Alex and James’ Almighty London Pub Crawl

2009 pub crawls

22nd December 2009 – City of London (part 17)

I met Alex and Kate in the Broadgate Exchange round the back of Liverpool Street station. Not a bad place and I arrived to find that Alex and Kate had kindly bought me a pint of London Pride. What more could a man ask for? We moved from there to the Crispin which was on the edge of a plaza with an amazing neon light maze set out in the patio. It looked beautiful. We had Tim Taylors (Fosters shandy for the lady) and marveled at the use of bare breasted statue being used as a crisp packet display shelf. From there we went across Moorgate to the Bishop of Norwich which we had inexpicably missed on previous pubcrawls. This place was underground and we had Old Wallop in pewter tankards. Alex recalled that he had heard that Old Wallop was a bizarre marketing device that renamed Courage and according to ratebeer.com, it is! We left there in search of the City Boot which we found but dissappointingly turned out to be a Davy’s wine bar (no taps in sight)… Instead, we went to the O’Neill’s on London Wall. We had halves for the obvious reason and headed from the frying pan to the fire that is All Bar One. To be fair, I rate All Bar One quite a bit higher than Slug and Lettuce/Corney and Barrow/Pitcher and Piano but we still we stuck to the halves. To prolong the torture, we visited the Slug and Letture on Stony Lane (halves)… From there we gave ourselves a treat in the form of the Old Tea Warehouse. This place was pretty decent so we stuck around for pints. We finished off with yet another shite bar/pub – the Picther and Piano on Bishopsgate (halves). This left us conventiently close to Liverpool St for Alex and Kate to get home.

a) Broadgate Exchange PH
2 Exchange Place, EC2M 2QS

b) The Crispin
3 Finsbury Avenue, EC2M 2PA

c) Bishop Of Norwich
91-109 Moorgate, EC2M 6SJ

d) O’Neill’s
64 London Wall, EC2M 5TP

e) All Bar One
106 Houndsditch, EC3A 7BD

f) Slug & Lettuce
9 Stoney Lane, EC1 7BH

g) The Old Tea Warehouse
4-8 Creechurch Lane, EC3A 5AJ

h) Pitcher & Piano
200 Bishopsgate, EC2M 4NR


28th October 2009 – City of London (part 16)

I met Alex in the Saint in Paternoster Sq. This place was a rip-off (£4.45 for an Old Speckled Hen and £3.75 for a draught Becks Vier) yet lots of people were merrily passing their credit cards about. It also needed a few more light bulbs… Bah humbug. We moved on to the Spectator on Little Britain which had no cask ale so we tried kegged beer called Twaits Smooth. Alex reckons that there was possibly some lesbotic polish staff thing going on. From there we headed past the Old Baily and found Firefly which was surprisingly pub-like but also suffered from a lack of lightbulbs. From there we went to a ‘pub’ we had previously rejected due to it being suspiciously wine-bar like. It was the Press House (Wine Bar) but they had beer on draught so we got in there. We had an Adnam’s beer that you don’t tend to see around much (Spindrift) I think it is like a pilsner? I wore a wine bucket on my head to protest about something. Alex told me that he was going to ask a lawyer to send a cease and dissist letter to his co-worker Simon Alexander demanding that he stops using the initials A.S. At this point, we heard from Fran and Phipps and began the tricky task of performing a rendezvous. We intended to go to a pub we had not previously visited but we were not organised enough to accomplish this to met Fran and Phippsy in one of the best pubs we have visited so far (Williamsons Tavern). We scored some Adnam’s beer-themed rock (the confectionary) here and Fran’s played the hillarious prank of slipping some HP sauce into the last of my beer. Luckily from me I didn’t drink it but lets just say that Fran requested I sign a piece of paper formally promising not to dip my nob into his beer that evening. From there we hit two more pubs we had previously visited (the Jamaica Wine House and the Crosse Keys). We said goodbye to Fran and Phipps in between these two. A good thing about re-visiting pubs is that sometimes we don’t remember much about a place. This was true for the Crosse Keys (see 29th April 2008). Hence we know they have an enourmous Weatherspoons stylee oval bar with 24 real ale pumps that all seem to be working… Nice. We called it a day there. On the way home, there was a strange mist hanging over Southwark.

