As sure as night follows day, Kilburn follows Colindale in the world of the GBG ticker.
Not sure why I decided to walk, something to do with the calories in the Spoons fudge brownie I guess. And a desire to explore an unexciting bit of the A5.
The first two miles are some of the dullest in the whole of the UK, just warehouses and retail and flyovers. And the Wing Yap Chinese shop.
Those two flat whites were seeming A Bad Idea By Brondesbury, which as you know was a rejected Ted Nugent album title. Never blame the beer, always coffees.
Things picked up in Cricklewood, perhaps the first time anyone has ever said that.
I made it to the loos in the Beaten Docket, one of the first London GBG pubs I ever visited, for inexplicable reason. It was as “lively” as I remembered.
Tim had a fair number of Spoons round here, selling a few of the rougher diamonds in the late ’90s, and I always assumed these wet-led boozers with minimal food trade were at risk.
And there’s clearly not been a penny spent on modernisation, bar the coffee machines. But still the drinkers come.
The other stand-out round here is the Crown Hotel, which looked rather majestic in a keg way.
Of course there’s the odd Irish bar like Barrett’s (top), though less than you’d imagine.
Actually, as you enter Kilburn, and realise that you’ve actually beat the bus you could have caught from Colindale, what you notice are the smart Mediterranean cafes which make you realise you’ve actually nearly walked to Hampstead.
And then you check and realise that Kilburn now has more Beer Guide entries than Hampstead, which is shocking for a place that gave us the Flask and Holly Bush.
Even more pub heritage in the Black Lion, especially for Truman fans.
Loads to see round here, from veg,
to fading match ads,
to intriguing churches.
Quite an uplifting half hour, in fact, before the Sir Colin Campbell opens at 4pm (why ?).
Irish boozer gone upmarket, I deduce, perhaps unfairly.
It’s pleasant, but I doubt it sells enough cask.
And the obligatory Otter is an adequate but uninspiring NBSS 2.
Come for the food trucks, come for Guinness, come after 6pm.
Still, job done in London. Bar one.
retiredmartin 
“A highpoint”
Now I know where the term ‘tip’ comes from.
“and realise that you’ve actually beat the bus you could have caught from Colindal”
Ahhh, good old big city traffic.
“to fading match ads,”
And here’s me thinking it would be something to do with either footy or cricket.
“Future micro pub”
But only the bit above the neon word ‘State’.
“And the obligatory Otter is an adequate but uninspiring NBSS 2.”
(sigh)
“Still, job done in London. Bar one.”
Well done. 🙂
Cheers
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But they had Landlord on!
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Yes, and that’s a HUGELY risky purchase unless the pub knows how to keep it. May pop back to Bricklayers in Putney now back on form and test it.
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Didn’t Sir Colin Campbell die on Coniston Water ?
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Kilburn/Coniston -what’s the difference ?
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I might be mistaken but I don’t think the Kilburn Brewery ever brewed a Champion Beer Of Britain.
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That’s the sort of comment we appreciate on Christmas Day, Paul.
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Is the Brickies back on form? seemed on it’s death bed a year ago.
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So I read this week. Like you say, out the Beer guide for few years for whatever reason.
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Blimey. I used to get in the Colin Campbell back in the 90s when I was working in that London and it was very much like its North Shields namesake: rough as a badgers.
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Much smartened up, the usual craft beers and food carts but still a vaguely Irish feel, though the Irish pubs I recall seemed thinner on the ground.
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EP,
Does “rough as a badgers” mean the same as rough as a bear’s —- ?
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That photo captioned “A highpoint” could have been taken in my hometown of Detroit! Well, it’s good for us Yanks to see that it’s not all ‘Ye Olde England’ over there, much as I’d like to keep my rose-tinted glasses on at all times. 😉
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A year ago I was in Los Angeles, and there was loads to enjoy and blog about, despite astonishing squalor between the airport and Hollywood. I think it’s easier to find architecture and art in isolation in England, even in less “picture box” places like Coventry or Newton-le-Willows or Margate. Quite a serious answer from me there.
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– but we need “a serious answer” to counter all the frivolity of Christmas Day.
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Honestly many of the photos on your blog, casually taken in towns that have never been highlighted in a travel guide, present buildings and streets more beautiful than any that can be found in the US.
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Cricklewood is one of the undoubted highlights of the Goodies musical output.
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