Red Lion

Had the day off work to do some Chrismas shopping, hang out with my lovely girlfriend, and see a show in the evening.  My girlfriend, a while after we started going out read in one of those womens magazines an article about signs to avoid in a man.  As far as I recall I didn’t come off too badly, thankfully.  However there was one I was caught out on; ‘beware a man who wears a fleece, as he’ll think going to a pub is an acceptable anniversary date venue’.  Well for one, yea I have a fleece, in fact I have two.  Also more importantly, why would you not want to go to a pub for a date.  I met my girlfriend in a pub, what’s wrong with going back to one?  Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with going to a pub for an anniversary, birthday, wedding, bar mitzvah.  The image of the pub as a place for men is no longer true.   This is the twenty first century, get with the times.  Pubs are great places, they make good great food now and are great places to go.   

As such, wearing my fleece, we went to the Red Lion off Pall Mall.  On the way there, we passed the Red Lion and the Red Lion.  In a small area there do seem to be a large number of pubs called the same name.  Only one of these Red Lions, has made it into the good pub guide.  I’m fairly sure I found the right one.  It’ll be pretty embarrassing if I’ve gone to the wrong one.  The one I ended up at, which I think was the right one is just off Pall Mall opposite St James palace.  It’s up a little alley way which has a bit of a medieval feel to it, with the upper floor jutting out over the alley.  The shops down there now are a mix of modern and old.  A pret and gentlemans hair dressers are next to a Milleners and The Red Lion.  

Red Lion

 The area around the pub is worth a mention.  It’s an interesting part of town with an obvious history of old money and wealth.  There are blue plaques on loads of the buildings, commemorating some marquis or other and inventor of such and such.  It’s not far up to Old Bond Street where the super rich go to do their shopping and buy diamonds and expensive clothes.  It’s fun to walk around there and people watch.  I like the covered arcades, which transport you back in time almost and you can imagine the wealthy Bertie Wooster types looking in the windows.  If you ever need to buy a fancy smoking jacket or embroidered velvet slippers this is the place to come.  Just down the road is Fortum and Mason a famous food shop.  Also I saw specialist shops, selling mens grooming products, hunting gear, cigars and specialty whiskeys.  It’s well worth taking a wander around here before heading for a pint.  

The sign outside the Red Lion proclaims it as London’s last surviving village pub.  I’m not really sure what they mean by that.  When would there have been a village there I thought? Anyway, it looked cool from the outside with its hanging baskets and painted sign.  It is not a big pub inside at all.  The bar takes up much of the right hand side of the pub, where some men were standing having a lunch time drink.  Other men, were sitting finishing lunch of pub sandwiches.  They looked like they had a good pub menu on the go with various sandwiches on offer.  I love a pub sandwich.  For those who have read my post on Chesterfield, you will know my opinion of pub food.  I think, simple, tasty and affordable is the way forward.  So, I was pleased to see they weren’t trying to compete with the Michelin star restaurants in the area.  What would be the point, sometimes a pub should be left a pub.  It’d been there for centuries so don’t fix what aint broke.  

I thought the place had a real quiet charm about it.  Almost a rural feel in the heart of London.  I guess that’s what they mean about it being a village pub.  The bar selection was not huge but there were some decent ales.  I had two nice pints of tribute in there.   

I’d recommend it for a pint and a sit down if you are looking for one up in that part of town.  Worth a visit. 

the Prospect of Whitby and the Narrow

A dark November evening, the mists were forming over the Thames and a chill was in the air.  I had arranged to meet my friends at the Prospect of Whitby in Wapping.  Having looked at the route I thought it would be easy to get the bus straight there.  I discovered to my horror the number 100 bus moves around the city at the pace of an aged limping snail.  Wedged in the top of the bus by the door listening to some lady winge about her life on the phone for an hour was not the finest start to the evening.  My friend managed to walk there quicker with only a short head start.  

Reaching the pub felt so good having had such a nightmare trip to get there.  I walked in to a scene that I expect has remained in that pub for centuries.   The wooden décor gives a warm inviting feel to the room .  I took a seat by the fire and with a pint in front of me couldn’t have been happier.  The transition from commuting anger to the human equivalent of purring like a cat was quick.  Chatting to my mates and having a few nice ales was a supremely perfect combination.  

