Trip to London for possible money-making purposes (sadly didn't work out), but had to include lunchtime and evening trips to pubs...

Lunchtime, my brother Dan and I walked up to Wimbledon Village and visited the Crooked Billet, on the edge of the Common. This is a crackin' Youngs pub, next door to the Hand in Hand (below), another very good Youngs pub which, under a previous ownership, used to be the only place I knew you could get Ruddles County before it fell under the spell of one of the new 'Nationals', Greene King.

OK, Youngs are now part of one of the new 'Nationals' too, following their merger/whatever the legal definition is, with Charles Wells of Bedford, so, all but the 2 guests listed below are actually brewed by Wells now; as brewers, Youngs and Courage RIP.

I like both of these pubs, but we only visited the Crooked Billet today, and didn't even drink Youngs Special, which I usually would, their ales on the bar including, Special and Ordinary from Youngs, Bombardier and Directors, their other regulars, and 2 guest ales, Doom Bar (OK, but can be drunk anywhere these days, and is only OK to my palate), and the 4.4% Twickenham Naked Ladies, what a great find for me, though I know it's been available for a while now, my first taste.

Naked Ladies, a nice image, but a big hit of hops to the nose when you first taste it, not so 'ladylike', quite a pale ale, but more bitter than I thought it would be. I like this beer!

The Hand in Hand, always worth a visit too, another good pub, just a few doors down from the Crooked Billet, in Crooked Billet, Wimbledon Village, SW19.

Friday 10th February 2012 'Wander'

Met up with Dan and Kieran at Clapham Junction, hadn't had a drink for a while together, but, as I arrived first, despite a strangely diverting rail journey to the Junction from home, I had a pint of London Pride in the Windsor Castle, St John's Hill.

Hadn't been in the Castle for a while, great building, the bar at the back is barn-like, wooden panels, and with a high roofed ceiling with beams, further back. The front bar is less impressive, worth going straight to the back room (via door at the side of the pub).

Also had Thwaite's Wainright and Sharp's Doom Bar on the bar.

Gave the Falcon a miss today, despite their holding a beer festival, as we wanted to get to the next pub, the Eagle Ale House, so shot past Debenhams (Arding & Hobbs, to those who haven't been here for a while) up to Northcote Road...

Pub of the Week - The London Apprentice, Old Isleworth

The London Apprentice dates to Tudor times, being rebuilt in the early 18th century. Their website reports that it was patronised by a number of eminent people in the past, including Henry VIII, Charles I, Charles II and Nell Gwynne, Lady Jane Grey and Oliver Cromwell, all of whom had close links with nearby Syon House. 

My brother and I had walked a larger circular route, including the north bank of the Thames from Richmond Bridge to Putney Bridge, stopping on the way at The London Apprentice, cracking pub! 

There are 6 ales served by handpumps at the bar, regulars include Fullers London Pride, Adnams Broadside and Sharp's Doom Bar. There are also 3 rotating guest ales, on my last visit these included Young’s London Gold, Brains SA and Purity Mad Goose, the last being in very good form and very much enjoyed! Keg beers are served too, of course, and include Staropramen, Leffe and Hoegaarden, for people with more European tastes. 

We enjoyed ourselves immensely, the bar staff were very friendly, though it was early in the shift (before noon), so it did start getting busier whilst we were there, and investigating the building was a pleasure too. We had only ever seen it from the south bank of the river on a significant number of occasions before our visit, when we kept agreeing we must cross the river sometime. We were suitably shocked and impressed at its history and fine features, not to mention enjoying the beer. One of the advantages of Isleworth is that it is also easy to get to Twickenham or Brentford, only a short distance away. Enjoy it yourselves!

The Eight Bells, Putney Bridge

Stephen H's next posting following QPR's 6-0 drubbing by Fulham on 2nd October:

We ended up drinking in the Eight Bells, Putney, prior to the drubbing at Fulham. Not sure how far we actually walked to The Eight Bells but, by the time we arrived, I was so thirsty I had to have five pints to rehydrate. Lovely old pub where you can get a decent pint of London Pride (ed's note, they also sell Sharp's Doom Bar). The atmosphere was really good with a selection of Fulham, Chelsea and QPR fans all drinking in harmony. See attached pictures.