Westbourne Park
22/10/2016 at 13:09 | Posted in Crawls | Leave a commentTags: Bayswater, notting hill gate, Queensway, W11, W2, Westbourne Park
In October 2016, Artie took us on a walk around the Notting Hill / Westbourne Park area.
We met at the Sun In Splendour, at the bottom end of Portobello Road, home of the eponymous market, and close to Notting Hill Gate tube station.
Heading north, the next pub was Walmer Castle, which we passed during the ‘Long March’ of Artie’s last Notting Hill crawl in 2012, when he put everyone’s bladders to the test. This time we were able to stop and sample the beers (and loo), and I had a very enjoyable Long Man APA.
We soon came to All Saints Road, which has an interesting history including being an early centre for the post-war West Indian community in London and the birthplace of 90s girl band All Saints, and headed for the Red Lemon pub. This modern pub is an outlet for the local Portobello Brewery, and we all drank some very nice Portobello VPA (very pale ale).
Next stop was the Metropolitan, close to Westbourne Park station which was built by the Metropolitan Railway (and is now on the the Hammersmith & City and Circle lines). This pub does serve some interesting cask ales, as evidenced by the pump clips behind the bar, but on this night the range was fairly small and familiar, and so a few of us broke with tradition and had a keg beer, in this case Signature Rodie All Night IPA, which was delicious.
A short walk to the far side of the Gand Union Canal brought us to the Union Tavern, the second pub in a row named after its adjacent transport link. This is very much a craft beer house, serving only London-brewed craft beers. I and a few others had Five Points Pale Ale, which was very good, and it was very nice to be able to sit supping them on the canalside, watching the local rats going for a swim in the canal.
After this we headed back across the canal to the Prince Bonaparte, a large pub also serving a local Portobello beer, this time we had the Star, which went down very nicely, as well as Southwark’s Harvard pale ale.
The final stop of the night was the Redan, a more typical central London style Taylor Walker pub, where we drank a nightcap of Keepers Light before heading for the tube home.
We didn’t get around to agreeing the Pub of the Crawl as far as I can remember (it’s possible I’ve forgotten…!) but I’m going to take writer’s prerogative and unilaterally crown the stand-out pub in my view, the Grand Union. Congratulations!
Vauxhall revisited
22/10/2016 at 13:08 | Posted in Crawls | Leave a commentTags: craft beer, Kennington, oval, SE11, sw8, vauxhall
In September 2016, Rich took us back to Vauxhall, which we last visited in March.
We met at the Riverside, a smart newish Young’s pub on the riverside (unsurprisingly), very close to Vauxhall. This is a large modern place with a large and attractive outside seating area, with all the usual brands you’d expect at a Young’s.
Once we were all together we headed south, to the Cavendish Arms. Last time we were here the beer was off and there was a burnt curtain; this time the curtain had gone, but the beer was still poor, one of the two being off (Hullabaloo) and had to be returned and replaced with passable Black Sheep.
As we were leaving the heavens opened, and a last minute change of plans took us to the Priory Arms, a superb little pub which was Pub of the Crawl in March. The beer range is still very impressive for such a small pub, and we dried out in here for a while with some superb beer, including Siren Under Current, Thornbridge Lord Marples and Brightside Best.
Once we were dry, and the shower had passed, we headed to the Surprise, fairly aptly named as it’s quite well hidden down a dead-end backstreet. It is a pretty small pub, and we sat in the small front bar with our Young’s pints before retracing our steps back towards Vaxuhall.
The next stop was the Canton Arms, one of Paul’s legendary closed pubs which we had tried to visit in March. This time it was certainly open and doing a thriving trade from its central servery, with some interesting beers on, and all in good condition.
We headed towards the Oval now via Albert Square (not the one on EastEnders, but the rather posher one that’s home to Joanna Lumley and was the childhood home of Roger Moore) to the Brown Derby. I’ve been here before after a match a the Oval; it’s a pretty good pub now and although I avoided the call of ‘Tony’s Cocktails’ the beers went down very well.
We continued north, retracing Paul’s steps from March again, to the Pilgrim. This was closed when we tried to visit in March but has since re-opened following that refurbishment, and was very comfortable.
