Alex and James’ Almighty London Pub Crawl

2010 pub crawls

15th December 2010 - Angel (part 3)

We had Darragh, Kate and Debbie along with us.

a) Kings Head
115 Upper Street, London, N1 1QN

b) Slim Jims Liquor Store
112 Upper Street, Islington, London, N1 1QN

c) The Bull
100 Upper Street, London, N1 0NP

d) Slug and Lettuce
1 Islington Green, London, N1 2XH

e) The Camden Head
2 Camden Walk, London, N1 8DY

f) The York
82 Islington High Street, London, N1 8EQ

g) Nag's Head
12 Upper Street, London, N1 0PQ

h) Round Midnight
13 Liverpool Road, London, N1 0RW


11th November 2010 - Angel (part2)

We had Merdol assissting us on this leg of the Angle pubcrawl.

a) The Castle
54 Pentonville Rd, London, N1 9HF

b) The Lexington
96-98 Pentonville Road, London, N1 9JB

c) The Chappel
29a Penton Street, London, N1 9PX

d) Lord Wolseley
55 White Lion Street, London, N1 9PP

e) The Compass
58 Penton Street, London, N1 9PZ

f) The King of Denmark
7 Cloudsley Road, London, N1 0EJ

g) The Crown
16 Cloudesley Road, London, N1 0EB

h) The Islington Tap
80 Liverpool Road, London, N1 0QD


14th October 2010 - Angel (part 1)

This was Alex's first pubcrawl as a married man and for a change we started near Angel.

b) Old Red Lion Theatre
418 St John Street, EC1V 4NJ

c) Shakespeares Head
1 Arlington Way, EC1R 1XA

d) Harlequin
27 Arlington Way, EC1R 1UY

e) Queen Boadicea
292-294 St John Street, EC1V 4PA

f) Exmouth Arms
23 Exmouth Market, EC1R 4QR

g) Wilmington Arms
69 Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4RL

h) Easton
22 Easton Street, WC1X 0DS

i) Filthy McNastys Whiskey Cafe
68 Amwell Street, EC1R 1UU


14th August 2010 - Nottinghill (Stag proper)

We had about 3 pints in the Old Swan to start and ended with 2 pints in the Henry Holland. The rest we had pints in... That's about 10 pints for me which I think is a personal record. Thank God I had a pork pie in my bag to keep me going. Alex had a few tequillas and the odd pastis too. How we survived it I don't know.

a) Old Swan
206 Kensington Church Street, W8 4DP

b) Champion
1 Wellington Terrace, W2 4LW

c) Black Lion
123 Bayswater, Road W2 3JH

d) Mitre
24 Craven Terrace, W2 3QH

e) The Tyburn
18 Edgware Road, W2 2EN

f) The three Tuns
1 Portman Mews South, W1H 6HR

g) Henry Holland
39 Duke Street, W1U 1LP


29th July 2010 - Nottinghill (Stag practice)

We had Loïc, Andy T and Darragh joining us this evening to check out the area in preparation for Alex's impending stag-day pubcrawl.

a) Old Swan
206 Kensington Church Street, W8 4DP

b) The Mall Tavern
71 Palace Gardens Terrace, W8 4RU

c) Churchill Arms
119 Kensington Church Street, W8 7LN

d) Windsor Castle
114 Campden Hill Road, W8 7AR

e) Uxbridge Arms
13 Uxbridge Street, W8 7TQ

f) Sun In Splendour
7 Portobello Road, W11 3DA


3rd June 2010 - City of London (part 21... Almost the last City of London pubcrawl)

We had Darragh and Lauren (Darragh's new house mate) with us this time. There is more to write up later...

a) Wine Tun
Scandinavian House, 2-6 Cannon Street, EC4M 6XX

b) All Bar One
103 Cannon Street, EC4N 5AG

c) London Stone
109 Cannon Street, EC4N 5AD

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

e) Steam Wine Bar
1 St George's Lane, EC3R 8DJ

f) Bangers Too
1 St Mary At Hill, EC3R 8EE

g) Agenda (bar) / Luc (restaurant)
3 Minster Court, EC3R 7DD

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


6th May 2010 – City of London (part 20… The worst pubcrawl ever!)

