Friday, November 7, 2014

SOME LONDON PUBS: London's Finest (12)



 As usual the great Dr Johnson hit the nail on the head:

 Sir; there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.

In my 72 years, many days have been spent in a variety of pubs; I do not regard any part of this time as misspent. Pubs are incomparable meeting places to relax convivially with family or friends, to loosen up with a pint or two of beer after a heavy day and to shoo away the cares of the world. 


Let me first celebrate a handful of London pubs I have enjoyed.  Following in the steps of Dr Johnson I enter Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, 145 Fleet Street, a few paces from his house in Gough Square where he laboured on his Dictionary. The pub is dark but atmospheric and the clientele are a mixture of tourists on a pilgrimage and local office workers. No lexicographers or newspapermen these days!

Johnson's Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

The City in my time was the venue for some serious drinking and, working in Cornhill, we tumbled out of the office and rushed to the historic Jamaica Inn, St Michael’s Alley, EC3 (aka The Jampot) and slaked our thirst in unbuttoned fashion.

The Jamaica
A few steps further took you to Mr Pickwick’s George and Vulture where, if you were flush, you had a traditional lunch of mixed grill with bubble and squeak washed down by a pint of bitter in a pewter pot supplemented by biscuits and napkin-wrapped Stilton and a sinful glass of port. Ecstasy!

Upstairs dining at The George and Vulture
 Now City drinking is often done in poncey wine-bars, usually converted bank branches with high ceilings and higher prices. I prefer the old-style pubs, sometimes with sawdust on the floor. I still have reunions with my old friends and colleagues at just such an establishment Bangers in Wilson Street, EC2.

Bangers in the City

Overflowing jugs of bitter are conjured up, delicious sandwiches and vol-au-vents served, while we joke and reminisce about earlier times. Long may we do so, until we finally croak.


The West End has dozens of decent neighbourhood pubs but many of the central pubs are aimed at the casual visitor. I enjoy the Victorian survivals like The Salisbury, 90, St Martins Lane WC2, with etched glass frontage, polished mahogany fittings and excellent cask ale. The Salisbury has a fair sprinkling of gay Thespian customers who add to its Bohemian atmosphere.

The Salisbury, Theatreland

Staying with Central London I also appreciate the straight-forward merits of The Gunmakers, Aybrook Street, W1, parallel to much visited Marylebone High Street, an oasis of normality where I can sink a pint or two, read my newspaper and watch some football or rugby on the TV screens, agog with the fluctuating fortunes of Arsenal or Scotland.


My introduction to London pubs dates from my Oxford undergraduate days over 50 years ago. Maybe 5 or 6 of us would descend on London and we would often follow a pub route North. Our first stop was the long-established Sir Richard Steele in Chalk Farm at the bottom of Haverstock Hill. I cannot remember the particular attraction (maybe there was a pretty barmaid) but it is still going strong and pulling in the punters. We then moved up to Hampstead High Street and The King of Bohemia, a cosy establishment with comfortable leather upholstered bay window seating. But just look at what has happened! Like hundreds of other pubs it was sold (in 2003) and redeveloped and is now a retail outlet, lost forever to the drinking classes, a sad fate indeed.

Once The King of Bohemia
Our final undergraduate destination was The Spaniards, Spaniards Road, NW3, long an institution and linked to legendary 18th century highwayman Dick Turpin, bordering lovely Hampstead Heath. Its large beer garden was a powerful attraction. The interior is oaken and traditional: in winter a welcoming blazing log fire warms you up. We used to eat single hot sausages but now the menu is much grander, far beyond undergraduate pockets. When I lived nearby for over 25 years, we walked with the children from the Heath Extension through Sandy Wood and ate snacks in the sunny garden. The children loved the collection of caged canaries and budgies, now all gone. The Spaniards is the kind of pub where you strike up conversations with complete strangers in the agreeably civilised English way. It is an unrivalled amenity for the affluent burghers of Hampstead and Highgate.

The beer garden at The Spaniards
My last pub is only just in London in the Mansion Tax environs of Totteridge. Deep in wooded splendour with its pond and outside seating stands The Orange Tree, Totteridge Village, N20 much patronised by the locals but also a destination gastro-pub, serving oysters, fresh fish, Sunday roasts and such luxuries.

The Orange Tree, Totteridge
This spacious pub is a venue for reunions, family outings and peaceful summer imbibing.

I hope this piece, skimming through a personal selection of pubs, introduces to some and reminds others of the gentle pleasures of pub-going.


SMD
7.11.14
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2014

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