Gareth Gates wins Pop Idol!

Gareth Gates wins Pop Idol! Oh, no he didn’t. Much to everyone’s surprise, Will Young beat G-G-Gareth to the crown, in the final episode of the extremely protracted Pop Idol series. This means we can look forward to his rendition of the eminently forgettable “Evergreen” being released shortly. Sadly, this is not a cover of the Barbra Streisand standard (Luuuuuuuuurve, soft as an easy chair…). It is, however, just as bad.

The Seven Stars

The Seven Stars I knew Tim had reviewed this last year but I couldn’t find the review, else I would have linked it. I had forgotten about the toilets, so I didn’t check ‘em out.

Evening Standard Top Pubs It would require an awful lot of legwork but perhaps a day’s crawl around the so-called top pubs of London might be in order..?

In the Library

In the Library Pubs are ideal locations for a solitary read. As I had reached a very interesting bit in the book I’m currently reading while coming in on the tube today, it seemed reasonable that I go to a pub to continue perusing at lunchtime. In the end, I couldn’t have picked a better pub for the job.

The Seven Stars is a wee pub opposite the tradesmen’s entrance to the High Court, just off Chancery Lane. Despite its location, only minutes away from my place of work, I had never been there before today. I was going to have a pint of their bitter (Adnams), until I realised that it also sold Bitburger, my favourite German lager. So I had a pint of BB and a pricey-but-nicey ham and mustard sandwich. The menu veers towards gastropubbery (kedgeree, mussels) but it gave me the impression they’d be able to get away with it.

As it is just round the corner from the courts, the pub has a clientele made up of , not surprisingly, lawyers and clerks. The decor is distinctly legal - caricatures of judges, posters of Brit films featuring lawyers. While I was expecting to overhear all manner of lawful anecdotes, what I ended up hearing was a long conversation about Pop Idol between two geezers. One of them was drinking out of his own special pewter tankard, which I assume was kept behind the bar for him - classy!

On first visit, this seems to be a terrific little pub, atmospheric but not prepossessing, bustling but not too noisy to have a read in. I look forward to returning and may well be there for its four hundredth anniversary party in the summer (est. 1602, would you believe).

Big events

Big events I learnt last night that the Football Association was formed in 1863 in The Freemason’s Arms on Great Queen Street, near Covent Garden. And there’s a pub, just south of Fleet Street, that claims to be the place where the good-deeding Amnesty organisation was established in 1961.

Whilst I find all this of some interest, it doesn’t increase my enjoyment to drink in a pub with a claim to historical fame. In fact, I find it a bit depressing. There’s too much pressure - what are the chances of you coming up with something to top that? I can’t imagine wandering into a pub in 2020 to be greeted by a gilded sign saying “In This Pub In 2002, John McGhee Took Part In The Greatest Ever Conversation About The Smiths”.

More pubs than you think

More pubs than you think I was amazed to discover the number of pubs in my local area that I didn’t even know existed, let alone have visited. A sign on the pub wall last night listed all the pubs in the vicinity which were affiliated to the local “pubwatch” scheme - and I hadn’t heard of most of them. The Three Compasses? The Famous Pig & Whistle? The Wishing Well? Obviously more strenuous efforts are needed to be find out whether these places are any good.

A Sacred Cow:

A Sacred Cow: In my view, The Flask in Highgate is a rather overrated experience. Yet you will see it referred to in most pub guides as some sort of North London haven, well worth chugging up the hill from Archway tube to visit. It’s not a bad pub (and there are plenty of those in Highgate) but its elevation to premier status leaves me bemused.

Whenever I’ve visited The Flask, I’ve found it too full of locals and tourists for me to have a relaxing drink. As it is the last pub en route to Hampstead Heath, it often seems excessively busy at the weekends, so getting to the bar is difficult and bagging a seat is nigh on impossible.

But still it receives plaudits from all sides. To wit, here are just a few things said about The Flask in various guides:

They said:
Every inch a village pub, it oozes character.
P Pubs says:
Pokey, with horse brasses and caricatures.

They said:
A perfect summer pub!
P Pubs says:
Tiresome and crowded on sunny days.

They said (in French):
Pour les nostalgiques de la grande histoire r’volutionnaire, Karl Marx aimait y venir boire quelques Pintes.
P Pubs says:
Marx was patently too drunk to walk down the hill to The Archway Tavern.

Admittedly, The Flask is probably the best pub in the area. The beers are fine and clientele tolerable. But I do wonder how many pubgoers, making a special trip on the basis of a glowing review, are disappointed once they get there. I hope this redresses the balance a little.

Just thought

Just thought I’d point out that All Bar One is neither a pub nor a bar. According to its owners, it is a restaurant. Six Continents, which used to be Bass Taverns, has two main areas of operation: Pubs and Bars, and Restaurants. The outlets in its Pubs area include O’Neills, Goose, Ember Inns, It’s A Scream and Hollywood Bowl. All Bar One, however, is lumped in with Browns, Innkeepers Lodge, Toby Carvery and Harvester - which is totally appropriate, if you think about it.

All Bar One is pressing its restaurant status by introducing table service. FACT: table service has no place in a pub. Ergo, All Bar Ones are not pubs and should nevermore be mentioned on this publog.

THINGS THAT ARE IMPOSSIBLE (But Pubs Expect Us To Do) 2: Carry more than two drinks to your table.

THINGS THAT ARE IMPOSSIBLE (But Pubs Expect Us To Do)

2: Carry more than two drinks to your table.

Three pints of lager and a J20 cannot be transferred from the bar to your thirsty mates without spillage. It’s not as if most pubs don’t have trays; it’s just that they never offer them to you. The result? By 8.30pm, the floor of the pub looks like it’s been mopped with piss.

But that’s where you’re wrong…

But that’s where you’re wrong…

With apologies to PUBlic Enemy (and, more relevantly, Star Turn on 45 Pints).

Once again, back is the incredible
The pub animal
The incredible PP. Pumpkin Pubs is number one
Landlord said “Time!” and I got numb
Can’t I tell ‘em that I never had a man’s rum?
But it’s the facts that the Peter Baran got some
Now they bought me a Martell, will I drink it - no, hell
‘Cause a drunkard like me said “Well
Ayingabrau’s a great drink and I think you ought to drink it
What it can do to you, what you ought to do”
Follow for now, power to the people say,
‘Get some dough and buy a cider armadillo’
P-PUBS is back, all in, we’re gonna win
Check it out, yeah y’all, here we go again

Shhhh…a PUMPKIN PUBS relaunch may be gathering momentum…

And a white wine for my wife…

And a white wine for my wife…
How on earth can people drink wine by the bottle in pubs? I’m not objecting to the consumption of wine by pubgoers (although, if beer is good enough for me, it ought to be good enough for most people). It’s just that wine makes you very drunk, very quickly. I was out last night and it only took three or four glasses of acrid Pinot Grigio for me to be slurring my words.

In an unrelated development, there’s a new advertising campaign in the Underground for German wine (all of it). Apparently, it is now not all sickly sweet Liebfraumilch. The revolutionary concept that is being offered is dry German white wine. Sorry Meinen Freunden - I’m afraid that I’m still not that tempted.