a) The Saint
1 Rose Street, EC4M 7DQ

b) The Spectator
6 Little Britain, EC1A 7BX

c) Firefly
18-20 Old Bailey, EC4M 7EP

d) The Press House Wine Bar
St Brides House, 1 St Bride’s Passage, EC4

e) Williamsons Tavern
1 Groveland Court, EC4M 9EH

f) Jamaica Wine House
12 St Michaels Alley, Cornhill, EC3V 9DS

g) The Crosse Keys
9 Gracechurch Street, EC3V 0DR


24th September 2009 – City of London (part 15)

We had a large group from the lab due to it being combined with a leaving doo for Andy T (Me, Alex, Darragh, Emma, Steve, Silke and of course Andy). We started in the Arbitrager. Emma, Silke, Darragh and Alex arrived first and went downstairs. I arrived and took a while to get a beer at the bar (It was the 250th anniverssary of the Guinness brewery) by which time, they had gone outside and confusion ensued. Steve and Andy turned up as we were finishing and so went ahead to The Wall, on London Wall. We caught up with them there to find it was a fairly crappy bar stuck onto a 1970’s building but we stood outside and drank our kegged Bass. We headed on from there over London Wall (I attracted the attention of a police man by looking at him and feared arrest for behaving strangely – paranoia) and arrived at The Lord Abercromway just before Liverpool St. This place was great with platters of free pork-based snaks being handed around by the bar staff. I took this as an opportunity to open the packet of MiMi-Star chillied dried pigs ears that Dave had brought back from Tokyo for me. I followed a lady with a platter around and as she left a table, I wondered up and offered these nibbles that were a bit like a chilli flavored pork scratching. Suprisingly, about 50% of those offered accepted. Even about half of the group tried them (Steve, Andy, Alex and me). They were not bad – a bit like spicy bacon with elastic bands weaved through them. We had some unusual Tim Taylor’s in this place and Alex even managed to bag a shot of hot mulled cider (Mmmmm). Steve and Darragh left us at this point and we went in a circle round the block to get to the King’s Arms. This place was a bit of a hole and we ended up sitting out the back. There was a strange small building that used to be a kind of public bath in the middle of a plaza there. We investigated and found that there was a private ball being set-up for that evening. When we left, Emma and Silke went their separate ways and Alex, Andy and I continued on to the Mail Coach across the cross-roads on Camomile St. This place was downstairs and kitted out for darts and pool. We played some darts (badly) and I think there may have been a guy setting up for karaoke… We headed round the corner to the Slug and Lettuce on Saint Mary Axe, opposite the Gerkin. Unsurprisingly, this place was did not serve cask conditioned ale (all kegged beer – yuk). I don’t recall but we may have gone with the flow and had a nice refreshing glass of Pilsner. From here we headed down to the Underwriters that definately had Karaoke going and a lot of pissed people taking part. It was downstairs with not much more than a garden shed for an entrance. I tried to hand out more of the cillied pigs ears here but with less success than in the Lord Abercromway. From there we made a bee line to the Gerkin and checked out the bar in its ground floor. Pretty much what you’d expect… Modern decor, like a goldfish bowl and lots of young blokes in suites. From there we headed to the Baracuda bar on Houndsditch. This was a large and fairly empty (for its size) sports bar. We had halves and finally finished off the pigs ears. We walked across the road to the White Horse (formerly O’Niell’s) where we got talking to the landlord. He pointed out to us the deliberate error in some decorative writing around the wall just below the cieling (‘Fulllers London Pride’). From there we ended up at the Stoned Horse (paper cow?). According to my extensive notes this place was some kind of lesbian heaven, had pool (Alex 2, James 1, Andy nil), had OK beer and had a furry squirrel in a glass display case stuck to the wall. Very odd. We call got home safely and miss Andy’s presence in the lab a lot.

a) The Arbitrager
27a Throgmorton Street, EC2N 2AN

b) The Wall
45 Old Broad Street, EC2N 1HU

c) Lord Aberconway
73 Old Broad Street, EC2M 1QS

d) Kings Arms
27 Wormwood Street, EC2M 1RP

e) Mail Coach
1 Camomile Street, EC3A 7EE

f) Slug & Lettuce
25 St Mary Axe, EC3

g) Underwriters Public House
15 St Mary Axe, EC3A 8BA

h) The Sterling
30 St Mary Axe, EC3A 8EP

i) Barracuda Bar
133 Houndsditch, EC3A 7BX

j) White Horse (formerly O’Neill’s?)
31 Houndsditch, EC3 7BD

k) Stone Horse
128 Bishopsgate, EC2M 4HX


20th August 2009 – City of London (part 14)

