tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097076601714523722024-02-08T09:59:51.806+00:00Playing Monopoly with the BGCHeard of Monopoly? Heard of London? Heard of British Pubs? Well watch the amazing BGC meld all three elements together in the most pointless tour ever as he and the Monopoly Tour Faithful try to drink their way around the Monopoly board. A drink in a pub on every square on the board (or as near as possible) and all in the best possible taste!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-18532306959430870332013-08-11T14:09:00.001+01:002013-08-11T14:09:43.611+01:00Go
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Well, it didn't quite end in a blaze of glory, unless you consider
sitting in a traffic jam on three of the country's finest motorways glorious,
but it did end and with everyone's patience being tested the fullest, that's
probably a good thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I think I've already mentioned that the idea for the
"GO" square was to "go back" to a few of the favourite pubs
we'd covered during the tour, a very fine idea suggested by none other than the
Spikey Haired one. I'd done my best to canvass opinion as to what people
thought were the favourite pubs, but probably like most things I do, I'd over
complicated things, trying to ascertain which were peoples favourite beer,
barmaid and tour experience when I should have kept it simple........stupid.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In the end though, the answer was very clear from those who
bothered to respond as two venues were mentioned by many tourists as being
worthy of a second visit, so we settled on a simple rendezvous at the best of
the "chain" pubs, the <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/go-to-jail.html" target="_blank">Viaduct Tavern</a> in Old Bailey and the best of
the "independents" the <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/bow-street.html" target="_blank">Hercules Pillars</a> in Holborn. If you want to
find out why they were voted the best I can only direct you to the blog posts
they appeared in.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S-nVlEUQt4c/UgeLzvjSokI/AAAAAAAAA-w/3jeJeRpWFnw/s1600/go_viaduct.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S-nVlEUQt4c/UgeLzvjSokI/AAAAAAAAA-w/3jeJeRpWFnw/s320/go_viaduct.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The tour at the Viaduct - just to prove to me they did go there.</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Attendance looked to be very healthy as the Payroll girls seemed
to whip up nearly their whole department into coming out, including all the
regulars of Nicole, Brenda, Gemma, Lucie, Carole and George, those we hadn’t
seen for some time, Emma, Sarah-Jane, Charlene and those we'd never seen before
at all, Natasha and Nicola (yes I know Nicola isn't in Payroll but for this
exercise she is). My department on the other hand were rather scraping the
barrel as only Ed, Mickey, Nick and Charlie put in appearances although we too
had a new face in that of Charmer Palmer. </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But the full attendance doesn't stop there, my "local"
drinking buddies Tim and Steve were also going to make it and even the legend
that is NateDawg was taking the express tractor from Norwich for a swift pint
or two in London before heading off elsewhere.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I, just to make things interesting, had actually got a day off
work on the day of the tour and this was to take another tourist, my now
teenage Reubot indoor skydiving in Milton Keynes. The sky diving all went to
plan, but what didn't was the journey home which saw me waste far too much of
my life on the M1, M25 and M4 shouting at the SatNav.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">So it was a hot and sweaty and non-too impressed BGC who found
himself kicking his heels on Thatcham station platform for the 1/2 hour wait
for the 19:00 train to London. Luckily this dark and despondent mood was
somewhat lifted by a text from Slowpoke Sam who initially texted to say how
sorry he was he couldn't make it tonight having only just got home and was
therefore running far too late. Needless to say, as soon as he heard I also was
delayed as an apology from the Met Police was more than happy to sling on a
very dodgy pair of shorts and join me for the evening expedition to the big
smoke.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Alas due to our late arrival we had to forgo the joys of the
Viaduct Tavern and the company of NateDawg who apparently had much better
offers of much better beers in Birmingham, so we rather dishevelledly made an
appearance at the Hercules Pillars to a half hearted cheer and a demand for the
"prizes".</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qlR8kGSnTEA/UgeLvFHOFUI/AAAAAAAAA-s/QreJ57HNIeQ/s1600/go_bus_ride.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qlR8kGSnTEA/UgeLvFHOFUI/AAAAAAAAA-s/QreJ57HNIeQ/s320/go_bus_ride.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The only time the tour travelled by bus - and I missed it.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Perhaps this was the real reason why so many people had come out;
nothing to do with my company and the beer but instead my misguided advertisement
that everyone attending tonight would get a prize for coming on the tour. Well
I was true to my word even if perhaps the reality of typing "Monopoly Novelty"
into the eBay search engine only produced some pretty lacklustre gifts.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">For everyone who had attended at least one tour but not more than
10 separate pub visits, I'd managed to pick up some splendid packs of Monopoly
branded tissues, just right for the handbag or pocket. These were eagerly
snapped up by the lower-end tourists with many a comment of "exceeding
personal charm" etc etc.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">For the boys who'd achieved more than 10 visits but hadn't made it
to the dizzy heights of the top 5 they got a very nice Monopoly badge. It was
just rather unfortunate that these people, No-Nickname Michael, Big-J and
Munchkin Steve were all no-shows and therefore it was rather like those award
ceremonies when the prize is presented by video link or "here to accept
the award on his behalf....." except that we had no video link and no-one
to accept the awards on their behalf. So actually it was nothing like that at
all.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">For the girls who'd achieved a similar status (more than 10 but
not in the top 5) I had actually managed to pull off a fairly decent prize.
Little Monopoly houses fashioned into earrings. Nicole and Brenda seemed
delighted, especially Nicole who favours earrings usually fashioned by Pat
Butcher. Gemma seemed a little miffed though as she was the top scoring girl
and I'd noticed she never seems to wear earrings I'd decided to get her something
a bit more special in a Monopoly bracelet (hand crafted from little monopoly
houses and a single monopoly hotel) which would show her scraggy wrists off to
their best advantage. Although I think she liked the bracelet apparently she
does wear earrings beneath that beaver pelt of a hair-do. But anyway with a
couple of spare pairs of earrings (they only sold them in packs of 5) she also
got a pair as did Emma who can turn on the charm when there's a freebie on the
cards.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RUIT-hZLvXY/UgeLNiK6ZyI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/8wiXbIPM4GY/s1600/go_ear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RUIT-hZLvXY/UgeLNiK6ZyI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/8wiXbIPM4GY/s320/go_ear.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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An ear - and an earring.</div>
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The final 5 all got individual gifts, well sort of as in the case
of Charlie and Ney Guy Micky, they both got a luxury Monopoly mug. Aussie Pete,
who sadly was another no-show got some Monopoly cufflinks, which were presented
on the following Monday. He instantly put them on but strangely I've not seen
them since.....</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Buddy Rob never took part in the Cask Marque Cask Finder scanning
and so alas never qualified for a Cask Marque bottle opener. Seeing an opportunity
I thought such an item would make a splendid gift and could only get a branded Budweiser
one of course.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At the end of it all, there wasn't much doubt about who was the
winner in terms of accompanying tours. Spikey Haired Ed, he who'd almost laid
his life down in the cause of the tour had made an appearance in no less that
100 pubs. Quite an achievement. But what on earth do you buy the man who has
everything, including the best hair-do in London? In my case I bought some
Monopoly tour books which I handed over saying "If you don't want them,
I'd love to have them back!" I think he got the hint.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The final prize of the evening was the free to enter raffle where
the book of raffle tickets had cost me more than the prize. Anticipation was heightened
as bar man Joe pulled out the winning ticket which, perhaps aptly was owned by
Slowpoke Sam. To say he was delighted with the prize would be an understatement.
Probably best to let his acceptance tweet speak for itself.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JTpGKAh_IQ0/UgeLZQOZRfI/AAAAAAAAA-g/dZfAwgB7Jas/s1600/scarf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JTpGKAh_IQ0/UgeLZQOZRfI/AAAAAAAAA-g/dZfAwgB7Jas/s320/scarf.jpg" width="163" /></a></div>
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Sam - Charming.<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">So there we have it. There were a few more drinks to be drunk, a
couple more photos to be taken but as people started to slip away the evening
fizzled out and the tour ended without any hint of fireworks and certainly not
a top hat in sight. Micky and I were the last men standing but even we had
packed things up by 10:30. </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Probably the most asked question of the night was "so, what
are we doing next?" and although I do have a couple of bubbling ideas, I
think it might be best to let it all lie for a while. Anyway if the suggestion
of "let’s do Cludeo next" is a serious one, it's going to take me a
while to think up how to apply the rules of that game!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The final post reads far more melancholic that I want it to. The
final tour was an anti-climax but that's not to say the whole tour hasn't been
a success. Leaving aside all the rushing around and lateness which obviously
put a dampener on the evening we'd also made that classic mistake of trying to
recreate a fantastic evening by revisiting a location. When we firstly stumbled
on the Hercules Pillars we'd had a bit of an awful evening, stroppy barmen and barladies,
terrible weather and the company of the drunkest man in the universe. To cross
into Pat's welcoming domain was a joy that evening and whilst he made us more
than welcome again on this night and the beer was in fine form (haven't
mentioned at all what I drunk this night) there was a sense we were all
searching for something that just wasn't in the air this night.</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Perhaps then we shouldn't dwell on this final night but think back
to some of the things which really did stand out on the tour. Firstly there
were the places we went to; London is such a fantastic location but even there
it's very easy to stick to the beaten track of the West End and the tourist
sights. Without the tour I'd never have had a reason to go down to Elephant and
Castle and see the concrete monstrosity that is the shopping centre there.
Without the tour we'd have never have gone up as far north as Camden for an
after work drink. Without the tour we’d have never learnt the historical facts
about the Old Bailey cells and where William Blake is buried. </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And then there was of course the pubs. There were the splendid,
whether that was down to their history or their uniqueness (Olde Mitre, Viaduct
Tavern, George) but let us not forget those which are just carving out a living
for themselves at just being someone's local and being the sort of pub I feel
most at home in (The Red Lion, The Kings Arms, The Cheshire Cheese) and by the
same token, even though they're not my preferred kettle of fish, those pubs
which are still making otherwise derelict and empty spaces into somewhere for
people to gather and talk and live (Tyborn, Rockingham Arms)</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There were also the people we met; how lovely it was to bump into
lovely Heike in the Edinboro Castle, remember the photographing artist Helio
Teles (still friends on Facebook!), the nameless Spanish & Austrian IT
engineers and I'm not sure whether Pete is still in touch with all his male
chat up friends.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And finally how about all those things that happened and are the
sort of things that will make you say in years to come, "Oh, do you
remember when we went to the Red Lion in Angel, yes you do, it was when Ed got
run over by a bus" - or "it was when BGC found himself in hospital
just 24 hours after posing with Churchill and Roosevelt" or "it was
when Aussie Pete let rip on the charity collector"</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There's just one final image I want to finish with, and maybe it's
this that sums up what I was trying to achieve all along. When Sam and I walked
into the Hercules on that final night, the first sight that greeted me was that
of Brenda and Nicole just returning from the bar with pints of ale (turned out
it was Hobgoblin) - so that's without coercion and prompting possibly a couple
of people who's when next trying to decide what to drink will say, "do you
know what, get me a beer....."</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gdsCEjbHsr0/UgeM5cW0A1I/AAAAAAAAA_A/5iZB8QDB9ds/s1600/go_girls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gdsCEjbHsr0/UgeM5cW0A1I/AAAAAAAAA_A/5iZB8QDB9ds/s320/go_girls.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
There were some perks to doing the tour.</div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Now what were the rules of Cluedo...........<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-29074912226607307452013-07-13T14:35:00.000+01:002013-07-13T14:36:53.846+01:00Packing away the pieces<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In amongst
the facts and figures of the "tour statistics" post I mentioned that
the tour ran for a total of 367 days (or 1 year and 1 day if that makes it
easier) and it's possibly worth revisiting why for the last 12 and a tiny
fraction of the 13th months (see there's always another way of presenting
statistics) I and the other tourists have been ploughing around doing this.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Obviously there
are the reasons of gaining the <a href="http://www.cask-marque.co.uk/" target="_blank">Cask Marque</a> prizes and the inbuilt nature of the
male which seems to need to satisfy the obsessive nature of being able to
collect something but I'd like to think there was another reason, that of
believing in something that as a country we're blindly starting to lose and
something we'll probably not really realise what we might be risking until it
has gone. And that of course is the great British Pub.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I'm not
going to get drawn into the minutia of figures and statistics again (see the
last post if you want those!) but the pressures and hardships that are being faced
by our pubs might never have been so great and I think even the most seldom of
pub visitor cannot be unaware of the frightening rate of closure of both town
and rural pubs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Writers who
managed to make a living from scribbling summed up the wonders and joys of the
British pub much better than I ever can, so I’ll keep my eulogy brief and just
say that the unique institution is surely something far too precious to thrown
onto the scrap heap?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">So to sum
this sentiment up, if there's anything I hope I've achieved by running the tour
is that the tourists themselves have also rediscovered and enjoyed a visit to
the pub and possibly away from these rather silly nights out they'll continue
to support their locals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Back to the
nature of the tour again though, it was the Cask Marque tour and we should
focus a little bit on what being a Cask Marque pub means. Obviously Cask Marque
are in the business of promoting good quality cask ale and as such with their
close scrutiny of the standard of ale being served in their accredited pubs
it's a very handy way to ensure that when in a unfamiliar area of town, you're
pretty much assured a fairly decent pint. And if your pint isn't decent, well
at least you have another course of recourse by virtue of the fact you can
raise the issue with Cask Marque themselves, who'll deal with the pub
themselves.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I know only
a little of the hoops that must be jumped through to gain Cask Marque accreditation
but I know they're not simple, so there was one thing that had me scratching my
head harder and harder as the tour went along. Why go to all the hard work of attaining
the certificate and then not bother to display the certificate? I totally
understand that some places might not have had them up on the wall for
perfectly legitimate reasons (change of landlord for example) but far too many
place seemed either completely indifferent to it ("oh I think it's in the
office somewhere but I don't know exactly where") or hadn't a clue what we
were going on about. The second point could possibly be dealt with by staff
training but the first is a little more serious.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I wonder if
it has something to do with how Cask Marque is perceived by the pub industry
and how the pub industry is organised in the first place.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As mentioned
in the last post, it was no surprise to see the majority of Cask Marque pubs we
visited were dominated by 4 massive pub chains. But even following on from
that, the next groups of pubs were all chains as well. It's rather scary to see
from my evidence that only 2 or 3 pubs seemed to be either free houses or tiny
3-4 pub chains. </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Now don't
get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with the chains (I'm not going to touch
on the whole issue of the beer tie or anything) per say, most were well run and
the beer quality good but I wonder if gaining Cask Marque accreditation is as
much of a boon for the single free house as it is for the chain?</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">How Cask Marque
goes about dealing with this is a puzzler for Alistair and the gang but I hope
they continue to make gaining accreditation just as worthwhile and possible for
every pub and not just those being run as part of a chain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But a
further word about those chains, again referring back to Counting the Scores we
saw that the "winning" chain, if that's the right expression was <a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/" target="_blank">TaylorWalker</a> with 26 pubs appearing on the tour; this was closely followed by
<a href="http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/" target="_blank">Nicholson’s</a> with 22 and <a href="http://www.fullers.co.uk/" target="_blank">Fuller’s</a> with 19 and <a href="http://www.greeneking.co.uk/" target="_blank">Greene King</a> with 15. There's a
well documented issue with chains in that they usually try to stamp a corporate
brand onto all locations sometimes without a care for the origins of the pub or
building, but I think I can happily report that maybe the days of someone like
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watney_Combe_%26_Reid" target="_blank">Watneys</a> coming in a painting everything that moves “Watney Red” have now gone.
Most of the chains still try to do a uniform decor job but I saw many fine
examples where this had been done around and in harmony with the history of the
pub and it was actually quite comforting to know that some of our very valuable
pubs are safely in the hands on such caring companies. Want an example? Well
how about the <a href="http://www.yeoldemitreholburn.co.uk/" target="_blank">Ye Olde Mitre Inn</a> which Fullers are obviously lavishing care and
attention on, or the <a href="http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/theargyllarmsoxfordcircuslondon/" target="_blank">Argyll Arms</a> whose fantastic ceilings and huge mirrors are
polished lovingly by Nicholson’s. And in that analysis we see the two companies
who I felt were doing the best jobs from the 4 majors. Now if Taylor Walker
took on a “no blaring music policy” and Greene King a much more “extensive
guest beer policy” then they could possibly catch up!</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But if we
really want to give out prizes for the best places, then we need to
"GO" back in time.....so let me take you on a journey......a magical journey....just
close your eyes......(to be continued)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-14437718477000988942013-07-06T15:23:00.002+01:002013-07-06T15:23:58.206+01:00Counting the scores
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">So as the
late great <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Grayson" target="_blank">Larry Grayson</a> might have said, "What are the scores on the
doors?" and providing he was referring to the black and white statistics
about the Monopoly Tour then lucky I'm in a position to don a black bob wig and
do my best <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isla_St_Clair" target="_blank">Isla St Clair</a>.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The tour lasted
for almost exactly a year, 367 days to be absolutely precise and it covered a
total of 39 of the 40 squares on the Monopoly Board, this included all
properties, all stations, all chances, all community chests, all utilities and
even jail, go to jail and free parking. As hinted in the last blog post, we are
still yet to cover "GO" but that will be done as a grand finale to
the whole shebang and won’t be covering any new pubs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">During those
39 square we (or I) visited a grand total of 137 different pubs, one of which,
the Artillery Arms was covered twice; once for <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/community-chest-1.html" target="_blank">Community Chest #1</a> and once
again for <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/super-tax.html" target="_blank">Super Tax</a>. The most pubs ever covered by one square were 6 but we did
this 4 times when we visited <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/bow-street.html" target="_blank">Bow Street</a>, <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/fleet-street.html" target="_blank">Fleet Street</a>, <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/leicester-square.html" target="_blank">Leicester Square</a> and
<a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/oxford-street.html" target="_blank">Oxford Street</a>. The least amount of pubs was just the 1 when I started the whole
thing off in <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/ask-anyone-to-name-square-on-monopoly.html" target="_blank">Old Kent Road</a> on my own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The tour (or
maybe it was my charm and charisma) managed to attract a total of 43 different
tourists (even I was surprised by that!) and a huge 60.5% of those came back
for a second visit. The most tourists we ever had on a single square was 13
when we rolled up to <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/super-tax.html" target="_blank">Super Tax</a> and the least, discounting any tours I made on
my own, was 2 when it was just me and Spikey Haired Ed who conquered the <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/water-works.html" target="_blank">WaterWorks</a> square.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In terms of
<a href="http://www.cask-marque.co.uk/" target="_blank">Cask Marque</a> statistics, which I know Alistair will be greatly interested in, I
started the tour with a total of 34 scans and now at the end I'm at 208.
Obviously that includes other pubs I've been scanning outside of the tour, so
maybe I (and Cask Marque) should be more proud of the scanners we introduced to
the delights of the <a href="http://www.cask-marque.co.uk/biggest-ale-trail/ale-trail" target="_blank">Cask Finder app</a>; Micky, Charlie both have enough scans for
their bottle openers. Ed should be cutting a fine figure of a bloating young
man in his Polo Shirt (<a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/northumberland-avenue.html" target="_blank">Pul-low</a> - oh how we still laugh!) and Aussie Pete has
been promoted to the dizzying heights of Cask Marque Ambassador with his
brewery tour prize just around the corner!</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The longest
run of consecutive scans was 7 which again we did on 4 different occasions; From
The Savoy Tup (Chance #1) to Euston Flyer (Euston Road) – Ye Olde Watling
(Change #2) to Ye Olde Cock Tavern (Fleet Street) – Nellie Dean of Soho (Oxford
Street) to Spread Eagle (Bond Street) – Coach and Horses (Bond Street) to Sir
Christopher Hatton (Chance #3).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span> </div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Well done to
all those pubs for getting the certificate out for the lads! Unfortunately that
does mean that 28.5% of pubs for some reason or other did not have their
certificate out for display and scanning, but I'll go into that in more details
in a future post. </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The pubs we
covered have been dominated by 4 major pub chains, in order of number of pubs
that appeared on the tour <a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/" target="_blank">Taylor Walker</a> ran away with 1st prize chalking up 26
pubs, this was closely followed by <a href="http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/" target="_blank">Nicholson’s</a> on 22, <a href="http://www.fullers.co.uk/" target="_blank">Fuller’s</a> and <a href="http://www.greeneking.co.uk/" target="_blank">Greene King</a>
coming in 3<sup>rd</sup> and 4<sup>th</sup> on 19 and 15 pubs respectively. </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">None of this
I guess is really surprising as all 4 have a traditional presence in the capital
or the south of the country (ok maybe not so traditionally Greene King but
they're never slow in seeking an opportunity)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>- What I guess is most disappointing is to see so few truly free houses
on the tour.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But of
course numbers never tell the true story, although geeky people like me love to
crunch them in a thousand different ways, and of course how could one sum up
the experience of 137 different pubs by numbers alone. So there is of course a
human story behind these facts and figures. And for that we need another post.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-76884389965413534122013-06-30T23:07:00.001+01:002013-07-06T15:10:20.723+01:00Mayfair<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 130%;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It somehow
should have ended with much more of a bang and a pop, perhaps even a flash of
fireworks, a ripped t-shirt and a night spent in the gutter. Well maybe not,
but the final property square seemed to come and go with not much more
celebration than a regular evening at the pub, which let’s face it, is still a
cause for celebration. Mind you it was another lengthy absence since that last
tour, a whole 4 weeks if I'm not mistaken and whilst these longer intervals do
seem to have resulted in a better than average attendance, on the momentum side
of things, the tour seems to have limped and staggered to its near end on dirty
and bruised knees, wheezing like an asthmatic dog.</span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But let's
not get too down about it all, we should still celebrate the 9 hardy souls who
were up for one final regular outing, especially as we saw the welcome return
of No-Nickname Michael, still on the wagon even if he does look like he's
clinging on for dear life (joke!) and after much persuading Aussie Pete who's
month long abstinence of anything remotely approaching fun still had 4 days to
run.<u1:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> <o:p></o:p></span></u1:p></span>
<br />
<u2:p></u2:p>
<br />
</span><div style="line-height: 130%;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Even the
most forgetful of Monopoly students must know that the final property square on
the board is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayfair" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Mayfair</span></a>, the most expensive property
and that's something that hasn't changed since the game was invented as this
area of London is apparently still the most expensive place to live in Europe,
never mind just the UK. Again those with a passing knowledge of London
geography will know that Mayfair isn't a street or a station but rather an
imprecise area, tucked in the corner of Park Lane and Piccadilly. There's a
plaque in Stanhope Row which explains that this was the site of the oldest
cottage in Mayfair which I guess is a good a place as any to concentrate the
tour on.<u1:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></u1:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><u1:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><o:p></o:p></span></u1:p></span> </span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">
<u3:p></u3:p>
<div style="line-height: 130%;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The tube
journey to Green Park was uneventful apart from the fact that Gemma and Nicole,
the ever-dependables from Pay Roll, bumped into George, a fellow Pay Roll
colleague who upon being encouraged to forgo all thoughts of a quiet night in,
finishing a dissertation, showed all the strength and fortitude of a jelly fish
and crumbled all far too easily to join the tour before it shut ups shop
forever.</span></div>
</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SLtM5cnVFqE/UdCmOAZlDpI/AAAAAAAAA9c/cjVHfmpRq8w/s640/m+-+outside_henrys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SLtM5cnVFqE/UdCmOAZlDpI/AAAAAAAAA9c/cjVHfmpRq8w/s320/m+-+outside_henrys.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Outside Henry's<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></span><div style="line-height: 130%;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Managing to
herd the unruly bunch of cats out of Green Park station we were soon into the
1st pub of the evening as it was just round the corner on Piccadilly itself. <a href="http://www.henryscafebar.co.uk/henrys-piccadilly" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Henry's Cafe Bar</span></a> is a chain of
similarly named venues across the country it seems and this particular one
seemed to be very popular with a noisy bustling crowd thronging the place
inside. Still service wasn't too bad and with pints of Henry's IPA (not sure if
this was the well known <a href="http://www.wadworth.co.uk/ourbeers.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Wadworth</span></a> brew or something rebadged
especially for the pub) for Charlie and I, halves for Big-J, Gemma and Nicole,
vodka and coke for George (she later claimed all beer is foul (!)) Bud for
Buddy Rob (quelle surprise!) and nasty fizzy water for Pete our only job was to
try to locate the Cask Marque certificate. No dice on that front and with the
staff whizzing past clutching plates piled high with all manner of deep fried
goodies we had to admit defeat and leave sans le scan.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">
</span></span><br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JB_VQmY29Bs/UdCmVOVbRZI/AAAAAAAAA9k/Eo9GifUSA0c/s640/m+-+inside_henrys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JB_VQmY29Bs/UdCmVOVbRZI/AAAAAAAAA9k/Eo9GifUSA0c/s320/m+-+inside_henrys.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Inside Henry's</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The next three pubs were all in a row along Shepherd
Street and thanks to my awesome map reading (no one else was doing it people)
we made it to number three in the row via the Japanese and Panama Embassies.
