Only one more post before I get to tell you about the CAMRA AGM and how Stafford Paul and I defeated the “broccoli amendment” (long story).
First, my emotional reunion with Mrs RM, after my exhausting day ticking in Surrey and her more leisurely exertions fixing IT in New Cross.
In order to get back in her good books I’ve included a photo showing Mrs RM’s position in the firmament.
I’d arranged to meet my Number 1 at London Bridge, as just as with Birmingham New Street it’s impossible to get lost there 🤔.
The Shipwrights looked ideal but was closed, despite not being a Micropub.
Still, there are other options.
Just time for a stroll past Hay’s Galleria and HMS Belfast. One of the best views in the world.
Though not a patch on the Underbanks, obvs.
I headed for the Rake. Easy to find me there, and I might be able to bag a table.
You’ll know the Rake. One of the original little craft bars that are now commonplace. Except in Maidenhead.
This is the place that made worldwide news for selling beer at £18 a pint last year, prompting immediate action by Mikkeller and Craft Beer Co. in their new bars in Shoreditch.
It’s always pleasantly busy inside, a mix of office workers, confused tourists and women on company accounts asking for tasters. But we’ve always found a seat in the garden, so it’s one up on the Market Porter already.
I bought Mrs RM a pint of Moor Nor’hop on keg and awaited her presence.
Even sent her a little map showing the 4 minute walk.
24 minutes later, I’d drunk half her beer (not as good as the Nor’hop on cask) . And started on her Pipers.
So when she did arrive I had to go and get myself another.
Not sure about the Stone glassware. It was actually Magic Rock Common Grounds in there. Clearly you beer bores reading this have all dumped Magic Rock for selling out like Weller did by adding horns in ’82, but it was a magnificent beer (NBSS 4.5).
Within 10 minutes the troubles of our her day were forgotten.
Occasionally, just occasionally, London gets it spot on.
The sloppy burgers in the new food court outside Omeara were decent too.
retiredmartin 
Near there I’d often get, once they’d opened at lunchtime, to the Wheatsheaf and the Market Porter, both in Stoney Street, and, with them being owned by an old local charity, it was nice knowing that my drinking was in a good cause.
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You should give the Rake a try, Paul. I’ll lend you a tenner for a pint of murk.
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Yes, I will but I doubt if I will be in that part of London this year.
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The Rake is a must visit for me when in London. I’ve been going in for years and it’s the only place that consistently gets their beer right. In fact so much so I could put up with the skanky shared public Gents in the market.
Like Weller, Magic Rock will continue, whether they actually improve, like Mr W, remains to be seen. You can’t be an angry young man all your life can you. I guess the difference between brewing and music is that with music you only record the song once for consumption to millions. In brewing you have to make millions (maybe thousands?) of different ones for consumption by individuals; it’s the volume production where the quality can be lost.
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“it’s the volume production where the quality can be lost” but quality isn’t always lost, and I’m sure we’ve all known and/or know of beers brewed in large volumes that are very high quality.
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A frequent tarrying spot of mine over the years even when it was run by fully committed beardy hipsters ( hi Glynn ! ).
Remarkably successful even though it’s probably the least comfortable bar I’ve ever been in and they don’t even allow smoking in the outside area that looks like a great spot for a few tabs over a jar.
And there’s a decent pie and pasty stall only a few steps away.
Update from Mexico – the ginger margaritas were exceptional last night and I only needed half a dozen to begin talking like someone suffering an aneurysm.
I had to calm myself down with a few bottles of Allende craft beer before dinner – their wheat beer wasn’t half bad.
Sadly Mrs PP-T informs me I re-started talking bollocks over the second bottle of Malbec and had to be dissuaded from hitting the top shelf for a few nightcaps.
Apparently we’re going for ” a good walk ” today before alcohol is allowed to touch my lips. Little does she know I’ve discovered the Allende craft brewery encourages walk-ins and tasters.
I fear she is becoming unusually cranky because she has chosen this holiday to give up fags again and I invested rather a lot of pesos on a Cuban cigar after dinner.
But I’ll send her off for a bout of retail therapy to restore her Ying to my Yang.
Can’t be having my rake’s progress through Mexico interrupted.
Ahem …
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Giving up fags is, I believe, even tougher than giving up beer. Let alone pubs.
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Your photo on the bar of the Rake ,shows a lady with a very white leg -wonder if she knows she has circulation problems ?
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You’re very alert today, Pauline.
You realise all these photos are fake?
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Pauline,
Yes, indeed, and that probably accounts for her drowsiness.
I would have called for an ambulance.
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“closed, despite not being a Micropub” –had a good chuckle at this!
I must caution you about the Pipers; wives will forgive many things, but I fear stealing crisps is where they draw the line. 😉
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You almost sound like you speak from experience 😉
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