Anything goes in The Snug, General Discussion's rebellious little brother. An off-topic den of iniquity where any subject not covered elsewhere may be discussed. Well, anything except golf, Star Wars and Arsenal.
WHU Independent wrote:Princess Louise, Holborn. You couldn't make it up. I got there and my mates had plotted up in the upstairs bar. I go to the bar to buy a round and the woman serving recognises me, greeting me by my Christian name. It turns out that is the daughter of someone who I know very well, that lives opposite my house! And she's not just serving, she is running the gaff atm! Needless to say a lovely, long and inebriated night took place with lots of reminiscing, as all my mates know her as well!
Anyhow, the pub is still wonderfully decorated and laid out. I started off on the Organic Lager, which was decent enough and reasonably priced. I then moved onto the wine and their house red and rose' were both up there with the best house wine I'd ever had in a pub. I've paid more money in fancy restaurants for wine which wasn't half as good.
The service was excellent, the staff lovely and helpful and the atmosphere was buzzing and enjoyable. The toilets are probably the best in London, if not the UK. WE all loved it and will e going back soon. A solid 9/10 - Toilets: 10/10
Last night. My first trip to the place for quite some years. Staff friendly. Beer mainstream, but a welcome addition of Purity Longhorn IPA was enough to satisfy my tastes. Clientele, mostly older, some a little raucous, but overwhelmingly friendly and familliar
Better than my last visit. Didn't come out soaked in random cheap lager
WoodfordJnr wrote:Dickens Inn - St Katherines Dock
7/10 decent pub was just impossibly busy and really hard to get to the bar
Started a pub crawl from there a few weeks ago. Hadn't been in there for years and it hadn't changed. It's an okay pub, just a bit meh.
This was followed by:
The Dean Swift behind Butlers Wharf. Overcrowded with people playing board games. That's no pub. 5/10
The Globe, Borough Market - prefer the Market Porter myself. 6/10
The Anchor, Bankside - despite it's looks a very old pub. 8/10
Founders Arms, Bankside - the opposite of the above. 5/10
Nesticles wrote:The Famous 3 Kings in South Kensington
Really good selection of beers and a top pub for watching sport
I worked on a site in the Cromwell Road in the early 1990s and that was my local. I remember it being a huge place with loads of TVs dotted around the place. It was rife with Scottish blokes, Northerners and drugs.
Greatest Cockney Rip Off wrote:I remember it being a huge place with loads of TVs dotted around the place. It was rife with Scottish blokes, Northerners and drugs.
The latter 3 might still be there, but not from what I recall
I'm not a huge fan of watching sport in pubs, but this pub is pretty good. Decent choice of beers and grub, plus no shortage of screens. https://www.craft-pubs.co.uk/f3k-london" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Blimey, that's been done up a bit since I was last there. The old art-deco flats opposite were home to two of the said Northerners that I worked with. I remember we'd get stoned at lunchtime and go back to work, completely off our tits. After work, straight into the Three Kings and be on the piss til closing time. Great days.
The Grafton, Prince of Wales Street, Kentish Town NW5.
Went there to celebrate a mates birthday. A bit of a gastro/craft beer place, with a massive selection of ales and beers. I stuck to the Estrella, which was lovely, but managed a pint of Camden Hells by mistake, which was also good. Had a drop of Harvey's Ale by mistake and I didn't like it - far too hoppy. My mates said the Space Monkey was excellent though. Four pints and a rum and coke came to £25 - about £5.00 per drink.
The boozer is big and very warm. They had a sing along around a piano singing Xmas songs (Think Slade/Wham et al) if you like that kinda thing. The atmosphere was good and locals quite friendly. Decent bogs to, clean but a bit on the small side. The pub is bang next to Kentish Town West Station, a 20 min ride on the Overground from Stratford.
One negative point: It seems that there is a snide barman on the thieve. I caught him palming a fiver of the £25 I gave him and was wondering if he was over charging me, under ringing the round on the till, or just stealing from the governor. I didn't say nothing but just stood at the bar looking at him, watching his every move. After about a min I watched him ring up the till, without serving anyone and put the £5 in, which was still in his hand at the time.
I didn't know what to do tbh. I had no idea how much he was being paid or what his personal situation was. He might have even been the boss ( I suspect not tbh) or a relative of the boss. That said, if I caught him, someone else with better eyesight must have seen him, so he'll be exposed too. It's not me to grass him up tbh.
Had a couple of hours to kill last night so popped into a pub I havent been near for a good 10 years.
Its a good old fashioned pub, quite large with high ceilings and the usual over the top Christmas decorations.
This is one of the very few pubs that remain in this area and you can see why, there just doesnt seem to be the demand, there were a maximum of 8 people in this pub at any one time.
The beer selection wasnt great,no real ale at all, but I did spot that they had Mosaic and was surprised that they only charged me £2.50 for a pint, apparently its on special (I assume nobody else drinks it, everyone else seemed to be on Fosters). Entertainment was Sky Sports showing the darts, have no idea how a pub this size can afford it. 4/10 The Red House, Barking Road, Plaistow.
As above, a quite a large pub but just a few locals lining the bars, maybe a Sunday evening is not the best monitor of how popular a pub is but all the signs pointed to this pub being on its last legs and ripe for conversion to flats.
Having said that the landlady seemed friendly enough, and the Guinness was Ok (again no ale).
The pub looked very tired and in need of a good clean, they also had the worst Christmas tree I have seen for years and for that they deserve a prize, although am not sure that the general crappiness was intentional, but intentional or not it was the highlight of the evening. 3/10.
I assume that the only decent pub left in the area is The Black Lion, cant think of any others for miles.
Ever been in the Bronze bar/club just down the road Mushy?
They do Nigerian Guinness (stout) and a lager (Star) plus several other bottled beers. It's a big Nigerian based bar, but I've always been welcomed, people are friendly enough once you get to know them and they always have some kind of sport/music on at all times - sometimes both at once. They also do food, but I've not investigated that so far. Opening times are pretty "flexible" too
No I have never been there Mr Indy, and in fact never really thought about it either.
I shall give it a try.
Also noticed a Brazilian place as I walked down the road that looked interesting, more for food then drink I would guess.
mushy wrote:I assume that the only decent pub left in the area is The Black Lion, cant think of any others for miles.
It is quite a shock when you consider how many pubs were along Plaistow High St and the Barking Road. Opposite the Abbey was the Swan and a few doors along the Golden Lion. Going up Balaam St you had the Greyhound and then The Coach and Horses, in the back streets you could find the Earl of Derby. The Albert was also a post match haunt of ours and the other side of the Black Lion was the Raglan, opposite the Vic. With a bit of perseverance you could also find the Libra and the Telegraph before ending up at Lampard’s and a late night Chinese takeaway from the place opposite the Railway.
Having said all that, none of them apart from the Black Lion, would have scored over a 6.
What was the pub down the first left towards Canning Town from the Abbey? We knew it as the 'Glory', but that wasnt its real name. Also there was another pub on the Barking road opposite the road I have just described, its a Paddy Power now. Both pubs I have played league darts in (along with the Libra).
Probably prompted by this walk down memory lane, we ended up in the Black Lion after the barcodes game. Excellent pint of Captain Bob and a comfy seat in the posh bar. But this was ruined slightly by the spurs game being on the big telly. At least they had the volume down. 9/10. Proper pub, proper pint in a glass and no knob heads getting all unnecessary.
Mushy, are you talking about the Trossachs pub and the Princess Alex across the Barking Road on the way from the Abbey to Canning Town?