Despite cries to the fact it was spitting with rain I forced the tour back down
to what should have been pub number one, the <a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/kings-arms-mayfair/c3641/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Kings Head</span></a> on the corner of Shepherd
Street and White Horse Street.</span><u1:p></u1:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-drBCIC5uHys/UdCmnTidVaI/AAAAAAAAA9s/rUMhvNTVSYQ/s640/m+-+kings_arms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-drBCIC5uHys/UdCmnTidVaI/AAAAAAAAA9s/rUMhvNTVSYQ/s320/m+-+kings_arms.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
The Kings Head - No, not the bloke at the front!</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 130%;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">This is a very nice and cosy Taylor Walker place with low black
beams and a country pub feel about the place. The pub was full but not bursting
and we managed to get the order in (pints of Iron Maiden themed Trooper from <a href="http://www.robinsonsbrewery.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Robinson
Brewery</span></a> for the ale drinkers - same again for the non ale drinkers) and
find a place to stand that didn't cause too much of a blockage. We also managed
to locate both the certificate and Spikey Haired Ed and No-Nickname Michael who
due to work commitments were following on behind.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Vg6Lu1yHHBI/UdCmxlqkZwI/AAAAAAAAA90/4_CNbtpwUhM/s640/m+-+trooper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Vg6Lu1yHHBI/UdCmxlqkZwI/AAAAAAAAA90/4_CNbtpwUhM/s320/m+-+trooper.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Pints of Trooper - Run to the Hills! (or something like that)</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Now, I do have to explain the main topic of conversation of the
night which I hope isn’t as a direct result of something that happened on the
last tour. During the last evening out I was challenged to play the game of
“Snog, Marry, Avoid” or rather the version that the Pay Roll girls had cooked
up which was “Snog, Marry or Push off a Cliff”. Perhaps I should never answer
these things as honestly as I always do but I really hope it wasn’t the fact
that I declared that I felt Nicole would make damn fine marriage material that
resulted in her resigning from her job and planning to move to New Zealand! But
I’ll still be buggered if she thinks she’s getting the cat in the divorce!<u1:p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></u1:p></span><br />
<br />
<div style="line-height: 130%;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 130%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Number two pub in the row of three was the <a href="http://www.themarkettavernmayfair.co.uk/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Market Tavern</span></a>, an M&B owned place
which, for those of you interested in spotting blue plaques, was the former
home of East Enders actress <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Richard" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Wendy Richard</span></a>. The place had a much
classier feel than the Queen Vic and it was beers all round again with Adnams
seasonal <a href="http://adnams.co.uk/beer/our-beers/adnams-fat-sprat/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Fat Sprat</span></a> whilst Rob had to do with a
bottle of Peruvian <a href="http://www.cusquena.co.uk/home" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Cusqueña</span></a> and George was downing the
vodka and cokes like no tomorrow (hey, sod that dissertation!) We were much
more cramped in this place and I unnerving ended up by the door to the gents
which was signalled by a life sized poster of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_(Michelangelo)" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Michelangelo’s David</span></a>, not necessarily
the exact place you want to stand. The certificate was also nearby though and
even though it was showing an expired date I managed to get a scan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MDkolShXchQ/UdCm_X15-PI/AAAAAAAAA98/nC3NdPTuC50/s640/m+-+market_tavern.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MDkolShXchQ/UdCm_X15-PI/AAAAAAAAA98/nC3NdPTuC50/s320/m+-+market_tavern.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
The Markey Tavern - Ed squirms out by taking the photo</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Pub number three in the row, the one we'd originally
arrived at first was the <a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/shepherds-tavern-mayfair/c0742/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">ShepherdTavern</span></a>, another Taylor Walker
place but this time decked out in their garish red paint job that they seem to
do from time to time. The beer selection was also pretty garish with only a
choice of London Pride and Sharp’s Doombar on offer. There were old Cask Marque
certificates a plenty behind the bar but all of them the version without the QR
code which meant our mini-run of scans came to a crushing end. The Thursday
night crowds looked to be thinning out slightly though as we found a nice bug
space to stand in. With the paucity of beer choice I chose London Pride for
Charlie, Nicole and myself, the only three still sticking with beer. Big-J and
Gemma moved on to coke, their excuses being a bike ride home and headaches (in
that order) and we all took a big laugh at Ed who was ID’ed whilst buying his
pint of fizz.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E20b-3nLaxs/UdCnV_6K6lI/AAAAAAAAA-E/EOb2eyXgbzQ/s640/m+-+shepherd_tavern.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E20b-3nLaxs/UdCnV_6K6lI/AAAAAAAAA-E/EOb2eyXgbzQ/s320/m+-+shepherd_tavern.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Useless certificates in the Shepherd's Tavern</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The final place was back towards Piccadilly again and
yet another Taylor Walker place, <a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/rose-and-crown-mayfair/c3810/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">The Rose and Crown</span></a> on Old Park Lane -
This time the beer selection was even worse with only a choice of <a href="http://www.oldspeckledhen.co.uk/products.php?beer=old-golden-hen" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Old Golden Hen</span></a> and some bizarre
ciders, which Charlie immediately partook of. With Gemma and Big-J still
sticking with cokes I was on my ale-lonesome especially when Nicole raised my
eyebrows by asking me "to surprise" her - Perhaps the bottle of <a href="http://www.grolsch.co.uk/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Grolsch</span></a>
wasn't quite what she had in mind and this was confirmed by the way she quickly
swapped it for Ed's pint of <a href="http://www.estrelladamm.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Estrella</span></a>. At least the pub did have
the certificate out though, although it was oddly positioned behind the front
door meaning each scanner was at risk of being crushed as the scan was taken.</span><u1:p></u1:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O1vUrvOgLXg/UdCnfW70V1I/AAAAAAAAA-M/W9Dpub3g2aU/s640/m+-+shepherd_tavern2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O1vUrvOgLXg/UdCnfW70V1I/AAAAAAAAA-M/W9Dpub3g2aU/s320/m+-+shepherd_tavern2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
No photos of the Rose and Crown, sorry. How about Ed, Rob and Pete outside the Shepherd's then?<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 130%;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">So I'd love
to end by saying how the tourists had brought along a top hat and monocle for
me to wear as they carried me triumphantly to Trafalgar Square (or somewhere
equally notable) but they didn't and as I say, the evening, although very
enjoyable, petered out in a late train home and a bloody bus replacement service
resulting in far too few hours sleep.<u1:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> <o:p></o:p></span></u1:p></span></div>
<u2:p></u2:p>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 130%;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But this is
not the end! Oh no! Firstly I need to write up a culmination piece on the tour
as a whole and then finally, and I'm sure it's been noted by the Monopoly
aficionados amongst you that we really do have one final square to complete yet
as we haven't actually completed the GO square. The idea is in the bag it's
just the date and the places we need to confirm and of course to invite all
previous tourists along to celebrate. Perhaps then the top hat and monocle will
make an appearance?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u3:p></u3:p>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 130%;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Number of
Cask Marque Pubs visited = 208<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u3:p></u3:p>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 130%;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Will offers
of a cocktail night and tea at the Ritz get the decision reversed? = I doubt it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u3:p></u3:p>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 130%;">
<u1:p></u1:p><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Would you
like a Top Hat and Monocle? = Is anyone listening? Yes please!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u3:p></u3:p>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 130%;">
<u1:p></u1:p><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Next Stop =
Go</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-28432275317414512202013-05-31T19:57:00.001+01:002013-05-31T19:58:13.362+01:00Super Tax<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Can the
last tour have really taken place on the 5th of May? Can it really have been 3
weeks since we last went out for a drink? Could it really be that no-one reads
my emails?<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Well the
sad truth is that's exactly right, although some of the delay in getting this
particular square finally completed wasn't all down to a lack of enthusiasm to
venture out once again and had a lot to do with scheduling it to revolve around
someone's busy diary and permission to go out being granted from their mum.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ynlDV29mcJU/UajyGprKi8I/AAAAAAAAA9I/IA3Eh9SziMw/s1600/st_jugged.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ynlDV29mcJU/UajyGprKi8I/AAAAAAAAA9I/IA3Eh9SziMw/s320/st_jugged.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Just some of tonight's tourists. The biggest tour ever. Come on Jesus, snuggle in - we don't bite!</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">For those
who have lost the plot as to where exactly on the board we are as we limp like
a wounded lobster round the final squares of the game, we've hit the
penultimate square, Super Tax, that dreaded penalty square that separates the
two most expensive properties and leaps up and grabs you just before you hit
Go.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Readers may
remember that we did a tax square once before when we visited <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/income-tax.html" target="_blank">Income Tax</a>
although that now seems many moons away in the dim and distant past that a much
younger BGC and an infant Spikey Haired Ed completed 3 pubs along the south
bank of the Thames.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Determined
not just to visit another HRMC office again I was casting around for different
inspiration for completing the Super Tax square when Big J suggested that
perhaps the "Tax" could be short for taxidermy and maybe there was a
pub with a massive stuffed hippo in the front bar. Well they may not pay their
own taxes (topical joke there) but the evil people at Google do provide the
possibility to type in the words "pub" "taxidermy" and
"London" and discover that there's a place just north of Moorgate
called The Jugged Hare, which not only is Cask Marque accredited but has a
whole back bar full of stuffed furry things. So it was only left to suggest a date
and as Big-J had come up with such a sterling idea it would have been most
churlish not to deny him the opportunity to attend especially when he had a
conference appointment at "The Brewery" which is literally just next
door to the pub. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">More about
"the Brewery" later......</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But if they
say that absence makes the heart grow fonder then not touring for so long must
make the taste buds thirstier as when the date finally came around there was a
huge gang full of tourists ready to hit the road once more, and like a massive dysfunctional
family we eventually stepped out on a humid Tuesday evening to sample again the
delight of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ye olde London Town. You'll
pick up who was actually there as we proceed but just a quick mention of a new
face in the throng in fresh faced Nick who shall be known as "Jesus Christ
Fenton". (This was Charlie’s idea, not mine.)</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jrc4II1VDLg/UajwGgkQtvI/AAAAAAAAA74/jjTw-vHK8Xo/s1600/st_blobe2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jrc4II1VDLg/UajwGgkQtvI/AAAAAAAAA74/jjTw-vHK8Xo/s320/st_blobe2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The Globe</div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As
previously mentioned, The Jugged Hare is not far from Moorgate station so I'd
arranged a pub right outside this place that we could visit before we would
move on to the joys of the stuffed vertebrates. Moorgate is also not a million
miles away from our offices so we took the option to walk there rather than
risk the vagaries of the Circle Line during rush hour. <a href="http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/theglobemoorgatelondon/" target="_blank">The Globe</a> is a big
corner Nicholson’s pub and one that Buddy Rob is most familiar with as it's a
pre or post match watering hole when's he's going "up the gunners".
He promised the place would be rammed and his words proved sadly prophetic even
though I thought that a Tuesday evening might promise to be less busy. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">By the time
the longer than expected walk got us there, we ended up arriving in separate
parts as Charlie and Jesus had strode ahead whilst the rest of us waited for
menu-collecting (don't ask) and cash point using. Aussie Pete was also making
his own way to meet us there as he had visitors over from down under that he
was bringing along on the tour. </span></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DxJ6J2YKXVY/UajwQXgFNgI/AAAAAAAAA8A/xq5l66Z2M7M/s1600/st_globe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DxJ6J2YKXVY/UajwQXgFNgI/AAAAAAAAA8A/xq5l66Z2M7M/s320/st_globe.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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The Cask Marque certificate nailed behind the bar at the Globe.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As
previously noted the place was quite full with drinkers spilling out onto the
pavement and it took far too long to get served. When our group finally got the
attention of someone (after a tetchy exchange between the Irish barman and me)
it was 4 pints of Old Man from <a href="http://www.longmanbrewery.com/" target="_blank">Long Man Brewery</a>, 2 halves of Old Man, Becks for
Ed and bottle of Peroni for Buddy Rob. The Old Man didn't go down
well........amidst comments of how it smelt, tasted and even looked like an Old
Man, the bitter coffee roast wasn't winning any fans amongst the girls.
Personally I thought it to be a fine brew but I'll give credit to Nicole,
Brenda and Gemma all finishing their pints even though Gemma looked to be
winning a Somerset gurning competition. </span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UW8LNh6pi4k/Uajwa648lyI/AAAAAAAAA8I/zmLMDSGnFXk/s1600/st_gemma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UW8LNh6pi4k/Uajwa648lyI/AAAAAAAAA8I/zmLMDSGnFXk/s320/st_gemma.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Mmmm, I love Old Man (Men)</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Cask
Marque certificate was easily spotted but sadly looked to be nailed to the wall
behind the bar and due to my earlier disagreement with the barman I didn't feel
like asking to see if we could scan it. Aussie Pete, who duly arrived later
along with Aussie Nathan (happy birthday) and Aussie Jodie (not happy birthday)
did manage to get it scanned, no doubt by sweet talking anyone who would
listen. Due to a very cramped position in the bar, texts from Big-J asking if
we were on our way to the Jugged Hare yet and surprisingly no-one wanting a
second pint of Old Man, I gathered the troops and left.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iqDOT4cnt54/UajwlXwGavI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/uvhYR6kF1k4/s1600/st_brewery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iqDOT4cnt54/UajwlXwGavI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/uvhYR6kF1k4/s320/st_brewery.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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BGC outside The Brewery</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The route
to the Jugged Hare took us past Big-J's work location for the day, <a href="http://www.thebrewery.co.uk/" target="_blank">The Brewery</a>
which is a conference cum events cum hotel centre built on the former premises
of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitbread" target="_blank">Whitbread</a> brewery. Apparently it’s still possible to see some of the old
brewing paraphernalia and this was sort of confirmed by Big-J who'd enjoyed
talks and lectures in rooms like "Upper Sugar Room" and "Mash
Tun".</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Unfortunately
for us there were no talks or lectures but just the 50 or so metres to the
<a href="http://www.thejuggedhare.com/" target="_blank">Jugged Hare</a>, an impressive pub perched on the corner of Chiswell Street and
Silk Street. The pub is owned by the ETM group and readers who remember far
more than is probably healthy might recall that we went into a sister pub of
the Jugged Hare, the Angel and Crown during the <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/trafalgar-square.html" target="_blank">Trafalgar Square</a> night.
Interesting to note that the beer on that evening was called "Jugged Hare".</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zOO3G-qIYdY/UajwwZxqR9I/AAAAAAAAA8Y/-qxq9l0zxxA/s1600/st_jugged2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zOO3G-qIYdY/UajwwZxqR9I/AAAAAAAAA8Y/-qxq9l0zxxA/s320/st_jugged2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The stuffed exhibits at The Jugged Hare</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Tonight I
couldn't see any Jugged Hare beer but there were brews from Adnams and Otter,
so I plumped for <a href="http://www.otterbrewery.com/" target="_blank">Otter Amber</a> which was the lighter, fresher beer I choose to
try to win the female taste buds back on the side of beer. Although I can't say
I totally approve, the beer was served in chunky iced tankards, produced from
the fridge and whilst they might have had a detrimental effect on the beer,
they certainly made for a impressive sight. Ed choose to eschew the Otter and
instead plumped for an interesting pint of Adnam's <a href="http://adnams.co.uk/beer/our-beers/adnams-spindrift/" target="_blank">Spindrift</a> which I'd never
heard of before, whilst Rob bemoaned that fact that we were already on the
second pub and neither of them were selling Bud.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uAhd8T339bo/Uajw6UhQHYI/AAAAAAAAA8g/bWNpUi9WqjQ/s1600/st_jugged3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uAhd8T339bo/Uajw6UhQHYI/AAAAAAAAA8g/bWNpUi9WqjQ/s320/st_jugged3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The Otter going down better than any Old Man.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">By this
time everyone had either arrived or been met up with (Big-J it turns out had
walked down to the Globe, missed us, then had to walk back again) and we
totalled a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>very fine 14 which is a tour
record for the most people out on any night.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And talking
of impressive the Jugged Hare is certainly that. The stuffed animals I've
mentioned but seeing the whole walled bank of them is certainly eye catching if
not a little creepy. As I said to someone that evening, there's no way I would
come down to the bar in the dark to lock up! </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Again I
couldn't see the certificate for love nor money although once more Pete ended
up finding it whilst the rest of us scanners all missed it. </span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xy7yVY2klq0/UajxFtgFZ4I/AAAAAAAAA8o/eRxMolavv-U/s1600/st_artillery_arms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xy7yVY2klq0/UajxFtgFZ4I/AAAAAAAAA8o/eRxMolavv-U/s320/st_artillery_arms.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Artillery Arms - Almost exactly the same as it was a year ago!</div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The next
stop was something of a "closure" journey for me. Casting your minds
back even further than Trafalgar Square or Income Tax, the very second square I
did, <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/community-chest-1.html" target="_blank">Community Chest #1</a> saw me enter the <a href="http://artillery-arms.co.uk/" target="_blank">Artillery Arms</a> on Bunhill Row, sneakily
take the scan and then leave without buying a drink. I did have the excuse that
I was on my own and feeling just a little bit lonely but I've felt guilty about
this ever since so here was my opportunity to make amends. Especially as the
Artillery Arms is such a lovely pub. It’s a Fullers place which immediately
suggests a certain standard but this one has a brilliant traditional little
centre island bar and a cosy historical feel to it. It also has very friendly
barmaids were seemed to be quite interested in what we were up to and
recommended Fuller Red Lion when we visit Mayfair. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So finally
I paid my dues and I bought my beer there which was a superb pint of <a href="http://www.hobsons-brewery.co.uk/beers/mild.aspx" target="_blank">HobsonsMild</a> which Charlie and I voted best pint of the evening. For the others I
choose Discovery apart from Ed who had a bottle of Honey Dew (memories of
Income Tax again) and poor Buddy Rob who was having to make do yet again with a
bottle of something that wasn't Budweiser.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Those who
have visited this pub will know that it overlooks the well known Bunhill Cemetery
and research had told me that as well as being home to quite a few graves of
the famous and well known two of its most renowned residents are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Defoe" target="_blank">Daniel Defoe</a>
and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_blake" target="_blank">William Blake</a>. Ever the one for a dramatic piece of historical interest I
thought that an open air recital of a suitable Blake poem might be a
interesting item in the evening's proceedings. It was certainly more suitable
than the main discussion which centred around whether the word "mott"
was more appropriate than the word "gam" (you had to know the context
I guess) but unfortunately my best laid plans were scuppered by the big silver
padlock adorning the cemetery gates.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Still,
never mind, I pointed out the obelisk that is Defoe's grave and promised them
all that Blake's is right next door. I'd love to be able to explain that as a
scholar of classical poetry I was already familiar with a suitable poem that
would be suitable for the occasion but I'm afraid that if I’m to be truly honest
it was Mr Google again who assisted me to find "The Little Vagabond"
via the words "Blake", "Poem" and "pub". </span></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WF_5LwrkbFM/UajxSYkcpxI/AAAAAAAAA8w/fj3fQHaOfH4/s1600/st3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WF_5LwrkbFM/UajxSYkcpxI/AAAAAAAAA8w/fj3fQHaOfH4/s320/st3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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And over there is buried my dignity. Ed ducks for cover.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I'll let
you make of the poem what you will, I still don't think that it rhymes properly
but maybe I'm missing the point. The tourists who all had to put up with my dulcet
tones labouring through it all seemed to think that it did rhyme so maybe I'm
just a poor judge of what makes a good poem. Anyway, here it is in all it's
glory and I'm presuming that as Blake's been dead for 185 odd years I don't
need to pay anyone any royalties.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Dear Mother, dear Mother, the Church is cold,<br />
But the Ale-house is healthy & pleasant & warm; <br />
Besides I can tell where I am use'd well, <br />
Such usage in heaven will never do well.<br />
<br />
But if at the Church they would give us some Ale. <br />
And a pleasant fire, our souls to regale;<br />
We'd sing and we'd pray, all the live-long day; <br />
Nor ever once wish from the Church to stray, <br />
<br />
Then the Parson might preach & drink & sing.<br />
And we'd be as happy as birds in the spring:<br />
And modest dame Lurch, who is always at Church, <br />
Would not have bandy children nor fasting nor birch. <br />
<br />
And God like a father rejoicing to see, <br />
His children as pleasant and happy as he: <br />
Would have no more quarrel with the Devil or the Barrel <br />
But kiss him & give him both drink and apparel.<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Had we been
able to walk through the cemetery as planned we would have found ourselves on City
Road and could have walked past Finsbury Square Garden to the final pub of the
evening. Alas we rather boringly had to retrace our steps slightly but still
managed to find our way to the <a href="http://www.flyinghorsepub.co.uk/" target="_blank">Flying Horse</a> on Wilson Street without too much
distress.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NKndIOITIEo/Uajxgi3WzCI/AAAAAAAAA84/48R_81ucE1E/s1600/st_flying_horse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NKndIOITIEo/Uajxgi3WzCI/AAAAAAAAA84/48R_81ucE1E/s320/st_flying_horse.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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The Flying Horse</div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was
swirly patterned carpets, a hideous laminate bar and TV blaring with Aussie
Rules football that greeted us as did the two smiley barmaids who both originated
from south of the equator. Aussie Nathan seemed to get on best with them both
especially as he ended up with this classic pub photo, certainly one to impress
the boys with back home. I had to make do with the pints of the aptly named
Flying Horse ale to impress the tourists with which can't have been that good
as as soon as I'd looked away for a minute the ladies were all taking big
swiggs of vodka based party drinks in preference to anything barley based.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q2ll3GCoqOw/Uajxt2gFe3I/AAAAAAAAA9A/8cf-VT_oEi0/s1600/st_nathan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q2ll3GCoqOw/Uajxt2gFe3I/AAAAAAAAA9A/8cf-VT_oEi0/s320/st_nathan.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Who would think that this happy chappy would end his birthday collapsed in a pile of puke on the tube?</div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We did
however break our certificate duck of the evening, well everyone but Pete that
is, by spotting the certificate rather crudely blu-tacked behind the bar. The
barmaids though were more than happy to pull it down and let us scan it for posterity.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I think it
was a combination of Brenda and Rob who suggested tagging on one final pub for
the night. It must have been Brenda's thirst for Bombardier and Rob's thirst for
Budweiser that did this, but Brenda promised that the <a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/red-lion-moorgate/c0837/" target="_blank">Red Lion</a>, just a little
further down Eldon Street would at the very least not have unfathomable sport
on to distract us all. I must say even my eyes were constantly wandering to the
mullet headed muscle bound Gibson lookalikes were running around chasing a
bouncing ball.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Seriously
pubs, just because you have a TV in the bar, it really doesn’t need to be on!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We found
the Red Lion as promised (even passing a Fuller's restaurant looking place (<a href="http://thefleetwood.co.uk/" target="_blank">TheFleetwood</a>) which doesn't seem to appear on the Cask Marque map) and although it
was a pretty bog standard Taylor Walker pub, it really didn't have any
distracting sport on.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The drinks
orders really spiralled into chaos now as I joined Big-J in a cola based beverage,
Charlie had a nasty cider and lordy only knows what the rest partook in. Rob
did finally get his bottle of bad though so to that extent all was finally
right with the world and not at all taxing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Number of Cask Marque Pubs visited = 42</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Can you belly dance? = Gemma can. BGC can't.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Will the finale attract more tourists = We might have to wait a bit to find out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next Stop = Mayfair</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-33206588471383806082013-05-04T21:18:00.001+01:002013-05-04T21:18:38.748+01:00Park Lane
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“When two
worlds collide.” Stuck on the train writing this I can't remember whether this
was the name of a song or the title of a book but it sounds like something
Annie Lennox might have warbled about whilst simultaneously making us feel
guilty for living in the west. So why did I start this episode with that title?
