Amusing to see (17th January) a confirmed Northern toper of confirmed Northern beer dismiss anything as ‘froth’, given how much one hears from our friends in the North about the merits of having a quarter of your pint taken up by just that. He’s right about the quality of Robinson’s (and Hartley’s), but I’ve had more luck than him with finding it in London. I recall running across it as a guest beer in a few places, most notably the White Horse in Peckham, which was my local for a blessed while. Wandering in to the back bar one evening, I was delighted to see a Robbie’s pump head at the bar. ‘My favourite beer,’ I said to my companion, only to find that it was on a special at ‘1.35 a pint. Hello, as they say, and goodbye.
As for the White Horse, it is an excellent 2-bar local, slightly set back from the Northern end of Peckham Rye. Well worth a visit if you’re in that neck of the woods, it’s one of those pubs which does the simple things well. It’s a place for people to go and have a drink and a chat with their friends and family, maybe to eat a little pub food, maybe to watch a little football, maybe to play a little pool. Marvellous.
Also amusing was receiving a distinctly cross-eyed phone call from the self-same poster just after closing time a few evenings ago, mentioning the fearsome power of the Cider Armadillo! The south will rise again, much like the contents of the stomach of an unwary Armadillo tippler.