Category: Drinking
What are the best pubs in Crystal Palace?
February 21, 2017
The three sides of the Crystal Palace triangle may only stretch to half a mile and seven pubs, so it’s one of the least onerous pub crawls in London, but there’s a villagey cosiness up at the top of the hill that makes you want to settle in for the weekend and tie one on. Like its […]
Elephant and Castle and Charlie Chaplin pubs, SE1: Review
December 4, 2016
The Elephant and Castle The Elephant and Castle pub is arguably the most famous pub in London – the pub that gave its name to a tube station, a notorious roundabout, indeed the entire area. Open in one form or another since 1765, it closed down last year after a drinker was stabbed in the eye with […]
Ales by Mail: First class craft beer in the post
November 22, 2016
I wrote a guest post for littlevbigv.com on vegetarian/vegan-friendly beers that can be delivered to your door. Read the review and have a chance to win a case of booze
Borough back-street pubs: South London’s finest
October 23, 2016
Borough market attracts stampedes of tourists, and plenty of great pubs cater for them. Avoid the fudge-eating, double-buggy pushing, half-a-lager-ordering hordes at these classic Borough boozers off the beaten track The Rake Size doesn’t matter, I’m reliably informed. It certainly doesn’t harm one of the tiniest pubs in London, which sits in one of its greatest locations – […]
Review: The Beefeater Gin Distillery tour, Kennington
September 3, 2016
Beefeater sells 35 million bottles of gin annually. Incredibly, it’s all produced here at the Beefeater gin distillery in south London – by just four people. In fact, more people work in the visitor centre here than produce the gin. But these aren’t machine operators pumping out widgets at the push of a button – […]
Sips of the best: Six pubs to catch a drink at near Clapham Junction
July 31, 2016
More people change trains at Clapham Junction than at any other station in the UK. But there are even better connections for beer at these big-hitting Battersea pubs, all within ten minutes’ walk of the station The Falcon The failsafe choice for a drink when a Londoner is marooned at Clapham Junction, but none the worse […]
London Vegan Beer Fest: Animal-free beer – at a cost
July 16, 2016
What sort of beer do vegans drink? Well, for the most part vegans drink exactly what the rest of us drink – modern craft beer from London breweries such as Fourpure, Beavertown and Partizan. Sorry to disappoint those who thought they drank some kind of flat, pleasureless puddle water with twigs floating in it. But […]
Sips of the best: Six Waterloo pubs worth missing your train for
May 2, 2016
If you spend any time at all using South West Trains, you’re going to be stranded at Waterloo station in desperate need of alcohol. In fact, the trains are so bad and the station so overcrowded, you could be forgiven for having a pint at the beginning of your morning commute. Unhappily, all the pubs within […]
Review: St James of Bermondsey SE16
April 6, 2016
Bermondsey was once known as Biscuit Town, due to the Peek Freans biscuit factory in the area, where the Garibaldi, the Bourbon and the Twiglet were invented. A pink wafer’s width away from the derelict site is St James of Bermondsey, a craft beer pub now puffing out its own sweet aroma of pies and beer. […]
Review: The Gregorian Arms SE16
April 6, 2016
Recently hipsterified mock-Tudor barn confronting dragon-steepled landmark St James’ Church. This pub has a big open-plan interior cluttered with pinned butterflies, horned skulls, glass-fronted bookcases and portraits of creepy dead Victorians, like that bloke out of The Silence of the Lambs. The mismatched furniture and Hawaiian soundtrack will inevitably lead most to the conclusion that it’s owned by Antic, […]