I met Alex in the East India Arms on Fenchurch Street which was a Sheapherd Neame pub. We were most of the way through a pint when Fran joined us. Alex and I had another half while Fran caught up with a pint. We left there and walked Westwards to the Elephant. This was a Young’s pub that did not really resemble a pub but the beers did taste better than in the East India. The place was empty (one barmaid and her boyfriend) because all seven customers (us included) were outside on the Pavement. We left there and headed east agin and down London Street towards Fenchurch Street Station. We were looking for the Fen Bar and had to ask a workman for directions. We found the place on the upper concourse of the station. I had the London Pride while Alex and Fran stuck with the Youngs. This place was a Free House with a pet pidgeon. There really was a pidgeon pecking about on the carpet looking for crisp or peanut fragments. I nearly sent Fran and Alex to sleap trying to explain how the internet works. They managed to retain conciousness to finish their pints and we headed off past the Windsor (already visited) to the Ship. This place was a priceless boozer with it’s very own Lesley-from-the-George. The were ties hanging from a beam that apparently, the Land Lady has collected from patrons. There also seems to be a pub quiz happening on Tuesday nights which gave us an idea for when we finish this pubcrawl malarky – we could choose random pub quiz nights in the City or elsewhere for a bit of variety. We managed to drag ourselves out from the Ship and headed for the Crutched Friar. We had actually been here before but never got to buy a beer (as they were closing early). I had a Deuchar’s IPA, Alex had the Twaites Wainwright and Fran had the London Pride. We all had a taste of the Top Banana which was a Caledonian beer that tasted like their fermentation control had gone haywire during the summer months causing some dodgy yeast esters to be present and they were selling it off as ‘banana flavoured beer’. We left there (trying to take some of the bollards with us) and headed to…. The Picther and Piano. This place was not as bad as you might expect but that said, there was not a cask beer in sight. I am not certain but I think we had three halves of Amstel (Fran capitulated his resistance to halves under extenuating circumstances). From there we headed around the corner to the Slug and Lettuce which was massive and empty. This was an equally non-cask-beer place so we had halves of Fuller’s London Pride from a keg. It was a weird experience and the beer definately had a buttersctoch flavor (diacetyl) compared to the cask version (proof that cask ale is best). We stood outside by the door with out little 12 US Fl.Oz. glasses and admired the cute little topary bushes. From there we headed across Minores to the Peacock and Mary Janes (avoided due to cocktailbarness and bouncers). The Peacock was more of a proper pub but sat underneath a large modern building. We had proper pints here. There is some photographic evidence of Alex playing on an arcade game but I don’t remember much else about it. We were pretty sensible this night and actually passed up a beer before last orders. Everyone got home safely and the hangover was only 1/10.

a) East India Arms
67 Fenchurch Street, EC3M 4BR

b) The Elephant P.H.
119 Fenchurch Street, EC3M 5BA

c) Fen Bar
Fenchurch Street Station, EC3M 4AJ

d) The Ship
3 Hart Street, EC3R 7NB

e) The Crutched Friar
39-41 Crutched Friars, EC3N 2AE

f) Pitcher & Piano
9-9c Crutched Friars, EC3N 2AR

g) The Slug & Lettuce
1 America Square, EC3N 2LB

h) Peacock
41 Minories, EC3N 1DY


30th July 2009 – City of London (part 13)

