5 Favourite (some old favourite) pubs in London...

So, not all the pubs I drank in on this visit to London, but all have had a few pounds sterling spent in them by me over the years...

The Harp, in between Charing Cross and Covent Garden, is an excellent pub to start off at, certainly when it's not too busy, and it does get very busy; this fact supported by them selling 9 real ales, and one of them, the Hophead, leaves 2 of their handpumps at the rate of a Barrel a day, ie 36 gallons+! Their 3 regular ales are Harveys Sussex Best, and two Dark Star ales, all have been reported on many times, Hophead (3.8%) and American Pale Ale (APA, 4.7%), both the Dark Star ales selling at £3.45 a pint, that ain't a bad price for a central London pub. 

Oh yes, and 6 guest ales, that included Sambrook's Junction (4.5%), and there is always an ale from the Battersea brewery, Sambrook's, regularly on sale here too; Crouch Vale Brewers Gold (4%) and Blackwater Mild (3.7%); Palmers Dorset Gold (4.5%) and Best Bitter (4.2%); and the West London brewer, Weird Beard's collaboration with BrewDog Kentish Town Beard, a 5.2% "American Wheat Ale", pale, a bit cloudy, hint of tangy orange, dry and quite bitter, liked it!        

My previous blog deals with most of the (new) pubs I drank in on this particular London visit, so a bit of time walking included in my day. Anyhow, although I didn't go into The Old Bell, Fleet Street, which was built by Christopher Wren for the builders who worked on St Bride's church, that is situated in a wee alley behind the pub, anyway, I had to photograph it. This was a regular lunchtime haunt when I worked opposite the Old Bailey in my youth, in the days when people still imbibed copious amounts of alcohol during work lunch breaks. This is now a Nicholson's pub, and credit has to be given to that pubco for taking over and preserving some excellent ale houses, and providing decent ales and food too. 

In my day, as far as I remember, there was only one real ale in here, the excellent Worthington E on draught; not one of the poor keg beers that proliferated at the time, but a genuine real cask conditioned ale. I know that people have conjectured over the years whether this was just re-badged Bass, but it most definitely was, and still is a different ale entirely, with its own recipe, and now brewed at, I believe, the old Bass Museum brewery in Burton; now owned by Coors, there's a surprise! I wish I'd gone in for a drink, but I was restricted for time on the day, so a potential target for the future.    

Not far away is another Nicholson's pub, and one I have reported on not too long ago, The Blackfriar, an Art Nouveau masterpiece built at the beginning of the 20th century, but with a hostelry on the site for over 400 years. I've written about this before, on here, and on facebook, and shall no doubt visit again sometime soon, maybe when I go to The Old Bell, and I have happy memories of using this pub as a quiet wee place to visit with female friends, though not so quiet these days... 

I crossed Blackfriars Bridge to the South bank of the Thames and turned left/east towards Borough Market. As can be seen above, it was starting to get dark; in this photograph is The Rake to the right, with the market behind, and Southwark Cathedral in the background, where a forebear of mine was married (when it was still a Parish Church, pre-promotion). I popped into The Rake, but the 3 ales on sale were either not interesting to me (2 of them), or too strong, the other being about 14% or something! So I wandered through the market to... 

The Market Porter, which I could have published a darkened photograph of, but I haven't, as it was my last ale before I visited the new Mansion House in Kennington (see previous blog), and a photograph of a dark ale here, just to prove I don't only drink pale hoppy ales! Many ales available as ever, including ales from Triple fff, Peerless, and Coastal Brewery, but this was my choice: Leeds Ale Mary, a very pleasant 4.5% dark ale with a hint of liquorice in the flavour. From there to Kennington, and my first bus of the day, and already written about...

Cheers!   

3 pubs in London and even more great ales!

Another long walk, following the Thames from Putney to Tower Bridge and back, crossing the Thames via Chelsea, Vauxhall (both twice), Tower and Blackfriars bridges, not far off 20 miles in total, and we saw the new Routemaster on the way.  Though I was more impressed than the Routemeister himself, he pointed them out to me, but he does favour the original versions, which I do too, of course...

Anyway, not too far off halfway in our walk and we came to Borough Market, near London Bridge and Southwark Cathedral, ie we reached The Rake, one of my 3 favourite bars/pubs in the area. Ooh! There's inspiration, another "3 of" to come...

3 ales on at The Rake, as usual, I tried 2 of them, though not the 5.8% Celt Experience Cat Scratched Celt, a bit too strong for so early in the day... So we each had a pint of the less strong Glastonbury Golden Chalice, a mere 4.8% slightly sour pale golden ale, very nice and much enjoyed by the Routemeister himself. Anyhow, I couldn't stop myself buying a quick half of the 6.4% Art Brew Orange IPA!  Dan didn't enjoy his sip, but I do prefer the more intense hoppy ales, and this was intense, indeed, hops and bitter orange in the taste with a slightly fruity aroma, dry and bitter plus plus! Loved it, one of my 2 favourite ales of the day... 

We then carried on to Tower Bridge; there are a few more photographs on my personal facebook page, by the way.  We crossed Tower Bridge, came back on ourselves, passing the Tower of London and St Pauls Cathedral, to Blackfriars Bridge, where, just north of it is the Blackfriar, a pub I used to frequent in my teens and early 20s, particularly with Gill, an old friend and muse of mine from work in those days, a 1905 fantastic art nouveau pub with marble, wood, copper and brass in abundance, and now a Nicholsons pub, so plenty of atmosphere and much food too.

 

Among the 8 ales available were included Bath Ales Summer Hare (3.9%), Squirrel Brewery Jack Black London, a "black IPA" (4.8% and more of on another day), and Growler Brewery Gladness (4.2%).  However, the one we each had a pint of was Lancaster Brewery Lemon Grass, 4% and pale and dry, very nice, with a hint of lemon grass in the taste too.  Another pub I love! 

So, back along the Thames and the regular visit to my Putney 'local', the Bricklayers Arms where, among other ales from its total of 12 handpumps, were many beers from 2 breweries I had little or no knowledge of.  From Andwell Brewery, a Hampshire brewery opened in 2008, there were King John, a 4.2% "amber ale"; Resolute, a 3.8% "light amber bitter"; Ruddy Darter, a 4.6% "ruby ale"; Golden IPA, a 4.8% ale that, apparently, does what it says on the pump clip; and the one we tried a pint of each.  The Gold Muddler was 3.9%, and a dry light golden ale with a hint of roasted malt flavour, very refreshing after 20 miles of walking!

 

The other 'stranger' was the XT Brewing Company, that opened in 2011 in Buckinghamshire; shame we weren't aware of this for our previous days walk, though likely it would have been too complicated to include a visit.  Anyway their ales were XT Pi, sorry, can't work out how to add the image of pi, but that's what it is called, a 3.141% mild ale, yeh, I know; XT 6, a 4.5% "rich ruby" ale; XT 8, a 4.5% "dark roast" ale; and, OK I had to try a half, the XT XPA.  Dan wasn't so excited as I was, again, but the XPA is a 5.9% very pale bitter with grapefruit aroma in your face, dry, and well, it was excellent, my favourite ale of the day! 

 

Cheers!