Pubs and the sun. After all, this is England, we don’t get the sun very often, so when we do we like to – in the words of the immortal Sunkist advert (which obviously did not work since you cannot buy said drink any more on these isle) “Drink in The Sun”. The pub is one of the few properties where it is a positive advantage to be North facing – estate agents beware. No point getting bundles of sun in the morning when you are shut. Instead get your trestle tables out for the last few hours of sun and watch your lager and lime swilling customers go pink.
Central London is not overly graced with pubs which work in the summertime. There aren’t an awful lot of pub gardens in WC1, and those that exist (say The Lamb on Lambs Conduit Street) put the word “garden” into sharp relief. Instead we get the on street seating, picnic tables and the leaning on the outside with a pint. This is the British version of cafe society, and much more uncomfortable and edgy it is too.
That said, last night I enjoyed one of the best outdoor drinking pubs in the centre – and one of the stupidest. The Queen’s Larder on Cosmo Place is next to the beautifully in bloom Queen’s Square and whilst south facing it gets a good amount of afternoon sun. The summer is their best time for the Larder as by putting eight picnic tables out they increase their capacity by 400% – tis a little pub. A few beers later, and a Cider Lolly (which if I was allowed a sherry shot would have been the first Armadillo lolly) we wandered down to Lambs Conduit Street to what used to be Finnegans Wake. A lousy Irish conversion of an equally lousy pub beforehand (The Sun in times past). Now it has made another transformation into the Perseverance – a sort of chain answer to a Gastropub. They have Strawberry Soup on the menu – what more do you need to know.
So why Finnegans Wake/Perseverance. Well I knew that it was north facing and would be nicely taking in the rays about fiveish. So we rock up, and yes the pub does indeed have a number of tables outside. However through some foolishness they have placed all their tables in the shade. Finnegans Wake was a rubbish pub, The Perseverance – on this effort – does not appear to have made any improvements.