The plan was to visit as many of the pubs along the north bank of the Thames within the City. I met Alex – who had already bumped into Helen and Darragh – in the Samuel Pepys. This place was down an ally called Stew Ln, upstairs and right on the river bank. Florian and Chloe joined us there. Chloe seemed to have some new shoe problems that required her to afix quite a few plasters to her feet. There was an NBC-online office party going on in the back bit but we did muscle through that to take a look at the nice balcony overhanging the water. We got out of there and had to walk away from the river, along Upper Thames street and down Cousin Ln to get to the Banker. This was a Fuller’s place and built into the arches underneath Cannon Street Station. The weather was quite nice at this point and we stood outside. There was a set of steps going down to the water that I guess may give access to a beach? The tide was in. Helen accidentally got Alex and me pints of Fuller’s ESB which Alex noted had the familiar taste of washing-up liquid about it… Florian’s mate Nico from Marseille joined us here. We moved on underneath the bridge and onto a boat called the London Regalia. This had an address within the Square Mile and so we pretty much had to board it. The tide was coming in and the boat was quite wobbly. Everyone looked pretty pale and uneasy until we got our sea legs on. The beer was amazingly not-over-priced when compared to the only other pub-on-a-boat I have been on on the Thames (Tatershall Castle). We disembarked the vessel and Nico said goodbye. We went north up Swan Lane and found the Porter’s Lodge which was not on our Fancyapint.com map (but was on the big list). Helen also left us at this point whilst Alex, Darragh, Florian, Chloe and I went downstairs to find a massive darts-oriented bar with the Landlord setting up the Karaoke. I got straight in their with a bit of Space Oddessy by David Bowie. Then Chloe and Florian followed. A guy (not with us) did a great Jonny Cash impersonation and after that, I think Darragh and Florian did another. By this point, we really had to leave. We sat outside for a while – not sure why – during which time, I managed to offend Chloe with my impersonation of a South African accent. It went down like a turd in a punch bowl. After that incident, Florian and Chloe departed and Alex, Darragh and myself continued in a haphazard manner up Martin Lane – past Wodin Shades winebar – along Cannon Street and round the corner to… Dizzys. This place was more of a posh bar than a pub but was OK. We didn’t know until we had finished our beers but there is a massive sports bar downstairs! I think we all had halves. We crossed the road heading for the Monument and found the Fine Line. This was a slightly up-market bar that was not all that busy. My memory is hazy and there are not too many photos but I think we had halves again (Darragh had vodka and coke). We headed over the cobbled street to the Monument (the pub, not the tower). This used to be a HogsHead bar years ago but does not seem to sport the same branding now. Alex and I had a beer called Golden Zest (A light summer ale with a hint of lemon!!!). I am pretty sure Darragh stuck to the V&C. We saw the saddest sight of the evening in the form of an area reserved for Tim that had about five people in it. From there we headed quite a way to the next pub. So far in fact that Darragh had to stop and pee in a loading bay. We passed the Rajistan curry house and found the Hung Drawn and Quatered. I think we finished on pints in this place and stood outside with some ornamental barrels for a beer rest. We were passed last orders by this point so headed homewards along Great Tower St. Alex went North from there, Darragh went south and I hopped on the 40. Everyone got home safely.

a) Samuel Pepys
Stew Lane, EC4V 3PT

b) The Banker
2 Cousin Lane, EC4R 3TE

c) London Regalia
Swan Pier, Swan Lane, EC4R 3TN

d) The Porters Lodge
17-19 Arthur Street, EC4 9BR

e) Dizzy’s
28 King William Street, EC4R 9AT

f) Fine Line
1 Monument Street, EC3R 8BG

g) The Monument (Hogshead)
18 Fish Street Hill, EC3R 6DB

h) Hung Drawn & Quartered
27 Great Tower Street, EC3R 5AQ


30th June 2009 – City of London (part 12)

