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Pub 25. The Princess Louise, 16th January 2012.
 

 

Well wouldn't you Adam & Eve it? Just when I get to one of the most photo-friendly pubs around, I realise that I only have limited photo storage here! And so many to go. Grrrr. So smaller and more compressed pics from now on. I hope they don't ditract from the beauty of this pub, which is simply glorious.Dark wood, beautiful mirrors, engraved windows and six seperate rooms all sharing the same bar. Handsome Victoriana named after Victoria's handsome 3rd daughter. And with it being Sammy Smiths, you know you'll get good cheap bitter and no jukebox, and in this one an affable Northern landlord. Even the toilets are listed. Quite simply a gem amongst even the most select of pubs, you fail to love it. Just look at the photos... while there's still space!
 
 

NW Gone

Pub 24. NW1, 16th January 2012.


Cripes! Another pub been and closed since I started, and although I never liked this place it's never good to see a pub close. Especially for a "Cote Brasserie" whatever that is. More dull chain restaurants hoorah. This place - bizarrely named after the first half of its post-code (why?) was all based around lager, TV sports and microwaved Thai food. And always seemed busy. Before that it was the Windsor Castle, and now with the Caernarvon Castle long since closed and burned down and the Pembroke Castle merely calling itself "The Pembroke", only two of the UK-wide range of castle pubs remain in the borough. The Edinboro (sic) and the Dublin. (Ireland being part of the UK when the Camden Town was invented). All well, at least I'd been in this one before it changed into NW1, and indeed again before it changed... well, into nothing.

Oh, what a lovely pub!

Pub 23. The Holly Bush, 15th January 2012.


What a lovely pub. One of the loveliest in the borough I'd say. But of course the downside of that is that it's often full of tourists & urban Heath walkers, all wanting food or coffee. But although I'm sure the food here is lovely - I did eat here once a while back but can't remember how nice it was (I would remember if it was horrible though) but this is not a gastropub! There's a super range of ales on, and on this occasion the only other people in there were a lone drinker in one of the front rooms and two loud drunks at the bar. Exactly how a pub should be!


What a nice bar.
So I started off on the Seafarers, and then on to the Black Cab Stout - which was very tasty. Then had a quick stroll around. Lots of little rooms here, and lots of wood. Real quaint as our cousins across the pond might say. In fact you could probably get lost, or at least disorientated. What fun! And at the far end of the bar there's tiny little 'snug' - a cubby hole with just enough room for 4 close friends to squeeze round a small table. What fun.
But then... uh oh! I spotted my favourite barmaid behind the bar, not in her usual pub. "What are you doing here!!?" we both said to each other. "You're like me," she said " - a pub slut!" hoho. We chuckled and chatted, and very pleasant it was. But now I have to go back there at least every now & then to continue chatting and pleasantries. She's working this weekend apparently - oh well, could be worse - The Holly Bush is a lovely pub (when it's quiet).


Pub sign no where near pub

Front room

Horsesh... ooo.

Pub 22. The Horseshoe, 15th January 2012.


This is one of those pubs that doesn't really like to admit it's a pub - and certainly not look like one. That's because it's a gastropub. You'd be excused for walking straight past and not even noticing the boozer within - sorry gastro-boozer. Odd though because this is the brewery tap for the Camden Town Brewery - one of the rising stars of the London indie brewers - even though they like their keg a bit too much for my liking. Incidentally they're called the Camden Town Brewery because they're based in Kentish Town, and before that in Hampstead - in this very pub. Perhaps they plan to move to Camden Town at some point...?


I had half a Redemption Trinity, and it was very expensive. £1.85 I think? Or £1.65...? I can't remember, but I do remember that it tasted funny. But maybe I had just cleaned my teeth.



So inside, all very spartan and clean and barren - not really pubby at all. But having said that it still felt cosy & comfortable, despite the irritation of someone's whimsical notion to having names on the back of all the chairs. No doubt leading to hilarious games name-calling for some drinkers.
The best thing about here is the greenery in the windows. I like that quite a lot, but not much else.

 

Shakey

Pub 21. Shaker & Co. 8th January 2011


 Well, this isn't even a pub as I like to think how pubs be, so I'll keep it short. It's a cocktail bar, not opened long since and it replaced the American-theme pub - sorry - bar 'Positively 4th Street' that used to be here. It should go back to be being the Prince of Wales like it always was. Anyways, I was passing so I popped in. I thought that maybe they might at least have decent beer in bottles... I dreaded to think what anonymous fizzy rubbish they had on the little chrome taps on this side of the bar. But wait... while admiring a rather nice water jug - more pubs should have a jugs of water on the bar - I spied some hand-pumps behind. Hoorah!


