"london pubs" news and stories

As normal the Times guide to best eateries this week doesn't venture outside of the capital. It is supposed to cover the whole of the South East - and I know of a dozen wonderful beer gardens and pub garden views in the Thames Valley alone let alone the rest of the wonderful countryside that surrounds London. Still here are the capitals best beer gardens

• Henry J Bean's, 195-197 Kings Road "This Chelseas institution is best knwon for its vast beer garden" [website]
• Bar Du Musee, 17 Nelson Road, SE10 "this Tardis like bar opens out into a 200-cover, glass roofed restaurant, flanked by the owner's extensive art collection and vast heated garden" [website]
• The Edinboro Castle, 57 Mornington Terrace, NW1 "the best reason to visit during the summer is to enjoy the large beer garden, with various shady areas, barbecues and plenty of people creating a buzz" [details]
• The Engineer, 65 Gloucester Avenue, NW1 "if you're lucky enough to get a seat the garden at the back is delightful" [details]
• The Freemasons Arms, 32 Downshire Hill, NW3 "it's main drae is still its huge beer garden with numerous picnic-style tables filling up very quickly on sunny days" [details]
• Griffin Inn, Fletching, Uckfield, East Sussex "A model English country inn with a pretty garden and a menu of modern British cooking that is hard to fault" [website]
• Hole in the Wall, 12 Sutton Lane, W4 "If you like eating outside or you're a sports fanatic this gastro pub is for you" [details]
• The Raven, 375 Goldhawk Road, W6 "The Sunday lunch and sumer barbecues are excellent" [details]
• White Horse, 1 Parsons Green, SW6 "known as the Sloaney Pony, is run by a man who loves beer so much that he's put suggestions of the best brew to accompany each dish on the menu" [website]

Borough Market, London's premier foodie haunt, has been pub-less for over 100 years. Until next month, that is, when the Rake is due to open. This pub, on the site of a 19th drinking establishement also claims to be London's smallest bar.

The bar area will seat 44 people and is only 13x7 ft.

The pub will be run by beer specialists Richard Dinwoodie and Michael Hill who run Utobeer, a company that has been at the market for seven years. Dinwoodie said: "We will always have two cask beers on offer as well as a wide range of bottled beers. We think that offering visitors the chance to relax with a great beer and simple, delicious food whilst shopping at the market is a recipe for success."

Ten historic venues in and around London as recommended in the Times.

1. The French House, 49 Dean Street, London W1 "The patina of time and the stains from a trillion Gauloises enhance what was the unofficial drinking den of Gallic wartime exiles (de Gaulle prepared his rallying calls here... Ales are sold in half-pints and Pernod is de rigueur at this throwback to Soho's boho glory years" [details]
2. Amberley Castle, Arundel, West Sussx "The impressive barrel-vaulted dining room serves some excellent food" [website]
3. The George Inn, 77 Borough High Street, London SE1 "Great alfresco dining on a gorgeous cobbled courtyard off Borough High Street is one of the obvious draws of this small-scale pub" [details]
4. Gordon's Wine Bar, 47 Villiers Street, London WC2 "It is said to be London's oldest established wine bar 1980 and attracts drinkers with its history - Pepys and Kipling both lived in the building and with its wine" [One I have been to along with a bunch of other bloggers] [website]
5. Jerusalem Tavern, 55 Britton Street, London EC1 "Quite possibly London's most atmospheric pub, the tiny Jerusalem Tavern is made up of just a handful of pokey rooms, set on the ground floor of a 1720s building in a quiet steeet of Clerkenwell's main drag" [details]
6. Lightship X, 5a St Katharine's Way, St Katharine Docks, London E1 "Landlubbers with a taste for naval history will enjoy boarding the world's oldest lightship, docked five minutes from the Tower of London" [website]
7. The Magdela, 2A South Hill Park, London NW2 "Back in 1953, Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain shot her lover outside this Hampstead pub, though today the atmosphere is so tranquil that it's hard to imagine such drama" [details]
8. The Manor Restaurant, Waddesdon Manor, Aylesbury, Bucks "For Waddesdon Manor visitors, lunch at the Manor Restaurant should be considered one of the main attractions" [website]
9. Rules, 35 Maiden Lane, London WC2 "A genuine piece of the capital's dining history. Rules began life in 1798 and more than two centuries later is London's oldest continually trading restaurant - a gentlemen's haut replete with ricu, upholstered decor" [website]
10. Thackeray's, 85 London Road, Tunbridge Wells "The house, with its all-white New England exterior, is the oldest in Tunbridge Wells and was once the home of the writer and satirist William Makepeace Thackeray." [website]

 

I'm not sure if this article will remain free or if you will eventually need to register (why do newspapers still do this?) but here are six London pubs as recommended by the Vancouver Sun.

1. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, 145 Fleet St., near Blackfriars station. [more]
2. The Market Porter, 9 Stoney St., near London Bridge train station. [more]
3. The Lamb, 94 Lamb's Conduit St., near Russell Square underground station. [more]
4. The Lamb and Flag, 33 Rose St., near Covent Garden underground station. [more]
5. The Anchor Bankside, 34 Park St., near London Bridge train station. [more]
6. Seven Stars, 53-54 Carey St., near Holborn underground station. [more]

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At last a google mashup I (and I expect many others) can use. And use frequently too. This one - and thanks to Google Maps Mania for finding it - covers London and its pubs.

PintSearch.com lists 2000 pubs covering the whole of the capital. Its fully searchable and can even find a pub nearest to any tube station. If only I had access to this before the bloggersmeet with Sam and the UK gang - as finding Gordons Wine Bar on this map was a darn lot easier than wandering around aimlessly!

Ratings and reviews are soon to be added. Each flag on the map with be graded in colour from red (hot) to blue (not).

One for tourists, visitors and the locals.

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