I met Alex in Ye Olde Cock Tavern at the Aldwych-end of Fleet St. This must have been a free house as they had London Pride Greene King IPA and Adnam’s bitter on tap – we had the latter. This pubcrawl was precarious as we were relatively unprepared with maps of where pubs were and we had been to so many in this area. I turned out to be a bit of a mop-up job for stray pubs we had somehow missed on our previous pubcrawls. Alex noted that if ever there was a ‘tourist pub’ then this was it. From the Cock, we went east along Fleet St and checked out Serjeants (closed) and El Vino (definite wine bar). We went up Fetter Ln and stopped in the Slug and Lettuce. They had one bitter on tap (Broadside) so we ordered two halves. It was murky and about 20 deg. C. We exchanged them for non-cockupable Heineken and sat by the open window (UK heat wave!). From here, we continued up Fetter Ln to see if a few places we had missed/were shut were still there. The Printer’s Devil is not looking good (boarded up) and the Blue Anchor was shut due to fire. We also checked out the Volupte Lounge (cocktail bar) and Bertorelli (restaurant). We stumbled from New Fetter Ln down Bartlett Ct and ended up in the court yard where Dr Johnson’s house is/was. We played with the cats money and I did a Cher impression on the cannon near Wine Office Ct. We wondered past Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese and checked out 61 Fleet St (late night bar?) and 65 Fleet St (corporate bar?) and concluded that the building numbers on Fleet St do not follow the evens on one side, odds on the other rule. The low numbers start on the south side at the west end and increase as they move east. Then they flip over to the north side and increase as they go west. Anyway, we needed beer by this point and so headed up Shoe Ln to the Cartoonist. Alex didn’t think much of this place but I kind-of liked it (better beer than the Slug and Lettuce – not hard). That said, it was in the shadow of an NCP car park. We then whizzed around the corner to the City Retreat (Youngs). One pint later, we headed east down a coridor of glass-fronted buildings and ended up near a Corney and Barrow that we wrote-off as not a pub as everyone was drinking wine and they had no beer on tap. We ended up in the Hoop and Grapes on Farringdon St which is a great Shepherds Neame pub. We sat out the back and had a conversation about poor old Jeremy Beadle’s hand and then moved over the road to the White Swan. This place was not as fantastic as the Hoop and Grapes but was very decent. I was probably ill-advised when I commented on the barmaid’s squelchy pump. We were taking photos of the pub and I have a feeling that the landlord thought we were going to do some sort of write-up on the internet of his pub (ha ha) and he hung near our table. We headed south into familiar territory and passed the Evangelist that was definitely closed down/gone. There was a pizza place near by but it was no pub. We ended up in Shaw’s Booksellers which may well sell some books but is definitely a pub. Alex ordered halves in here because we were behind in our usual rate of pub coverage. From there we went next door to the Cos bar (halves again). Not much to say about this place but from memory, it lived up to the ‘bar’ part of it’s name. We finished off in the Rising Sun, a place that we visited on the third City of London pubcrawl. The barmaid was trying to open the till with a knife and apparently had a pierced nipple. Neither of us were going to tell her how to do her job. We both got home safely and had no hang-overs!

a) Ye Olde Cock Tavern PH
22 Fleet Street, EC4Y 1AA

b) Slug & Lettuce
5-11 Fetter Lane, EC4A 1BR

c) The Cartoonist
76 Shoe Lane, EC4A 3JB

d) City Retreat
74-75 Shoe Lane, EC4

e) The Hoop & Grapes
80 Farringdon Street, EC4A 2TR

f) White Swan PH
20 Farringdon Street, EC4A 4AB

g) Shaws Booksellers
31-34 St Andrew’s Hill, EC4V 5DE

h) Cos Bar
148 Queen Victoria Street, EC4V 4BY

i) Rising Sun
61 Carter Lane,EC4V 5DY


27th May 2009 – City of London (part 11)

I met Alex in the Centre Page which is pretty much the first pub on the left as you go north over the wobbly bridge. I was surprised to find Alex looking smarter than usual (new job). The barman must have had his mind on other things as he managed to consistently pour a different drink than that requested which was a bit odd. We left there just as Darragh and Ian arrived and so all walked on to the Sea Horse PH (a pub we had to use some detective work to locate). This establishment had a conspicuous high male:female ratio and may well have been a gay bar although the experts among us were not totally convinced. Fran called to say he was on his way and I tried to persuade Ian to speak with a German accent and pretend his name was Helmut Kaas when Fran arrived but it lasted about 2 seconds before the cat was out. Fran downed a pint and we all headed north to the Livery. I had it on good authority (fancyapint.com) that this was owned by Fuller’s and used to be called One of Two but there was no evidence as such. The place was a bit like a night club inside and we ended up standing outside to get away from the noise. It was the coldest pint of bitter (Bass) I have yet had in London. We continued north to the Red Herring which is more of what we would call a (Fuller’s) pub. Fran and Alex went for the (5.5%ABV) ESB whilst I had a cleansing (3.5%ABV) Chiswick. Darragh and Ian played it safe with lager. We continued north to a very tall and old building in the middle of the Wood St where we found the Cape. This was a massive bar on the corner. There was a footy match on and it was packed. We all got beer and stood outside with the overspilling crowd. It was at some point here that I sustained a minor eye injury but it was fun! We also tried one of my finest IPAs here. Fran and Alex liked it but I was surprised by Ian who also said it was good. We headed west from here through St Alban’s Court and passed a strange bit of ruined wall on Noble St. It was here that Ian made the proclamation “we love Fran!” an informed me that he was going to set up a Facebook.com group for people of like mind. We arrived at the Lord Raglan PH of which I remember virtually nothing. However, I do have a video of Alex doing a dance that involved quite a bit of pelvic thrusting and definitely confirms that this was a proper old boozer. We left the Raglan and headed south to the City Pipe. This was a downstairs kind-of-place that sold beer in pewter tankards which is a novelty that never grows dull (the metallic-taste with every sip helps). To end, we headed west along Cheapside to one of Ian’s favorites – The Paternoster. Fran had to depart at this point. We stood outside and apparently (according to the photographic evidence) tried to decide who was taller than who. Having the studied the evidence, I infer that James < Darragh < Alex < Ian is the order. Alex, Ian and Darragh caught the tube from St Pauls and I walked along Fleet St and got the 176 from Aldwych.

