Sloane Square to Battersea

20/10/2019 at 18:23 | Posted in Crawls | Leave a comment
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In October 2019, Phil took us on our first cross-Thames crawl, from Sloane Square to Battersea.

We met at the Antelope, close to Sloane Square station, just across the boundary from Chelsea in Belgravia, as pub lies just across the River Westbourne, which now passes above the platforms at Sloane Square within a pipe. The Antelope is a classic Fuller’s pub, and its only problem is that it’s so popular that it’s often rather crowded, as it was when we met.

We soon headed off, following the Westbourne to the Orange, overlooking Orange Square (named after the House of Orange) and its statue of Mozart. The Orange was a brewpub once upon a time, but is now a very pleasant gastropub, the drinking area at the front is quite small and was already busy with a Friday night crowd when we were there.  Some of us had the N1 which was remarkably fresh tasting.

On leaving, we soon passed the church of St Barnabas, site of riots in the mid-19th Century and the ‘Popery in Pimlico‘ scandal, 200 years after the birth of William of Orange anti-Catholic feelings were still festering. At the end of the street came to the Rising Sun, a large and bright Young’s pub, with friendly barman.  The whole the pub was lacking atmosphere at the time of our visit with its bright lights and only one hand pump, the ale from which was past its best.

A short walk brought us past the last remnants of the Grosvenor Canal, which once brought barges as far as Victoria Street until Victoria railway station was built on top of the most of the canal, the basin area was quiet in stark contract to its history.  First a waterworks up to around 1850, drawing drinking water for London by the late 1800s the dirty tidal canal stood on top of a sewer and a pumping house was built, this is now awkwardly situated disused and behind the modern buildings flanking the canal.

crawl Battersea (3) We crossed Chelsea Bridge, making this the first of our crawls to cross the Thames.  The original bridge, when it opened in 1850 was named Victoria Bridge but it was soon deemed inappropriate that a doomed bridge likely to collapse should carry a royal name.  The well lit replacement was the first self supporting suspension bridge of its kind in the UK.  To the east of this the Grosvenor Bridge was the first ever railway bridge to cross the Thames and it was underneath the approaching viaduct we were heading next.

We descended in a rather small and gloomy lift to the Thames Path – the stairs being closed for construction – and passed under the railway into the environs of Battersea Power Station, now a substantial way through its rebuild and with the first buildings hugging the western side complete. They have done a nice job of bringing the railway arches back into use, and one of them houses the Battersea Brewery, and another next door is its bar and taproom. This was very nicely done, with a wide range of beers as well, of course, as their own.  Most of the house beers are keg beers but there were also 2 hand pumps on offer.

crawl Battersea (7).jpg

Battersea Brewery

Around the corner we stopped at Wright Bros, which is ostensibly an upmarket seafood restaurant but also has a bar and a range of beers at decent prices, and it has a lovely view to the river.

We then followed a temporary road through the building site around the Power Station to Nine Elms Lane, and to another new development slightly closer to Vauxhall, where the Nine Elms Tavern lies at the riverside end of a large new apartment building. The pub has been fitted out well and was doing a decent trade even quite late on the Friday night.  For an area devoid of culture, including the US embassy, this bar was a welcome surprise.

This brought us to the end of the crawl; after a short vote, the Battersea Brewery was unanimously voted Pub of the Crawl. Congratulations!

Millbank

16/12/2012 at 09:29 | Posted in Crawls | 2 Comments
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A week before Christmas, Artie took the final pub crawl of 2012 from St James’s Park to Pimlico via Millbank .

albertI have to confess that I was a little disappointed with the choice of opening pub, the Albert on Victoria Street, a stone’s throw from St James’s Park station.  Not that there’s anything much wrong with the pub – it’s a smart late Victorian pub and a very popular stop on the local tourist trail, and often busy. My only problem was that it’s literally next door to my office – very handy you might think, but sadly I was on annual leave for the day and was hoping not to have to travel to exactly where I commute every day! Still, it was a very handy meeting point and we assembled there for our walk towards Pimlico.

The second stop was the Speaker, a very nice pub tucked away on Great Peter Street and a short walk via my usual lunchtime haunt of Strutton Ground market. The Speaker is well known locally for its good beers and good value food, and its only drawback is that as with all small and good pubs in an officey area it can be very busy in the post-work rush, so highly recommended but best enjoyed during the day or later in the evening. Luckily for us a table was being vacated as we arrived so we were able to settle in to enjoy our ales, including Landlord and a Christmas beer with a name involving Santa (can’t remember more than that!)

From the Speaker we headed south past the Channel 4 building, its large 4 on the forecourt sporting its Christmas look, to the Royal Oak on Regency Street. Almost opposite the famous Regency Cafe (where three of us usually grab some food before a crawl), the Royal Oak is a Youngs corner pub, and was very busy when we called, doing a brisk trade in Special and Winter Warmer.

Marquis of GranbyWe headed east next, choosing to skip past the Loose Box and saving ourselves for the Marquis of Granby, just off Smith Square with its famous concert hall which was formerly St John’s Church. This is a Nicholson’s pub which has been very recently refurbished, and we focussed straight away on the decent range of beers on handpump; my Nutty Black was delicious, but too late we noticed that there were three ales being served by gravity direct from the cask. We have to keep moving on these crawls to try as many places as possible so we didn’t get to taste the ales on gravity but I shall certainly be back to try them another time.

