Help me for a Real Ale trip in London...

I hope you are supporting our campaign then...

John B

I would second that - and the food is excellent there as well.

A few years ago I went into one of those awful Irish theme pubs (I know - I was asking for trouble) in Lancaster and asked for a sandwich, as advertised, only to be told they don't do food in the afternoons.

"But it says 'food served all day' outside," I said. "Yes, but that's Irish hours."

I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a joke or not.

One of the last places in the country to get on of those things was Coventry, possibly because genuine pubs well populated with Irish ex-pats are pretty common as are pubs run by Irish licensees.

By the time they got round to doing a theme pub job on one of the city pubs the pub in question had a sell by date caused by the planners ideas for that part of the centre. They demolished the pub, then changed the plans but managed to retain the plan for the tons of scrap metal in an arch over some pretty blue lights. (Midlands area TV viewers will recognise the description from the opening credits on the local (West Midlands) news program)

Ah, they were totally wrong then. Irish hours would be anytime a customer appeared. Oh, and a drink while you're waiting for the pub to open.

The joke was the establishment labelling itself as a pub.

Thank you very much for your great help !!!!!! Now I have another question for you.......what about the George Inn in Borough High St, Southwark ??? I have a nice story regarding this place that I'd like to tell you...I've been there during my first london trip 8-10 years ago and I remember it as a great place, I had a very nice night there drinking till closing time...at the time one "local" men drinking outside the pub with me, told me that the George inn is one of the oldest pubs in london. Then I come back home and forgot the name of the place :(... During my other trips in london I went several times around searching for "that" wonderfull pub of wich I had a great memory, I'd like to go there with my girlfriend and my friends...but nothing !!!!! I don't know why, but I remembered it was near westminster tube station (eheh...drinking too much doesn't help in remembering details.....)...so obiovsly I didn't find it !!!!!! Only having a look to 2 old pictures I made there I noticed some details I'd seen on other pictures on the web...so, after many and many session of google searching around the net...finally I found it again !!!!!! I know it's stupid but for me it's quite important :)

thank you...I think in this post I put all the worse of my english !!! :) :) :) ale

This really is one of the oldest London pubs, usually very busy with tourists [but of course you are a tourist !!!!] Limited real ale available but expensive. Why not call there on your way to the Royal Oak previously suggested?

Happy drinking!

As Jim says, this pub isn't anything special when it comes to beer and is very touristy at times, but is well worth a visit as part of a pub crawl in the Borough / London Bridge area where there are many excellent pubs.

Best regards, Paul

-- Paul Sherwin Consulting

The George is worth a visit just to see it, but the beer is less than great and is rather expensive, even by London standards[1]. Call in on the way to the Market Porter or the Royal Oak (etc).

For another fairly interesting building, try Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese.

[1] I was back home in Hull a couple of weeks ago. When a pint was GBP1.25 I wondered if the chap behind the bar had thought I asked for a half.

And this certainly won't be expensive, even by midlands standards...

Managed a visit on my christmas trip home. The staff there were as sullen and unwilling as usual, I'm beginning to think this a Sam Smith's policy (Lyceum, Chandos are probably even worse), maybe it gives them a better "Yorkshire" feel. On this occasion, they absolutely refused to remove the sparkler, which I find usually makes the OBB a little more drinkable. Fortunately, despite this, the beer wasn't bad at all, by far the best I've had Sam Smiths in the last 6-7years, in a variety of pubs.

In fact, managed an admirable amount of proper beer, Oxford's Lamb and Flag had some excellent "Palmer's" best bitter - anyone know where it's from? Wenlock Arms, N1 had a Nelson's Bitter in extremely good form, but one kind of expects to be looked after there. And the Archer's Village in the Pride of Spitalfields went down very well. Until very late. Lord Moon of the Mall, Whitehall, had the best selection I've seen in a 'Spoons in a while. Cain's bitter, Brain's SA and Mordue's Geordie Pride were fantastic, they had Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted too, but not to our liking. If only Westminster had any real pubs open past 11 now. Seems to me there's plenty of crap bars to choose from then, but if you like a decent pint, it's time for you to go home. Because obviously we're the troublemakers...

In article , Simon Cooper writes [snipped]

Bridport, Dorset.

[Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese]

OBB when it is my round, Taddy Porter when it is someone else's.

Just sounds like London to me! At least most pubs are now staffed by Polish totty, rather than antipodeans moaning about the weather.

Bridport?

It's one of the more civilised ones.

:-(

Simon Cooper wrote:er

You became a marked man ;-)

John B

from what I recall, it's a little to the south of the town centre.