a) The Centre Page
29-33 Knightrider Street, EC4V 5BH

b) Sea Horse Public House
64 Queen Victoria Street, EC4N 4BA

c) The livery (formerly One of Two)
Three Keys House, 130 Wood Street, EC2V 6DL

d) The Red Herring
49 Gresham Street, EC2V 7ET

e) Cape
2 Love Lane, EC2V 7JQ

f) Lord Raglan PH
61 St Martin’s Le Grand, EC1A 4ER

g) City Pipe
33 Foster Lane, EC2V 6HD

h) Paternoster
St Martin’s Court, 1 Queen’s Head Passage, EC4M 7DZ


7th April 2009 – City of London (part 10)

I met Alex in the Sutton Arms where – not for the first time – I was confused by a mirror. Alex was half way through a pint of Fullers Chiswick so I got a pint of the same and a half to top up Alex. The place was a bit of an old boozer but with stripped floors and as it turned out, was not even within the City of London… We moved on to the Shakespear which was in the City. I had a pint of Black Sheep and Alex went for the Broadside. This place looked like s**t from the outside but was OK on the inside, except for the feeling that a small proportion of the clientel could kick off at any moment. We then tried to head to either the King’s Head, The Whitbred Brewery or the St Pauls Tavern (on Chiswell St) but all were closed and covered up. From the look of things, they may re-open so we will have to check back. This turned out to be a theme for this part of the evening as the next place we aimed for was also gone (Marylebone Rifle and Pistol, 2 Fore St) and we spotted another two that were looking derelect (The Plough and The Podium). We managed to get a couple of halves in The Globe (Alex had Sly Fox and I went for Tim Taylor’s Landlord), which doubled as The Keats. I went into the Globe, Alex went into the Keats and we met in the middle. At this point, both Fran and Nick made contact so after finishing our halves, we went to meet them. We bumped into Fran and Nick wandering along London Wall (with Fran’s sister Alice and hubby James) near the aforementioned defunct Podium. We headed up Wood St, down Fore St and wended our way to the Rack and Tenter. Nick and I went for a pint of Breakspear and Alex and Fran went for the Cockahoop. We sat outside for some reason, possibly to justify the shocking site of a patio heater with no one snuggled underneath it? We moven on in search of the City Boot but could not find it and instead went to the Red Lion. Alex and Fran went for the Abbot whilst Nick and I had the Bombadier. We rolled out of there, round the corner and straight into the Bangers. We only just made last orders in here by having halves (Old Wallop all round – served in pweter tankards :) , that or they did not want our sort in there. We moved on up the road to the Fleetwood where I think I became officially quite drunk. Alex, Fran and I went for the Fuller’s ESB whilst Nick had the Discovery. This was quite a big place. There was some quiz machine action but I stepped outside to snap some pics. We moved on to the Flying Horse which was another one right on the edge but not in the city. I had the GK IPA, Alex and Nick had the Hobgoblin and Fran had the Discovery. We followed Finsbury Ave round and stumbled across an All Bar One which for some reason or other, we went into and all drank halves of Duval (with a grean label…). We headed north and past the Broadgate Exchange but for another reason that escapes me, we didn’t go there. We did end up at the Railway Tavern near Liverpool St Station where Alex and Fran had GK Abbot Ale, I had the Old Specled Hen (now also brewed by GK) and Nick had some other indecipherable GK brew. We all dispersed and one way or another got home safely. [Photos]