No word on what was in them though, or even if they worked. And one was dressed up like a Turkish arch-deacon I have no idea. But one did have Doom Bar in it, so that's what I had - at £2.07 a half! Ouch. Well, I thought he said £2.07 but I didn't get any change from £2.10 so maybe it was £2.10. Ouch!
I sat down, read my book, drank it, and left. This is a nice friendly, fancy cocktail bar. So go there if you want cocktails - I wouldn't know one end of a cocktail from the other, but for boozers try elsewhere.





What's new pussycat?

Pub 20 - The Exmouth Arms, 8th January 2012




So it's early on a Friday night in January so of course it's dark and I can't show you the wonderful flora outside this boozer. So let Google oblige!
As the Exmouth Arms is on the corner of a quiet back-street which leads from another quiet back-street to a dead-end, I wondered if there would be anyone else in. But blow me! it was rammed! How do all these know about the place? But it's a busy it a good way, just busy-enough. A young-ish crowd gave it a feel of a town-centre pub, I'm not sure if they were all there together for some occasion but I wasn't expecting them. There were a good mix of regular-looking regulars too. A fine & healthy crowd!


The choice of beers was simple & sufficient, but isn't going to get anyone overly excited. I went for an Adnams' bitter 4.5% at a healthy £1.85. I don't know what I'd done to the barmaid / landlady in a previous life because she wasn't overly-thrilled to see me. Maybe she was happier to be in the odd open kitchen, microwaving pre-grated cheese over Doritos or wrapping bowls of chilli in cling-film.



This kitchen is an odd one, firstly it's openness must fill the pub with a greasy-kitchenny smell. A landlord I knew once said he refused to do food at all, because the grease in the air got on the glasses and made the beer flat. Also you have to walk round the back of the quiz machine and wooden partition to get to it. Still I'm sure it works but I thought it looked a bit odd. Kitchens should be tasted and not seen! But I'm glad that they offer pizzas with "your choice of topping"!






I'm not sure if the bar was a step down, of if this barmaid is just a bit shorter than the average punter, but one thing I noticed was the you had to stoop down slightly to get served because of the shelving above the bar. This could well be a good idea as it may act to calm down angry punters. Or maybe I'm thinking too much about it! But the thing I like about this pub - and he's been there on every (not many...) occasion I've been in - is the pub cat sat on the bar. Not demanding attention, but neither shirking it. Some elf & saftey bozo would probably have a fit. But good. More animals in pubs please! I like the Exmouth.


Yes please Bree Louise!

Pub 19. The Bree Louise, 8th January 2012.

Why photograph things when Google have already done it for you?
A legend amongst the capital's real ale drinkers made possible by the gaffer's canny decision to buy the ale tie from the pub-co.Mind you, he's paying a fair bit for it so Enterprise Inns aren't losing out that much.
So... what does one have presented with such a choice?! Firstly I went for a pint of BrewDog Trashy Blonde 4.1%, a wise choice as it turns out that the Bree have got the last ever batched brew for cask - after this it's all keg from them. As they give a generous Camra discount here - 50p off a pint - I thought I'd treat myself to another. In fact, while some pubs barely advertise their Camra discounts are even bewildered as to what to do with when presented with a card, here they positively thrust it on you. "Have you got a Camra card?" I heard the barmaid say to one chap who looked as if she was probably talking about his iPhone Hipstamatic app. "A student card?" (They also do student discounts, nurses & armed forces too) "Nope" came the reply, obviously wondering why she was asking about all these cards. Bus pass?? Green Shield stamps!? They're just desperate to give you a discount here!
Anyways, for my next pint I wasn't too sure. Lots of folk in these situations like to have tasters - here offered in little plastic shot glasses. I'd rather just bravely plump for something and live with it, although the black boards on the stillages don't really offer much in the way of description - but no need I suppose with the samples provided. So I go a pint of Potton's Village Bike at 4.3%. And very nice it was too.



If you're one of those funny northern types and wants a bit more foam on top of your pint, don't worry as there's plenty of hand-drawn beers from the other bar. In fact, the first time I came in I was at this bar and couldn't work out why the beers I was getting brought were so flat. They were very nice, so no complaints but I did enquire - completely unaware of the stillages around the corner. "It's just the way it is" said the barmaid. Of course, the light-bulb went on when I looked around a bit.


