Comments on: The FT Top 25 Pubs of the 00s No 5: The Pillars Of Hercules, Soho https://freakytrigger.co.uk/pumpkin/2010/05/the-ft-top-25-pubs-of-the-00s-no-5-the-pillars-of-hercules-soho Lollards in the high church of low culture Sun, 09 Feb 2014 16:38:05 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 By: Dexterdoss https://freakytrigger.co.uk/pumpkin/2010/05/the-ft-top-25-pubs-of-the-00s-no-5-the-pillars-of-hercules-soho/comment-page-1#comment-1290824 Sun, 09 Feb 2014 16:38:05 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=18785#comment-1290824 Staff just talk to their friends and the staff. No interest in customers.

]]>
By: Pete https://freakytrigger.co.uk/pumpkin/2010/05/the-ft-top-25-pubs-of-the-00s-no-5-the-pillars-of-hercules-soho/comment-page-1#comment-701445 Mon, 24 May 2010 21:58:36 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=18785#comment-701445 Depending on your definition of Soho, potentially better pubs are The Ship, John Snow, Shaston Arms, Blue Posts Berwick St, Old Coffee House even the Black Lion on a good day (and a pub yet to come…). But that’s all on a good day, and this list is a specific FT experience centred list which is why this polled so well. I am just pleased we may have rescued it from the Amis/Hitchens axis.

But that said what other pub can yo think of that had a book names after it (Clive James second book of collected essays / reviews) and doesn’t mention it anywhere in the pub.

Note the Gin and HP sauce bloody mary did have tomato juice in it. And was awesome, eh Eli.

]]>
By: Mark M https://freakytrigger.co.uk/pumpkin/2010/05/the-ft-top-25-pubs-of-the-00s-no-5-the-pillars-of-hercules-soho/comment-page-1#comment-701437 Mon, 24 May 2010 21:14:31 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=18785#comment-701437 Re 6: But actually, given the Pillars’ geographical spot, the alternative doesn’t have to be a Soho pub, strictly speaking. It could easily be the Bricklayers, or the Angel in St Giles, or the Phoenix…

]]>
By: CarsmileSteve https://freakytrigger.co.uk/pumpkin/2010/05/the-ft-top-25-pubs-of-the-00s-no-5-the-pillars-of-hercules-soho/comment-page-1#comment-701387 Mon, 24 May 2010 15:06:49 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=18785#comment-701387 are there really better soho pubs? i can’t think of many. the dog and duck maybe, but that’s even smaller. i’m beginning to wonder if my like for a lot of these bouzers that others find a bit meh is due to my old habit (not so much these days) of being, often quite significantly, the first to the pub, so i had a chance to watch the pub go about its business rather than concentrating on whether there are enough seats for everyone etcetc.

and definitely for a sunday post-lollards this was perfect, gin and hp sauce bloody marys, endless britpop cds and the little table at the front.

and and we once saw [quick google] James out of Busted in there (i knew it wasn’t charlie and couldn’t remember the name of the one who went to the jungle, HOW SOON WE FORGET)

]]>
By: Mark M https://freakytrigger.co.uk/pumpkin/2010/05/the-ft-top-25-pubs-of-the-00s-no-5-the-pillars-of-hercules-soho/comment-page-1#comment-701385 Mon, 24 May 2010 15:02:24 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=18785#comment-701385 As with say the French House, I’ve always assumed that the sheer lack of usable space at the Pillars is a substantial part of its legendary status (comfort and ease being dead bourgeois and that). And for me what that normally means in practice is (again, as with the French), you arrange to meet there and then end up going to somewhere sensible. It’s also rather tarnished by its associations with Hitchens/Amis/McEwan – although I guess the Lollards could be said to have reclaimed it for the forces of light.
And although the whole pub over a road thing is good, it’s not as good as a pub with a passage, like the Newman.

]]>
By: Elisha Sessions https://freakytrigger.co.uk/pumpkin/2010/05/the-ft-top-25-pubs-of-the-00s-no-5-the-pillars-of-hercules-soho/comment-page-1#comment-701243 Sun, 23 May 2010 22:50:44 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=18785#comment-701243 If pubbing were an Olympic event, snagging a table at the Pillars at night would be one of those tricks that guarantees high marks if actually executed but foretells an ignominious exit if not.

But who needs a table when you’re a party of two? I’ve had plenty of nice drinks there perched in the narrow causeway leading to the raised platform in back. You do feel as though you’re drinking in a changing room but it’s intimate that way.

]]>
By: Tom https://freakytrigger.co.uk/pumpkin/2010/05/the-ft-top-25-pubs-of-the-00s-no-5-the-pillars-of-hercules-soho/comment-page-1#comment-701116 Sun, 23 May 2010 11:41:51 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=18785#comment-701116 I am pretty sure we didn’t start calling it Lollards Nights until the second series, ftb we were actually on at night then (well, evening). But maybe I’m wrong – the Pillars on a Sunday afternoon certainly saw some of the best of Lollardry though, whatever the name.

]]>
By: Ewan https://freakytrigger.co.uk/pumpkin/2010/05/the-ft-top-25-pubs-of-the-00s-no-5-the-pillars-of-hercules-soho/comment-page-1#comment-701085 Sun, 23 May 2010 08:02:07 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=18785#comment-701085 Sadly, perhaps, the roof no longer leaks (they fixed it around New Year) and I’m not entirely certain the DJ Wheeliebag performs there anymore. It’s still poky and has decent beers, though.

]]>
By: Matt DC https://freakytrigger.co.uk/pumpkin/2010/05/the-ft-top-25-pubs-of-the-00s-no-5-the-pillars-of-hercules-soho/comment-page-1#comment-700966 Sat, 22 May 2010 19:56:01 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=18785#comment-700966 DJ Wheelie Bag aside, I really dislike this pub, it manages to feel cramped no matter where in the pub you are sitting. There are many better Soho pubs…

]]>