a) Sutton arms
6 Carthusian St, London, EC1M 6EB

b) The Shakespeare PH
2 Goswell Road, EC1M 7AA

c) The Globe
83 Moorgate, EC2 6SA

d) Rack & Tenter PH
45 Moorfields, EC2Y 9TH

e) The Red Lion
1 Eldon Street, EC2M 7LS

f) Bangers
2-12 Wilson Street, EC2M 2TE

g) Fleetwood PH
36 Wilson Street, EC2M 2TE

h) Flying Horse
52 Wilson St, London, EC2A 2ER

i) All Bar One
18-20 Appold Street, London, EC2A 2AS

j) Railway Tavern PH
15 Liverpool Street, EC2M 7NX


17th March 2009 – City of London (part 9)

It was St Patrick’s day and I met Alex and Kate in the Shooting Star which was a decent Fuller’s pub. We moved on south in search of the Old Monk which appears to have gone to the great landlord in the sky. We over shot and stumbled into the Market Trader which seems not to be a City of London pub and was, in terms of the clientle ‘a bit Shoreditch’. We headed back up Middlesex street and found another non-City-of-London pub called the Poet. Nice enough place if not a bit All-bar-one-ish. We had halves in there before moving on to the Kings Stores. The inside of this pub was quite visible from the outside and it reminded me of a cricket pavillion sort of building. We carried on around the corner and into Williamson’s Wine and Ale House which was playing really loud Irish folk music (they called it the Oirish Roooow-ver) and it was actually impossible not to sit further then 8 feet from a speaker (we stayed for halves). We carried on to Woodin’s Shades which was a Nicolson’s pub. We tried to get them to stamp our loyalty cards but they refused and pointed out that the ’stamps’ we already had were useless as they were in fact just scribles made with a pen and were highly forgable (ha ha). We carried on down Bishopsgate to Dirty Dicks. There was a wierd bum-shaped stool at the bar that we were not alowed to sit on. We had halves and Alex managed to knock his over (I gave him some of mine). We headed down New Street to the Magpie which was pretty pleasant. However the thing I remember most about this place was the state of the back board after we had adjusted it to say that all dishes on the menu were on… complete with a pud. We left there and took some photos of a bricked up doorway and then went the longway round to the Bull. Kate went to get the round in but it seems there was some mysogeny at the bar as all the blokes got served first even though she was waving a 20. We skipped the Stone Horse Paper Cow as it looked crappy and instead went over the road to the White Hart. We messed about taking photos of a really red person and I think I lost the map at this place. We headed over the road to the George which was apparently part of a hotel (according to fancyapint.com) but I didn’t notice (too pished). I ran back to the White Hart to try and find the map but it was not there. We ended up in Hammilton Hall just outside Liverpool Street Station. This is a huge Weatherspoons place so not much else to say. We went and got burger’s from the BK in the station (Alex bourght mine) and all went home. [Photos]

a) The Shooting Star
125-129 Middlesex Street, E1 7JF

b) The Market Trader
50 Middlesex St, London, E1 7EX

c) The Poet
82 Middlesex Street, E1 7DA

d) Kings Stores PH
14 Widegate Street, E1 7HP

e) Williams Ale & Wine House
22-24 Artillery Lane, E1 7LP

f) Woodin’s Shades
212 Bishopsgate, EC2M 4PT

g) Dirty Dicks P.H.
Swedeland Court, 202 Bishopsgate, EC2M 4NR

h) The Magpie
12 New Street, EC2M 4TP

i) The Bull
4-6 Devonshire Row

j) White Hart
121 Bishopsgate, EC2M 3TH

k) George
Great Eastern Hotel, 40 Liverpool Street, London, EC2M 7QN

l) Hamilton Hall
32 Liverpool Street Station, Liverpool Street, EC2M 7PY


17th February 2009 – City of London ( part 8 )