Well all may come clear dear reader, all may come clear.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">At first
this square didn't get off to a good start. After the measly turnout that was
<a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/chance-3.html" target="_blank">Chance #3</a> I immediately emailed all the previous tourists asking them to
respond with which day of the following week would be suitable for the next instalment.
Out of an audience of several thousand, guess how many replies I got?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well if you guessed anything over 2 you were
dead wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The first was
from Munchkin Steve, who actually should be credited with much kudos in that
he’s managed a phenomenal amount of tour appearances considering his actual
living location in the wild remoteness of Lancashireland. Anyway, he declared
that if the tour could be run on the forthcoming Wednesday night he would
gladly come along before dashing off to catch the iron-horse back up to the
coal face of a different degree latitude. The other reply was from Aussie Pete,
who has been conspicuous by his absence on the last few tours, but who also
declared that Wednesday would make a suitable night out.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">To the rest
of the people who didn't reply, I can only cry a House of Commons style
"shame" and say that I won't ever ever ever invite you again. Wait a
minute, that's what they want isn't it, the sneaky so-and-sos…….......right I'm
going to invite you all twice a week from now until the end of the tour! I’ll
break you down eventually!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CGZ_6OzKTeo/UYVpZTsy6xI/AAAAAAAAA6I/jvcXoZVRVKk/s1600/pl_park_lane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CGZ_6OzKTeo/UYVpZTsy6xI/AAAAAAAAA6I/jvcXoZVRVKk/s320/pl_park_lane.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Park Lane - Exactly what it says on the tin.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">So
Wednesday it was, leaving the only other decision to be made was to mark out
the pubs nearest to the featured square, the second most expensive on the
board, Park Lane. Upon checking the <a href="http://www.cask-marque.co.uk/" target="_blank">Cask Marque</a> website I was dismayed to find
so few pubs highlighted near to this main thoroughfare. There were several near
to the south end of Park Lane, but I wanted to save those for when we do the Mayfair
square, but at the north end, apart from one <a href="http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/" target="_blank">Wetherspoon’s</a> just across the road
from Mable Arch there were none until you were reaching into the areas around
Edgeware Road or Marylebone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span> </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RVnqv7_FNm0/UYVpx73F9GI/AAAAAAAAA6Q/sY4DsP6InBY/s1600/pl_marble_arch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RVnqv7_FNm0/UYVpx73F9GI/AAAAAAAAA6Q/sY4DsP6InBY/s320/pl_marble_arch.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Marble Arch in the sunshine.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Surely
something was stinking in the state of Cask Marque-land so I fired off a quick
email to my tame Cask Marque employees and sure enough they discovered that all
the pubs of a certain major chain, for one reason or another (far far too boring
for this blog) were not showing up on the map. Quick as the flash of a
hand-pulled-pint the issue was rectified leaving me which a much healthier
choice from which to plan this week's tour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">So, date
and venues sorted, it was just the actual tourists to fall into place. Munchkin
Steve and Aussie Pete had their seats reserved so it was just New-Guy Mickey
(another one who's missed far too many of the recent squares) to put in a
welcome return and that old perennial BGC wannabee, Spiky Haired Ed to make up
the numbers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">But then
(and this is my reference to the two worlds) I heard from me old china <a href="https://twitter.com/timofnewbury" target="_blank">TimThomas</a>, he of the local CAMRA branch newsletter editing fame who'd previously
appeared on the <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/community-chest-3.html" target="_blank">Community Chest #3</a> feature. Tim was in town as he's really nothing
better to do with his days that stroll round art galleries and visit pubs
(really, he literally lives the life that us working idiots only dream of) so
thought he might hang around in the big smoke and catch up with us on the tour,
especially as he knew the first pub of the evening, the Tyburn on Edgware Road.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Spiky
Haired Ed wasn't finishing work until 18:00 so in a great show of sympathy we
told him to catch us up in the first pub and made our way there via the endless
tunnels of the Monument/Bank station (see last week's episode for full details)
and a long drag along the Central Line. We popped up though directly on Park
Lane, which allowed for a quick snap of the road sign and then a death defying
dash across Oxford Street and up to the pub where Tim was already installed. So
all that was left to do was make the quick introductions between my two worlds.
</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U2fR0Lzwkf4/UYVqO8alzAI/AAAAAAAAA6Y/9IwBtGj9AKQ/s1600/pl_tyburn2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U2fR0Lzwkf4/UYVqO8alzAI/AAAAAAAAA6Y/9IwBtGj9AKQ/s320/pl_tyburn2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Horrible, bland, boring Tyburn.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The <a href="http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-tyburn" target="_blank">Tyburn</a>
is a perfect example of a Wetherspoon’s and highlights everything that’s both
right and wrong about these particular places. This is a modern building and is
obviously being looked after by the Wetherspoon’s team as it was clean, neat
and tidy and doing a healthy trade. The service, along with the handy location
of the certificate at the end of the bar, was fine, just a short wait for the
two pints of Heineken (£4.05) and the two pints of <a href="http://www.titanicbrewery.co.uk/" target="_blank">Titanic Brewery’s</a> Molly
Brown Ale (£3.05 – Hey, you do the math(s)) - but yet it's still a horrible,
horrible pub. Bland, uninspiring and without anything approaching a soul, the
most interesting thing was the bowl of lemons on the bar which we tried to
convince Steve were complimentary.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ee7Dq1yZulI/UYVqZFsBKbI/AAAAAAAAA6g/wih1903kgag/s1600/pl_tyburn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ee7Dq1yZulI/UYVqZFsBKbI/AAAAAAAAA6g/wih1903kgag/s320/pl_tyburn.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I think Steve did suck one of those lemons.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The beer
was fine though and on a hot day that promises a great summer, was quickly
downed which led us to the quandary of what to do as Ed still hadn't turned up.
Move on to the next place or stay in the Tyburn and wait for him there? I
suggested an alternative in that I explained the Tyburn took its name from the
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyburn" target="_blank">Tyburn Tree</a>, the old gallows that used to stand near the site. Apparently at
its peak it could cope with 24 simultaneous hangings, which is quite something
no matter which side of the capital punishment debate you sit. There was, I'd
heard, a commemorative stone set somewhere to mark the exact site of the
gallows, so full of intrepid adventurership we elected to kill the waiting for
Ed time by locating the thing and recording it for posterity. Needless to say
we didn't find it. We found a massive horse’s head standing next to Marble Arch
and some pretty fountains and some bemused tourists which Steve decided to
entertain but that all aside, there was no stone to be found.</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jzQeMylUu9M/UYVqrkFY0sI/AAAAAAAAA6o/QZXkHyLVWOs/s1600/pl_horses_head.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jzQeMylUu9M/UYVqrkFY0sI/AAAAAAAAA6o/QZXkHyLVWOs/s320/pl_horses_head.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I'm not sure whether finding the Horse's Head deserved a kiss Steve?</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Adventure
over we returned to the pub and Pete, Steve and Mickey were given ownership of
the kitty and directions to the next place whilst Tim and I hung around on the
street corner like the two most uninviting prostitutes in the world. After a
suitable delay Ed sauntered around, picked us both up and we ambled down Seymour
Street to the next place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/three-tuns-marylebone/c0728/" target="_blank">The ThreeTuns</a> is a Taylor Walker pub and I have to say one of their better places. It
cuts a nice line in pubby kitch (rows of jugs along the mantel piece) without
being too false and charms you in a way that the Tyburn wouldn't be able to do
even if <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Cumberbatch" target="_blank">Benedict Cumberbatch</a> was taking a shift behind the bar. Behind this bar
however was a devilishly dark Irish girl who poured my pint of <a href="http://adnams.co.uk/about/news/beer-news/adnams-ghost-ship/" target="_blank">Ghost Ship</a> very
well and Ed's Stella Black (“I’m going back to the old days” he cried before
ordering) as well as the mechanical pump will let a barperson.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fAahJ44mrnU/UYVq9C_PhRI/AAAAAAAAA6w/iIjz28O4-FU/s1600/pl_three_tuns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fAahJ44mrnU/UYVq9C_PhRI/AAAAAAAAA6w/iIjz28O4-FU/s320/pl_three_tuns.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Steve seemed to do a lot of standing the middle of roads waving this night. A sulky Ed paces in front.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Another
certificate was located although this time in a slightly awkward position of
directly behind the main door. The door was chained open for reasons of easy access
and also air conditioning so we had to run the gauntlet of unchaining it,
closing it, taking the scan and then reopening the door all before either
someone wanted to get in or before someone inside fainted.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1ULeyGqx114/UYVrRoT57tI/AAAAAAAAA64/aoDgx4Hjpjs/s1600/pl_three_tuns2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1ULeyGqx114/UYVrRoT57tI/AAAAAAAAA64/aoDgx4Hjpjs/s320/pl_three_tuns2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Inside of the Three Tuns.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">We’d
managed to secure a cosy little corner table complete with banquette and in
other circumstances could have probably whiled away a very pleasant evening,
but time stops for no Monopoly Tour and we had to move on. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The next
place lay south of Oxford Street so again it was a brave negotiation around the
bus which decided to stop right on top of the pelican crossing and a short
jaunt down North Audley Street to the <a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/marlborough-head-mayfair/c6710/" target="_blank">Marlborough Head</a> another Taylor Walker
place which a huge decorative painting of (presumably) the Duke of Marlborough
above the front door. (The pub is named for Blenheim Palace, the Marlborough
ducal seat.)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-meFBIZcsdrU/UYVrft4Xu4I/AAAAAAAAA7A/SrWFvNnlbcQ/s1600/pl_marlborough_head.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-meFBIZcsdrU/UYVrft4Xu4I/AAAAAAAAA7A/SrWFvNnlbcQ/s320/pl_marlborough_head.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Marlborough Head. Exactly what it says on the tin.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Although
bigger than the Three Tuns, it lacked any of its charm and the service seemed
to be creaking as the three bar-people gamely tried to keep the bustling crowd
satisfied. I took my cue from the falsely red headed barmaid and order <a href="http://www.bathales.com/" target="_blank">BathAles</a> Ginger Hare for Pete and me, whilst it was three pints of various lagers
for the others. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The Ginger
Hare deserves a mention on two counts, firstly unlike a lot of beers that are
brewed with a "special" ingredient this one had struck that magic
balance of being able to instantly tell that there was something special in it,
in this case a massive whiff of ginger on the nose, but still being a well
balanced beer that you can drink. The other count is the note advertising the
ale on the “beer blackboard” which will remain a mystery as to whether someone
on the staff was having a joke or just really didn't know the difference. But the
other mystery is how Steve managed to get the two strange blokes to participate
in the snap I wanted for the blog.......he literally will talk to anyone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span> </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sNWLT5-A888/UYVrxZoz8HI/AAAAAAAAA7I/7OiItDaUtWk/s1600/pl_ginger_hair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sNWLT5-A888/UYVrxZoz8HI/AAAAAAAAA7I/7OiItDaUtWk/s320/pl_ginger_hair.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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"Quick Bill, point at this sign before the little munchkin fella kicks off!"</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Before he
turned into a pumpkin Tim had to make a move for home so we left him finishing
the dregs of his pint and made our way down to Grosvenor Square and walked past
the American Embassy to Carlos Place and the short jaunt to the final pub of
the evening <a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/barley-mow-mayfair/c0696/" target="_blank">The Barley Mow</a>. Another Taylor Walker hostelry this one was even
more crowded than the previous two, possibly something to do with the European
Cup semi-final that was playing on the many television sets hung around the pub.
The bar staff here were struggling to cope though and I seemed to have picked
the worst spot to stand in, as the waiting queue moved forward I seemed to get
pushed out to the edges and away from the serving action in the centre of the
bar.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">With the
finishing line eventually in sight I could tell that a huge lanky chap in white
trousers (who had definitely joined the throng after me) was readying his money
to flag the barmaid’s attention and before I quite knew what I was doing I'd
challenged him to his position at the bar. Of course he deflected my peevish
irritation with a suave smile and a gracious "arr, sure you can go first"
delivered of course in a lilting Irish brogue, making me look like a little red
faced tit, which is of course exactly what I was behaving like. At least I did
give him what I hope was a similarly gracious apology in return after I'd been
served with the two pints of Welsh Red Ale (sorry brewery name forgotten), <a href="http://www.hoegaarden.com/" target="_blank">Hoegaarden</a>
(complete with lemon slice) for Mickey and pint of yellow coloured fizz for
Steve.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K_BEbbbwRdo/UYVsJGarH_I/AAAAAAAAA7Q/K5tVd18UN8w/s1600/pl_barley_mow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K_BEbbbwRdo/UYVsJGarH_I/AAAAAAAAA7Q/K5tVd18UN8w/s320/pl_barley_mow.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Barley Mow. Exactly what it says on the tin.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">We escaped
the noise of the television, the press of the crowd and any chance that my
charming Irish man might decide that the little red faced tit needed teaching a
lesson by retiring to the pavement. Perhaps it was the cool of the evening air
but everyone seemed to instantly turn into a copy of Nuts magazine and started
whoar-ing and grunting at anything of the female sex that walked past. Luckily
no-one was uncouth enough to wolf whistle but for a time I think it was a close
run thing.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Nurse………..!