We chatted away like blokes do, sport, news, work and beers.  Having caught up a bit we began to look around the pub a bit.  One point I brought up was the Taylor Walker, Costa combo that the chain does these days.  I was pleased to see that the coffee machine, although behind the bar was small and unobtrusive.  The Christmas decorations were up and very much in full force. They even had a tree up.  Woody wasn’t a fan of the decorations.  I personally didn’t think they were too bad.  They had a number of decent ales on tap.  No standout beers to mention as they just had some pub staples like youngs, and doombar. 

Prospect Of Whitby

 The beers were flowing so to protract our evening and allow us to remain clear headed for a little longer we ordered pies.  The pies were good with lovely puff pastry, fresh vegetables and some good chips.  I was impressed with how good they were, much better than the fullers pies I’ve had this year.  I did have a little explore of the pub and found they had much more seating than I had first noticed and also a good sized outdoor area over-looking the Thames.   

Being on the river is another advantage point for the pub.  The big windows looking out provide great views over the water to Bermondsy on the opposite bank.  There is a hangmans noose outside the pub.  I did want to find out what it was from but didn’t get around to it on the day.  One thing we did notice was its position and reputation are obviously serving it well as a whole coach load of tourists turned up and were ferried upstairs for an “English pub experience”.  Being close to where we all live we had enquired about its availability for NYE drinks but were slightly put off when we were told there would be several coach loads of tourists booked in that evening.  Not sure we want to usher in 2012 surrounded by tourists.  

Overall it is a really nice, traditional style pub, well worth the visit.  Good beer, good food and relaxed atmosphere.  If that was my local I’d be well happy with that, in fact, had I known there were good pubs over that part of town I’d have thought about moving there.  Close to the city and the Wharf you can’t do much better for location.  I look forward to my next Prospect visit.  It’d be cool to arrive by boat I think, I’d rowed past there enough times it’d be good to stop off for a swift half.  

After a few beers we paid our tab and headed out to the next pub…

It had been noted the Narrow was another pub on my list which was close by.  We walked down the river to the Gordon Ramsey pub the Narrow.  This pub is very different from the Prospect.  The décor is more modern and refined.  The feel of the pub is more like a yaht club for the yuppy bankers of Cannary Warf.  The part of the pub overlooking the river was a restaurant where suited types were enjoying a meal.  As we arrived later on in the evening, perhaps I missed the best time of day as it was getting pretty empty as the diners left.  That worked in our favour getting sofas in ‘the boat room’.  There was a single scull rowing boat suspended from the ceiling which I liked being a former rower.  However the room didn’t have the same warm relaxed atmosphere the Prospect had.  There was something about the faux leather of the sofas and sticky wooden floors that was all a bit too Weatherspoons for my liking.  Two girls of an eastern European origin sat eating a kebab out of a polystyrene box in the corner.  I wouldn’t put up with that if I owned the pub.  I got the feeling that something has been misjudged when setting up the pub.  I think if you want to aim at the well off members of the London community then that’s fine and I think a good pub could be run like that.  However the location is not quite right for a pub like that.  Yes, there may be an influx of wealth to the area with the bankers but its roots are still in East London and to marginalise these people is a mistake.  You end up with a pub that doesn’t feel relaxed and is lacking in individuality and quality.  

The beers were also limited whilst still being pretentious.  Various mean times beers and continental lagers were the main fare.  No hand pumped ales were on show.  I was very disappointed about that.  Plus the barman was a really irritating individual who seemed to look down his nose at you.  He had one of the strangest accents I’ve ever heard.  I asked him where he was from and he said ‘all over’.  An omnipresent bar man, in theory that sounds good as he would be able to serve me beer when ever I wanted!  However if it was that bloke it would be awful as he was a right tit.  

Ed had warned me that the pub had gone ‘down hill’ but having not been there before I only had this visit to rely on.  Also having just made my first visit to the Prospect, a pub I was impressed with it was always going to be a tall order to impress me after that.  However I won’t be venturing back any time soon put it that way.  Why bother when I could go to the Prospect. 

Nearly End of the year

Just a note to say,  I've been to six pubs on my list this month so reviews will be coming soon. 

So far this year, I've been to 32 on my list so, unfortunatly I didn't get through the whole list in 2011.  However, I  am now really looking forward to 2012.  It's great to know I've still got a whole load more exciting and varied pubs to visit next year.