I met Alex in the Black Friar near City Thames Link Station. Quite a nice pub inside with lots of interesting carved wood on the walls depicting monks. We left there intending to go East but on our walk about, Fran called from the Black Friar so we headed back to collect him We walked up New Bridge Street and cut down Bride Lane. We went past the Bridewell Theater bar and the City Boardroom (Wine bar) and went to the Crowne and Sugar Loaf instead which was a Sam Smiths place. We went to the Coach and Horses next (greene King) and then headed back to the Tipperary. This was an old Irish bar with the loo at the very top of the pub. I managed to offend the Irish landlord by asking if he was from Southern Ireland to which he replied ‘where else’. I didn’t push my luck by offering Ulster as an alternative. We did have a fascinating discussion about rodent’s vaginal plugs (they eat them apparently). We wondered east down Fleet St and checked to see if our tip that the Kings and Keys was no more and it was indeed no more. We went to the Albion next (ex O’Neills, now Youngs). Darragh went to fetch Florian and we headed onwards to the St Brides Tavern where I was politely asked to remove my hat by the bar maid (this was not a posh place). Bizzarely, Phippsy turned-up at this point and we headed on to the Harrow. I don’t remember much about this place but I do remember the barmaid giving me a funny look at the next place (The Witness Box) and telling me that I was too drunk to get served. I took my hat off and she changed her mind… I think the hat is trouble.

a) Black Friar PH
174 Queen Victoria Street, EC4V 4DB

b) Crowne & Sugar Loaf
26 Bride Lane, EC4Y 8DT

c) Coach & Horses
35 Whitefriars Street, EC4 8BH

d) Tipperary
66 Fleet Street, EC4Y 1HT

e) Albion? (was this the old O’Neills?)
2-3 New Bridge Street, EC4V 6AA

f) St Brides Tavern
1 Bridewell Place, EC4V 6AP

g) Harrow Ph
22 Whitefriars Street, EC4 8BX

h) Witness Box
36 Tudor Street, EC4Y 0BQ


6th January 2009 – City of London (part 7)

Kate and Darragh gave us a hand this time. We Began in Williamsons Tavern which is a lovely Nicholson pub, if a little tricky to find. We rolled out of there and straight into Ye Olde Watling which was another Nicholsons place. The Pavilion End was a bit on the poncy side so we stayed for a half. We walked down the road and there is a photo of me sat on some brass statue. Next, we headed to O’Neils which was regrettable. For some reason the Alex did not like the taste of his half and the Landlord took umbridge. We left there (I ran back to photograph the grumpy landlord) and went in search of the elusive Sea Horse. Needless to say we never found the Sea Horse that night althouh some detective work using fancyapint.com and Google maps has since located it… We stumbled into the Hatchet (of which I have no memories) and then tried to visit the London Stone and the All Bar One but both were shut. We couldn’t find the Cannon and so in frustration, re-visited the Golden Fleece (we went there in Oct 2008). It was here that Darragh surprised us with his fascination with women. Kate tried to get her friend Debra to send her a picture of her lady garden but was declined. From there we headed towards Monument and found the Bell. According to the notes we have, this pub had a creaky chair and for some reason Kate had a cold bum. We headed onwards (it was freezing cold) and did another re-visit of the Ship in Talbort Court. From there we went to the Brittania (Weatherspoons-esque downstairs place) which was at the foot of the Monument. It was here that someone uttered the wise words ‘you don’t want to choke on a stiffy!’ Amazingly, I finished my pint before Alex… A pub crawl first. We finished up in the Walrus and Carpenter where a pud was chalked on the wall. [Photos]

a) Williamsons Tavern
1 Groveland Court, EC4M 9EH

b) Ye Olde Watling
29 Watling Street, EC4M 9BR

c) Pavilion End P.H.
23 Watling Street, EC4M 9BR

d) O’Neill’s Irish Bar
65 Cannon Street, EC4 5AA

e) The Hatchet
28 Garlick Hill, EC4V 2BA

f) Golden Fleece PH
8-9 Queen Street, EC4N 1SP

g) The Bell Public House
29 Bush Lane, EC4R 0AN

h) The Ship Ph
11 Talbot Court, EC3V 0BP

i) Brittania
22 Monument Street, EC3R 8AJ

j) Walrus & Carpenter
45 Monument Street, EC3R 8BU