Towards the Thames now, and past the imposing bulk of the MI5 headquarters which looks across to the newer MI6 building upstream on the other bank at Vauxhall. We walked along the riverside to take in the views (and be blasted by a bitter wind) and admire Tate Britain, built on the site of Millbank Prison. Artie may be Australian but his ancestors didn’t pass through the doors of Millbank Prison, but many of the early settlers of Australia did, as this was a major point of departure for prisoners sentenced to transportation. Very near the gallery lies the Morpeth Arms, another Youngs corner pub, which was busy with workers while we were there, and receives a steady flow of gallery visitors by day. It’s allegedly been haunted since 1845, but although we arrived later than that (at about 2130) there was no sign of a ghost as far as we could see.

Further along the river finds the Grosvenor, our next stop and another lively pub, which felt more like a community pub than many others in central London, lying as it does in a fairly residential area. After a brief missing bag false alarm, we settled into a pair of sofas and cracked open the box of Family Fortunes which was lying under the table, although sadly the quizmastering skills were somewhat below the standard of the television version.

For the final stop of the night we stopped at the White Swan for a swifter-than-planned pint before they closed their doors. Another good range of beers here but they were very keen to sweep everyone out the doors before midnight.

All told a great night and some places I’ll definitely be back to before long!

Belgravia – Pimlico

15/08/2012 at 19:58 | Posted in Crawls | Leave a comment
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In July 2012 it was Tim’s turn to sneak in a quick crawl before the Olympics started, and for his first crawl he found a gap in our coverage on the Belgravia/Pimlico borders just to the south of Victoria station.

This month’s meeting point was a pub visited once before, the Duke of Wellington, fairly close to Sloane Square station. The Duke is a fairly traditional Shepherd Neame corner pub, with a single room around a central servery. The first few of us to arrived sampled the nice Whitstable Bay, and improvement I think on the Spitfire and Kent’s Best.

We headed east from here, past Noel Coward’s house on Gerald Road, to Elizabeth Street. Walking downhill on Elizabeth Street took us through two worlds, with the first section gorgeous, with a gorgeous looking street, and lots of affluent people patronising expensive looking restaurants. East of Ebury Street the street turned to shabby tarmac, the people turned into backpackers, and the food offer changed from smart restaurants to a chip & kekab shop!

Why the sudden downhill turn? The smart money’s on the presence of the coach station, offering buses to all parts of Europe for a few pounds or euros, and a magnet for the budget conscious traveller. Their presence was certainly felt at the Travellers Tavern, a large Taylor Walker pub right next to the arrivals section. We mainly settled for Doom Bar with the odd London Gold as we settled into an outside table adjoining the path from Arrivals. After what seemed like a long time listening to wheely cases being hauled along the alley, the stragglers arrived from the rain-delayed Oval, and we pressed on to pub three.

We headed south, passing the 1938 former Empire Terminal of Imperial Airways, and then turning back of the main road past (fortunately without stopping) a large branch of Rileys, before arriving at The Belgravia. While the name conjures up an image of enormous stuccoed villas, the Belgravia is actually tucked under a block of council flats, but they have made a good job of the space available, offering an unpretentious pub with some decent ales and a sheltered beer garden which includes an outdoor TV for watching sports – very unusual touch for London.

After this we headed west along Ebury Street, which changes its name briefly to Mozart Terrace after its most famous past inhabitant, to Orange Square, where a statue to its composer can be found. This is also very close to the spot where the Bun House stood (note Bunhouse Lane just off the Square), home of the Chelsea Buns until it closed its doors for the last time in 1839.

Across the street is the next pub, The Orange. Now somewhat gastroed, it nevertheless has a pleasant (if busy) bar with some nice ales on, though there is no longer a microbrewery on site.

After these we headed east, over the busy railway lines into London Victoria at Ebury Bridge and crossing over from Belgravia to Pimlico in the process. The next pub was the White Ferry House, another with a backpacker link, serving as it does as a hostel. Downstairs though remains a lovely traditional two-bar pub.  The first beer drawn was actually off, but to be fair to the staff it was changed with an apology and no fuss.

After these drinks we began to move back towards Victoria station, calling next at The Greyhound, a pub which has been closed for 10 years but thankfully has recently been fully refurbished and reopened, with a nice bright interior with white walls and interesting paraphernalia and some nice beers. I had the Bateman’s Summer Swallow while I’m told the Tim Taylor’s Landlord slipped down very nicely.

Final stop of the evening was just along Hugh Street, the St George’s Tavern, a large Nicholson’s pub which was already beginning to empty by the time we arrived, though luckily we were just in time to catch last orders before being ushered out into the summer evening and (for some) a late curry.

Pimlico – Victoria

04/06/2011 at 18:13 | Posted in Crawls, Uncategorized | 1 Comment
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Paul started this Friday evening crawl, the third of his Victoria Trilogy of crawls, in unusual style at the Pride of Pimlico, a lager den with no real ales. Fortunately, after just two dodgy pints, the crawl proper got underway, with the next stop being the marvellous CASK. No brand names here, lots of ales and if you want a lager, there’s a fine selection of good German and Belgian varieties.

We then went to several decent pubs in the area; I’m struggling to recall 18 months hence exactly which ones we went to, as having worked in the area I have been on various pub treks in the area in my time, so the map may be updated in due course!

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