Onward. From Hammersmith to Earl’s Court.
Via lost cats,
weird stuff,
and crumbling tube stations, to more beer and curry.
Charles and I would have walked the mile from the Dove, of course. But the steps down to the tube do you good. I think.
20 years ago Earl’s Court would have been full of super-fit Aussies on a Saturday night.
I guess they’ve either gone home or given up Walkabouts for gyms, as it’s quieter than Maidenhead on Thursday.
As I write this, the GBG App tells me my closest Guide pub is in Cladach Kiribost, 4,649 miles away.
There weren’t many pre-curry GBG options in Earl’s Court, but at least Fuller’s King’s Head was close by.
7pm on Saturday night in West London, folks.
High tables just don’t cut it, do they.
Nice staff, fresh flowers, foaming Pride, Curry Charles in soft focus discussing haggis hunts in the Highlands with Joan.
Again, the Pride was fine, but hardly anything to send a Southworth homeward bound thinking they’d had the ultimate cask experience (NBSS 3).
Mrs RM had reached the stage of the evening where she compares people to Magic Roundabout characters. I get to be Dougal, fluffy and dim.
Not sure why she deserved an exorbitant bottle of Rochefort 8 after that.
I only succumbed as a lone chap on the next table had one (“I’LL have a Rochefort” as the Babycham advert goes).
Charles chatted to him. He talks to everyone. It’s the killer instinct of the auditor. Turns out he came from Comberton, 10 miles down the road from me.
This guy left Cambridgeshire so he could go in London pubs that use Cole & Lewis hand-wash.
Aren’t Americans lovely?
We met some of the extended Southworth clan in Masala Zone, one of the best curries I’ve had in London.
My notes say only “Mrs RM destroyed the elephant”. Is that a euphemism?
I leave you with Dick’s list of beers consumed in London on their trip.
The Pride may not be drinking quite as well as it was in 2007, but that’s not the brewer’s fault. Or the Southworths.
retiredmartin 
And we did have good beer overall on the trip. Tenby had two pubs turning it over, Llandudno was average this time, and London was good with the ESB. I am still hoping the next generation of hipsters comes back to cask in old style pubs. You know they’ll want to do something different than what the hipsters before them are doing. What your parents do is passe; what your grandparents did is pretty cool.
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I trust the Southworths view on beer. NBSS 3 is “good”, well kept beer but perhaps I’m expecting too much from Pride these days. Stafford Paul says “thin” and I suspect that’s it in a nutshell.
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I do think Pride is a thin beer. I think the ESB is still quite good. I really thought the Rev James was excellent in Tenby as was the SA.
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Yes, I thought the Rev James had a good texture to it in Wales, and when it pops up as a guest in Greene King pubs.
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Three weeks ago I was disappointed with the Pride, as I have mentioned, but the ESB, in three pubs, was drinking as well as ever.
I’m in London again next Saturday and the following Monday but am not inclined to spend too long researching Fullers beers.
In between I’ve got two nights, and the best part of three days, in Sussex for the Harveys and the sea air.
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It’s your duty to research this for our readers, Paul 😉
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Well, with several hours the other side of Melton Street I’m sure I can nip over during the 1pm to 2pm lunch break to Fullers’s Signal Box to check whether the Pride’s drinking well there.
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Eleven days ago the London Pride in the Signal Box at 8.10am was perfectly fine but in the Doric Arch at 1.30pm it was really odd and not at all right.
I’m next in London at the end of August so shall try to check how it’s drinking then.
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You should have made the effort and gone in the pub at Claddach Kirkibost. The Skye Gold was drinking very well. That London is just a disappointment.
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Fair point, but That Claddach Kirkibost gets a bad rap on beer Twitter too.
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Any pub in Scotland that offers more than Belhaven Best is a winner for me but the Westford Inn beer was excellent.
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The Westford Inn, Claddach Kirkibost https://westfordinn.com looks like a wee stoater. Sensible opening hours too.
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I was there a couple of weeks ago. A cracker.
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Bill,
So what does one do thereabouts during the morning ?
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Caa the yowes, or something else obscure and Scottish
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A bit like in Wales then.
But no horse or goat alternatives here ?
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Do those notes mean that on day 6 a Winfieldesque 36 pints were sunk?
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Not sure Alan ever even got through 36 halves in a day’s pubbing. But anything less than 24 and his wife thought something was wrong with him 🙄
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Ha ha!!!
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I wish I could consume at a Winfieldesque rate! That means 18 total, 6 for each of the 3 people.
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Doh
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Dick,
Do you reclaim the excise duty from customs at the airport just before you leave Britain ?
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Still a highly commendable effort though Dick!
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That really was good Indian we had. Quite different choices than we usually order.
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Yes. We all enjoyed it a lot. Great choice.
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“weird stuff,”
We’ve got one or two boots with plants in them in our garden. 🙂
“my closest Guide pub is in Cladach Kiribost, 4,649 miles away.”
Blimey. You could be somewhere on Vancouver Island. 😉
“Curry Charles in soft focus discussing haggis hunts in the Highlands with Joan.”
I thought they banned those when they banned fox hunting?
“Not sure why she deserved an exorbitant bottle of Rochefort 8 after that.”
Because you’re a smart husband?
“A new standard in fragranced handwash”
Lemongrass and… bubblegum?
“I leave you with Dick’s list of beers consumed in London on their trip.”
That’s more cryptic than Si’s notes.
Cheers
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