The Trains!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
Number of Cask Marque Pubs visited = 193<br />
<br />Strangest thing seen = This football graffiti in the gents at the Barley Mow. French? Mais non! Apparently it's for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derry_City_F.C." target="_blank">Derry City</a>?<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mbr6Yt7gvJU/UYVsYBk4U4I/AAAAAAAAA7Y/lY-G8rZsvWU/s1600/pl_dcfc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mbr6Yt7gvJU/UYVsYBk4U4I/AAAAAAAAA7Y/lY-G8rZsvWU/s320/pl_dcfc.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Did the two worlds collide? = No, they got on very well I think. I'm very choosey about who I drink with you know!<br />
<br />Next Stop = Super TaxAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-70699904859144362072013-04-27T13:09:00.001+01:002013-04-27T13:09:10.402+01:00Chance #3
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I'm
starting to think that no-one likes me anymore. Well, I say "anymore"
but it could be of course that no-one has ever liked me and their attendance on
some of the evenings<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>out during the tour
were just excuses to discover new and exciting drinking holes in London. But at
least it made me feel like I was popular and needed and not like a sad old man
who keeps pestering people with emails. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
arrangements for this square however seemed to show a positive effort to avoid
the tour at any costs and I have to say that some of the excuses that were made
showed a huge amount of ingenuity if not a large slice of imagination. If these
people put as much effort into arranging their lives around the tour, everyone
would be much happier. But on no, these folk seem to think they can have a life
outside of the Monopoly Board! The cheek of it!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">That said
though I do have to give credit to Big-J who not only put in a welcome return
to the fold, actually made up excuses to attend and pulled off some marvellous
bargaining with his nearest and dearest to wangle a night out. The only other
attendee was my ever faithful <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonto" target="_blank">Tonto</a> otherwise known as Spikey Haired
Ed......perhaps he just has a worse social diary than me!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">And whilst
we're on the subject of Ed, I must give much kudos for his idea of where to go
for the evening in the first place. The actual square was the third and final
Chance square and when I asked if he had any good ideas for it, quick as greasy
flash of lightening he replied, "How about Chancery Lane?" - I couldn't
have put it better myself!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lQojoAckAYU/UXu9TEGQQqI/AAAAAAAAA48/APzc8ziTHWs/s1600/c3_chancery_lane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lQojoAckAYU/UXu9TEGQQqI/AAAAAAAAA48/APzc8ziTHWs/s320/c3_chancery_lane.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Ed caused a massive pile up stopping commuters entering the station to take this photo. And was it worth it..............?</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">So like a
very boring version of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_Stooges" target="_blank">Three Stooges</a> (Doh, Gary & Shirley perhaps?) we
made the convoluted tube journey to Chancery Lane which seemed to involve more
walking around the endless corridors of the train stations themselves than
actually travelling any meaningful distance toward our destination. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The first
pub was the <a href="http://meltonmowbrayholborn.co.uk/" target="_blank">Melton Mowbray</a> which is on the main road of Holborn itself. It's a
very smart Fuller Pie & Ale house (normal pies I think, not special pork
ones) and seeing as it was probably the first tour we've done this year in the
recent good weather, nicely full with no problems to get to the bar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vx9YJVzYFnw/UXu9maiJWTI/AAAAAAAAA5E/HBuSESDjGjA/s1600/c3_melton_mowbray.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vx9YJVzYFnw/UXu9maiJWTI/AAAAAAAAA5E/HBuSESDjGjA/s320/c3_melton_mowbray.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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And not a pie in sight.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The cheeky
eastern European barmaid asked what I wanted and using my usual skill of
picking an ale at random I went for the Spring Sprinter, Fuller's seasonal beer
for the season. Big-J followed suit and when Ed started umming and arring the
barmaid pinged an imaginary bell and told him he'd ran out of time and that she
wouldn't serve him. But she did, especially when he made it easy for her and
went with the Spring Sprinter as well.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">We retired
to a nice seat in the bay window and finally puzzled out the latest series of
adverts that have started to appear on the tube. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dara_%C3%93_Briain" target="_blank">Dara O'Briain</a>, in the way that
Brian Cox has made science sexy, seems set to become the prime time
entertainment voice of maths and has started posing some arithmetic questions
which presumably help people while away their tube journey whilst also
promoting his UKTV show School Of Hard Sums. Well good on you Dara, better
looking than Carol Vorderman and an improvement on the version I had as a kid,
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Pyke" target="_blank">Magnus Pyke</a>. The puzzle we'd spent most of the time chewing over whilst traipsing
around Bank Station went something like this. If you have five mice and the
first one weighs 16grames and the average weight of the mice goes up by 1g each
time you add a mouse (i.e. when you weigh the first two the average increases
to 17g) what's the weight of the fifth and final mouse? </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">If you can
work out the answer before you've read the rest of the blog there's a prize!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">If left the
two brainiacs to their puzzling and went to find the certificate. The pub, in
the same way as <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/vine-street.html" target="_blank">The Chamberlain</a>, had put an outdoors plaque on the inside of
the pub but of the actual certificate there was no sign. Risking another run in
wit the the barmaid I asked and in what is a rare occurrence she knew exactly
what I wanted, and pulled a rather crumply looking certificate from a stack of
papers behind the bar. Still a scan is a scan. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eQiD0xmfihU/UXu96oaImaI/AAAAAAAAA5M/-qO_KeVnzsU/s1600/c3_sir_chris_hatton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eQiD0xmfihU/UXu96oaImaI/AAAAAAAAA5M/-qO_KeVnzsU/s320/c3_sir_chris_hatton.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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No dancing here for Chris</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">One final
point about the Melton Mowbray if you ever go there; check out the brass
ashtrays screwed to the sides of the bar. Obviously not used now but somewhere
to plonk your loose change I guess.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It was a
quick dice with death as we crossed back over Holborn (<a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/the-angel-islington.html" target="_blank">remember how Ed is with buses</a>) and popped down Leather Lane to the next pub, the <a href="http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/thesirchristopherhattonhattongardenlondon/" target="_blank">Sir ChristopherHatton</a>, a rather scruffy looking Nicholsons where the drinking crowd had
definitely heard about the good weather as they were sprawled all in front of
the pub. The inside was much less crowed so we had no problem getting served,
three pints of Sticklebract from <a href="http://www.itchenvalley.com/" target="_blank">Itchen Valley Brewery</a> my good man, and finding
a table inside.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">A huge area
of the pub had been cordoned off with signs reading "Reserved, Alex, 5PM)
but it was a rather stroppy annoyed looking barmaid who was tearing the signs
down a little past 7 o clock, which means I guess that Alex wasn't coming.Well
Alex may not have been there, but the certificate was, stuck on the underside
of the bar hatch, which meant that Ed and I were two up for the night.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y7w_9QTME04/UXu-9Ao9WlI/AAAAAAAAA5Y/GdIYKIUXgF4/s1600/c3_ye_olde_mitre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y7w_9QTME04/UXu-9Ao9WlI/AAAAAAAAA5Y/GdIYKIUXgF4/s320/c3_ye_olde_mitre.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The entrance in Hatton Garden</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The final
Cask Marque pub of the night was just around the corner in Hatton Garden. Well
when I say the pub is in Hatton Garden what I really mean is that the entrance
to the pub is in Hatton Garden as the pub itself is down a little alley making
it one of London's hidden gems. Almost any pub book that features the capital's
pubs will mention <a href="http://www.yeoldemitreholburn.co.uk/" target="_blank">Ye Olde Mitre</a> and well they might because it's an absolute
gem. Built in 1546 and with stories of Queen Elizabeth I dancing round with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Christopher_Hatton" target="_blank">SirChristopher Hatton</a> (remember him?) it is like stepping back in time. All the
guide books say how hard it is to find but obviously the information is
filtering through to some people as there was a healthy crowd teaming both
inside and outside the pub. But that said there was a team of eager to serve
bar-people and we got served in double quick time, 2 pints of Dragon Slayer
from <a href="http://www.york-brewery.co.uk/" target="_blank">York Brewery</a> and 1 pint of Honey Dew (2 packets of nuts), and still
managed to get a free upturned barrel table outside.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SqpiMwsUkbA/UXu_GFPxCyI/AAAAAAAAA5g/JtP0dZtpoN8/s1600/c3_ye_olde_mitre2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SqpiMwsUkbA/UXu_GFPxCyI/AAAAAAAAA5g/JtP0dZtpoN8/s320/c3_ye_olde_mitre2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">If you do
decide to visit this place don't leave without visiting the toilets. For a
start its one of the few remaining gents where the actual loos are outside (a
wee in the evening air is somehow much more satisfying don't you think?) and
the positioning of the hand basin must make for the friendliest toilets in the
land. "Oh, excuse me. Did I spray on you?" (That could be the washer
or the wee-er talking)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G1NzswMdSzg/UXu_UECk4MI/AAAAAAAAA5o/33jqVSq5Yok/s1600/c3_ye_olde_mitre3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G1NzswMdSzg/UXu_UECk4MI/AAAAAAAAA5o/33jqVSq5Yok/s320/c3_ye_olde_mitre3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Oops, excuse me sir.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Both Ed and
I located the certificate, hanging on the wall by the Snug. Alas even after
moving the rather arrogant Rodney bloke out of the way we still couldn't get a
scan as the pub was too dark.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qyGWWKJvENY/UXu_dbtjpEI/AAAAAAAAA5w/_6N9xgsSsLQ/s1600/c3_ye_olde_mitre4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qyGWWKJvENY/UXu_dbtjpEI/AAAAAAAAA5w/_6N9xgsSsLQ/s320/c3_ye_olde_mitre4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Can you see the certificate? No, neither could the app.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">So we'd
completed our three Cask Marque pubs for the night but if you're in this part
of town another classic pub you must visit is the Cittie of York. Part of the
Sam Smith's stable, who seem to shun any sort of publicity or PR focus, its not
Cask Marque accredited but still well worth a visit, and like Ye Olde Mitre
seems to feature in each and every London pub guide worth its salt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Big-J, with
an hour's worth of bike riding still ahead of him switched to coke and Ed in an
amazing show of self discipline chose just a half of the Taddy Lager. Idiot BGC
went with a pint of Sam's Wheat Beer, which proved to be a struggle as perhaps
the last remaining vestiges of his latest illness were still around and had
decided to show themselves during the 4th pint.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Still a
good solid tour night and to all those who missed it, I hope the sock drawer
tidying and hair washing was worth it! But, like that <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbDjXh61wmQ" target="_blank">horrible cheesy old advert used to say</a>, like the Murphy’s, I'm bitter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Number of
Cask Marque Pubs visited = 188<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Did you get
the answer = Well it’s 24g.Your prize? Take the weekend off<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">You want
more quizzes? = <a href="http://www.sporcle.com/games/g/nbateams" target="_blank">Name the 30 teams of the NBA in under 6 minutes</a>? Ed got 29.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Next Stop =
Park Lane<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-33464790481231979532013-04-16T22:43:00.000+01:002013-04-16T22:47:56.683+01:00Liverpool Street Station<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">So, it's
been some time my old friend, constant reader. I'm sure you'll excuse me though
after the delays caused by my near death experience and public holiday to
celebrate the Great King Rabbit, but it's time to get things back on track and
where better to do it than a place full of tracks, Liverpool Street Station.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span><br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Actually thinking
about it, I can think of 101 much better places to do it as I've done a little
bit of drinking around this area already and to be perfectly frank, it's a bit
of a dump. I know mainline train stations have their work cut out to be
attractive places to go to for any other<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>purpose that catching a train but compared some of the others on the
board (the new Kings Cross is lovely and Marylebone has much in the way of
charm) Liverpool Street is definitely on the dumpier side of nice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LFOHNa-FT0Q/UW3CWYl7jEI/AAAAAAAAA38/uz0jr7s8EhI/s1600/ls_liverpool_street.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LFOHNa-FT0Q/UW3CWYl7jEI/AAAAAAAAA38/uz0jr7s8EhI/s320/ls_liverpool_street.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Liverpool Street Station and a rare picture of Spikey Haired Ed</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">But the one
thing it does have going for it is that it's another square just a 10 minute
stroll away from our office location. I did then foolishly suppose that we
would have a good turn out for this square, especially as it's the last one
anywhere near where we all work. But alas concrete promises of attendance
petered away as the week went on and by the night of the tour I couldn't get a
volunteer to buy me a Jägermeister for love nor money. So it was a rather
depleted crowd of five regulars, Spikey Haired Ed, Charlie, Buddy Rob and Sybil
who made up the numbers but on the plus side we were joined by Niresh (who we
hadn’t seen since <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/vine-street.html" target="_blank">Vine Street</a>) and the lovely Chrissie whose only previous
appearance had been to crank the handle of the random pub generator when we did
<a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/chance-2.html" target="_blank">Chance Number 2</a>. Buddy Rob had also managed to get in touch with an old work
colleague, Stretch Arm-Max who was hoping to make an appearing sometime during
the night. So actually, on reflection perhaps a tour of 8 wasn’t such a bad
turn out after all.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">So anyway,
the stroll to Liverpool Street was easy enough, especially as it was quite a
balmy evening compared to much of the awful weather we've been having and the
first pub was easily located as it's right by the main entrance, a huge Wetherspoons
emporium called <a href="http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/hamilton-hall" target="_blank">The Hamilton Hall</a>. And for those who can’t get enough of the
boring pub facts this place was named after Lord Claud Hamilton, chairman of
the Great Eastern Railway Company (1893-1923). The building itself it actually
quite decorative with an impressive ornamental ceiling adorned with cherubs and
the like, unfortunately Wetherspoons seem to have done all they can to make the
place as unattractive as possible by fitting a horrible wooden bar and inviting
as many horrible Wetherspoons clientele as possible. Ok, I know they can't be
blamed for the latter point but the cheaper beer does seem to attract a less salubrious
crowd. The other distraction was a set of scaffolding in the pub which didn't
seem to be serving any other purpose than holding up the bunting for the Wetherspoons
beer festival.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WGtmcShOmoE/UW3Cl4jkpfI/AAAAAAAAA4E/Xliu2tZOyC4/s1600/ls_hamilton_hall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WGtmcShOmoE/UW3Cl4jkpfI/AAAAAAAAA4E/Xliu2tZOyC4/s320/ls_hamilton_hall.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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A crowded Hamilton Hall - Note pathetic awning</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Anyway, architectural
criticisms apart, Ed was forced into being kitty monitor for the night and
bravely forced his way to the crowded bar to get the first round in. Only
Charlie was joining me on the ales (lots of pints of lager and a cranberry
juice for Chrissie) and I spotted a very interesting looking beer called Ionian
Coffee Porter by the <a href="http://www.corfubeer.com/" target="_blank">Corfu Beer</a> brewery - unfortunately though when it came to
pour it the barmaid only managed to squeeze one pint out of the barrel meaning either
Charlie or I would have to make do with the next pump along. (Sorry can't
remember what this was.) But seeing as Charlie hadn’t expressed a preference he
got the alternative! We then retired outside just in time to witness the end of
the balmy evening as the heavens opened and we had to crouch for shelter under
the world's most pathetic awning. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The Coffee
Porter seemed ok at first, but I don't know whether it was the "last in
the barrel" syndrome or just the fact I seem to have lost my beer appetite
but the pint soon became heavy and claggy and became a real struggle to get
down. I had a sip of Charlie's beer which was much sharper and more refreshing so
perhaps the joke was on me for insisting I had the porter as I gamely forged
onwards.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The scan
for the Hamilton Hall was one I had already got on a previous visit but it was
good to see the certificate hanging available for Ed and Charlie, who in the
absence of Aussie Pete were the only two scanners out tonight.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EZDIKYy_7hk/UW3C2XpdGHI/AAAAAAAAA4M/qdX2zxnnRsI/s1600/ls_merchant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EZDIKYy_7hk/UW3C2XpdGHI/AAAAAAAAA4M/qdX2zxnnRsI/s320/ls_merchant.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Merchant of Bishopsgate</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The next
pub was also in the station itself, the recently refurbished <a href="http://www.iamthemerchant.com/" target="_blank">Merchant of Bishopsgate</a>, a very smart looking place on the lower concourse which markets
itself as a Free House. This also had an easily spotted certificate hanging
just inside the door and apart from having to ask the young lady guarding her wheelie
suitcase to move so I could scan, it was another capture safely in the bag. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yTk0OjA9o0E/UW3DAWyWgqI/AAAAAAAAA4U/1eJ5n1-E4Z0/s1600/ls_merchant_pumps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yTk0OjA9o0E/UW3DAWyWgqI/AAAAAAAAA4U/1eJ5n1-E4Z0/s320/ls_merchant_pumps.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The most boring pumps in the world.</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">You can't
fault the decor in the Merchant of Bishopsgate but it's very much a question of
style over substance. A more detailed investigation of the ales of offer showed
the most ubiquitous brews available in the UK at the moment, London Pride,
Greene King IPA, Doombar, Wadworth 6X and Old Speckled Hen, hardly ones you
spot and say "oooo haven't had that in ages!" Luckily there was a
more interesting alternative in Bohemian Dark by the <a href="http://www.meantimebrewing.com/" target="_blank">Meantime Brewing Company</a>,
Charlie also went with the Meantime option choosing a pint of London Pale Ale
whilst I think the others all had pints of Heineken mixed with a Carlsberg
tops, apart from Chrissie who was making sure her prostrate was getting a good
workout with the Cranberry juice. Still not trusting my beer mojo had returned
I opted for a half pint of the Bohemian Dark and in the end was very glad I
did. I don't know whether it's still a hangover from my recent illness or
perhaps I've undergone one of those life changing experiences like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hammond" target="_blank">RichardHammond</a> where after his accident he now has to eat Spinach with every meal (or
something like that......) but the beer just wasn't tasting at all tonight and
to my shame I couldn't even complete the half pint.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cZsQH99QE-w/UW3DJh93u1I/AAAAAAAAA4c/j7iaNBrLlFk/s1600/ls_railway_tavern_outside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cZsQH99QE-w/UW3DJh93u1I/AAAAAAAAA4c/j7iaNBrLlFk/s320/ls_railway_tavern_outside.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The view of the Railway Tavern from the station. No pigeons cos it's raining.</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The aptly
named <a href="http://gkpubs.co.uk/pubs-in-london/railway-pub/" target="_blank">Railway Tavern</a> was the next stop, just a quick sprint up the escalator
and out the station by the world's scruffiest McDonalds where you're positively
encouraged to kick a pigeon on the way. Again this was another pub which I'd
already scanned so with Charlie having made an exit after the second pub, it
was only Ed who needed to avail himself of the certificate hanging on the wall.
The Railway is a Greene King pub but I singularly failed to notice the beers on
offer as I capitulated entirely and ordered a diet coke. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Apart from
the crowds and the big screens showing the Masters Golf the Railway Tavern actually
isn't that bad a place. For the spotters amongst you, you might like to visit
to see the various ex-train company coats of arms adorning the bar and reminisce
about the golden age of the railways. Whether the golden age was actually that
golden I have no idea, but I'll say this, the coats of arms of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belfast_and_County_Down_Railway" target="_blank">Belfast andCounty Down Railway Company</a> for example beats First Great Westerns shitty logo
any day of the week - and I bet they paid a considerable amount less than FGW
did!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_luwa_iKlYA/UW3DqHjp93I/AAAAAAAAA4k/rN5moQHo0nA/s1600/ls_railway_tavern_inside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_luwa_iKlYA/UW3DqHjp93I/AAAAAAAAA4k/rN5moQHo0nA/s320/ls_railway_tavern_inside.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Crests of the former railway companies</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It was well
and truly exit time then as Chrissie, Sybil and Niresh all made tracks for
home, leaving just Rob, Ed, Max and I to cross the road to the <a href="http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/thelordaberconwayliverpoolstreetlondon/" target="_blank">Lord Aberconway</a>,
a Nicholson's pub which had not one but two Cask Marque certificates on offer.
What a shame I wasn't drinking still as this was the choice pub of the evening,
a lovely multi-level place; it had a spiral staircase and lots of little booths
and cubby holes dotted all over. Again I can't comment on the beer selection as
it was the demon diet coke that was my tipple once again but at least I got
what I wanted as Ed's none specific ordering of a bottle of Budweiser had
resulted in Rob being presented with a bottle of Budvar, something as we know
from <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/bow-street.html" target="_blank">Bow Street</a> doesn't tickle his fancy.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k5Gc75lOvxk/UW3D7BmhHxI/AAAAAAAAA4s/I2XgLxf3ZzU/s1600/ls_lord_aberconway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k5Gc75lOvxk/UW3D7BmhHxI/AAAAAAAAA4s/I2XgLxf3ZzU/s320/ls_lord_aberconway.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The Lord Aberconway - Buddy Rob leads the way.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">At least I
wasn't having any trouble drinking the coke, a check of the watch showed that I
should easily be able to make my 22:00 train from Reading station so I left the
guys to it, made my excuses and left thinking in my present frame of mind, an
early night might be best for all concerned. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The best
laid plans of mice and men though are of course scuppered by broken down
trains. I made it to Reading in plenty of time for the 22:00 service but the
wonderful company that is First Great Western decided to cancel it when it
became stuck behind a broken down train. To cut a very long, very cold and very
boring hour and a bit wait on the platform, we were eventually shipped home by
bus, with me getting in at 1/4 past midnight - not quite the early night I had
envisaged!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Now I hope
you, my faithful constant reader (yep, not optimistic enough to suppose I have
constant readers) have felt through my writings that I'm a nice and fair minded
chap. If you haven't felt this then you must be reading it wrong, but let me
assure you that I am. First Great Western however are slowly but surely, with
each delay and cancellation turning me into the sort of person I would avoid in
a broken down lift situation, making me a curmudgeon vying for the undisputed
world moaning cruiser weight crown. This latest highlight in my commuting
relationship with them called for a strongly worded letter much in the style of
"Annoyed from Tunbridge Wells" so <a href="http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/beerglasscollector/fgw" target="_blank">here it is</a>.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Petty,
point scoring and all rather pathetic, I'll accept all those criticisms as they
are no doubt very true but all I can say in mitigation is that they were asking
for it and no doubt next week I'll be doing it again! </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Never
happens when I'm drunk though..........interesting.......</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Number of Cask Marque Pubs visited = 186</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">So BGC, is it the wagon for you? = I don't think so. I may have had a dodgy week but can break the habit of a lifetime just on that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">And did Ed drink lager all night? = Oh I don't know, probably not and he'll probably have another go at me for suggesting that he did.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Next Stop = Chance #3<br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-41572635576639526772013-03-29T18:30:00.000+00:002013-03-29T18:30:06.616+00:00Bond Street
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">And it had
all the ingredients of a classic Monopoly Tour visit and yet ended in beers,
tears and something else that rhymes with …ears. Years perhaps? I’ll deal with
the visit first and then the fallout and aftermath second.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">So, here we
were, steaming down the final side of the board and reaching the final of the
green squares, the slightly more expensive Bond Street. Again for those
Monopoly egg-heads and trivia buffs you might know that there isn’t really a
single street called “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bond_Street" target="_blank">Bond Street</a>” but the place is made up of both “New” and
“Old” Bond Streets. The streets themselves join at the elbow so to speak (look
at a map and you’ll see what I mean) and there’s just a narrow pathway that
joins the two roads together. It was whilst checking this out on <a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=bond+street&hl=en&ll=51.510719,-0.142887&spn=0.007919,0.01929&hnear=Bond+St,+London+W5+5AS,+United+Kingdom&gl=uk&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.510335,-0.142558&panoid=mXKEYPaeLQOkpAymsqRF2Q&cbp=12,0.61,,0,0" target="_blank">Google StreetView</a> that I secured an element that’s been missing from a couple of recent
visits, the interesting and historical feature, but more of that later.</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--NDiBX2sBzE/UVXZ7a3zuNI/AAAAAAAAA2c/Ul6L9HSztgs/s1600/bs_bondstreet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--NDiBX2sBzE/UVXZ7a3zuNI/AAAAAAAAA2c/Ul6L9HSztgs/s320/bs_bondstreet.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Exactly what it says on the tin.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">So we had
the venue and as any regular reader of the blog will have cottoned on by now,
the organising of the pubs follows pretty much straightforward from that. There
was a nice line of Cask Marque accredited places leading down from Bond Street
Tube Station, following New Bond Street into Old Bond Street. So it terms of
pubs, there were no dramas here, just the actual date of the tour to finalise. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Without
going into too many personal details, it was this week that I had to endure the
annual ritual of moving one more year nearer to death (oh how pithy that turned
out to be!) so with the agreement of the lovely family, I was allowed to have
the tour on my actual birthday, which whilst not the best plan for a mid-week
night, with only 5 pubs planned and Aussie Pete’s dad in special attendance what
could possibly go wrong.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">And whilst
on the subject of attendees we’ll just confirm the other folk appearing in this
episode; from the office the only original office regulars were Buddy Rob and
New Guy Micky although they were joined by the two most dedicated of the female
office drinkers, Gemma and Nicole. Both Aussie Pete (including Aussie Dad) and
Spiky Haired Ed were on holiday but had agreed to meet us in the first pub so
the only new face to introduce was that of James James Morrison Morrison. James
had been slightly hoodwinked into this week’s visit after promising to come on
the next “local” trip (which would be Liverpool Street Station) but somehow the
scheduling hadn’t quite worked out that way and he ended up a rather reluctant
extra on this birthday tour.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RdYUBsYOtOo/UVXaHpv8rhI/AAAAAAAAA2k/SSsecfJ3elU/s1600/bs_spreadeagle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RdYUBsYOtOo/UVXaHpv8rhI/AAAAAAAAA2k/SSsecfJ3elU/s320/bs_spreadeagle.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Not compulsory to "adopt the position" inside.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The first
pub was Taylor Walker’s <a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/spread-eagle-marylebone/c3113/" target="_blank">Spread Eagle</a> (which caused some odd requests for the
obligatory photo) which is on Woodstock Street, a road leading off Oxford
Street. Aussie Pete and Aussie Dad were already in position but the rest of us
arrived almost in tandem with Spikey Haired Ed, although the latter was already
moaning that he had another engagement and would have to leave early. Anyway just
in time to get the round in, in fact, which consisted of some left over “Luck
of the Irish” from <a href="http://www.stonehengeales.co.uk/" target="_blank">Stonehenge Brewery</a>, obviously brewed for St Patrick’s Day it
was another coloured green beer from this brewery and to be honest they’d do
better to concentrate on brewing better tasting stuff than the gimmicky stuff.
