retiredmartin

Four pubs up (down ?), and time for a second Spoons.

Another short hop on the Overground over the Thames to the unbridled joy that is the rear entrance to Clapham Junction, the busiest in Europe.

Last time here I was walking to Sambrooks Brewery, admiring the Church of the Nazarene en-route.

I’d admired The Asparagus back in late 2018, marvelling at how a neighbourhood Spoons had evaded the GBG during my ticking life.

I should have popped in then; EVERY Spoons makes the Guide if it waits long enough and honours out-of-date CAMRA vouchers. Ah, Patience Road, how appropriate.

My Dad would be impressed by the floral displays; not sure what he’d make of the Asparagus, rather livelier than the genteel Spoons he’s experienced in Cambridgeshire.

The GBG calls places like this a “cultural melting pot” (see also : Walsall’s White Lion), and it’s the most boisterous Timbo Emporium I’ve been in since Royston, with young lads in Arsenal away shirts scampering around. Arsenal ?

For the third time tonight I’m met by Twickenham Brewery.

And, despite Twickenham being a swear word in our household, for the third time I succumb, this time to a gorgeously cool, rich, crisp half* of Red Sky (NBSS 3.5). A quid well spent.

Then I toyed with a walk to Battersea Brewery, figured I’d miss the Chung Hwa crispy beef if I did that, and headed back over the river towards Victoria, just in time for sunset.

And then to Oxford Circus for Tick 6.

Isn’t it lovely to see London busy again ?

*Saving myself for rigours ahead, including the inevitable pint of ESB in the Parcel Yard.