If you recall, Pub 8 initially started as a Ladbroke Grove pub crawl. The Castle, just by Holland Park tube, is not on Ladbroke Grove. Well rules are meant to be broken. And break our other (not yet formulated at this point) rule The Castle did. It was the only one of the Pub 8 which did not have a Tv for viewing Live 8 on. So while we missed probably Coldplay, we also wrestled with the pub not having any real ales on. A frankly obscene number of international lagers replaced the handpumps, and I managed to have a pint of Staropramen Granat (the amber version). This was probably an error from a drunkenness perspective, but hey I survived.
Spirits were relatively low in the first pub, possibly because we felt we should in some way be watching Live 8. Instead the pub offered us a copy of the Daily Star instead, which is no replacement.
PUB 8 RATING: 3/10. No tv, no ale. Posh fish finger sandwiches are no replacement.