My faithful ale girls, Gemma and Nicole at least joined me in trying the stuff
whist the others had to make do with other beverages, which included James
James keeping to his “no beer” promise and having a JD & Coke.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n3Km6CEPe6o/UVXaW67FQeI/AAAAAAAAA2s/_3cC71-q9XQ/s1600/bs_spreadeagle2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n3Km6CEPe6o/UVXaW67FQeI/AAAAAAAAA2s/_3cC71-q9XQ/s320/bs_spreadeagle2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Rob looks admiringly at Nicole's tackling of the green beer. Gemma is googling the treatment for ketoacidosis.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The Spread
Eagle is a cosy little place and once we’d terrorised the single little old
lady off, we had a nice comfy corner all to ourselves. Also to the pub’s credit
the Cask Marque certificate was hung on the wall directly inside the door
meaning we got off to a good easy scan start.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">We didn’t
linger in the pub but moved swiftly on once the green beer was drunk. The next
two places were another occurrence of pubs being located directly opposite each
other. Firstly there was <a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/duke-of-york-mayfair/c0830/" target="_blank">The Duke of York</a> at number 8 Dering Street, which was
the first of the two we entered after crossing New Bond Street. Another Taylor Walker
place it was a similarly cramped but cosy place with much needed spaced
dominated by a wrought iron spiral staircase. The beer range was worse than the
Spread Eagle though, we could have pints of the green beer again or Fuller’s London
Pride. Nicole and I kept the real ale fires burning as Gemma deserted us for
horrible cider and the rest were committed to standard lagers although I have
to give credit to Aussie Pete and Aussie Dad who were continuing in their own
round of English Bitter.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LD8F2QIVqhk/UVXauD9dtjI/AAAAAAAAA20/irGFncFFKh8/s1600/bs_spiral.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LD8F2QIVqhk/UVXauD9dtjI/AAAAAAAAA20/irGFncFFKh8/s320/bs_spiral.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Spiral Staircase in the Duke of York. To give an idea of scale, James James's forehead is 11 foot high.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The chap
behind the bar didn’t have a clue about the certificate though, although his
one-toothed Irish colleague who he asked, seemed to think he’d seen the
certificate once before. But despite much hunting neither of them could lay
their hands on it and we had to admit defeat on the scanning front.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QGkz36Kl1fg/UVXa9aCQMHI/AAAAAAAAA28/pU-5XfUTy5c/s1600/bs_bonds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QGkz36Kl1fg/UVXa9aCQMHI/AAAAAAAAA28/pU-5XfUTy5c/s320/bs_bonds.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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BGC, James James & Gemma outside Bonds. After my illness I am now skinnier than both of them.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">As previously
mentioned the next pub on the list was but a short stroll over the road, to
number 11 Dering Street, a rather smart wine-bar looking place called “<a href="http://www.bondslondon.co.uk/" target="_blank">Bonds</a>”
which is ran by the Stonegate Company. Alas though Ed wouldn’t be joining us as
he decided that it was time for him to leave after many harassing text messages
calling him to his other appointment. All I’ll say is that I bet you wish you’d
stayed with us know hey Ed?</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The ale
selection in Bonds was rather poor (I seem to recall only Greene King IPA
available) but their full beer range was much more comprehensive resulting in
Meantime London IPA for most of us. James James’s no beer promise finally
cracked, as he joined Buddy Rob in a bottle of bud.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YGLHRZ98SjY/UVXbOP_z_5I/AAAAAAAAA3E/HCbDUHKYlRQ/s1600/bs_duke_of_york.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YGLHRZ98SjY/UVXbOP_z_5I/AAAAAAAAA3E/HCbDUHKYlRQ/s320/bs_duke_of_york.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The Duke of York as photographed from inside Bonds</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Bonds
certainly wouldn’t be my first choice of pub, being a dimly lit trendy sort of
place, whereas I prefer to be able to see whom I’m drinking with and prefer a more
scruffy bunch of fellow drinkers (not for a minute I’m suggesting the rest of
the tour is trendy by the way). But the beer was fine and they had the
certificate easily available so I shouldn’t be too harsh especially as I was
treated to a nasty birthday <a href="http://www.jagermeister.com/" target="_blank">Jägermeister</a> shot from the ladies.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">So it was
three pubs down, two to go but it was here than the group split. James James
was obviously easing himself slowly into tour life as he decided to leave early
and the ladies joined him after agreeing that perhaps a five pub crawl wasn’t
entirely appropriate on a Tuesday night. Still the tour stalwarts carried on as
we travelled slightly more south down New Bond Street and cut down the alley
way of Avery Row to the <a href="http://irondukemayfair.co.uk/" target="_blank">Iron Duke</a>, our second pub named after <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Wellesley,_1st_Duke_of_Wellington" target="_blank">Arthur Wellesley</a>.
This is a small Fuller’s pub which compared to some of their very smart and
gleaming premises is a rather muted place although the pairs of leather boots
adoring the walls are quite fun. I had a pint of Fuller’s classic ESB whilst
Micky treated the rest of the gang to crisps. The bar staff seemed rather
indifferent to their clientele though and requests for the location of the
certificate drew blank looks and therefore no scan.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4PIDlXQMSwY/UVXbXCS8vRI/AAAAAAAAA3M/RT77Z_D0IiE/s1600/bs_iron_duke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4PIDlXQMSwY/UVXbXCS8vRI/AAAAAAAAA3M/RT77Z_D0IiE/s320/bs_iron_duke.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Iron Duke - BGC with cast iron constitution.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The final
stop was the <a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/coach-and-horses-mayfair/s5155/" target="_blank">Coach and Horses</a> in Bruton Close but first we had to visit the historical
piece of interest which I mentioned earlier. Right on the path than connects
New and Old Bond Street is a statue of two elderly gentlemen on a park bench.
The gentlemen in question are actually Winston Churchill and Franklin D
Roosevelt and the statue is called <a href="http://golondon.about.com/od/londonpictures/ig/Less-seen-Sights/Roosevelt---Churchill-statue.htm" target="_blank">Allies</a> and was a gift from the Bond Street
Association to celebrate 50 years of peace.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EoyOdbuC7_k/UVXbiq7ZTTI/AAAAAAAAA3U/wby1SDkJ0L0/s1600/bs_churchill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EoyOdbuC7_k/UVXbiq7ZTTI/AAAAAAAAA3U/wby1SDkJ0L0/s320/bs_churchill.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I bet both Winnie and Frankie and well pleased to have fought for freedom for this!</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Doing our
best to break the peace, we each took hilarious turns sitting with the two
statesmen and probably generally took away all the dignity that the statue has.
But anyway, if you’re even in this area do look out for it as it’s the sort of
thing you miss completely and is well worth a photo.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RBVWu4QoU6g/UVXbtgdcp5I/AAAAAAAAA3c/aQ_OW_1ghA4/s1600/bs_churchill2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RBVWu4QoU6g/UVXbtgdcp5I/AAAAAAAAA3c/aQ_OW_1ghA4/s320/bs_churchill2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This apparently is the way to treat statesmen and politicians in Australia. </div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Slightly
retracing our steps to the Coach and Horses which was our third Taylor Walker
pub of the evening. This is a rather incongruous black and white half-timbered
wedge shaped building stuck in the middle of an otherwise very modern looking
street. Not sure whether the pub is totally authentic but we got a warm welcome
from the jolly barman even though the beers on offer included the bloody green
beer again!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h71GJmk7e4Q/UVXb6L2aVlI/AAAAAAAAA3k/dNBESTyBLlg/s1600/bs_coach_horses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h71GJmk7e4Q/UVXb6L2aVlI/AAAAAAAAA3k/dNBESTyBLlg/s320/bs_coach_horses.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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BGC and Coach and Horses - That cocked leg is catching!</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">There was
quite a funny dynamic going on between the two main barmen; one a younger
oriental type was quite offhand and dismissive of us, especially when we asked
for the certificate. He pretended to know what it was and then claimed he didn’t
where it was when asked for its location, but when we asked the older chap he instantly
pointed to it hanging on the wall. It was no surprise then who we asked to take
a photo of us all having one final sticky Jagermeister for the road.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The rest of
the gang wandered back towards Oxford Street and a famous burger place
beginning with M. I on the other hand made my way back to Paddington and a
famous burger place beginning with B and the last train home.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GH1wLpxIg9M/UVXcD4lqKfI/AAAAAAAAA3s/4kEkDXygoAo/s1600/bs_coach_horses_jaegey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GH1wLpxIg9M/UVXcD4lqKfI/AAAAAAAAA3s/4kEkDXygoAo/s320/bs_coach_horses_jaegey.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Cheers BGC! We'll bring grapes and Lucozade.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">And that
should have been the end of the night and the tour saga but upon waking the
next morning, I had an immediate appointment with the infamous big white
telephone, which is unusual for me as if I have a problem with over indulgence,
it’s usually an immediate process, i.e. vomming on the actual night, not the
morning after.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Putting it all
down to the bad burger I made my way to work via the train toilets and then had
several visits to the office loos as well. Things were showing to have gone too
far when I ended up not being able to make it in time and (apologies for the
rich language) spewed in a little store room which Ed likes to call his “Teddy
Bear’s Lair” (honestly, this is true).</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Sent home
in disgrace, the rest of the day didn’t improve matters and to cut an awfully
long story of aches, pains, lots more vom, chronic dehydration and a visit from
the emergency doctor short, Thursday morning saw me in The Royal Berkshire
Hospital’s A&E department being treated for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetic_ketoacidosis" target="_blank">Diabetic Ketoacidosis</a> by means
of a million and seven different pipes being stuck into various parts of my anatomy,
pumping me full of various fluids.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Friday saw
me on a general ward being entertained by my three fellow bed patients, a quite
quite mad elderly man who talked constantly to himself and had to be shushed
all night by the nurses. Upon being questioned by the doctor as to why he was
here he said that he’d “fallen out of a plane and smacked his balls” to which
the doctor declared, “you’re fine, lets get you home.” There was also a puffy
faced alcoholic who’d taken some sort of tumble. He amazingly turned out to be
the same age as me although even my cruellest of critics would say I looked ten
years younger than him. Highlight of our interaction was watching him bring up
his Friday lunch fish and chips into his lap, an event he then proceeded to
tell anyone who’d ring his mobile (which was everyone, every 5 minutes).
Finally there was another elderly chap who had short term memory loss,
something he never seemed to forget as he told anyone who was either interested
or not interested all day long.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Ah, the
NHS, got to love it haven’t you? Still, it made me forget what agony I was in
and saw me home for the weekend although I’m not sure Mrs BGC has completely
forgiven me for making us miss our Berlin trip which was meant to be my main
birthday present. On my return to work Charlie quipped “longest hangover ever
that!” all I can say in return is that it must have been the burger.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Number of
Cask Marque Pubs visited<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>= 180</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Sympathy
number 1? = Mrs GBC screaming that I “have to look after myself” whilst hitting
me. So who exactly was in hospital?</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Sympathy
number 2? = The “no vomming” sign now hanging on Teddy Bear’s Lair. Thanks
guys.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Next Stop =
Liverpool Street Station</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-36843834798602803262013-03-10T21:22:00.000+00:002013-03-10T21:24:56.290+00:00Community Chest #3<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The idea for this particular trip had been floating about
for some time after it had been suggested around my local <a href="http://www.camra.org.uk/" target="_blank">CAMRA</a> group to do a
trip to London. A couple of the chaps had also been reading this blog so it
seemed like too good an opportunity to miss to try to incorporate this trip
into the tour.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My original thought was to visit some of the well known pubs
in the West End but our branch newsletter “<a href="http://www.westberkscamra.org.uk/ullage_page.php" target="_blank">Ullage</a>” editor-in-chief and all
round good guy <a href="https://twitter.com/timofnewbury" target="_blank">Tim Thomas</a> had heard of a launch of Berkshire based <a href="http://www.sirencraftbrew.com/" target="_blank">Siren Craft Brewery</a>
beers at the <a href="http://thecraftbeerco.com/" target="_blank">Craft Beer Co</a> in Clerkenwell, which made me focus in on this area instead
for potential tour locations.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IqJriYhsSa8/UTz2wqaPAuI/AAAAAAAAA0w/wepCq0-onoc/s1600/cc3_craft_beer_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IqJriYhsSa8/UTz2wqaPAuI/AAAAAAAAA0w/wepCq0-onoc/s320/cc3_craft_beer_2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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BGC finds the Craft Beer Co open</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At first everything looked very rosy, not only were there
quite a few Cask Marque accredited pubs in this area but they were very well
regarded places that appear in many of the London pub guides. So quick as a
flash I had a tour route planned taking in the Craft Beer Co itself and other places
such as The Bleeding Heart, The Gunmakers, Jerusalem Tavern and the Ye Old
Mitre. But like the best laid plan of mice of men it all went squeak when
research showed that all these places were closed at the weekend!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s quite a well known fact that areas of “the city” are
like ghost towns at the weekend and most pubs and shops don’t bother to open
because of the lack of trade. But I was quite surprised to find that this
practice had crept into the Clerkenwell area as well. Surely there would be
enough locals on a Saturday to warrant opening?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But a closed pub is a closed pub, so I amended the route I’d
planned and substituted another 4 pubs alongside the Craft Beer Co to make up
the 5 for our trip. According to all the pubs’ websites, they were all definitely
open, but I decided to keep the locations a secret so as to make it more of a
mystery tour. The other thing I did to try to make the tour more entertaining
was create an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-Spy" target="_blank">“i-Spy”</a> type quiz, making the tourists spot various items on
route. As I’d walked the route a couple of time, just to make sure we didn’t
get lost, I made a note of interesting things along the route and added these
to a list of other random things the boys would have to try to spot. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So there were items ranging from a “Blue Plaque” to a
“Yellow Car” – from a “man being electrocuted” to “someone singing” – It’s all
sounds a little pathetic when written down but it was quite amusing, honestly!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So we set off on a midday train with a couple of the chaps
still feeling the effects of a heavy Friday night in Hungerford. Which gives me
the opportunity to introduce today’s tourists. In addition to Tweeter Tim there
was the branch treasurer Scrumpy Steve, branch secretary Mild Mike, social
secretary Stout Richard and <a href="https://twitter.com/slowpokesam" target="_blank">Sam Weissbier</a>. And if you’re wondering about the
names just ask the guys to show you their badges – it’s a branch joke!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway the trains were running on time and before we really
knew it we were alighting at Farringdon tube station and ready to being the
trip. A swift turn up Greville Street saw us pass the first item on the i-Spy
quiz, a Weatherspoon’s pub named after the Lollard leader, Sir John Oldcastle. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But were weren’t stopping there, and neither were we
stopping at the closed Bleeding Heart Tavern and instead the walk up to the
Craft Beer Co did prove that this area of London is like a ghost town at the
weekends though, in fact it was more like a zombie town as we walked along the
deserted litter strewn streets, causing Sam to comment that this was a like a
scene from Get Carter.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dS5AOGdrOCw/UTz2nisUdjI/AAAAAAAAA0s/fcs7aJCnf8k/s1600/cc3_craft_beer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dS5AOGdrOCw/UTz2nisUdjI/AAAAAAAAA0s/fcs7aJCnf8k/s320/cc3_craft_beer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Yes Steve, it's open!</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Craft Beer Co though was far from deserted with a
healthy crowd of drinkers in place. The beer range was seriously extensive, I
didn’t manage to count all the hand-pumps but there must have been between
10-15 different beers available. Four of these had beers from the Siren Brewery
on and Steve, Sam and I had a half of their Under Current Pale Ale and their Sound
Wave IPA – both were extremely nice and the only disappointment was that I’d
failed to see another one of their beers called Liquid Mistress which has to be
the best name for a beer ever!</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--DrlGSzwoiY/UTz3Cn31GEI/AAAAAAAAA04/MeX7VxqguYQ/s1600/cc3_craft_beer_inside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--DrlGSzwoiY/UTz3Cn31GEI/AAAAAAAAA04/MeX7VxqguYQ/s320/cc3_craft_beer_inside.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The amazing mirror ceiling clock thing</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We’d managed to find a table by the door which just about
seated the 5 of use (Tim had swiftly left us for some “new” friends he’d found)
and from there we could view the decorative qualities of the pub which included
a huge Charrington’s mirror and an even bigger mirrored ceiling that might have
doubled as a clock in a previous life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Finally prizing Tim away from his new friends we moved
further along the Clerkenwell Road (spotting the blue plaque commemorating Sir
Hiram Maxim’s gun factory) and hit our first disappointment of the day. The
Betsy Trotwood on Farringdon Lane was as dead as a dead thing. Not standing on
ceremony I knew there was a Fuller’s place, The City Pride, which could stand
in as an alternative but shock horror – this was closed as well!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">By now the route had deviated slightly so we had to back
track to what should have been the third pub, The Three Kings but by now
weren’t exactly surprised to find that this was also not open.</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Vgvpc0Z1hNM/UTz3NOeLaqI/AAAAAAAAA1A/BjaUsWPue_0/s1600/cc3_crown_tavern.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Vgvpc0Z1hNM/UTz3NOeLaqI/AAAAAAAAA1A/BjaUsWPue_0/s320/cc3_crown_tavern.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Any (open) port in a storm - Luckily this was a superb port.</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Thank god therefore for the <a href="http://www.thecrowntavernec1.co.uk/" target="_blank">Crown Tavern</a> on Clerkenwell
Close which was not only on my planned tour and not only a Cask Marque
accredited pub, but was actually open! Oh for an open port in a storm. The
troubled waters were soon calmed though as there was a nice selection of 6 ales
in addition to a sizable bottle selection. Again Steve, Sam and I went for two
different halves, which for me were half a Hoptimus Prime from <a href="http://www.robinsonsbrewery.com/" target="_blank">Robinsons</a> and
half a Bitter Californian from the <a href="http://www.bristolbeerfactory.co.uk/" target="_blank">Bristol Beer Factory</a>. Just about making
ourselves heard over the cackling old crone on the next table I again
apologised for the closed pubs and promised that the “final” pub of my planned
5 pubs would be open – all the time keeping my fingers crossed that it would
be.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But before we left I got an easy scan of the certificate
which was hanging very available by the bar whilst chatting with possibly the
prettiest barmaid of the whole Monopoly Tour so far. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yILZClO4WKM/UTz3aHMW_qI/AAAAAAAAA1I/bRn-9cKnTlk/s1600/cc3_slaughtered_lamb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yILZClO4WKM/UTz3aHMW_qI/AAAAAAAAA1I/bRn-9cKnTlk/s320/cc3_slaughtered_lamb.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Looking like the world's worst boy band outside the Slaughtered Lamb - Nice cocked leg Sam.</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A stroll along St John Street (and a bit of tattoo &
grave spotting on the way) saw us at the <a href="http://www.theslaughteredlambpub.com/" target="_blank">Slaughtered Lamb</a> on Great Sutton
Street, which was thankfully open. This wasn’t a Cask Marque accredited place
and although they had a few ales on tap their focus was definitely on the craft
beer side of things with a whole collection of <a href="http://www.camdentownbrewery.com/" target="_blank">Camden Town</a> beers, beers from
<a href="http://thekernelbrewery.com/" target="_blank">Kernel</a> and also a bottled beer menu that had us giggling at Arrogant Bastard
and Slag Pilsner. I started with a pint of Camden’s Gentleman’s Wit, which was
extremely enjoyable before managing to secure the final bottle of slag in the
pub.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-giVDe4kOpHY/UTz3nbVJBTI/AAAAAAAAA1Q/sYEqOrY_GAw/s1600/cc3_richard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-giVDe4kOpHY/UTz3nbVJBTI/AAAAAAAAA1Q/sYEqOrY_GAw/s320/cc3_richard.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Richard shows off his tatoos</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Talking about slags (sorry, that link was beneath even me)
the pub was suddenly full of beautiful young women and suddenly every wine
glass the barman had on his shelves was pushed into service. Apparently there
was a PR company round the corner and I’m guessing the ladies were on a weekend
training day or induction day or whatever but all of a sudden the average age
in the pub had dropped by about 20 years making us feel very old and decrepit
indeed. </span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gzvlSPbik3Q/UTz5RgE7aDI/AAAAAAAAA2A/9YPQgk62OF8/s1600/cc3_tim_coffee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gzvlSPbik3Q/UTz5RgE7aDI/AAAAAAAAA2A/9YPQgk62OF8/s320/cc3_tim_coffee.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Would you let this man edit your newsletter? Tim strikes a stylish pose with a flat white.</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Leaving before we embarrassed ourselves that should have
been it for the pubs I’d planned, but sensing that the guys could have done
with a couple more we popped into the Three Compasses on the way back to
Farringdon station. Not really a place of any merit but they did have the
France Vs Ireland 6 Nations rugby match on even if they did serve their bottles
of Newcastle Brown Ale with pint glasses.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z3zG0X2x1jc/UTz3zYEkdmI/AAAAAAAAA1Y/eti78kf6JFQ/s1600/cc3_three_compasses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z3zG0X2x1jc/UTz3zYEkdmI/AAAAAAAAA1Y/eti78kf6JFQ/s320/cc3_three_compasses.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Richard then took a call from his son and quickly recalling
the name of the pub just outside Farringdon tube station we arranged to meet up
with him in the <a href="http://www.thecastlefarringdon.co.uk/" target="_blank">Castle</a>. Now I’d obviously done this place an injustice in
missing it off the tour in the first place because not only was it Cask Marque
accredited, meaning I got in a nice surprise scan that I wasn’t expecting but
their beer range was quite healthy as well. I for some reason went for a pint
of Erdinger and by this point in the proceedings I’ve no idea what the others went
for.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BKhV17kkYGM/UTz36fWJYdI/AAAAAAAAA1g/7SpT_eA6lyw/s1600/cc3_castle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BKhV17kkYGM/UTz36fWJYdI/AAAAAAAAA1g/7SpT_eA6lyw/s320/cc3_castle.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This could be an album cover surely? Nice cocked leg (again) Sam.</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There was just time before Jean-Christophe reclaimed his
tables to present the prizes for the i-Spy quiz, which by this point also had
descended into a bit of a farce. I can’t even remember who I awarded the prizes
to but I’m guessing I completely got the scores completely wrong. But at least
I awarded the prizes to our group and not the American girl with the big camera
on the table behind. </span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YydHpAEkbIU/UTz4PE4NRTI/AAAAAAAAA1o/j9CnFmMzqXA/s1600/cc3_castle_inside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YydHpAEkbIU/UTz4PE4NRTI/AAAAAAAAA1o/j9CnFmMzqXA/s320/cc3_castle_inside.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Inside the Castle</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The train journey back seemed to be mostly taken up with
trying not to wet myself, luckily a parked train at platform 8 at Paddington
came to my literal relief. The Thatcham bound personnel managed to sneak in a
crafty Burger King and then topped this up with a visit to Tutti Fruitti at
Reading, though I believe Steve got his can of Gin & Tonic from somewhere
else. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-j7UgUXqKUTQ/UTz4bTOZAeI/AAAAAAAAA1w/uoVYaL6WXf4/s1600/cc3_burger_king.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-j7UgUXqKUTQ/UTz4bTOZAeI/AAAAAAAAA1w/uoVYaL6WXf4/s320/cc3_burger_king.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Sam at Burger King. The weird angle is because of his cocked leg.</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The lucky Newbury bound people managed to get a straight through train
instead whereas we took the “more relaxed” route back!</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zkY7CVujUYk/UTz5AOlODiI/AAAAAAAAA14/jTkxgmnQfMg/s1600/cc3_sleept.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zkY7CVujUYk/UTz5AOlODiI/AAAAAAAAA14/jTkxgmnQfMg/s320/cc3_sleept.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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The relaxed route home.</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Number of Cask Marque Pubs visited<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>= 167</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Lessons to be learnt = Ring the pubs beforehand. Oh, and
have a coffee every now and then!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back to the usual tour next week? = Yes please! I couldn’t
do this every weekend! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next Stop =Bond Street</span></div>
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P.S. So how did this qualify for Community Chest? Well with this bunch of weirdos it was more like Care in the Community but somehow I think I fitted right in.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-13101777427810032292013-03-08T21:40:00.001+00:002013-03-08T21:40:07.056+00:00Oxford Street
<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sometimes I
plan the tours for several days beforehand, sometimes I don’t.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Oxford
Street was definitely in the latter category. I’ve already got an outing for
the final Community Chest square planned for the weekend so it was imperative
that we did get Oxford Street out of the way this week, but when I checked the
map there was a cluster of 6 pubs at the Tottenham Court Road end of Oxford
Street which was just far too tempting to ignore. So how to squeeze in a 6 pub
crawl in the middle of the week without rending the older ones in the group
(i.e. everyone but Ed) unfit for work the next day.</span></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left; word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The answer
as a particular annoying advert might say was simples. Join Aussie Pete on the
halves!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But even
though it was a mid-week and a last minute organised tour there was still a
healthy number of attendees, including a couple of repeat offenders: Back down
for another bit of London education was Munchkin Steve and also joining on a
repeat appearance was Big-J. We also had the pleasure of New-Guy Micky who hadn’t
been on the tour for a couple of weeks. Apart from that it was just the usual
suspects of people with nothing better to do than follow me around drinking
beer; Aussie Pete, Spiky-Haired Ed & Charlie.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As
previously mentioned, we were going to start at the Tottenham Court Road end of
Oxford Street and then work our way west by way of the pubs that lie south of
Oxford Street, in and around the area of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Compton_Street" target="_blank">Old Compton Street</a>. Now as any good
sex-tourist knows, this area is renowned for being the centre of the Gay &
Lesbian scene in London as well as having its fair share of sex clubs and bars.
