Le Gothique - Final couple of pints...

So, we came to our final drinking post of the day, Le Gothique, Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, off Windmill Road. Neither Dan or me had ever known of this place until I read about it in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide, yet it's a well established restaurant, open for many years, within this amazing Victorian gothic building, which was originally an orphanage for dependents of troops lost in the Crimean War; Queen Victoria laying the foundation stone in 1857. It has since had various uses (I remembered it as a school), including an interrogation centre for the British 'Intelligence' services during WWII, near to Wandsworth Prison, but with its own cells, and excecutions!

It is now includes a 'French' restaurant see www.legothique.co.uk - together with a bar that serves real ales...

Dan and Kieran endulging in friendly, lively, and very interesting, discourse with the landlord, above.

We had a couple of pints here to end our perambulation of the Common. They have 3 ales served from handpump, usually an ale from each of Sambrooks, Downton, and Shepherd Neame. Sadly, for me, as I live somewhere dominated by Sheps, there were 2 of their ales on, Kent's Best and Late Red (just the circumstance of beers in the cellar being ready to serve), and we drank Downton Baltic Red, quite appropriate for the prevailing weather conditions outside!

A very interesting, and bountiful, statue commissioned by the landlord, by the large screen tv.

We joined an interesting list of previous customers to Le Gothique, that includes Skin of Skunk Anansie, Billy Piper, Sir Alex Ferguson, Rachel Hunter, Aimee MacDonald, and many more; a very interesting visitors book...

Anyway, that finished our day, and what an excellent time we had. Kieran journeyed back to Watford, Dan to, much closer, Southfields, and me back to Hastings, cheers! 

www.drinkaware.co.uk

The Roundhouse - Penultimate stop today (10th)

The Roundhouse, Wandsworth Common North Side, is another old haunt of mine, had a few beers here, and seen a few groups too, and it remains a place for gigs, but also is an eatery, and has been done up winebar-ish, nice though. The food looks good, available lunch and evenings, apparently a great roast on Sundays; not the cheapest prices, but reasonable for the area, and around the Junction is a bit more upmarket than in my yoof!

The place was packed with young things along the left as you come in, leaving the right hand side vacant for us, and some others that came in soon after us.

There were 3 ales on offer, the Wandsworth brewed Sambrooks Wandle (regular), Hogs Back TEA (virtually a regular, apparently on about 80% of the time), plus a guest, for us it was Purity's Pure Ubu, a cracking 4.5% golden ale!

County Arms, Wandsworth Common

Another Young's house, that was no doubt a coaching inn, or something, a hundred to a hundred and fifty years ago. Big old pub, typical Victorian pub/inn, on the main road coming from Wandsworth Bridge, and sitting just in front of the prison!

We all drank the excellent Young's Winter Warmer, best I've tasted this winter, and I've had a few pints of it at various pubs too. They also served Young's Ordinary, Special, and Wells' Bombardier.

At the back is an enormous eating/restaurant part of the pub, and a cracking beer garden too, if a bit too close to a very busy road these days.

Kieran doing a bit of pole dancing within the County Arms ;-)

The Nightingale, SW12

The Nightingale, Nightingale Lane, a little along from Wandsworth Common railway station. A cracking Young's pub that my brother had never visited (he mixed it up with the Surrey Tavern). Great pint of Special, Kieran had a bottled Young's Double Chocolate Stout (and what an amazing beer that is!), and they also had 'Ordinary', Bombardier, Sambrooks Porterhouse Porter, and Addlestone's for cider drinkers.

I do have an anecdote from working for Securicor CIT, but that's for another day...

Disappointment - Eagle Ale House

I really wanted to visit the Eagle, renowned real ale house I'd never visited, but doesn't open til 2pm during the week, we were there about 5 minutes early, but didn't realise it was about to open... bad luck!

Surely the bloke inside would have noticed us and pointed out it was about to open, but no such luck. We gave up and walked on for our perambulation of Wandsworth Common, next, to an old favourite of mine, the Nightingale in Nightingale Lane, a Young's house I hadn't visited for years...

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...

Seasonal Pub - Bath Hotel, Sheffield

The Bath Hotel, Victoria Street in Sheffield has to be the friendliest pub in central Sheffield; also having a carefully restored interior that ensured it finding its way onto CAMRA's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors.

You get a selection of well-kept ales, including regulars Tetley Bitter, Acorn Barnsley Bitter (one of the Barnsley Bitter rehashes) and an ale from Abbeydale, usually Moonshine, plus up to 3 guest ales and continental beers. Reasonably priced pub food is served at lunchtimes during the week; you can get a very strong chilli with baked potato, if your mouth is up to it!

Brian, the landlord, is a gem in himself, forever cheerful, ready to chat with regular customers and visitors alike, providing a great atmosphere. The Bath also has music nights, specialising in the 'blues', I've enjoyed many a night here.

My good friend, and sometime Beermeister advisor (also excellent with advice for single malts), Rick, with Brian, in the part of the bar where customers are often confused with staff. Rick sent this photo to me to make me jealous a while ago. Cheers!