Would you Adam and Eve it. Two pints of Pedigree in two days, and in Cambridgeshire and North That London, not Derby. Is this a comeback for Marston’s second finest ?
This one came, rather unexpectedly, after I’d been summoned by youngest son Matt to meet him at Boston Music Rooms in Tuffnell Park. Apparently, he’s brave enough to walk himself from Kings Cross through Camden but not to walk back in the dark. Sensible lad.
Though I hate to say it, Tuffnell Park was looking rather gorgeous at dusk.
“The venue is next to the grottiest pub in the world” texted Matt as I walked down Junction Road. I thought about going in the Boston Arms, but Matt was right (not that grottiness has ever stopped me before).
Matt’s gig (Oceans Ate Alaska, you’d hate them) were due on at 10pm, so I had plenty of time to take the sort of shots Matt would be embarrassed by.
This is what gig goers drink on the street outside the Music Rooms;
and this is what normal people drink while waiting for their pizza.
I had time for a pint in one of NW5’s top pubs. That’s not sarcastic, there’s some corkers.
I toyed with the Junction Tavern (not great last time), the Southampton Arms (too busy) and the Duke’s Head (a little too far) before giving in to the siren call of the Pineapple.
Now, the pizzerias and sushi places were busy, the pubs too quiet for comfort on a Thursday night. But the Pineapple was heaving. Pubs aren’t dead yet folks.
The old boys at the bar parted to let me see the beers, and recommended the house pale, which I’m almost certain is Pedigree. It definitely had that Burton snatch about it (NBSS 3.5), and I’m delighted to see it selling (albeit under an alias so as not to scare Londoners).
As before, a really great mix of London life, perhaps my favourite pub in the capital for that alone. And the reggae soundtrack.
Oh, and I still couldn’t get this in my back pocket.
Matt is still too young to be impressed by Pedigree in a London pub, and I’m now much too old to enjoys Oceans Ate Alaska, judging by the folk streaming out of the Boston Rooms.
“There was a bloke at the front as old as you Dad and he was terrified”
Cheeky sod. I survived Cliff Richard at Cambridge Corn Exchange in 1974, you know.
retiredmartin 
I often used the Pineapple in Leverton Street during the 1970s and ’80s when my brother lived thereabouts and was last in the pub about there years ago. Joan Bakewell lives in one of the larger houses near there.
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Joan was on the Thornbridge from, er, Bakewell.
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Isn’t that big Bass mirror cracked ?
If so you could point out that a broken mirror will bring them seven years bad luck and so you might be prepared to relieve them of it.
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The Boston Arms is probably one of the roughest pubs I’ve ever been in and I’ve been in some right dives. As for The Pineapple, it’s my home from home when I’m in London.
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Now you’ve said that about the Boston I want to go back !
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I was at a gig in the Dome a few years back, the bar didn’t really strike me as anything other than a bit run down.
Then again, I’ve drunk in the 524 cocktail bar in Aberdeen where they may occasionally sell exotica like Tennents lager, that was rough….
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You’re hard as nails though, Scott, being Scottish and a rigman and all that.
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Nah, just oblivious. Walking between a couple of American football teams when it was kicking off between them, that was proper stupidity.
BTW, depository is an archic variant on suppository
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Making best use of a narrow wedge shaped plot the Boston Arms reminds me of the Black Friar I was in last weekend.
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Maybe I caught it on a bad night. A friend of mine’s band was playing a support slot in the Music Room on a Saturday night and we popped next door after their set. The reception we got from the locals was borderline hostile.
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My lad went to a gig in the Dome the week after, and might be back at the Music Room tomorrow. Thought I knew all the venues but never heard of it till now. Odd to have a pub not obviously welcoming to gig goers.
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Did the Boston Arms last Autumn, more than likely will never return, if in the general area The Southampton Arms , Gospel Oak , is a must, A top 5 London pub for me.
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Yep.
https://retiredmartin.com/2015/11/16/top-100-pubs-southampton-arms-kentish-town/
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The Southampton is great. One of the better in the capital.
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“A depository, whatever that is”
Someplace to keep deranged lunatics with guns out of I believe. 😉
“Art”
I see they’ve censored the racy bits.
“and this is what normal people drink while waiting for their pizza.”
I think using them as a ciggy *cough* ‘depository’ is a better use for some of those brands. 🙂
“It just gets better”
I like how the black and white sign at the corner of the building indicates “traditional ales, beers, and lagers”. That’s a bit like saying you play both kinds of music… country and western. 🙂
“a really great mix of London life”
Blue jeans juxtaposed with what appears to be a three-piece suit and a properly folded handkerchief in the pocket. Nice. 🙂
“I survived Cliff Richard at Cambridge Corn Exchange in 1974, you know.”
Where did he touch you? (too much?) 😉
Cheers
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Too much. I was thinking of the horror of “Congratulations”.
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I noticed that bull was eyeing you rather suspiciously…
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To be fair I do eat a lot of pub burgers so they’re right to be suspicious…
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Good to see both Blur and Pedigree mentioned in opening gambit!
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Actually, I think I was aiming for “It’s a hard knock life” but it went badly wrong ;-))
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Blur have way more kudos than Annir!!
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