Your Local Pub

My proper local is the best in the world. It's small, quiet has kitsch decor and is run by two jolly gay blokes. Also has quiz machine. It was pub of the year in 1981 (according to the plaque outside!)

Also just as close are 1) the Griffin on Clerkenwell Road which a number of Picnic In The Sky revellers borrowed for its toilet facilities unaware until entering that it was a STRIPPER PUB and 2) the Duke of York which is Ground Zero for couriers, has lovely landlords, good Guinness and a Thai couple stashed in the basement making good food for £5 a plate. I go there often enough and ILE has drunk there before.

On Farringdon Road, we have the Eagle, which I can't praise enough.

Every other pub in the area, especially the ones on Mount Pleasant, Leather Lane and Exmouth Market are ALL branches of that well-known chain the Halfwit and Banjo (translation: drinking holes for the inbred and infirm).

Like Gareth, two equidistant pubs: the Marlborough House in my road and the Folly Bridge Inn around the corner. Although I've lived in my present house for six and a half years I haven't been in the Marlborough House more than five times, all of them to partcipate in quizzes and most of them when my team was playing the Marlborough Mutineers (as they're called) in the local quiz league. People say that they really know how to keep the beer at the Marlborough House (true). People also say that it has been altered structurally very little since it was built in 1883 (this is also true). However, that doesn't stop the place from giving me the creeps. It has such a dedicated clientele that I see the same old faces (almost always occupying the same seats) every time I walk past. It just seems more like a private club than a pub. It's a pity, coz the married couple who run it are really nice people who usually say hello when we pass in the street. I often see them in their boat on the Thames (a couple of hundred metres down the road). The bloke also has a bicycle repair business and if you know anything about Oxford you'll know that this is really appreciated!

The Folly Bridge Inn used to be called the White House. This was a more sensible name as it's quite a way from Folly Bridge. It used to be a lovely pub attracting stoodies and locals alike...it had a quiz on Tuesdays and a music quiz on Sundays. It is a Wadworth pub which used to mean there was FARMER'S GLORY on tap (num num!)....a much better ale than Wadworth 6X and very hard to find these days. Unfortunately, the popular landlord disappeared off to Winchester and since then they've had a serious of poor bar managers who really don't seem interested. Even when I turned up with a huge crowd of co- workers they didn't seem to want to serve us. Luckily I live within easy walking distance of the city centre and fairly easy walking distance of "alt. Oxford", ie Cowley Road, so the low quality of the local boozers is not a particularly big loss to me.

It is a nice space though and it's a shame it's in such a shitty area.

[*In the sexual sense]

Have you ever been to ICE Anna?

closest bar to me is Bar Med which, being in St Ebbe's, is thankfully not that close.

Ever been to the pub in Risinghurst, Tom? Can't remember what it's called. Or any of the ones in Quarry (Six Bells, Masons Arms or Chequers?)

You can tell I don't go out in CE can't you?

re. The Old Ale Emporium (Green Lanes): I've been in there a few times and quite liked it, but it's always jam-packed and I like a seat.

re. The Nobody Inn (Newington Green version): I used to go in there a lot because it stayed open late. Irritatingly Oasis were always on the juke box (it was around 96-97 though).

Does anyone like the Compton Arms in Islington?

There is a Nobody Inn in Newington Green which is actually quite nice (though the back half is a bit like a scout hut if that takes your fancy).

What lido? God, I feel like such a newbie.

It's on Park Road on the way to Ally Pally / Muswell Hill. I have never been as lidos are full of horrible children at the best of times and the proximity to Sprog Central can only exacerbate this problem.

Hooray for the Princess Alexandria.

Sprog Central = Crouch End, where North Londoners go to breed

Pshaw Anna. You'll be telling us you've never been on the Crouch End rollercoaster next.

(I can however be trusted on public houses, it is a subject I never lie about).

shoreditch generally is so shit for pubs. it really bothers me when i'm in that area. i guess owl and the pussycat does the job and is nice still post-refurb but most of the others are so disappointing.

Has anyone been to The Victory on vyner st?

People in E2 are spoilt for choice:/

old man pubs = creepy old men staring at you, occasionally trying to talk to you and being generally inhibiting presences. and NO DECENT WINE.

― lextasy refix (lex pretend), Wednesday, January 26, 2011 5:10 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

The first point isn't true for all of them by any means. The second may be, but I don't drink wine in pubs.

I haven't been in the Owl & Pussycat post-refurb. I felt betrayed and disappointed they'd refurbished it at all. Otherwise the Reliance is the only good pub in Shoreditch proper, but that doesn't really feel like anyone could call it a local.

The best pubs are the ones that welcome old men and The Kids (as opposed to actual kids) equally.

i think we tend to default to the red lion or the strongroom or the barley mow when in sditch. both are fine. i mean, you'd never ever go to sditch for a "quiet drink" would you? all you need pubs there for is pre-club drinking.

