16th November 2022.
My pre-interview pub crawl continued, from Holborn to Moorgate and the Shadwell. Four new ticks in 90 minutes on foot.
#StillGotIt
London looked splendid, though there seemed to be a lot less suits on the street, unless the City boys are very casual these days. For probably the first time since 1992, I actually felt quite smartly dressed. Mrs RM was horrified I’d gone to buy clothes the day before. ON MY OWN.
Pub 3 was the Globe, a slightly jaded Nicholson pub.
These photos tells you a lot about London in 2022;
- Tourist pushing a suitcase on wheels when tighter packing would have kept it down to a rucksack
- Red phone box without defibrillator
- Seats plonked down in apparently random positions
- Building works with no expected completion dates
- Vaping
Still a handsome pub, despite the decorations.
I think the beer range may predate Dickens..
See ! You can get a proper head on your beer in the South. The TEA was cool and rich (NBSS 3), but I never saw a pint of cask pulled, and I had the best high table in the room. Nearly everyone was standing aimlessly, a sure sign the Christmas season was almost upon us.
“Oooh, Coldplay !” said someone, but thankfully the babble overpowered the music.
I pressed on, past that magical line where East London begins (you can actually feel it),
and towards Shadwell, which obviously I know of but can’t say I’ve ever been to a pub in.
Somehow I avoided the lure of the Doom Bar in the Artful Dodger,
and pressed on to the Sir Sydney Smith, which What Pub tells me used to be spelt with an “i”.
It’s a cracker. Small, and smarter than I expected, with Bad Boy burgers and darts.
When did London give up being at the cutting-edge of beer, I wondered.
Two Scotsman arrived at the bar.
“Want a Dookers ?”
“A what ?“
“A Dookers. Scottish beer !”. How quickly reputations die.
They had Dookers, I had a tasty Redemption (NBSS 3) in a nice seat in a lively pub.
Good job I checked the Gents.
Actually, that’s the problem with pubbing in London when you’re nearly middle-aged Short hops between pubs. No loos at the Underground, and Shadwell station was a good 5 minutes walk from the Sydney.
The bladder leash.
retiredmartin 
You lead with the clothes shopping but don’t show a photo of the new garb? We know all of BRAPA’s wardrobe and all you give us is a teaser.
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You assume Mrs RM didn’t torch it before any pictorial evidence could be made….
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Blimey Martin. You are a few small yards from Tandleman Towers South. The Sir Sydney Smith used to be even more unspoilt before they wrecked it. Beer always undrinkable piss though. Imo of course.
The Artful Dodger has never changed and simply serves its local trade. Walk in and walk round the pool table kind of thing.
My manor Mite.
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I knew you were somewhere near there as you’ve wrote about the area, but I couldn’t see the recreated Tandle Hill bumpy path leading to your manor.
I guess it’s a choice between characterful boozer with undrinkable beer or modernised place with decent cask. Pubs like the Laurieston or the City Arms manage to balance the two.
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A London pub crawl as I remember it involved ever more desperate toilet stops, inevitably accompanied by a pint, making the next toilet stop ever more desperate. This is probably why I haven’t done it for 20 years or more. Someone I know who uses the tube regularly claims there are ‘some’ toilets if you know where to look, I never found them…
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And another passenger’s pocket is NOT a toilet.
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Not even if that passenger is Simon?
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“Seats plonked down in apparently random positions”
So random furniture not only inside now. Terrible.
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