</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7sXNiP_xjrw/UTpaklZ3YqI/AAAAAAAAA0Y/HOcPfw98sAE/s1600/os_tottenham.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7sXNiP_xjrw/UTpaklZ3YqI/AAAAAAAAA0Y/HOcPfw98sAE/s320/os_tottenham.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Micky and Pete enjoying the lamps</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But careful
not to be deviated too soon, the tour was remaining true to its rules and at
least starting on Oxford Street. Just round the corner from Tottenham Court
Road was the first pub, the aptly named <a href="http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/thetottenhamoxfordstreetlondon/" target="_blank">The Tottenham</a>. This Nicholson’s pub is
actually a bit of a gem, with lovely mirrors, lamps and ceilings, there also
seemed to be what appeared to be huge tapestries decorating the walls.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The pub was
also, quite surprisingly, not very full at all. Space was easily found at the bar;
the only downside was that it was right next to the only mad bloke in the pub,
who needed both the barman and Big-J’s help to identify his own drink and his
change which was spread all over the bar. 4 halves of <a href="http://www.andwells.com/" target="_blank">Andwell’s</a> Spring Magic
for Pete, Charlie, Big-J and I and 3 halves of various lagers for the others
were ordered and these along with a very easy scan of the Cask Marque
certificate (hanging just behind the bar) were obtain and finished in what
seemed like an unseemly short amount of time.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7tWN6iTVQbs/UTpaNUXMHTI/AAAAAAAAA0Q/YPap1e75Qsk/s1600/os_chairman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7tWN6iTVQbs/UTpaNUXMHTI/AAAAAAAAA0Q/YPap1e75Qsk/s320/os_chairman.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The Crown & 2 Chairmen - Ignore the road sign - You can enter</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Dodging
across the rush hour traffic to the other side of Oxford Street, we ducked down
Soho Street to Soho Square and then cut through to Dean Street, the location of
the next two pubs. The first was the strangely named <a href="http://www.thecrownandtwochairmenw1.co.uk/" target="_blank">Crown and Two Chairman</a>, a
funny looking corner pub that been painted in a very unhealthy looking purple
colour. The feeling inside was slightly reminiscence of the Crown & Sceptre
from last week with a young trendy crowd where coloured hair was very much the
flavour of the evening. Again space at the bar was easy to come by and 4 halves
of a beer called Equinox (about which since I’ve not been able to find any more
information) were ordered for the ale drinkers followed by 3 halves of Veltins pilsner
for the lager imbibers. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mention
here must be given to the barman who was sporting a most magnificent plaited beard
and shaved and tattooed head which gave the feeling that you were being served
by one of the dwarves from The Hobbit. Rather fearing that any approach for the
location of the certificate might result in him reaching for his handy axe, I
left this part of the evening to Aussie Pete. But alas even with Pete doing his
best Gollum impression (this is a full time job by the way) the poor chap
couldn't locate the thing, even after conferring with colleagues and searching
everywhere from the stock room to the toilets.</span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Dz8ktPBF2W4/UTpZ6bL39bI/AAAAAAAAA0I/p7idwABH8L4/s1600/os_nellie_dean.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Dz8ktPBF2W4/UTpZ6bL39bI/AAAAAAAAA0I/p7idwABH8L4/s320/os_nellie_dean.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Stupid light - Outside the Nellie Dean</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So
unfortunately our good run of scanning was at an end, but it was to soon start
again as we made our way back toward Oxford Street and the second pub on Dean
Street, the <a href="http://www.nelliedeanofsoho.co.uk/" target="_blank">Nellie Dean of Soho</a>. Again another corner pub but this time painted
a much more jovial and cheerful bright red. It was a cramped little place so it
was rather more of a squeeze to get served but soon the halves of Betty Stoggs were
flowing along with the halves of Becks. As previously alluded to, the
certificate was freely available as it was framed and stood on a window ledge
which meant that we could pick it up and pass it round the scanners amongst us.</span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Again
though there's not a lot more I can really say, the one effect that drinking halves
were definitely having was the attitude towards our stays in the pub. It felt
like there wasn't any point in taking off your coat before the drink was gone
and it was time to move on.</span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QvIp6gYC4wA/UTpZnCX9KvI/AAAAAAAAA0A/Sq5Yhi3iX6Q/s1600/os_green_man.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QvIp6gYC4wA/UTpZnCX9KvI/AAAAAAAAA0A/Sq5Yhi3iX6Q/s320/os_green_man.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The Green Man - I've seen better examples.....</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mooching
around the corner we cut through Fareham Street & Hollen Street and
eventually found our way to the <a href="http://www.thegreenmansoho.co.uk/" target="_blank">Green Man</a>, an M&B pub located on Berwick Street.
Again this pub was half empty but whereas I'd put the lack of crowds in the
others down to slow midweek trade, this time I wonder if the pub was just a bit
crap. Firstly when the complete ale selection is a choice between Fuller's London
Pride and Greene King's IPA you really need to question the pub's attitude to
variety. And the barman completely alienated me by committing that cardinal sin
of serving someone else before men out of turn. Once retired with our drinks we
found a spot by the wide screen TV which was on for no-one's benefit and at
least took an easy scan with the certificate hung by the entrance to the bar. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was
rather a relief to be drinking just halves in this place because it allowed for
a swift exit just after Charlie and I noticed two of the mealiest portions of
chips being served up ever. So here’s a question for you Mr M&B – How come
you’ve so obviously invested in a huge beer range for places like the Crown
& Sceptre, the Crown & 2 Chairman (just down the road for goodness
sake) and the other Green Man in Fitzrovia but this place is almost a beer
desert? 2/10 could do better – see me!</span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NDb6NCDJBdY/UTpZUet5MYI/AAAAAAAAAz4/8P1mJzAu1BI/s1600/os_coach_horses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NDb6NCDJBdY/UTpZUet5MYI/AAAAAAAAAz4/8P1mJzAu1BI/s320/os_coach_horses.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This is the Coach & Horses - Honest</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Again it
was a swift trip around a couple of corners into Poland Street which was where
the final two pubs were located. Firstly there was the <a href="http://www.traditionalpubslondon.co.uk/coachhorses/index.php" target="_blank">Coach and Horses</a>, a
Greene King pub certainly smarter than the Green Man, and whilst they weren't
going to win any prizes for their beer range they at least had something out of
the ordinary on, Greene King's new beer called Jailbird. </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The
certificate was once more highly visible hanging on the wall by the bar so
between handfuls of Big-J bought crisps (no Monster Munch unfortunately) the
deed was once more done.</span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Final stop
of the evening was just over the road at the Kings Arms, a mid terrace pub with
lovely leaded glass windows at the front and a huge gay pride flag waving
proudly above. Now I'm not going to say anything crass about the clientele
inside just suffice it to say that there was an abundance of beards and for a
pub crowd that was 90% male, not a sniff of a testosterone laden threat in the
air. The barman was also the friendliest of the night asking who was on the
halves amongst us when I (with agreement from the others I might add) upgraded
us all to pints for the final visit of the evening. It was <a href="http://www.sabrain.com/beers/draught/cask-beers/the-rev-james" target="_blank">Reverend James</a> by
the way.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span> </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kvxtndAZWCk/UTpY4L6Vo_I/AAAAAAAAAzw/YM3_pX1DLaI/s1600/os_kings_arms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kvxtndAZWCk/UTpY4L6Vo_I/AAAAAAAAAzw/YM3_pX1DLaI/s320/os_kings_arms.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The King's (definitely not the Queen's) Arms</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There was
just time for one final scan, once more the certificate being easily findable
(2 chairman aside we're doing really well on the self-finding and self-scanning
at the moment) before dashing off for a group McDonalds and a rather early
train home.</span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So we'd
easily done the 6 pubs and by sticking to halves I don't think any of us were
going to wake up with sore heads but I wasn't the only one to feel slightly
uncomfortable drinking half pints. I don't think there's anything macho about
drinking pints and I've never bought into the “X number of pints per night”
measure that some blokes seem to measure their virility with, but there is a
genuine case to be made for the right measure for the right beer. British
bitter at the end of the day is a fairly low alcohol content drink and whilst I
know the days of it being drunk to replenish and replace lost water for manual
workers having just finished a shift down the mine/forge/docks/factory (choose
your favourite) is also over it's still a drink you should be able to take a
hearty slurp from and still feel you've got plenty more in your glass to go
back to. You just don't get that with halves.</span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Number of
Cask Marque Pubs visited<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>= 165</span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 106%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Half Pint?
= Short Changed!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Home by ½ 9
= Just in time for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_(TV_series)" target="_blank">Derek</a> – Possible the best comedy in a long time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next Stop =
Community Chest<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-35170618467945745142013-03-02T21:57:00.000+00:002013-03-03T13:59:18.538+00:00Regent Street<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Want to start this one off with another grammar clarification?
Really? Not had enough of them yet? Well ok then, just for you I’ll do it, but
this one is really pretty boring (the others weren’t yeah?) – OK, so today’s
square was Regent Street. Not Regent’s Street, not Regents’ Street and
certainly not Regents’s Street. Plain and simple, Regent Street. Which is
interesting (oh, yes it bloody well is) because on the other hand, the place
that this road ultimately leads to is Regent’s Park. And if you want to know
which Regent it was named after, well it was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_IV" target="_blank">George IV</a> – and that’s the one who
was Regent whilst his dad was chewing the carpets and talking to trees. A bit
like they still do today.</span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Coming so quickly behind the legendary night that was <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/go-to-jail.html" target="_blank">Go toJail</a>, I had small hope that this square would reach those sorts of heights.
Also we were going out on a Thursday night which meant that all the female
tourists cried off citing excuses of “school night drinking” and other pathetic
reasons. In fact there were even rumours of going to the gym in preferences of going
drinking with the BGC. I mean……gym? Really?</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Also when I checked the Cask Marque map for Regent Street,
although there are many accredited pubs along and near its length, they’d
either already been covered or should be saved for other squares. In the end I
was rather “forced” to focus in on the northern end of the street and stray
into the area around Great Portland Street which is known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitzrovia" target="_blank">Fitzrovia</a>.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A-WLGAOf-Nw/UTJyUdSQDjI/AAAAAAAAAyY/oVZ36YH4ekM/s1600/rs_regent_street.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A-WLGAOf-Nw/UTJyUdSQDjI/AAAAAAAAAyY/oVZ36YH4ekM/s320/rs_regent_street.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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The Maccers wasn't there in George IV's day</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mind you for every cloud there should be a silver lining and
for this outing the silver linings were welcome returns to the tour of Munchkin
Steve (down from the t’north and getting used to wearing shoes again) Sybil and
Big-J. Aussie Pete and Spikey Haired Ed were the ever faithfuls and I’d sooner
have Aussie Pete sipping halves than the no-show from Charlie, Buddy Rob &
New Guy Micky – honestly gents! You might as well join the ladies in the gym!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So finally getting off much later than I wanted to – I mean,
talk about chewing the carpets I think that must be something me and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_III_of_the_United_Kingdom" target="_blank">George theIII</a> had in common - the tube was thankfully much quicker than Ed’s call logging,
so it was just coming up to 6 o clock when we eventually reached the <a href="http://www.traditionalpubslondon.co.uk/explorer/index.php" target="_blank">OldExplorer</a> located in Castle Street, just off Regent Street. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hKNLjGt3xzs/UTJzM8BlcQI/AAAAAAAAAyo/usn0YlbNR7c/s1600/rs_old_explorer2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hKNLjGt3xzs/UTJzM8BlcQI/AAAAAAAAAyo/usn0YlbNR7c/s320/rs_old_explorer2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Why does Steve look absolutely mental in every photo?</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now as I usually trace the route beforehand on Google Street
View and I have to say that this pub doesn’t look all that nice from street level.
It has all the charm of an inner city Weatherspoons, a look I can only presume
the owners, Greene King aren’t looking for. But upon entering the pub I’m
pleased to report that the inside is much nicer. Although it was crowded as you
would expect it to be for its location and the time of the evening, the first
sight that greeted us was a mini-stillage of several barrels of ale. Not being
quite sure what the score with the mini-festival was, we approached the bar and
I got the round of Heinekens for Sybil and Munchkin Steve (you can lead the
horse to water……..) and 3 and ½ pints of <a href="http://www.morduebrewery.com/" target="_blank">Mordue’s</a> Bunny Hop for us others – yes
that’s right blog fans, Spikey Haired Ed was on the ale!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The beer came in those very nice Greene King handled mugs
(last seen at the Lucas Arms during <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/kings-cross.html" target="_blank">Kings Cross</a>) but the pub committed that
cardinal sin of taking them straight from the dish washer and using them
without letting them cool. No point in keeping your beer at ideal temperature if
you’re going to do that!</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YD3h1z4IDTw/UTJy_-rM3oI/AAAAAAAAAyg/e_E47IK5AcE/s1600/rs_old_explorer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YD3h1z4IDTw/UTJy_-rM3oI/AAAAAAAAAyg/e_E47IK5AcE/s320/rs_old_explorer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Every night should include a free T-Shirt</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway, all complaints aside we got the scan from the certificate
just hung by the bar and retired to the only free space which just happened to
be by the barrels. I noticed that the festival organisers, who turned out to be
from the brewery itself, were running a quiz with the top notch prize of a
t-shirt. Now as any reader of the blog will know, I’m always on board for a
free t-shirt, so quick as a flash I’d completed my paper and was being
photographed by the brewery, complete with t-shirt for their own publicity. So
returning the favour the friendly chap had his photo taken for the blog. It turned
out as I spoke further with the chap from the brewery, that they had a special
20% discount for CAMRA members so it might have been worth our while staying in
the pub longer but alas we had work to do so once Aussie Pete had claimed his
free t-shirt it was back across Regent Street and down to Great Portland
Street.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The next stop was the <a href="http://www.traditionalpubslondon.co.uk/georgebloomsbury/index.php" target="_blank">George</a>, another Greene King pub but
this time one that does look quite attractive from the outside. It’s also one
that appears in a couple of my London pub guide books for its interior and the
etched mirrors and ornate back bar certainly deserves a mention. The drinks
were obtained (I think Sybil and Steve switched to Becks) whilst the ale
drinkers (yep even Ed as well) went with Honey Pot from <a href="http://www.coach-house-brewing.co.uk/" target="_blank">Coach House Brewery</a>. I’m
always a bit suspicious of honey beers and they always seem to disappoint,
tasting neither strongly enough of honey or having a hop bite to fall back on.
This one though was very nice indeed having a good sharp honey smack but not
too sickly sweet cloying. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bhAXJGwh03w/UTJzcrGqxTI/AAAAAAAAAyw/v2_i58hqUzk/s1600/rs_george.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bhAXJGwh03w/UTJzcrGqxTI/AAAAAAAAAyw/v2_i58hqUzk/s320/rs_george.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The George - The inside is nicer than the very nice outside</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Asking the barmaid about the certificate we were directed
around the corner to where it was hanging and were delighted to see that it
actually was due to expire that day, meaning we got in a scan that had we gone
out on our normal Friday would have missed. I was rather slow getting to the
certificate, probably still sorting out the kitty for the rest of them, but
Pete later said how there were a couple of blokes stood by the certificate
which he asked if they could move out the way. Asking what the certificate was
all about Pete told them only to have one of the men say to his friend, “Come
on, let’s find a pub that just serves lager.” </span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A9eXBMRHnOE/UTJz3ucR0wI/AAAAAAAAAy4/mFIlWTb8TaI/s1600/rs_certificate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A9eXBMRHnOE/UTJz3ucR0wI/AAAAAAAAAy4/mFIlWTb8TaI/s320/rs_certificate.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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See proof this blog isn't just made up!</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We moved off to find a pub that didn’t just serve lager and
found the next stop, the <a href="http://www.thecrownandsceptrew1.co.uk/" target="_blank">Crown and Sceptre</a> in Foley Street.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now we need a quick word about the next two pubs, the Crown
and Sceptre and our next planned stop, the Green Man in nearby Riding House
Street, are both M&B pubs but very much with a leaning towards the craft
beer scene (rather than their Brew XI scene which had coloured my midlands
childhood). When I’d tweeted the plans for this week’s tour both pubs had
replied to the tweet including pictures of the ales they currently had on at
this time. Very impressive!</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fFWj-p4ZvjQ/UTJ0MIV7mcI/AAAAAAAAAzA/lio4zqMfgfk/s1600/rs_c_and_s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fFWj-p4ZvjQ/UTJ0MIV7mcI/AAAAAAAAAzA/lio4zqMfgfk/s320/rs_c_and_s.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Crown and Sceptre</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The other thing I’d noticed about the Crown and Sceptre was
the entrance to the Victorian public toilets just outside the pub. This was
easily spotted as we approached the pub, but so were the crowds of drinkers
spilling outside the place. Inside it was worse, we’ve come to expect crowded
pubs and even though the Crown and Sceptre is quite a big place, the hoards of
people were a bit overwhelming, especially for someone like me who considers
anything over a bloke with a dog as a crush. The other thing was that these
weren’t just normal people, this was very much a gathering of a young and
beautiful with everyone seemingly dressed in some sort of designer type cool (but
the sort of artistic type cool – you know, the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ooo look at me, I’ve got a Che Guevara t-shirt
on, but it’s done in Andy’s style type thing, which passed me by even when I
was younger. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The part of the bar which we struggled to get to didn’t have
any ale pumps near it so rather than ask the young pretty trendy barmaid what
was on, I made up the order from what I could see. Sybil and Steve I put back
onto Heineken, Big-J had moved onto Coke anyway so it was just 2 ½ pints of
<a href="http://www.bluemoonbrewingcompany.co.uk/" target="_blank">Blue Moon</a>, which Ed has previously had on the tour but isn’t a brew I’ve tried.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now I’m a fan of wheat beer but I’ve got to say this just
didn’t float my boat. I’m also confused why it’s a slice of orange that the
powers that be have decided should be plunked into this beer. If the fruit of
choice was lemon or even grapefruit (actually I’m going to copywrite that
thought) then you could at least understand the reasoning, in that the sharp
acidity of the citrus fruit would slice through the floral nature of the wheat.
