STILL 90 minutes ’till my gig at the Shacklewell.
I need a walk.
Oooh. Actually in Dalston, never really been here before.
Walking the Kingsland Road. Cue obscure 1979 Mod classic for BeerMat.
I actually have that LP. 10p it cost me.
More interestingly, here’s the screengrab from the Good Beer Guide app taken as I bump into those silly tourists who walk while looking at their phones.
Absolutely nothing to distract me en-route. A GBG desert.
Of course, there are potential pre-emptives. All Brewhouses & Kitchen will eventually spend a year in the Guide before they’re rumbled.


But I make it to Dalston Junction unscathed.

A look at WhatPub reveals the 40ft Brewery Tap (closed) and the Dalston Eastern Curve Garden Café (dark and scary).


Both of those will be in the 2020 Guide to annoy me.
I played safe with Farrs School of Dancing, quite a dull name by Dalston standards.
I don’t need to tell you who runs this, do I ?
Well, the Volden (big clue) is NBSS 3 at best, but only £3.30, and I warm to the unpretentious Antic interior.

Just to show it’s Hoxton not Shoreditch, you get Now…..1983 here; KC & the Sunshine Band and George Benson. I love the ’80s variety you get in London.
And this gorgeous view of the Eastern Curve Garden, suddenly looking alluring.
Darn, I’d forgot to eat again.
Railway Tav is the best bet round that way (https://whatpub.com/pubs/NLD/5792/railway-tavern-ale-house-london), although you’ve doubtless been before & WhatPub says it’s recently changed hands.
LikeLike
Spot on. Loved it on visit 5 or so years ago. Oddly, not in current Beer Guide, which precedes change of ownership.
LikeLike
At last, retiredmartin (and the pubmeister) leave behind North York Moors hamlets with pubs I’ve never heard of only frequented by local livestock, and record some with actual customers, in that London. 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, but it’s the job of our blogs to show you places you don’t know, Hugh, and scare you with pictures of funny Northerners 😉
LikeLike
Personally, given my current limitations on ability to roam the country (or even county!), I much appreciate being able to vicariously visit all these GBG pubs and laugh at the feedback from the rest of your fan club. Many thanks & keep ’em coming.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good to hear they’re helping but hope you’re able to roam, just like the Waterboys, again soon Clive.
LikeLike
What more can a man want in one post? Classic mod revival tune and sub £4 pints in London 🍻 not heard that one before …great find!
LikeLike
Didn’t expect you’d have heard that. I was only 14 when it came out late 79. Very Secret Affair, nagging tune. Not a chart smash !
LikeLike
I like it! It will be added to my spotify list if I can find it 😀
LikeLike
re this: “All Brewhouses & Kitchen will eventually spend a year in the Guide before they’re rumbled” — I’m guessing you said this at least partly in jest, but have you noticed lots of places making it into the GBG one year, only to be tossed back out the next? That seems rather more ‘churn’ than is necessary!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Less in jest than you might think; the B & Ks in Bedford and Cheltenham were both dreadful and only lasted a year while the one in Gloucester is rightly still in.
I reckon there’s a good 50 or so that get tossed out (officially “replaced by slightly better pubs”), most of which I’ve probably called out on here if they were new in.
I notice Simon and Duncan tend to have similar takes on beer quality when we compare note at our bi-monthly tickers convention at Maidenhead Conservative Club (that’s an alias, by the way).
LikeLiked by 1 person