Greenwich Pub Crawl

Having been a bit unhappy with the Cutty Sark we thought it would be rude not to have another pint.  The Stoat had to make his way back to the market for some cake so we took the river path back to the The Yacht.  The pub is owned by Youngs and has been given the usual Youngs pub make over.  But even Youngs can’t spoil the view and The Yacht has made really good use of having such a good view with big windows all along the river side.  The tables up by the window were full so we sat by the fire like old men warming our cockles.  The usual beers were on tap like Old Speckled hen, Doom Bar and Youngs Gold.  Just the one pint of Youngs Gold was had before we moved on.  

There was not even time to put the gloves and scarf on before we arrived at the next pub, the Trafalgar.  The Trafalgar has really improved in the last few years and it was great on the day we visited.  The atmosphere was just what you would look for in a pub, warm and friendly with the enthusiastic buzz of punters having a good time and a good pint.  The beers available on the day were the best we found on the day Adnams Old Ale which was very nice, Adnams Bitter, Doom Bar and Sharp's Own and Slaters Queen Bee. 

The Trafalgar is a good pub in the heart of Greenwich, I’d recommend it.  It’s also got the best views of any pub in Greenwich. 

Starting to feel the ale now we were keen to hit more pubs.  

The Gipsy Moth was the next venue.  The pub has been designed to attract the young and beautiful of Greenwich so is more of a bar style.  It’s a good place for a night out and some drinks.  The have some good beers like Sambrooks Wandle, Doom Bar, London Pride and Liberation Ale.  When we were there though it was a bit like a crèche, children were everywhere screaming and shouting!  The Stoat needed his cake so we saw the back of our pints and went to the market.  

After cake we made one last stop off at the Coach and Horses in the market.  It’s quite a small pub with an ‘L’ shape design.  There are some good beers on tap like Adnams Old Ale, and Doom Bar and Sharp's Own.  Looks like Adnams and Sharps have got some good sales people in Greenwich.  We got a seat by the door and looked over at the people sitting by the fire in the deep comfortable looking leather sofas, sipping herbal tea.  Hold up, yes that is right herbal tea!  I can moan about the huge coffee machines taking over good bar space till the cows come home but I can at least understand the need to meet demand.  People like to have coffee after a meal but herbal tea!?  The Stoat and I were not happy about that.  Pubs don’t need to serve herbal tea.  If tourists want to come to pubs they can have a pint or a soft drink or even at the worst and I say it through clenched teeth a coffee but if they want a herbal tea they should go to a sodding tea shop.  This led to all sorts of chat and Le Stoat even made the controversial comment questioning the place of wine in a pub.  I think that may have been due to the seven previous pints.  

After this session several points about this journey have been made clear.  The question of strategy of reviewing pubs and when to visit them is interesting.  Pubs will often change greatly in character throughout the day and this could have a major impact on my view.  Also is a pub crawl an effective method of pub review.  I think that this crawl showed it is not because we got drunk and lost focus unsurprisingly.  It was really good fun though! So if a pub crawl is used I’ll go to the important pubs first, by that I mean the GPG pubs.  

All in all Greenwich has some good pubs that are well worth a visit and with so many in such a small space they make a really good pub crawl route.  

The Stoat