But although orange is a citrus fruit it hardly a sharp one and when plunked
into the beer becomes something for show rather than taste. I’d like someone to
prove me wrong but you might as well put a glacé cherry on a cocktail stick in
it for what it’s worth to me.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qtv9dyRWpVM/UTJ0sOcgcTI/AAAAAAAAAzQ/hsV3E76-MMY/s1600/rs_vic_loos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qtv9dyRWpVM/UTJ0sOcgcTI/AAAAAAAAAzQ/hsV3E76-MMY/s320/rs_vic_loos.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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The loos are now a snack bar thingy</div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway we squeezed our way past the young and trendy t-shirt
wearing crowd to a place right by the gates of the Victorian loos and generally
made jokes about Steve’s height (he’s got very soft curly hair…..)and had a
Rolf Harris nostalgia moment. Ed looked confused and probably wished he was
with the young and trendies……….</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0jo74zI9-uI/UTJ0fiWl3uI/AAAAAAAAAzI/hmx1NFXBvp4/s1600/rs_vic_loos2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0jo74zI9-uI/UTJ0fiWl3uI/AAAAAAAAAzI/hmx1NFXBvp4/s320/rs_vic_loos2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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BGC really looks like he's just come out of the closet. </div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Before we left we remembered that the scan hadn’t been taken
but I didn’t rate our chances of either finding the certificate amongst the
crowd or asking someone who knew. But amazingly from our position outside the
pub we spotted it, right on top of the bar. Squeezing our way back inside, past
all the young, trendy and beautiful again we collared a likely looking barman
and asked if we could get a scan. The chap couldn’t have been more helpful and
retrieved the certificate to our scanning delight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I previously mentioned the sister pub to the Crown and
Sceptre, the <a href="http://www.thegreenmanw1.co.uk/" target="_blank">Green Man</a> is just around the corner so it was but a short stagger
to the next watering hole, which, as one might have guessed, was just as busy
as the Crown and Sceptre. That said, just like the C&S the service was
quick and friendly but again I found myself nowhere near the pumps. Again
plumping for something a bit blindly I selected pints of <a href="http://www.camdentownbrewery.com/" target="_blank">Camden Town</a> lager,
thinking this would go down just as well with Steve and Sybil as it would with
Ed and Pete (Big-J still coking it) – alas it didn’t. I thought it was alright,
certainly more flavoursome than your standard lagers but the rest seemed to be
struggling to drink it. As Steve and Sybil were ordered to come the right side
of the drinking barrier outside Steve bravely mentioned to the Eastern European
prison guard of a barmaid that “eeee, this Camden lager’s not very nice….” to which
she curtly responded, “No, it’s nice beer!” and stomped off.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">To be honest I think she had a point.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HnznMqFJsEU/UTJ1CYQz5aI/AAAAAAAAAzY/hicVJq5bCrM/s1600/rs_green_man.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HnznMqFJsEU/UTJ1CYQz5aI/AAAAAAAAAzY/hicVJq5bCrM/s320/rs_green_man.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
The Green Man</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Amongst the round I’d also sneaked in a pint of <a href="http://vedett.be/" target="_blank">Verdett ExtraWhite</a>, which I shared around the group, much in the same way Ed’s penguin
biscuits were also shared around, but I’ve got to say that this beer relies a
little too much on it’s cool and groovy marketing than it’s taste. But hey,
that’s just an opinion.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The certificate was easily findable, being pinned up on the
wall although I had to hold up a candle to get enough light to scan it. It was
only then that I glanced back at the bar and saw the huge list of ciders on
offer and then I remember reading that the Green Man is a premier cider
establishment. So we rather did it an injustice by not drinking the fruit of
the apple whilst there. I’ve got both pubs marked down for revisit, one to
drink cider and two, to do it on a quiet Tuesday afternoon or something – just sometime
when I don’t feel like everyone is pointing to the hunch on my back and my ugly
face.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So that should have been it for the evening. There was one
other Cask Marque accredited pub in the area, the King’s Arms at the end of Great
Titchfield Street, but again on the Google Street View tour, I’d dismissed this
place as it looked very down at heel. But by now the drinking feeling was
tingling so a “swift one for the road” was agreed upon and we entered the
establishment, still looking rather ragged (the pub I mean, but probably we
were also by this point), for a final beer.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5MH-pNMn8hA/UTJ1NBO-XiI/AAAAAAAAAzg/JUEPgSQEIY0/s1600/rs_kings_arms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5MH-pNMn8hA/UTJ1NBO-XiI/AAAAAAAAAzg/JUEPgSQEIY0/s320/rs_kings_arms.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Old fashioned till at the Kings Arms - The numbers spun round and everything! Just to the left you can see one final pack of Monster Munch.</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Inside the change couldn’t have been more different from the
Crown & Sceptre. Here we had glorious swirling patterned carpets, velour bar
stools and book laden book shelves. This was a real old man’s pub and I loved
it. The chap behind the bar was dressed for the occasion, white vest with half
zipped tracksuit top, pints of Doombar (followed by pints of <a href="http://www.puritybrewing.com/product/mad-goose" target="_blank">Purity Mad Goose</a>) were
ordered and then Big-J spotted the catch of the evening – <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_Munch" target="_blank">Monster Munch</a>! We
bought up ever pack the pub had (ok, they only had 6 packs) but we bought them
all and had another nostalgic moment but this time flavoured with pickled onion
and roast beef.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And then just to top things off, we found the certificate
again making this one of those very rare nights out where we captured a scan in
each and every pub. And just to double top it off, the King’s Arm’s certificate
was also due to expire that very night too.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So who suggested this would be a let down after “Go to Jail”?
Every night on the tour is a top night!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Number of Cask Marque Pubs visited<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>= 161</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Paleo Fail! = Aussie Pete! I saw you! You had a Maccers!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Paleo Fail! = Yeah alright, shut up. I had BK at Paddington –
and hey we both had Colonel the next day as well………</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next Stop = Oxford Street</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-31066767055368180212013-02-24T00:34:00.001+00:002013-02-24T00:34:11.269+00:00Go to Jail
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And so we reach another corner of the board and one of the
most iconic of all the Monopoly squares, “Go to Jail”. Whilst some of the
squares have caused problems when trying to think of a suitable place to visit,
(Water Works springs to mind here), this one was a real no-brainer. Just consider
any newsworthy criminal case and you’ll have an image of some news reporter
standing outside of the Old Bailey whilst someone who’s just won their trial
comes out arms aloft from the court rooms. Those who aren’t so fortunate and
get to “go to jail” aren’t seen of course.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kzlqHTfRaes/USlfLyJiy2I/AAAAAAAAAxc/kDn7HmiRVio/s1600/gtj_oldbailey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kzlqHTfRaes/USlfLyJiy2I/AAAAAAAAAxc/kDn7HmiRVio/s320/gtj_oldbailey.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Setting the scene.</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But before we describe the actual visit, a couple of bits of
exciting beer and pub news:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I started getting into the beer blogging scene one of
the first people I came into contact with was a young chap by the name of
Nathaniel Southwood. Now Nate, or NateDawg has been mentioned on this blog
before but just as a word of explanation, I think most people in the beer
blogging world know Nate. He’s certainly not shy in his opinions (I mean his
<a href="http://twitter.com/NateDawg27" target="_blank">twitter account</a> has the descriptive line “Sublimely self-righteous arrogant
bastard”) and he frequently uses Twitter and his <a href="http://www.boozebeatsbites.com/" target="_blank">blog</a> to generally get sweary
about beer. But all that said I’ve never actually met the person behind the
swears. But as luck would have it, he informed me that he was down in London
for a craft beer festival and asked if it would be possible for him to join the
tour. Seeing as the only criteria I have for coming on the tour is that you at
least try beer this also was a no-brainer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I do have to mention that when I told the rest of the tour
that Nate was coming along they split into two camps; one being one that were
convinced that I was on some sort of internet blind date and was possibly on a
promise. The other being that Nate would turn out to be a stalking internet cannibal
type and we’d all end up with various bits of us being boiled in a cauldron. I
guess only time would tell!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The other bit of news was that when organising this week’s
tour I’d planned to end up at the Viaduct Tavern on Newgate Street and further
reading about this pub revealed that it was built near to the site of the old
Newgate Jail (which is where the Old Bailey now stands) and in their cellars
were actual original holding cells. And further good news told me that the pub
was pleased to show the cells to interested visitors. I got in touch with the
pub and exchanged emails which a nice lady called Carina who said it would be
no trouble to show us the cells. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bGJHk_HRuN4/USlc8FmdFBI/AAAAAAAAAwM/ZndXx35wRd0/s1600/gtj_victorian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bGJHk_HRuN4/USlc8FmdFBI/AAAAAAAAAwM/ZndXx35wRd0/s320/gtj_victorian.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Still from the "Murder on the Victorian Railway" program. The Viaduct Tavern is on the left.</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Then in a twist of coincidence I was watching a BBC2 program
this week called <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2013/08/murder-on-the-victorian-railway.html" target="_blank">Murder on the Victorian Railway</a>, all about the very <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Muller" target="_blank">first murderon the railways lines</a>. The program started and finished with an old Victorian
photo of Newgate prison and there in the corner one can see the very same
Viaduct Tavern. Add to this I’d also quite innocently said in passing to Gemma
that she should encourage the girls to all wear stripes (like a cartoon burglar
– not like a tiger or something) and later found out that they were actually
going to do so. (See, you can’t trust these women who keep a box of fancy dress
odds and ends in the office.) So just to make sure I wasn’t caught out I bought
myself a mask and a stripy shirt of my own. The mask cost £6.50! Seriously, the
shop owner should have put it on when he rang it through the till!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So onto the tour, which was off to a slow start as once
again we were left waiting for the tarting up of both the ladies and Spiky
Haired Ed leaving the BGC beeping his mental car horn in the foyer of the offices.
I should take a quick moment to do a roll call before going any further;
regulars Aussie Pete, Charlie, Buddy Rob and the aforementioned Ed were all
aboard and making a welcome third appearance was Gemmaration Game and a second
appearance for Jackanory Nicole. But there were three new caps as Gemma’s
recruiting drive had once again worked wonders, signing up Carole, Lucie and
Isabelle. (Seriously, I’ve had it with the stupid nicknames – When I introduced
NateDawg someone actually asked me what his nickname was going to be. Yeah,
hello, NateDawg, it’s in the name yeah?)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway with NateDawg already trying to ring me we were
finally on course with a short tube ride to Blackfriars and a walk past one of
our earlier victories <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/fleet-street.html" target="_blank">the Blackfriar pub</a>. On this occasion though we were going
a little further down Queen Victoria Street and taking a sharp left hand turn
into St Andrew’s Hill and the first pub of the evening, the very curiously named
<a href="http://shawsbooksellers.co.uk/" target="_blank">Shaws Booksellers</a>. The name apparently comes from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_Ivory_Productions" target="_blank">Merchant-Ivory</a> adaption
of 'The Wings of the Dove' where the pub was dressed as a booksellers………………yeah,
I’m no wiser as well!</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fGGExB6-zwM/USldMewzDiI/AAAAAAAAAwU/Ksx2WayfoKs/s1600/gtj_shawsbooksellers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fGGExB6-zwM/USldMewzDiI/AAAAAAAAAwU/Ksx2WayfoKs/s320/gtj_shawsbooksellers.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Outside Shaws Booksellers - Still don't know what that's all about.</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As we’ve come to expect on most evenings now, the place was
rammed full and claiming a free space to stand for the 10 of us was not easy.
What was easier though was getting served especially as the order was pretty
easy, 7 pints of London Pride (yep, the girls had upgraded to pints) which
meant there was only Buddy Rob on his second choice of Peroni, Spiky Haired Ed
on a less well known Czech larger, <a href="http://www.litovel.cz/" target="_blank">Litovel</a> and Lucie on the cider. I did make
an effort to ask the barmaid about the Cask Marque certificate but again it was
one of those moments where I was speaking one language and barmaid just wasn’t
listening.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5Q9q7dLWFDU/USldYiqvkVI/AAAAAAAAAwc/c1nAGTu-g94/s1600/gtj_nate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5Q9q7dLWFDU/USldYiqvkVI/AAAAAAAAAwc/c1nAGTu-g94/s320/gtj_nate.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Meeting of two great beer minds - I'm on the right!</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I then got back in touch with Nate and discovered that he
was in the pub next door, not that it took him long to finally find us and join
Ed on the Litovel. Swift introductions were made and I think the group’s fears
were generally put at ease and none of us would be waking up in a ditch minus
our livers. Nate actually turned out to be quite a softly spoken mild mannered
chap with no sign of his ranting twitter persona although there were a couple
of whispered swears placed into the conversation. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Deciding not to linger at Shaw’s Booksellers we took the
quick walk up Creed Lane and crossed Ludgate Hill (look right for a great view
of St Paul’s Cathedral) to the second pub of the night, the Taylor Walker owned
<a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/ye-olde-london-the-city/s5568/" target="_blank">Ye Olde London</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This time the ladies secured a couple of tables by the windows
whilst I, ably assisted by Nate put in the order from the rather harassed and
overworked barman, struggling to keep things running all on his own. The order
was quite simple again though, 7 pints of <a href="http://www.woodfordes.co.uk/" target="_blank">Woodfordes</a> Wherry (more on that
later) Lucie swapped with Isabelle on the cider role, Nate had a very cold pint
of Guinness, Rob got his bottle of Bud and Ed had a pint of something yellow. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was quite happy with the Woodfordes Wherry, not a drink
you see that often (although quite often in Taylor Walker places) but it wasn’t
going down at all well with the girls. Watery was the most heard complaint and
Nate backed up this feeling by explaining how this was the beer he cut his ale
drinking teeth on, but one he has now happily left behind. Rob and Ed had
escaped to the downstairs bar where there was not only a pool table but also
the Cask Marque certificate, meaning all us scanners had to go down to scan but
then rush back up to get a signal to register the scan. Still it worked and
Nate managed to break his Cask Finder duck.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QTpXfCShuuw/USldlOzjo0I/AAAAAAAAAwk/Dbw17WRFvyc/s1600/gtj_oldelondon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QTpXfCShuuw/USldlOzjo0I/AAAAAAAAAwk/Dbw17WRFvyc/s320/gtj_oldelondon.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Leaving Ye Olde London - I told Nicole her coat would clash with the pub but whould she listen.....</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Leaving the pub after the mandatory photos, it was the very next
right turn into Old Bailey itself and after walking up the street past the
Central Criminal Court I pointed out the church of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Sepulchre-without-Newgate" target="_blank">St Sepulchre</a> which according
to the BBC2 program was where the public gallows were. And did you know that in
the children’s nursery rhyme when the “bells of Old Bailey” are mentioned – It is
these church bells they’re referring to. And there opposite the church was our
final port of call the <a href="http://viaducttavern.co.uk/" target="_blank">Viaduct Tavern</a>.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bOjeOQMn_AQ/USle7flQ0zI/AAAAAAAAAxU/OKcYOckV-Sk/s1600/gtj_carina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bOjeOQMn_AQ/USle7flQ0zI/AAAAAAAAAxU/OKcYOckV-Sk/s320/gtj_carina.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The lovely Carina - organiser of all amazing pub things.</div>
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</div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My book of “London’s Best Pubs” describes the Viaduct as
having a ceiling of “ornate lincrusta” which is a mix of pressed paper and linseed
oil, a fact I explained to Charlie but I don’t think he believed me. Anyway,
whatever the ceiling is made from it’s certain a lovely pub and one that it’s
good to see is flourishing in the hands of Fullers. It was pints of Seafarers
all around and I was delighted to learn that the barmaid serving me was none
other than the very Carina who I’d been emailing with. So this is the first pub
where the tour had been welcomed and recognised, but more importantly she told
us that there’d been a chap along shortly to show us around the cells.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ppLMrb9B-w8/USld1L2NuZI/AAAAAAAAAws/8EWTUsDsycA/s1600/gtj_ceiling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ppLMrb9B-w8/USld1L2NuZI/AAAAAAAAAws/8EWTUsDsycA/s320/gtj_ceiling.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Charlie and Nicole share a joke at my expense whilst the lincrusta ceiling goes unnoticed.</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Whilst all this was going on, the rest of the scanners were desperately
trying to scan the certificate which they’d found on the bar of the bar hatch.
Thing was, this was an expired certificate and therefore wouldn’t scan. After
several attempts at scanning Nate decided that perhaps it might be time to call
it a day and who could blame him after drinking all day at the beer festival
and then having to put up with us lot. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sadly this meant he missed the tour of the cells which was
next on the agenda. The bar chappy split us into two groups so firstly it was
the blokes who descended the steep cellar steps into the basement. Obviously
this is a working pub so it’s pretty understandable that the pub is using the
cells as storage but there is one cell still with the ironwork in place, splitting
the cell into the separate chambers for each prisoner. Although very
interesting and quite a privilege to see such a thing, grim is about the most appropriate
word for it. Us chaps then retired back to the bar (for a sneaky round) whilst
the girls took their tour in the cells. </span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ii_Ht4aNq2Q/USleGZb0raI/AAAAAAAAAw0/xpJyBo7clGc/s1600/gtj_cells.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ii_Ht4aNq2Q/USleGZb0raI/AAAAAAAAAw0/xpJyBo7clGc/s320/gtj_cells.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Dodgey character found lurking in the cells.</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The evening then turned rather odd as the beers started to
make their present felt. Firstly there were all sorts of fun and games with the
mask as it was passed around. I never knew Charlie had such amateur dramatic tendencies
as he put on a very convincing act of trying to pick Gemma’s handbag.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_oawx9rUNck/USleQZam3YI/AAAAAAAAAw8/-MzhGX0g0eI/s1600/gtj_robber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_oawx9rUNck/USleQZam3YI/AAAAAAAAAw8/-MzhGX0g0eI/s320/gtj_robber.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1r0jweMjw3s/USleZsd1sDI/AAAAAAAAAxE/BlW6JT64syM/s1600/gtj_isabelle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1r0jweMjw3s/USleZsd1sDI/AAAAAAAAAxE/BlW6JT64syM/s320/gtj_isabelle.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZS9l3sbWa00/USlfxJGSeqI/AAAAAAAAAxk/b0jQiBnkm38/s1600/gtj_carole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZS9l3sbWa00/USlfxJGSeqI/AAAAAAAAAxk/b0jQiBnkm38/s320/gtj_carole.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tdUWRs6UyYI/USlf42vl22I/AAAAAAAAAxs/B2_z2uVlf00/s1600/gtj_gemma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tdUWRs6UyYI/USlf42vl22I/AAAAAAAAAxs/B2_z2uVlf00/s320/gtj_gemma.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Oh the fun you can have with £6.50</div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Lucie seemed determined to find food of some sort and the
offer of crisps and nuts from the bar didn’t seem to be hitting the right
notes. I tried to cheer her up with some schoolboy French but apparently being
able to ask when the tourist information centre is, is no substitute for hunger
so it was probably just as well that Isabelle interrupted proceedings with a shriek
as she spotted her daughter in the pub.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The evening then for a moment became a very strange version
of “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_Your_Life_(UK_TV_series)" target="_blank">This is your life</a>” as various friends of her daughters were wheeled in to
meet us all – “And here, you’ve never met him in your life before is Greg who
used to be at uni with your daughter’s boyfriend! He used to study economics but
dropped out and is now running a pet shop and you’ve never seen him ever ever
ever, it’s Ben the pet shop man!”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There was also a very strange moment where I seemed to be
encouraging Carole to tell me to “Feck Off!” in a rather abusive manner. In
fact the more abusive, the more I seemed to enjoy it. Whether this says more
about me or more about Carole’s willingness to curse and swear I’m really not
sure – Perhaps I should introduce her to Nate – Oh I already did, didn’t I.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A3cW0S1FA68/USlejOP-FaI/AAAAAAAAAxM/Dye4uMb5A4c/s1600/gtj_ed_gemma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A3cW0S1FA68/USlejOP-FaI/AAAAAAAAAxM/Dye4uMb5A4c/s320/gtj_ed_gemma.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Poor Rob! And Gemma, if your looking for Ed's manly chest.....it was stolen by that bloke in the mask.</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Finally I remember the end of the evening finished (honestly
it seemed to go on forever this time and the kitty never seemed to get any
smaller – it was one of the cheapest nights on the tour) with me adopting
another scarf, black this time, and there is photographic proof of this, but I
also remember Ed chasing after me after I left and retrieving something. The
scarf never made it home anyway – I did though, just, but it was touch and go
especially when I thought travelling masked on the tube might be a laugh………on
my own. I’m a sad little man.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Number of Cask Marque Pubs visited<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>= 156</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Best night so far? = Oh it’s got to be up there with them.
