Alex and James’ Almighty London Pub Crawl
2007 pub crawls
29th Oct 2007 – Soho to Piccadilly CircusIt was Halloween and we had the tricky territory of south of Soho to cover. We started well in De Hems. Sunk to a low in Waxy O’ Connors (interesting use of trees) and then picked a random selection of pubs between there and the Blues Bar. We did see a shark attack victim/shark impailed on a person costume… [Photos]
a) De Hems
11 Macclesfield Street, W1D 5BW
b) Waxy O’Connors
14-16 Rupert Street, W1D 6DF
c) The Crown
64 Brewer Street, W1F 9TR
d) Leicester Arms
44 Glasshouse Street, W1B 5DP
e) Red Lion
14 Kingly Street, W1B 5PR
f) Blue Posts
18 Kingly Street, W1B 5PX
g) The Blues Bar
20 Kingly Street, W1B 5PZ
Sept 2007 – round Covent Garden and Soho with Darragh
Things nearly went west in the Lowlander when Darragh and I missed Alex. The freemason’s would have been dull had Alex not produced a bag of ‘Creamy Dreams’ that he bought on holiday. The Cross Keys and Two Brewers were very nice pubs. The Rupert Street bar and G-A-Y bar were ‘interesting’. [Photos]
a) Lowlander
36 Drury Lane, WC2B 5RR
b) Freemason’s Arms
81-82 Long Acre, WC2E 9NG
c) Cross Keys
31 Endell Street, WC2H 9BA
d) Two Brewers
40 Monmouth St, WC2H 9EP
e) Rupert Street
50 Rupert Street, W1D 6DS
f) G-A-Y Bar
30 Old Compton Street, W1D 5JX
21 Aug 2007 – Round Holborn
The Cittie of York was a good (Sam Smiths) place to start. The Old Nick was a classic boozer and the Bountiful cow was a bar that sold cow and cigars and were also in the business of weird milk dispensers. The Bung Hole was hilarious, mainly due to them selling beer in pewter jugs. Alex liked it so much he left his bag there and had to run back when he realised in the Red Lion. The Ship and the Na Zdrowie Bar were both bizzarrely back ally numbers and Alex tells me that the Ship was definately smokey, even though this was after the smoking ban.
a) Cittie of York
22 High Holborn, WC1V 6BS
b) Old Nick
21 – 22 Sandland Street, WC1R 4PZ
c) The Bountiful Cow
51 Eagle Street, WC1R 4AP
d) The Bung Hole Cellar
57 High Holborn, WC1V 6DX
e) Old Red Lion
72 High Holborn, WC1V 6LS
f) Ship Tavern
12 Gate Street, WC2A 3HP
g) Na Zdrowie Bar
11 Little Turnstile, WC1V 7DX
h) The Sun
21 Drury Lane, WC2B 5RH
31 July 2007 – Bethnal Green with Kate
I met Alex and Kate at Bethnal Green tube station and we walked a long way to the Cat and Mutton. It was the first day of the UK smoking ban so there were lots of people outside. There were also lots of people (blokes) with very odd facial hair (moustaches mainly) in the Cat and Mutton that evening. The Dove was a great Belgian beer/gastro pub. We saw a dutch/belgian family that had unusual splayed lips…
a) Cat and Mutton
76 Broadway Market, E8 4QJ
b) The Dove
24 Broadway Market, London, E8, UK
15 June 2007 – The Inaugural Pub Crawl (Alex, James and Emma)
Alex and Kate moved to the other side of London. Alex, Emma and I were discussing meeting up in the future and came up with the idea of meeting in a random-ish pub and going on from there… A month later, Alex and I start off in the Market Porter. We grabbed some Lowenbrau from the Londis near Borough Market and carried on over London Bridge. We either went via Cheapside or Cannon St, it is disputable but either way, we went to a pub where I offended the Polish bar maid by being surprised that she had heard of Doctor Who… We went to the fine bub that is Ye Olde Cheshire and a guy in squeaky trousers passed by that I felt compelled to video (to be posted). Emma joined us and we went on. I don’t recall but there is photographic evidence of unspeakable things being done to the great bastion of British justice. There was a stop at the BurgerKing on Kingsway, then we wound up at the Prince of Wales on Drury Lane. About 200 school kids went marching past (Emma took video). We wound up in the Porter House and managed to find Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. What a great end to a great start of an almighty London pub crawl. [Photos]
a) The Market Porter
9 Stoney Street, SE1 9AA
b) Ye Olde London
1 Old Bailey, EC4M 7BG
c) Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
145 Fleet Street, EC4A 2BU
d) Prince of Wales
150-151 Drury Lane, WC2B 5TB
e) The Porter House
21 Maiden Lane, WC2E 7NA