The pub is plain and simple, no jukebox and no fruit machines - they took them out to make room for 2 more punters! And no telly either, although one makes an appearance for special occasions. Just how it should be.



I'm not sure about the frozen glasses, but had always wondered about the pub's rather pretty name as it used to be called The Jolly Gardeners - a much more common pub name (and interestingly both pub names are on Google maps). So I asked the landlord, Craig, while chatting to him - he's a very nice amiable fellow, and is always to be seen testing his wares and mingling with the punters. Just how a landlord should be! Anyways, he seemed proud and happy to tell me so I'm sure he won't me repeating it. Bree Louise was the name of his baby daughter who died at 12 weeks. So now in his own words, "Bree Louise lives on!". Indeed she does. A lovely touch and a great pub. In the best half dozen boozers in London without a doubt. So hurry and pay a visit before it gets knocked down so people can get to Birmingham 20 minutes faster.

When is an arch not an arch?

Pub 18. The Doric Arch, 8th January 2012.



As we all know the Euston Arch was not really an arch, but a propylaeum and a doric one. So a la Big Ben that's what everyone calls it. Called it? :-( But now it's a pub too. One that not so long ago was called the Head of Steam, named after something else much missed from Britain's railways.
Skulking in the gloomy corner of Euston station's bus terminus, and there being no visible interior from street level, it's not very welcoming at all. But once inside it is very nice. There is much to please the real ale drinker and the railway enthusiast - a Venn diagram whose overlap is considerable. I think there were perhaps 8 ales to choose from, I opted for a half of Fuller's Discovery at £1.75. The railway memorbilia was plentiful, and I opted to glance very briefly at most of it and settled down by one of large windows to watch the buses come and go. And that pretty much was that. Once you're inside this pub is fine place to wait for a train, or a bus - or while you ponder what to have next.

On one occasion one of the staff actually let me hold a chunk of the eponymous arch they had in glass case behind the bar. Quite a moment. It's gone now, probably back in the Lea.

Update. Normally I really like it here. They let me hold a chunk of the legendary arch once, which they keep in a perspex box behind the bar. What a thrill. The barmaids have always been really nice. But on my last visit while examining the beers available with a friend, a youngish rotund chap in a cheap shirt & tie - I presume the manager -  barked at me very loudly "DON'T TOUCH THE PUMP CLIPS!!!". We left immediately.





Rocket lettuce... go somewhere else.

Pub no. 17 - The Rocket, 8th January 2012

Thanks Streetview!

A nice looking building, and I'm sure it was a nice place too once. But now it isn't really.
The first thing I noticed is that despite the size of the place, most people in there were clustered round the bar making it very difficult not only to get to the bar but quite tricky to get in the pub. They looked like local office workers having a post-work Friday drink with people they weren't used to socialising with, in a place they didn't really like. Just go home and go to a wine bar with your own friends and we'll all be happier! The area round the bar was also the only part of the pub that was unlit - indeed dark. Maybe they had homed there like that school experiment with woodlice.
Once at the bar more difficulties ensued. Firstly, there was no cask ale on. Grumble. In fact no hand-pumps at all to be seen. But as there were no bar staff to be seen either, except the one who kept coming & going carrying a bucket wearing rubber gloves, I guess it didn't really matter.
























So I got myself a half  of Tetley's SuperSmoothCoolFlowCreamyJiz or whatever they call it. £1.50 it said on the pump but the computer said £1.55. There were some nice architectural features, like the ceiling in the old part of the pub and a strange round lump behind the bar - I guess some stairs go down to cellar there. I sat down by a front window to watch the world going by, and to watch a girl at the next table doing card tricks. And also to notice that on the next table to them, the previous diners had left the piscine portion of their fish & chips almost completely untouched. A warning perhaps to would be chippy-tea-ers?
The rest of the pub, a modernish extension is pretty plain, except for some interesting olde photos of Euston station, and London of yore. No pictures of Stevenson's Rocket though, which is where I suppose the pub got it name. But then again his Rocket never came anywhere near the station that he built. I think the "Catch Me Who Can" would be better name if a boozer wanted to celebrate pioneering local steam locos! The built in DJ decks behind the bar were glady not in use. But just in case they were about to be I downed my creamy keg gloop and departed, only to see the window engraving below. You'd be better off in a Wetherspoons.

This is a lie.