I met Alex in The Last which is built into a modern office block and just a couple of meters round the corner from two other pubs we have previously visited. This was quite a large bar but had two decent ales on hand pumps. We headed from here to the All Bar One at the south end of Old Baily. We had a half in here and had to get out. From there we passed the still closed Ryan’s Bar before finding that the Davy’s on Creed lane passed as a pub (of the Courage/Old Wallop on tap variety). This place was downstairs (as many serving Old Wallop are) and has a huge amount of brass piping in the gents. From here we went north in search of a Slug and Lettuce on Aldersgate St but it turned out to be shut (hooray!). Having dodged that bullet, we header to a bar at the foot of City Point called the Cuban which was pretty bad and definately not closed. I don’t recall what we drank but it was a half. We left there and walked towards the Broadgate Arena, stopping at a place called Brasserie Rocque which had really high urinals. Other than that not much to say about this place. From there we hit a new low by sitting in the Wren bar in Liverpool Street Station. This was pretty awful. Not even a pidgeon to ammuse us. We walked a strage way out of the station to get to the Sir Paul Pindar which was an even lower point than the Wren Bar. The fabric on the seating was stained with god knows what. The floors were ruined (cheap laminate), there was someone wailing down a mic and the beer was dreadfull. Normally I take an write-ups on beerintheevening.com with a pinch of salt figuring that only people with an axe to grind ever write them but everything BITE say about this pub is true. From here we tried to get into the Champagne Bar in Tower 42 but the secuirty gaurd ran in from having a fag and stopped us. I think we can probably rule it out as a non-pub anyway. We visited a pitcher and Piano for a half before passing through the Royal Exchnage – discovering that the bar had no pumps. We checked out number 25 Birchin Lane to confirm it was a restaurant (it is) before finally having a decent beer in an old favourite – the Jamaica Winehouse. What a great end to the worst pubcrawl ever.

a) The Last
Unit 2, Athene Place, Shoe Lane, EC4A 3BQ

b) All Bar One
44-46 Ludgate Hill, EC4M 7JZ

c) Davys at Creed Lane
10 Creed Lane, EC4M 8SH

d) Cuban
Citypoint Piazza (Open Space), 1 Ropemaker Street, EC2Y 9BG

e) Brasserie Rocque
37 Broadgate Circle, EC2M 2QS

f) Wren Bar (pub next to Burger King)
Unit 5, Food Court, Liverpool Street Station Liverpool Street

g) Sir Paul Pindar
14 Bishopsgate Arcade, EC2M 3YD

h) Pitcher & Piano
28-30 Cornhill, EC3V 3ND

i) Jamaica Wine House
Jamaica Wine House, St Michael’s Alley, EC3V 9DS


10th April 2010 – Richmond with Kate

I met Alex and Kate at the station in Richmond and went to get fitted for a suit. Following that, we found ourselves in the Waterman’s Arms watching the Grand National. I think Don’t Push-It-won. Kate pointed out how odd it is that Footballers get paid so much to kick a bag of air around on a field. We had a couple of pints here then moved on around the corner to the White Cross which is right on the river. We stood by the river and briefly considered comandeering one of the rowing boats before coming to our senses. I must have been talking a lot as I still had the best part of a pint when Alex and Kate had finished. We walked along the river to get to the White Swan where we sat outside at the back. I set fire to a glow in the dark bracelet which I cannot recommend. It was not spectacular, made a gooey mess on the floor and was probably giving off toxic fumes. This was the last pint of the day before we switched over to halves for obvious reasons such as the glow-stick indcident. We left the White Swan and headed to the Green where we found The Prince’s Head (where we sat inside) and the Cricketers where we stood outside. We actually got shooed away from the doorstep of an anoyed looking resident of the neighbouring house. We headed across the green to the opposite corner from here. There was a bridge over the railway, a quick step through a car park and footbridge over the A316 to get to the Triple Crown. Due to a series of thefts, this pubs apparently once glorious book selection was reduced to nothing. We consoled/nourished ourselves with many bags of pickled onion flavour Monster Munch and moved on to the last two pubs – the Red Cow and the White Horse. These are back towards Richmond but still bizarely stranded out alone and together. I don’t remember much about these places but I have a feeling they were worth visiting.

