Making the most of the long Easter break I had the pleasure of meeting up a mate of mine from university, Dr Alex Beaton. Meeting up with the Dr was cool because it reminded me how sociable visiting pubs was and how my little quest was allowing me to see friends who are not always that available.
I lived with Alex for three years so we know each other pretty well, plus both being from London originally and both enjoying pubs and real ale I knew it was going to be a good evening. We did the usual meet up at Charring Cross and went down to the Princess of Wales for a pint before deciding where to go first. I never realised how often I go to the Princess of Wales before till I started this blog!
On arrival Alex announced that he had brought with him two bottles of the home brew he had brewed. My initial thought was I hope I liked it because I wouldn’t want to be rude and have to pretend to like it if it was no good. But my fears were unfounded, the double fermented beer was really good. Alex had been aiming for a dark winter warmer type beer and had well and truly succeeded. The strength of the beer around 6%ABV was perfect for a cold winters evening. The chocolate, molasses flavours with hints of raspberry and oranges finished off with a subtle bitterness made for a thoroughly drinkable pint and by far the best home brew I’d ever had. It was as yet unnamed (Alex let me know if you have named it yet). We drank the beer sitting in Trafalgar Square and moved on down into Whitechapel to the The Lord Moon of the Mall.
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| Alex and his home brew |
I’d been talking up this beer trip over the evening and telling Alex about some of the good pubs I’ve been to so far this year so I may have got his hopes up quite a bit. As we approached the Lord Moon we started to notice subtle signs that set the alarm bells ringing. The writing seemed familiar and we jokingly said ‘I hope its not a Weatherspoons’. No signs outside advertised the Spoons brand but as we entered Alex spotted the J.D.W initials on the door frame. I immediately received the justified comment from Alex ‘I’ve come all the way up to London to go to a fucking Weathersoons?’. There was not much I could do other than apologies and get a round in. The building which used to be a bank has been given the usual Spoons decoration. I felt it was looking a bit tired when we were there, its a big space and with the few groups in there it felt pretty empty and lacking in atmosphere. The usual Spoons smell of poor people and gravy pervades the pub.
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| Lord Moon of the Mall |
Turning our attention to the bar we looked over the list of beers on tap (the only saving grace). At least Spoons pubs have a decent number of ales on tap. The beer was decent and I stuck to my self made rule of having a minimum of two pints in each of the pubs on my list. We spent most of the time discussing how bad Spoons pubs can be and how we did not feel the need for the ‘double up for £1.50’ signs plastered around the pub. Needless to say we didn’t stay long and swiftly made an exit, I would not recommend this pub at all. There are better pubs around and to prove it we took a five minute walk back over the otherside of Trafalgar Square to the The Harp.
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| The Harp (not my pic) |
The Harp is a pub I had been looking forward to visiting for a while and I’m glad we went there second on the day as it more than made up for the terrible Spoons. The Harp is an outstanding central London pub. It currently holds the very high accolade of CAMRA National Pub of the Year 2010\2011. The accolade is well deserved, as soon as we entered we knew we were in for a good evening. We had both been to the pub before a few years previously when the Harp was the London Cider Pub of the Year so we knew roughly what to expect, even those expectations were surpassed. Entering we found ourselves in a pub with a convivial relaxed atmosphere decorated with fine art and hand pump labels around the bar. I like pubs where they use the handpump labels as decoration. The other pub I know that does that is the Market Porter in Borough Market. Pump labels are art in themselves and displayed together are interesting collages.
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| The bar |
The pub, on the evening we were there was perfect for what we were looking for, the eight ales on tap added to the experience and we wasted no time in getting stuck in. There is not much point listing the beers they have as they have such a broad range with some regulars such as Sambrooks, Dark Star, Harveys and Twickenham Ales (plus I forgot to write them all down). We got a seat at the small bench tables just past the bar and soaked up the atmosphere, whilst sampling all the beers they had on offer. I recognised the bar man as having worked in The Chandos just up the road he’s not moved far but has definitely gone up in the world. All the staff in there were quick to serve and most importantly knowlegable about their products!
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