The final stop stop of the crawl was the Rose, on the Embankment near the old London Fire Brigade headquarters , a fairly large and bright Victorian corner pub facing the Thames.
We managed to forget to agree on a Pub of the Crawl on the night, but afterwards agreed that the Brown Derby was a deserved winner – congratulations!
Excursion to Chorleywood
22/10/2016 at 13:06 | Posted in Crawls | Leave a commentTags: Chorleywood, craft beer, Hertfordshire, pub crawl, real ale
As a regular reader of Pints of View, CAMRA’s Hertfordshire newsletter (which I regularly receive via Stevenage’s Our Mutual Friend, my father-in-law’s local), I’ve long fancied visiting the Land of Liberty, Peace and Plenty, which appears in it regularly. Although it’s a Hertfordshire country pub, it’s tantalisingly located within walking distance of a London Underground station, which means it’s just asking for a special trip to check it out.
So, for August bank holiday weekend, some of us had a little excursion to the village of Chorleywood.
I opted for a circular walk, and from past experience it’s always best to get the longest walks out of the way early before bladders are full, so from Chorleywood station we headed south, with a longish uphill walk to the Stag.
This is a bright, airy and pleasant pub, part of the McMullen empire. Quite a few tables were full of people enjoying upscale pub food, but we stuck to the front bar and nursed some decent ales, either part of their regular range or the Olympic-themed seasonal Hop, Skip & Jump.
The shortest walk of the day next brought us to the inspiration for the walk, the Land of Liberty, Peace and Plenty. This country pub has featured in every Good Beer Guide since the current owners took the business on in 2005, since when it has been the local CAMRA branch’s Pub of the Year eight times, and it certainly lived up to expectations.
It’s a fairly small pub inside, but with a very impressive run of 10 handpumps on the bar offering a range of excellent ales; we tried Summer Lovin, Tring Ridgeway, Mighty Oak Toe Wrestler, Revolutions Club Tropicana, Vale Moon and others, all were tip top. The bar snacks were also superb, and included fantastic sausage rolls, scotch eggs, and toasties – perfect if you need some sustenance to go with your drink but don’t need a full blown meal.
We walked next to the Old Shepherd, beautifully located on the edge of the common. However this was a little disappointing; after a huge range of interesting well kept ales at the previous pub, the Old Shepherd had only Ruddles and Golden Hen. We all went for the former and it was pretty uninspiring, as were the surroundings, with few other customers and very little atmosphere.
A short walk across the common now to the very attractive 18th century Black Horse, a popular break for dog-walkers by the looks of things, and some better beers including Southwald and 6X. We stopped for Sunday lunch here, which was pretty good and good value, nice meat and plenty of veg and gravy, the only complaint being that the potato ration was pretty tight, and some of them were rock hard.
Heading north now we came to the White Horse, which is a very attractive old pub which describes itself on the sign outside as a ‘Beer House’ and promises a ‘fine selection’ of cask ales.
Sadly this fine selection comprised a single cask ale, White Horse Ale, which we’re pretty sure was re-badged Greene King IPA, and it was pretty uninspiring.
And that wasn’t the only problem they had with signs. They have their own version of the keep calm poster, advertising that “its steak night”. We helped them out by adding the missing apostrophe with a blue biro.
When we left we saw an extra apostrophe on a sign in the car park; it’s surely an odd pub that can’t spell “breweries”. What’s more, on close inspection, someone had presumably dictated wording of the sign over the sign, because the word “comer” was written where a comma should have been!
UPDATE: The White Horse closed in October 2016 and has re-opened under new management
Another short walk next to the Gate, a modern upmarket gastropub. It’s large with a very nice beer garden, and a few standard beers on the bar (e.g. Doom Bar, Meantime Pale Ale) and friendly service.
As the evening was drawing in, we set off for the Rose & Crown, which involved a walk across the common and along a golf fairway. This pub sits in a lovely position overlooking the common, and the small bar offers some decent ales; we all went with the Animal Brewing’s Mad Cow. It is also just a 5 minute walk from the station for trains or tubes back into town.
We had a discussion on the Pub of the Crawl but it wasn’t really in doubt; congratulations Land of Liberty!
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