April 2026. Bethnal Green. London.
An afternoon in east London with Joan and Dave, barely mentioning the T***p at all; just culture and cask and the Columbia Road.
It helps as a tourist, UK or American, if you like a bit of scruff with your charm, which is why Bethnal Green is such a joy.
The original “cultural melting pot”, with the old boozers gone gastro,
and the working class streets overrun by folk paying a tenner for a bunch of dahlias at Columbia Road Flower Market every Sunday.
Dad loved the place when we brought him here for flowers and toasties a few year back, and now we brought the Southworths to Bethnal Green’s top pub.
The Kings Arms looks the classic East End corner pub,
though perhaps a bit less crafty than my last visit before Prolapse (the band, not the medical condition).
Dave had noted the rare availability in the UK of Augustiner,
which in truth looks better than it tastes, a touch too carbonated.
In contrast to the pub, which looks magnificent.
Young (and less young) women were drinking pints here in the sun, Verdant and cask, a wondrous sight, on a day when London pubs delivered, magnificently.
retiredmartin 
The walk through the neighborhood was amazing. You hardly knew you were in a huge city. Lovely place.
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Have you changed your photos from 4:3 to 16:9? Asking for a friend, obviously. It means nothing to me.
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Not knowingly ! Does that happen if you stand right to left rather than east to north ?
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I really wouldn’t recommend that.
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Some nice looking pubs there, Martin, and a very rare find in the form of draught Augustiner.
Please pass on my regards to Dave & Joan, if they haven’t gone home, already.
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