There is something gleeful about James Brown’s piece in the recent Time Out about The Boogaloo, London’s latest, greatest rock pub. Perhaps the article shoots itself in the foot too much but noting the Boogaloo as heir apparent to Filthy McNasty’s and The Good Mixer, a title which may not be one any joint might want to get. That said, this copy of Time Out do have Coldplay on the cover, and it is suggested that it is only Coldplay that were pissed off in its morph from The Shepherd’s.
Not so. Firstly there would be mate of Coldplay Simon Pegg. The Shepherd’s gets a mention in Shaun Of The Dead, though they end up heading for the Winchester which does still exist. Also though the Boogaloo is not a great rock pub. It is some sort of pub/bar hybrid which does not really work as either. As for that jukebox…
The article suggests that it has the best juker in London, and certainly the only one programmed by rock stars. Do you really want to listen to Noel Gallagher’s record collection in the pub? I miss the Shepherd’s, as do more than just a few old age pensioners. The Boogaloo serves a section of the Crouch End populous well: but so did The Shepherd’s. And if any of the new punters had ever visited it when it was the Shepherd’s, as Coldplay did, then they would realise why a name change and a few special nights do not make a pub.