a) Waterman’s Arms
12 Water Lane, TW9 1TJ

b) White Cross
Riverside, TW9 1TJ

c) White Swan
Old Palace Lane, TW9 1PG

d) Prince’s Head
28 The Green, TW9 1LX

e) The Cricketers
The Green, TW9 1LX

f) The Triple Crown Inn
15 Kew Foot Road, TW9 2SS

g) The Red Cow
59 Sheen Road, TW9 1YJ

h) The White Horse
Worple Way, TW10 6DF


1st April 2010 – City of London (part 19… Second Aniverssary)

I met Alex and Fran in the Minories which is in arches underneath a railway and was pretty packed. At one point, 20-30 young exchange students marhed through the pub and into a restaurant. Darragh arrived as we were leaving. We went to the Duke of Somerset next which is a pub we nearly made it to the last time we were in the area but couldn’t quite find it. Google maps satelite view helped us this time. I hesitate to say this but the pub was filled with slappers and had kareoke. Surfice to say we stood outside and drank our beers. We went from here to the Slug and Lettuce on Fenchurch Street. Another truely awful place – why are we doing this to ourselves? Fran had a lucky escape as he ran back to the Minories to collect Polly. We left the Slug in search of The Assembly. This place was actually quite decent despite the definate restauranty-feel. They had a nice beer selection and when Nick arrived, he drank to pints to our one. We fell out of that place and into the All Bar One adjacent. Things were getting quite messy by now and I think I (alone) switched to halves. We left ABO and went onto the Sugar Quay to try and find a place called Jetty but it had no pumps to we abandoned it. Alex and I actually went down some steps and one to the little beach. I have a photo of Alex leaning against one of the wooden jetty legs. We got back on to the road and went to three pubs we have previusly visited – Hung Drawn and Wankered, The Walrus and Carpenter and the Porter’s Lodge. This was actually a big mistake as Polly nearly got into a fight after she called a woman ‘fatso’ (well, she was fat) and I was in a right state. Alex very kindly escorted me home and kipped on the sofa. Thankfully the next day was Good Friday. This is a reminder that 6 pints is OK (on food). Seven pints is definately a bit of a hang over and eight pints means piles of puke on public transport.

a) Minories Food Ale & Wine
64-73 Minories, EC3N 1DD

b) Duke of Somerset PH
15 Little Somerset Street, E1 4NJ

c) The Slug & Lettuce
100 Fenchurch Street, EC3M 5JD

d) Lewis and Clarke (The Assembly)
The Assembly, 14 Seething Lane, EC3N 4AX

e) All Bar One
16 Byward Street, EC3R 5BA

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

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

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


18th February 2010 – City of London (part 18)

I met Alex in the Gable which is a modernish sort of bar built into the corner of an office block. We headed from there as it began to rain and when I say rain, I mean rain like a pissing cow! We went to the Guild hall to try and find the bar in there. It turns out there used to be a bar but it was lost during a refurb. The Queens Dinner event was happening and I nearly had to go through a metal detector when I went to ask for advice. Seems like a swizz to call it the Queens Dinner when she was not attending – or so they told us. Anyway, we couldn’t find the bar so went in search of the Fine Line which is where slowly other people joined us. Jon turned up, followed by Darragh, Florian and two other Frenchies and finally Fran. We stayed here for an extra pint and then headed for Ye Olde Watling to show the French visitors a more traditional London pub. Jon had left us by this point. From here we went to Mustard which was definately at the bar end of being a pub but they had beer on tap. We finally ended up in the Rising Sun. A pub we have visited several times before but a good one nonetheless.

a) The Gable
25 Moorgate, EC2R 6AR

b) The Fine Line
1 Bow Churchyard, EC4M 1DQ

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

d) Mustard
2 Old Change Court, EC4M 8EN

e) The Rising Sun
61 Carter Lane, EC4V 5DY