June 2023. Hampstead.
Oooh, obscure musical reference alert.
I’m not a big Microdisney devote, but
“And the reign
Of the vain
Is a pain“
is a great line (I think).
Having just forgotten I’d been in Kilburn recently, I checked my blog to see if I’d visited Hampstead since 2015.
Apparently not. And the NW3 Guide entries I had ticked seem a long time ago.
Some famous names there, and the last two survive in the Guide, joined this year by the Magdala, 20 strides from the station, which might be the best of the lot.
London may not be your best bet for beer value and quality, but the pubs nearly always look great, don’t they ?
The Magdala looks like quite a few other pubs from that afternoon, just lovely places to sit and soak up the atmosphere as the rays pour in through the window.
Lots of keg taps, Wandle on the pump, hey what’s that !
It is, a very rare sighting of Bass*.
I was just about to let the Wickingman add it to The List when I took that first sip walking away from the bar.
Ugh. End of the barrel or summat. What a shame. I took the Harvey’s as a replacement; should I have waited for the barrel to be replaced ? Who knows.
Promisingly, the Sussex was great, cool and rich (NBSS 3.5). If they can keep Harvey’s they can do Bass justice I reckon.
It was all going so well, but then the bloke at the bar spoilt it.
“I have a story I NEED to tell“.
Oooh, sound interesting, I got my (virtual) notebook ready.
“In Lewes, right, where this Harvey’s comes from, there was a pub called (giant pause during which I hissed “Lewes Arms”) the Lewes Arms, where the locals rioted when Greene King took the Harvey’s off”.
And on and on and on.
The young barman, being incredibly polite, listened and said “really” and “wow” in all the right places, and I added “great staff” to the Magdala’s list of assets. All it needs now is that Bass back on.
*The Magdala is owned by the same folk as the venerable Express in Brentford, there’s your answer.
retiredmartin 
The Winchester on Archway Rd N6 reopened this year with regular Bass and will very likely be in the guide next year.
It is the nearest pub to my flat
The Dukes Head Highgate will not be re entering as now a keg only country and western themed bar with Willie Nelson posters and Michelob mirrors plus staff wearing Cowboy hats,
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A keg only country and western themed bar with Willie Nelson posters and Michelob mirrors plus staff wearing Cowboy hats ought to be in SOME sort of Guide, Alan.
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It is actually pleasant to go in the cool dark Kings Head on a hot day and perch on a bar stool and pretend you are Bert Reynolds.
The background music plays at a reasonable level and it is good country George Jones Emmylou etc and a bit of southern rock Allman Bros etc not Achy Breaky Heart
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sung by someone from Preston ?
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I am enjoying reading about your London pub visits -I love London pubs but we have to think a bit more carefully about crawls round the capital these days -Greenwich was a bit of an eye opener last week.We have Northern chums visiting for the Rugby League at Wembley in August -no doubt the Yorkshire battle cry will be heard “Ow much ! ” Although from what ive heard prices in Leeds are not always cheap.Having said all this however ,we won’t let the £7 pint spoil our fun -we will just eat less & put extra jumpers on
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I know what you mean, Pauline ! Prices definitely risen sharply in the last few years even before Covid. The pint on Hampstead was (only) £5.20, and I paid a fiver for Bass last night, so not all bad.
It was the cost of an off-peak return from Rye via Ashford that really startled me !
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We have a two together rail card & usually get a travelcard -£21 something now each ticket -I hear the Mayor of London intends scrapping the Travelcard -shame as its so convenient for us
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Scrapping the Travelcard ? Seems a daft move as presumably used by loads of visitors from Kent and the Home Counties and overseas. Brilliant for me if I’m visiting pubs all over the capital in a day.
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That beer looks rank. Do yourself a favour and get some decent stuff down yer gullet.
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Ooh, a pub I’ve actually been to. I’ve been to many pubs but not as many as you, RM. Glad to see you have the same opinion as me on the Magdala, ie it’s a corker.
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Attractive pub, proper seating, lovely staff, good beer. It’ll never catch on.
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I believe Pauline is correct about Travelcards, because not content with imposing the £11 per day, Ultra-Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) on drivers living in the leafy suburbs of Bromley, and Bexley, and other outer London Boroughs, Citizen Kahn now wants to scrap the Travelcard for rail users traveling into the capital from all the counties surrounding London – Essex, Surrey, Hertfordshire, Bucks and Herts, as well as Kent.
Kahn’s excuse, London residents are subsidising rail travel for visitors from what he regards as more “affluent” areas. It’s not as though we don’t spend any money during our time in the capital. And it’s not as though the Mayor fulfilled his promise to provide toilets on the Underground, either!
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I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned yet that the pub became infamous as the location where Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in Great Britain, shot her boyfriend in 1955.
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I do apologise.
I was distracted by reading and absorbing the Standing Instructions For The Maintenance Of Ordnance In Storage 1941 Vol. V1.
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Apology accepted, Reg.
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….. or that it’s probably the only pub named after where Christ’s mother was from.
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