The first point isn't true for all of them by any means. The second may be, but I don't drink wine in pubs.

i'm basically just trying to discourage anyone from trying to make me go to the wenlock again

That may not be an issue for much longer :(

The Prince Arthur on Brunswick Place is a nice cosy place, feels more trad than Hoxtonised.

the red lion never has any place to sit down. owl and pussycat always felt too loud, too crowded, i.e. a bar that looks like a pub.

florist fans really would like the kenton i feel

ou'd never ever go to sditch for a "quiet drink" would you? all you need pubs there for is pre-club drinking.

glad i don't live in shoreditch tbh

This is my nearest pub according to FancyAPint.co.uk:

The Victoria
http://www.fancyapint.com/pubs/pub2258.php

Never been in it. The only local pub I've been to is v slightly further away:

Ye Olde Rose & Crown
http://www.fancyapint.com/pubs/pub2257.php

'salright, has a theatre above it, so it gets suddenly busy at interval and then quiet again a few minutes later. Don't really go drinking in pubs around where I live though, because if I am in the pub it's usually with people who don't live near me.

Closest pub to me is a recently refurbished old man pub with big tellies for the football. I never go in because it's a hun shop (rangers pub).

idk what's going on with the wenlock now, sale appara fell through but they're still looking to sell. last time i was in there before xmas a man wearing a morrissey t-shirt complimented me for looking like morrissey. obv i look nothing like morrissey. great pub.

havent visited the new owl&p either but have been told it's vile tedious gastro. (would assume they took the billiards out as well :/).

was in the florist on sunday for a bit, s'ok but i tend to think of it and the camel as bars tbh. otoh 1) they do london pale ale and 2) they do it in proper jars so fair play.

only been in the palm tree the one time years ago but it seemed fun. iirc the guvnor was doing his nut at someone for ordering water haha.

im so envious of all the real pubs. we've got nothing but college bars and shitty pub rip-offs.

this is my hangout.
http://armsbyabbey.com/

really miss proper pubs & pub sunday lunches now I'm in the US. Have a decent "Tavern" nearby that plays BBC america, has pool tables and a bit of a beer garden; has baseball stuff and photos of baseball stuff all around but it's pretty ok actually. But gooduns are kind of few and far between, particularly when you're used to having about 8 proper pubs within a 10-min walk.

absolutely would kill for a beer garden around here. never going to happen.

im so envious of all the real pubs. we've got nothing but college bars and shitty pub rip-offs.

― Cultivating a manly musk puts your opponents on notice (chrisv2010), Wednesday, January 26, 2011 1:14 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

yeah

i'm envious too. i like the names

i'm sure there are exceptions but anything called a "pub" in the US can be safely avoided

uh huh.

around here they call things pubs just because they have guiness on tap.

i guess we have dive bars, do those exist in england

i work at a dive bar, buts its a great dive bar. we actually have a bar in town called the dive bar....which used to be a complete shithole when i was 21. now its pretty darn good, owned by same folks as armsby above.

http://thedivebarworcester.com/

dive bars exist in England, yes. In London, they often seem to be Spanish-themed, for some reason.

http://www.marstonstaverns.co.uk/Hull/Queens-Hotel

i never have managed to enjoy the reliance, but have prob only been there on sat nights.

the new owl is v hipsterised and yeah a bit wanky, but they seem to have actually replaced the mini refurb the old irish owner did, where he lost the carpet in favour of v bright wooden floors and put bright lighting in. it actually looks a bit more similar to the old owl now. i've heard it's a real gastro pub but nobody was eating when i was in there.

the guvnor was doing his nut at someone for ordering water haha

he's famous for this, and other weird tics, like he'll sometimes just not let a group in for no reason. he's one of those landlords that will sit and drink with you when you're the only 3 people left in the place till 3am, but barely recognise you the next time you come in. generally a nice bloke tho.

lets go to the palm tree, garda

he's famous for this, and other weird tics, like he'll sometimes just not let a group in for no reason. he's one of those landlords that will sit and drink with you when you're the only 3 people left in the place till 3am, but barely recognise you the next time you come in. generally a nice bloke tho.

Is this The Sun we're talking about? I have a recent anecdote about a friend having to sit in the cubicle there for a good fifteen minutes while some other friends tried to negotiate some toilet paper for him from the manager, and apparently the manager wasn't making it at all easy to be obtained...

haha no that's the palm.

cb i'm game for the palm anytime...apart from tonight or tomorrow, after that tho literally any day ever

palm tree manager sounds like the worst

longshot i know but is there any pub in london where you can play CHEESES (throwing a big cheese shaped wooden block at some bowling pins) like they do in the midlands.

not helpful but i know a bar in detroit, usa where you can do that, but they call it feather bowling

freemasons arms in hampstead, though they call it "london skittles" of course: http://www.londonskittles.co.uk/

yeah soz i was about to say, i could've just googled it.

wow proper alleys! that kinda seems less fun than the drop-down midlands table tbh:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skittles_(sport)#Midlands

palm and palm tree next friday

oh no just palm tree not palm

BREAKING NEWS: the camel on globe road now sells punk ipa on draught. been there about 5 times since i found this out, which is about 5 times more than in the previous three years.

We just got a new local in a converted post office, it's pretty cool, snugs in old bank safes and stuff. Which is good because the actual closest local is fine for football watching but going in with girls feels like a complete no-no. It's basically all builders from what I can see.

Calling Chap: is the Dartmouth Arms any good?