Let’s get London finished, then I can move on to more exciting places like (checks notes) Great Glen, Gidea Park and Bucharest.
The final leg of my Thursday in South London started at Elephant & Castle, always an exciting place at 5pm.
Even if the Charlie Chaplin has finally bitten the dust. I would, of course, love to tell you that the Charlie was the victim of a certain legislative event in the spring of 2007, the ultimate elephant in the room when discussing pub viability.
Sadly, a quick search on Bing reveals the true reason.
Don’t let that put you off the area. This is of the UK’s liveliest transport hubs and markets, and an essential stop on any American tourist’s itinerary.
And just look at the multi-layered art composition.
I’m here for the loo stop yet another Antic GBG newbie.
Back in the day I used to make occasional visits to the NHS admin block at Skipton House where we’d discuss important subjects like DEL, AME and Resources without Cash. You needed a pint of Guinness (the safest bet) in the Charlie after that.
The new Antic isn’t as much fun as the Charlie, that’s for certain, and the clientele are (or look) 40 years on average younger. But the furniture is of similar vintage.
Oh, look ! A Volden tap takeover !
This was uber-Antic, if you like. Chairs and tables reclaimed from a care home or social club, Wham’s “I’m Your Man” playing to the office crowd, decent beer (NBSS 3) ruined by being served in a handled jug.
But it was OK, it was OK.
Until they put on Annie Lennox.
I actually walked a bit of Southwark after that, before realising I was running behind time and catching the tube to Bond St.
You know how much I love corporate Christmas decorations.
I was meeting Matt at Kings Cross so we could walk into Kentish Town for the Car Seat Headrest gig. I’m amazed he’ll still be seen dead with me at 17.
I suggested he finds a table at the new Spoons at St Pancras. You couldn’t get in the door, so BrewDog Camden it was. Great burger & chips, beer too fizzy.
At the O2, the beer range was cutting-edge.
Matt went down the “pit” (as the kids say), I sensibly stood behind the sound desk. CSH are a great night out, but really ought to write some new songs now.
retiredmartin 
Strangely enough they’re pushing Somersby cider in Berlin like it’s something artisanal and precious.
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Which it is.
I hope you’re having a great time in Berlin. You would have loved Bath and particularly BrewBoy (honest).
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Next time!
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How many fathers would be seen alive with their son at a CSH concert?
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Oddly, Matt’s school mate went with his Dad, too. Plenty of Dads into 90s indie, few into 2018 crop.
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Interesting there is a distinct cut off on interest level based on time period. It does seem to get away from most of us…
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Please tell me you’ve made up the name Car Seat Headrest.
If so can I have Zimmer Walking Frame.
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I believe that one’s taken by a German psychedelic skiffle group
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Mobility Scooter Parking Space?
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Your posts just get better RM…
That’s the second photo of a beautiful beer glass this week…
..my dimpled jug runneth over…
🙂
Carlsberg Extra Cold would be the ‘craft’ beer to go for…
…I doubt even a dimpled jug could enhance that one, but at least it’s so cold that you can’t taste it because your mouth goes numb….
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Leave your excitable moobs out of this, old chap.
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You tell him.
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Out of what…? (..old chap)
Not that I have any moobs – excitable or otherwise…
🙂
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Please feel free not to prove that point 😱
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OK, let’s leave “dimpled jugs” – which may or may not be overflowing – out of the general slapstick then.
Sorry, it was only an attempt at wordplay for its own sake – no offence intended.
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“THE ELEPHANT & CASTLE IN THE ROOM”
(slow golf clap)
“Sadly, a quick search on Bing reveals the true reason.”
Oh, I dunno. Could still be true with regards to 2007 in a way. Maybe they were arguing about fags.
(I’ll get my coat)
“Barbed wire a nice touch”
Ironic in a way. 😉
“But the furniture is of similar vintage.”
Coloured seating areas? I thought there were banned.
“A Volden tap takeover !”
Ah! I couldn’t place it in your previous post but now I see that the ‘Volden’ logo reminds me of the Vogons* from the Hitchhiker’s Guide. 🙂
(* – Voldemort is too predicable) 😉
“It’ssssssssss Christmas. No, it ain’t”
Nope, it’s not. And those aren’t bloody Christmas decorations either. (sheesh)
“All your craft favourites”
Was the Carlsberg Extra Cold more expensive than the regular Carlsberg?
(perhaps because it takes more energy to keep it cooler?)
“Matt went down the “pit” ”
Do they still ‘mosh’ in the pit?
Cheers
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They certainly do “mosh”, those youngsters.
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I’m in the middle of the Deserter lads’ “Today South London” book (thanks to you), and loving it. Has me a little curious about the area, though I think I’d maybe have to be arm in arm with Dirty South or Dulwich Raider to fully appreciate it.
I confess I do enjoy the bass line to Wham’s “I’m Your Man”; wasn’t a hit over here, I expect most Americans never heard it.
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I haven’t met Dirty South or Dulwich Raider, but I thought you’d like their approach to life, and they seem intelligent guys.
The bass line is underappreciated; those Wham hits have probably aged better than the 85-89 UK synth pop (says I).
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Can you have a tap takeover with a brewery that as far as I can tell is exclusively linked to your pub chain?
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What a shockingly cynical thing to say. Bit like criticising Greene King for advertising Ruddles and Speckled Hen as guest beers.
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My memory of Elephant and Castle was cycling round the roundabout, towards Euston, many years ago and a four pint carrykeg falling off the back of my cycle with a rearward glance confirming that its beer was sprayed across the road which was too busy for me to stop.
Did you notice that Tim’s new St Pancras venue isn’t badged as a Wetherspoons ?
I can reliably inform you that there’s a better chance of a seat therein at 8am than 6pm – but you probably didn’t want to hang about round there for ten hours.
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What a blog post that would have made, Paul ! Did young Lambeth urchins rush into the street to lap up the Watneys or whatever it was, dodging the horse and carts.
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About 12 mph was too fast to notice whether there were any young Lambeth urchins about.
I had spent a couple of days working at a CAMRA beer festival in East London – and I know it was East London because we had a curry in Brick Lane and “early doors” at a Courage pub just off Roman Road – and that carrykeg was a bit of the beer left over at the end of the festival.
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Oh, and that rearward glance confirming that its beer was sprayed across the road was while the carrykeg bounced across the tarmac with a very similar motion to that successfully seen in the Dambusters film.
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Nice pictures, Paul.
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