West End Drinking

Hopped on the train from South East London was an uneventful journey with the usual mix of weekend shoppers and people speaking loudly about their personal lives on their phones.  I happened to be sitting next to a man dressed like a spy!  

Definitely a spy!

I wandered out of Charring Cross and into the Princess of Wales the usual meeting place.  As always they were supplying a good selection I had a very nice pint of Gunpowder Mild from the Coach House Brewing Company.  It was in my opinion one on the best milds I’d had for a while.  It was such a nice refreshing easy to drink pint with the right amount of flavour and hoppy notes.  I bought the Stoat a pint of White Horse Village Idiot just so I could say when he arrived that I got him a pint that reminded me of him.  

 

We headed up into the heart of Covent Garden, tourist central for London.  Making our way through the crowds we finally reached the Lamb and Flag.    

Lamb and Flag

We arrived at about 3pm and it was already filling up.  There is a decent selection on tap with Dark Star, Adnams and Youngs all being represented.  We both went for the Dark Star Best.  Being in the centre of Covent Garden I cannot imagine there is a quiet time at this pub so if you come be prepared to have to stand up.  We managed to get some bar stools near the entrance and chatted to lots of people who were coming in on some form of pub based history quiz competition.  We were sitting right by the notice which gives the history of the pub.  It’s certainly been around for a long time and it shows with some interesting pub design elements.  It’s always fascinating to visit pubs that have such an interesting history and famous visitors such as Dickens.   We did have a look upstairs where they have some food which looked to be a mini carvery.  It didn’t smell great, bit like that horrible sprouts smell you get in a Toby Carvery.  But we didn’t try it so won’t comment on it more than to say you can get some food there but remember you are in Covent Garden where there are numerous other restaurants.  Talking of other smells I broke a rule of mine and had a look at some other reviews before writing mine and I noticed they often mentioned a wiff about the place like toilets!  I did notice this and it’s not the first time I’ve noticed it in a pub in London, one of the worst I’d been in for that was the Market Porter in Borough Market.  However I did like the Lamb and Flag but I wasn’t blown away by any means.  I would see it as a decent place for a pint in Covent Garden but not somewhere I’d make a special effort to go to.  It does have the history but it’s not really backed up with any other outstanding features like a wide beer selection, interesting decor or good food.  They probably don’t need to make too much effort to keep going as they get enough foot traffic from passers by who drop in for a beer.  

Bar at the Lamb - it's not that small that lady is just really tall!!

Next pub on the list for today was The Salisbury.  This is a pub that I have been visiting for years.  I have always loved visiting this pub and I had my first pint of Doom Bar here.  From the first moment you enter you realise there is something special about the place by the amazing etched glass all around the pub.  It is the classic ‘gin palace’ style pub.  The Salisbury always has a busy bustling atmosphere due to its theatre district location.  The staff have always been top notch when I’ve been there and service is usually swift even if the bar is busy.  They have a similar range of beer to the Lamb with Sharps Doom Bar, Youngs and St Austell Tribute.  I hope the Doom Bar will always be as good as the first time I visited now that it has been bought out by the beer giant Molson Coors!  We met a few more mates in there and most of us went for the Doom Bar with the exception of Hoody who I’ve not managed to convince to drink ale yet and don’t hold out much hope of ever doing so.   I’m not sure what it is about The Salisbury but it always has that cozy relaxed pub feel to it.  It is a pub that is bursting with character and charm, with good beers and good service it has to be a top contender for best pub in the west end.  

The Salisbury

Some randoms and the etched glass

Overall a good day out at two good west end pubs.  After some consideration (about 6 pints worth) I’d always visit The Salisbury over the Lamb and Flag even though they have a similar beer range and beer snacks The Salisbury has that extra edge that makes a great pub. 

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