Worth it for the mask pictures alone.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hangover? = Do you know what, none at all! It must have been
the coffee and fruit cake from <a href="https://twitter.com/TuttiFruttiRdg" target="_blank">Tutti Frutti</a> in Reading station. They got to see
the mask as well!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next Stop = Regent Street</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-65376902903051550502013-02-16T12:35:00.002+00:002013-02-23T09:34:45.069+00:00Piccadilly<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">How is it
that you can use the name <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piccadilly" target="_blank">Piccadilly</a> in a sentence and not at all be tempted to
prefix it with a “the” and yet <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/strand.html" target="_blank">Strand</a>, on the other hand, still doesn’t sound quite
right without one?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5ybanGzHXts/UR97_SHSZrI/AAAAAAAAAuw/67V0dB5P7Eo/s1600/p_piccadilly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5ybanGzHXts/UR97_SHSZrI/AAAAAAAAAuw/67V0dB5P7Eo/s320/p_piccadilly.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Look, no "the" again.</div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Sorry, bit
of a random way to start but there you go.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">We were hampered
this week on available days out as the card manufactures’ favourite day of the
year, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentines_day" target="_blank">Valentine’s Day</a>, fell on the Thursday, which has proved to be one of the
more favoured touring nights. So instead, and a rather hurried fashion, we
planned a nice easy Wednesday night visit. This did results in catching a few
of the regular tourists unawares, meaning only Ed, Charlie and the BGC being
present. Still, three guys for three pubs had a certain fitting ring to it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Mind you I
was feeling less than prepared for the visit as the night before I had decided
it was about time the good old brown suit was resurrected from the depths of
the wardrobe and taken for an airing. A brave decision as one of Charlie’s
mantras is “No Brown in Town” and I can only presume he’s talking about clothes
and not some sort of dirty protest type thing. Anyway the suit was fine but
could I find my faithful old brown shoes? Could I heck as like! And it didn’t
seem to matter how much I tantrummed, throwing the whole family’s shoes out of
the shoe basket, I just could find them. The tantrum must have been quite
effective though as lovely wifey told me to go and watch tele whilst she herself
had a look.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Not that
she was any more successful that me I might add as she told me that wearing my
black shoes with the brown suit would be ok. Now this was rather surprising coming
from the woman who used to refuse to leave the house with me if my belt was a
different colour than the trousers but I didn’t really have much choice and
consequently spent the day believing everyone was pointing and whispering
behind my back. (More than they do normally)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gYtUkArOrro/UR98MMNW32I/AAAAAAAAAu4/TFCOSGFgpNE/s1600/p_kingshead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gYtUkArOrro/UR98MMNW32I/AAAAAAAAAu4/TFCOSGFgpNE/s320/p_kingshead.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The King's Head</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Luckily it
was dark by the time the three amigos emerged from the same Piccadilly Circus
tube exit as we’d done a couple of weeks ago for <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/coventry-street.html" target="_blank">Coventry Street</a>. This time
however we turned in the opposite direction, strolling past <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piccadilly_circus" target="_blank">Eros</a> (read the link
– it’s not Eros at all!) and down Piccadilly itself. The first pub, the <a href="http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/thekingsheadmayfairlondon/" target="_blank">King’sHead</a>, was but 5 minutes away down a quick right hand turning into Stafford
Street. This is another Nicholson’s pub and actually quite a large one,
occupying a corner plot. There’s an upstairs bar and a cellar bar but we went
into the main bar area which was busy, but not busy enough that we didn’t get a
table at the first time of trying. Two pints of <a href="http://www.woodfordes.co.uk/" target="_blank">Woodforde's</a> Norfolk Gold got
Charlie and me on the way, whilst Ed went with a <a href="http://www.kozelbeer.com/uk/" target="_blank">Kozel</a>.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">After
correcting me on my pronunciation of Kozel, the friendly beardy barman was
happy enough to fetch us the Cask Marque certificate from where it was propped
behind the bar and we all managed to get the first scan in. And then it was on
to the main subject of the evening, very appropriately for Valentine’s week,
Spiky Haired Ed’s love life.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Now before
you all cry foul and claim that we shouldn’t pick on the young lad, this is the
man who on the tube journey tonight claimed “I don’t think I could love anyone
as much as I love myself” much to the amusement of the young girl sat behind
him. So actually he’s fair game and deserves everything he got. And once
Charlie got started, boy did he get it……no, not in that way! (You and your filthy
mind!)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CZ8efIbi--A/UR98VKJSy7I/AAAAAAAAAvA/qVX-eAd8l5s/s1600/p_kingshead_goat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CZ8efIbi--A/UR98VKJSy7I/AAAAAAAAAvA/qVX-eAd8l5s/s320/p_kingshead_goat.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
King's Head on the left, Goat on the right.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The walk to
the next pub was the shortest I think we’ve had on the tour. Directly opposite
the King’s Head is the <a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/goat-tavern-mayfair/c0628/" target="_blank">Goat,</a> which isn’t a corner plot and therefore a much
more cramped affair. This Taylor Walker pub was jam packed full which meant
that the poor single barmaid was rushed off her feet. Now I pride myself on
being a professional queuer so I was incensed when two speccy lawyer looking
blokes definitely pushed in front of me. Fortunately any disagreement was
avoided when another barman magically appeared and took my order of two pints
of <a href="http://adnams.co.uk/" target="_blank">Adnams</a> Broadside for Charlie and me whilst Ed stuck with the foreign lager,
this time a correct pronounced <a href="http://www.estrelladamm.com/" target="_blank">Estrella</a>.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k5erq_oZSwg/UR98eazHPBI/AAAAAAAAAvI/vDx7wJ3KUso/s1600/p_goat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k5erq_oZSwg/UR98eazHPBI/AAAAAAAAAvI/vDx7wJ3KUso/s320/p_goat.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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A smiling Charlie and the back of Ed. Ed is probably weeping at this point.</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Like the
King’s Head there was an upstairs bar at the Goat so we were able to escape the
worst of the crush around the bar and drink our pints in relative comfort. But
this meant we only had a fleeting glimpse of the bar area and could not spot
the certificate anywhere and as I say, with only a skeleton staff on there wasn’t
anyone to ask. So we’ll have to throw ourselves on Trevor’s good nature this
week and hope he got a Valentine’s Day card to put him in a good mood.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It was a
quick walk around the block onto Dover Street and the third and final pub, the
<a href="http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/theclarencemayfairlondon/" target="_blank">Clarence</a>, our second Nicholson’s emporium of the evening. As seasoned visitors
to Nicholson’s now this place was a striking change from their normal etched
glass and dark panelling, being cool white tiles and steel glass holders. They
even have a beer library! They also had the certificate pinned up in a not so
cool way right by the hatch to the bar. They were more than happy to let us
scan but even admitted as we trooped up, “we must find a better place for that”.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qf92oaazurg/UR98qly3OHI/AAAAAAAAAvQ/16F8vWeHDDs/s1600/p_clarence2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qf92oaazurg/UR98qly3OHI/AAAAAAAAAvQ/16F8vWeHDDs/s320/p_clarence2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Casks, but alas not ready.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">What was
also different, and a very nice surprise was the racked casks directly behind
the bar, unfortunately though all four weren’t ready for serving and we had to
make do with the 5 or 6 ales on handpump; first choice being an Ossian by the <a href="http://www.inveralmond-brewery.co.uk/" target="_blank">InveralmondBrewery</a>. I think Charlie continued to follow my lead on this whilst Ed went for
a <a href="http://www.veltins.de/" target="_blank">Veltins Pilsner</a>.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It was then
time to discuss the other hot topics of the week (Ed’s love life being tepid at
the most) which were; The horse meat scandal – all in agreement that if you’re
stupid enough to buy cheepo ready meal type stuff then you deserve what you
get. In fact you probably deserve to eat rancid rat instead of nice healthy
horse but that’s perhaps a debate for another day. Gay marriage – which developed
into a discussion on religion which strangely Ed brought to a quick close
saying it wasn’t a suitable subject for the pub? This hour or so of
intellectual mind bending was aided by a second pint; mine was a Dark Island by
<a href="http://www.sinclairbreweries.co.uk/index.php" target="_blank">Orkney Brewery</a>, not sure about the others now, and a bowl of pistachio nuts,
the shells of which ended up all over my coat.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RQX5bupcf2Q/UR98ybbLJcI/AAAAAAAAAvY/mzwkiSxvBFM/s1600/p_clarence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RQX5bupcf2Q/UR98ybbLJcI/AAAAAAAAAvY/mzwkiSxvBFM/s320/p_clarence.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The sizable keg selection at the Clarence.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Realising I’d
missed the early of the later trains we just had time for a final half (I went
onto the Veltins now) before scurrying back to our respective rat holes.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">And
normally this is where the blog would end but this week there’s an interesting
post script. When I finally staggered into the house, lovely wifey is still waiting
up, not normal. “I’ve a present for you darling…..” Oh yes, I suspiciously ask,
“Is it an early Valentine’s gift?” </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">But it wasn’t,
it was shoe-boxed sized and delicately wrapped in gift paper. “It’s bloody
brown shoes isn’t it” I claim as even my mind isn’t that sozzled at this point.
“Yes” admits the lovely one “It was me who threw away your old ones……….”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">So there
you have it, more proof of the deviousness of the fairer sex, acts out like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meryl_Streep" target="_blank">MerylStreep</a> that she searching for the shoes the night before when all along she
knows what’s really happened and that there’s no chance of finding them! But
hey, who cares, she's gorgeous, she's mine, and I have new brown brogues! Happy
Valentine’s Day!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2PgGRDMuL7o/UR986qX0DtI/AAAAAAAAAvg/h9M-bqHUepo/s1600/p_brogues.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2PgGRDMuL7o/UR986qX0DtI/AAAAAAAAAvg/h9M-bqHUepo/s320/p_brogues.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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The shoes that say "I love you"! </div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Number of
Cask Marque Pubs visited<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>= 155</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Love tips
for Ed = Edward! Everyone knows who you’re currently seeing, so just tell
people and then you can finally say “hi” to her when you meet in the lifts!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Love tips
for BGC = Don’t need any, I’ve struck gold.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Next Stop =Go
to Jail</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-47814919827997216892013-02-05T23:30:00.000+00:002013-02-14T20:06:34.184+00:00Water Works<span style="font-family: inherit;">Do you ever
get that feeling that no matter how much effort you put into things for other
people you'd have better spent your time smashing your noggin against a cast
iron blacksmith's anvil? Well that's how I feel after trying for what feels
like a hell of a lot more than two weeks
in trying to organise an outing to the Water Works.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My original
plan was very simple, Google "London Water Works" and see what was
brought up. The solution was also very simple. Around the southern end of
London Bridge was the location of the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwark_and_Vauxhall_Waterworks_Company" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">London Bridge Water Works</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> which used to
sanitise the water for the people of that area. So, as Alexander would say,
simples, find a couple of pubs in that environ and away we go.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6YxxhW4bHi8/URGVYRr_pMI/AAAAAAAAAuE/SYJpT3IlHuI/s1600/ww_water_works.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6YxxhW4bHi8/URGVYRr_pMI/AAAAAAAAAuE/SYJpT3IlHuI/s320/ww_water_works.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Looking up Montague Close to Tooley Street - As far as I can make out, the location of the London Bridge Water Works</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">But oh no,
my misguided efforts at bringing the tour to the great unwashed had backfired
as there were demands for more and more spectacular evening entertainments.
You'd have though that a night out at the comedy pub would be enough for this
choosy crew, but oh no, I was challenged to up the ante and bring on something
more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I thought
I'd solved this thorny issue by managing to locate a night club cum jazz club
cum cabaret bar called the "</span><a href="http://www.cellardoor.biz/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cellar Door</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">" just off Strand in Aldwych.
This rather unique emporium has been built in a disused gent's lavatory and
working very laterally with the words "water works" I thought that
this would be acceptable suggestion for the evening out. At first it all looked
rather hopeful, especially as the female contingent of the tour actually seemed
quite enthusiastic about an evening out that would comprise of something more
than old man's pubs. However as the realisation that an evening at the Cellar
Door would going to prove a bit pricey (after 21:00 there's a 20% service
charge on all drinks!) the enthusiasms started to wane. I'll give you an
example..........<o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I mailed
everyone, laying out the details of the Cellar Door, including links to their
site, the menu and details of the cabaret. I even phoned the place to ascertain
whether we needed to buy advance tickets and what time we should turn up to guarantee
entry. And just how many responses did I get back? Well, I'll tell you........1!
Yep, that's it, 1 single measly reply. Well actually I got back two replies,
but that was only because I emailed Nicolas in Argentina by mistake, but at
least he got back to me! (He couldn't make it unfortunately.)<o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So whilst I
thank Gemma for having the decency to reply, (even if it was a refusal to
attend), it looked like the Cellar Door was a no-go. Falling back to plan B
(and I'll be truthful to admit that it was Bumble Bee who put me onto this) the
idea of going to a place called </span><a href="http://www.clubaquarium.co.uk/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Club Aquarium</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> on Old Street was muted around. I
checked out the website and found that whilst it was true that it did have a
fully functioning swimming pool in the club (the only one in the UK
apparently!) but boy did it look a dodgy old place. The sort of place I used to
go in 30 odd years ago and hate every minute of the experience, I'd be buggered
if I was going to organise a tour there!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So to cut a
long story short, and yes I know I haven't cut anything short, it was now two
weeks on from the last tour and we still hadn't got anything organised for
Water Works.<o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So talk
about the last port in a storm, the very original tour regular and everyone's
favourite chiselled jawed lothario, Spikey Haired Ed suggested that just we two
go to the original pubs on a non-favoured tour night and get it over and done
with. Well, do you know what, after a heavy day of a single 7 hour meeting it
seemed like the perfect thing to do. So rolling back the months, this blog's
very own odd couple walked the pleasant 1/2 mile from Tower Bridge to London
Bridge and took in three Cask Marque pubs.<o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r9XHH-zVat8/URGUZeYObXI/AAAAAAAAAtU/gbmMRnru3I4/s1600/ww_shipwrights_outside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r9XHH-zVat8/URGUZeYObXI/AAAAAAAAAtU/gbmMRnru3I4/s320/ww_shipwrights_outside.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The fantastic figurehead outside the Shipwrights Arms</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The first
was </span><a href="http://www.shipwrightsarms.co.uk/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Shipwrights Arms</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> on Tooley Street, which although quite inconspicuous
has quite a history being built back in 1884 by the famous pub builders Treacher
and Fisher. It's certainly kept its rather old fashioned charm being of classic
island bar layout with some fantastic tiled detailing around the walls. The
layout was so familiar in fact I wondered if I'd been in the pub already before
I realised that the pub I was getting it mixed up with was the </span><a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/bow-street.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bridge Lounge</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">
which is further south along Tooley Street where I'd taken the team to spend
their free Cask Ale Week vouchers. But seriously, check it out, the layouts are
almost identical.<o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mS5bPfDLBP0/URGUlLd-wYI/AAAAAAAAAtc/pn6Z0_aUINU/s1600/ww_shipwrights_interior.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mS5bPfDLBP0/URGUlLd-wYI/AAAAAAAAAtc/pn6Z0_aUINU/s320/ww_shipwrights_interior.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Inside the Shipwrights</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyway
pints of Caledonian Flying Scotsman and </span><a href="http://www.sagres.pt/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sagres</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> were ordered by the gruesome
twosome and we retired to a little table by the door to discuss all that was
wrong with the world and in the process gained the scan of the Cask Marque
certificate which was pinned to the wall.<o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<o:p></o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VfJYD5Lv0kc/URGUr3VGGII/AAAAAAAAAtk/7kqvEc1zqjo/s1600/ww_shipwrights_tiles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VfJYD5Lv0kc/URGUr3VGGII/AAAAAAAAAtk/7kqvEc1zqjo/s320/ww_shipwrights_tiles.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Wall tiles inside the Shipwrights</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Moving on
further west along Tooley Street, avoiding all the road works which seem only
designed to put your life at risk, we came to London Bridge and the sizable
Fuller's emporium </span><a href="http://barrowboy-and-banker.co.uk/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Barrowboy and Banker</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> which is perched right at the south
end of the bridge. It's an impressive looking place, and like all of the
Fuller's estate, full of shiny brass and gleaming wood. Unfortunately it was
also full of people, many of whom seemed to be slightly worse for wear. The
queue for the bar was two deep and although I can't complain that I waited an
age for our pints of Chiswick bitter and Honey Dew (again no prizes for
guessing who was drinking what) it was not what I call a comfortable pub
experience. We moved back around the bar, trying to spot the certificate as we
avoided the flying elbows of the crowd seemingly intent on trying to spill as
much of your drink as possible, but drew a disappointing blank as it wasn’t
visible to any degree. A quick side note here is that Aussie Pete and I had
previously visited this pub on a balmy summer's day long before the Monopoly
Tour had ever been thought of and we asked about the certificate on that
occasion as well. I seem to remember the response from the bar staff was
something along the lines of "oh, it's in the post" or "we're
waiting for the new one" - well the proof in the pudding seems to be that
they're still waiting!<o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2iE_L4Yq0Wg/URGU3IkOSgI/AAAAAAAAAts/IotZRg-tkx0/s1600/ww_barrowboy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2iE_L4Yq0Wg/URGU3IkOSgI/AAAAAAAAAts/IotZRg-tkx0/s320/ww_barrowboy.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Barrowboy & Banker - Postman is just round the corner.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Scrambling
down the stair at the side of the bridge into Montague Close we came across the
final pub of the evening, </span><a href="http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/themudlarklondonbridge/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the Mudlark</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">. Named for the impoverished children who
used to scavenge for scraps amongst the muddy banks of the Thames I was, for
some reason, not holding up much hope for this place. Don't quite know why but
it turned out to be one of those surprisingly delightful places that confound
your presuppositions. </span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b1YBwew9dLk/URGVB1vjZGI/AAAAAAAAAt0/mUjIojxnOGQ/s1600/ww_mudlark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b1YBwew9dLk/URGVB1vjZGI/AAAAAAAAAt0/mUjIojxnOGQ/s320/ww_mudlark.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Mudlark</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Firstly it was at exactly the right sort of busyness. All
the tables were full, there was a hubbub of conversation but there was no queue
for the bar and no masses of standing people spoiling the view and getting in
my way. Secondly, I've noted that the Nicholson's bars can (hence I say
"can", not "always") seem to have a limited range of beers
with the same old favourites appearing again and again. Well perhaps I was
visiting on the beginning of a new rotation but there was a nice selection here
with a couple of new ones on me (Trawlerboys Best Bitter & Sambooks
Junction ) sitting alongside the more regulars (Adnams Lighthouse & Jaipur)
and the permanents (Nicholson's Pale Ale & London Pride) - I ordered a pint
of Trawlerboys from </span><a href="http://www.green-jack.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Green Jack</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> brewery whilst Ed went for a Blue Moon. What was
nice here was that the two barmen on duty split the tasks, one pouring the ale
whilst the other got on with the Blue Moon, which made for quicker service and
avoided that feeling you get where you feeling like you're putting the bar
staff out by just being there.</span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kOtd7fEYeuY/URGVJrO08nI/AAAAAAAAAt8/NGONVZ3rrRg/s1600/ww_mudlark_bar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kOtd7fEYeuY/URGVJrO08nI/AAAAAAAAAt8/NGONVZ3rrRg/s320/ww_mudlark_bar.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The range of beers at the Mudlark.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ed also
rang back the memory bells by unceremoniously dumping his segment of orange out
of his Blue Moon - ah that's right, you don't mix food and drink do you Ed!
Memories of </span><a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/income-tax.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Doggets Coat and Badge</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">! Oh how the time flies.<o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And
unfortunately "time flies" was the black cloaked grim reaper on our
evening out. I think we both could have stayed for 2 or 3 more, certainly I
wasn't getting bored with Ed getting absolutely everything off his small sunken
pigeon chest but alas the train was calling and whilst it was nice to be back
out on a less regular tour night, the looming spectre of getting up in the
morning was ever present. But still it was a nice way to get the tour back on
track. It finally put the bloody water Works to bed and means we can get back
on track with the streets again. <o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Yeah, that’ll
teach them to get all lardy-da with my tour!<o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Number of
Cask Marque Pubs visited = 153</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Learn
anything new about Ed? = No, but learnt some stuff I really didn’t need to
know.</span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And who’s
top of the accompaniment leader board now BGC? = Well, wouldn’t you like to
know!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Next Stop
=Piccadilly</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-1964161639062620532013-01-27T18:18:00.002+00:002013-01-28T10:02:29.737+00:00Coventry Street<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Come on now everyone, join in…….”Let’s all sing together, Play Up Sky
Blues!” No-one? Miserable bastards the lot of you but it is a good way to start
this week’s blog story with what has always been my favourite square on the
board, named after my home town (or was Coventry named after the square?)
Coventry Street. The actual street is rather anonymous, linking the top end of
Piccadilly Circus with Leicester Square; you’ve probably walked down it
hundreds of times without realising its name.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So it was definitely a square that needed a little more effort than
normal both in terms of dress code and attractions. The attractions element was
easily sorted as the three nearest Cask Marque pubs to Coventry Street were the
Captains Cabin in Norris Street, the Tom Cribb in Panton Street and the Comedy
Pub just around the corner in Oxendon Street. And funnily enough the Comedy Pub
(geddit, “funnily enough” – “Comedy Pub”) has live comedy on Thursday and
Friday nights so it wasn’t much effort to round up the normal suspects and
entice them once more aboard the good ship Monopoly with an evening of top
notch chortle fun.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Well I say top notch, I’ve got to say that the featured acts
for the Friday we went touring I’d never heard of before, but at only a tenner
for tickets, who really cares. What was proving to be slightly more problematic
was the rounding up of the tourists for the evening. Spiky Haired Ed and Aussie
Pete decided to play opposites with Ed claiming he was coming all week until
crunch time when he bailed out with a pitiful excuse whilst Pete said with the imminent
arrival of baby Pete he couldn’t risk going out until at the last minute his
better half, Aussie Nicky, told him he was allowed to go, as long as he drank
halves. Charlie and New Guy Micky were as ever reliable but the girls were
proving much more difficult.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the plus side the lovely Mags was free enough to make
another appearance on the tour and was even bringing along two of her friends who
had nothing better to do. But the girls who had so enthusiastically taken the
BGC’s life mantras to heart whilst on Leicester Square were being very
difficult to commit to this evening’s square. Alektorophobia Emma, who had even
stopped me in the corridor this week to say she’d had a dream about me, “where
you were a teacher at my school, taking us all swimming” (I mean, what are the subconscious
messages littered amongst that lot!) kept saying how much she wanted to come
out but would only umm and ahhh about actually coming. Nicole apparently had
done something to her back, although there was more than a whiff of the
Jackanory about this story than one might at first believe and Bomber Brenda’s only
contribution to this week was to ensure we were all paid! Which I have to say,
she did very well and I’m more than glad she did!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But the evening was rescued from the lip of the abyss by
Gemmaration Game, who not only was up for another evening of ale-based
tomfoolery but had managed to drag two of the other Payroll girls into the affray
(more of them later). She was also slightly worryingly enthusiastic about the
dress-code I’d set for the evening. Seeing as it was Coventry Street I thought
it very appropriate that we all wore something Sky Blue. I’d even gone to the
expense of buying a new Coventry City replica shirt (half way through the
season, so they were half price) and was more than willing to lend my CCFC hats
to anyone who wanted one. As it turned out, Gemma’s sky blue dress needed
ironing (now she did mention she had on sky blue pants – she brought this up,
not me!) so it was only Charlie who was sporting a sky blue shirt, but he does
that every day anyway!</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x0X3yuubqM0/UQVs7Z301qI/AAAAAAAAArM/DeErFv9OXXM/s1600/cs_coventry_street.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x0X3yuubqM0/UQVs7Z301qI/AAAAAAAAArM/DeErFv9OXXM/s320/cs_coventry_street.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Nice hat Charlie!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We emerged from Piccadilly Circus tube station and
took the <a href="http://www.londontrocadero.com/" target="_blank">Trocadero</a> exit straight into Coventry Street itself. We then performed
that most annoying trick of all tourists by trying to pose a photo next to the
street sign and in the process blocked a pavement full of rush hour hurrying people.
Just as we were wrapping up the photo shoot I spotted two other chaps obviously
waiting for us to depart so that they could get their photo. “Are you just in
the shirt cos it’s Coventry Street?” asked one, “well sort of” I explained “but
I bet you two are on the Monopoly Tour then?” – “yes” bemoaned the other “we’ve
been at it since 7 this morning and I’m knackered!” So I cheered them up by
photo-bombing their snapshot – hope they remember their day out!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ducking down the Haymarket we were soon ensconced in the
<a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/captains-cabin-piccadilly/c6500/" target="_blank">Captains Cabin</a>, a Taylor Walker pub with nothing remarkable about it
whatsoever. I think when the main pub chain Cask Marque pubs of London shared
out the pubs, Taylor Walker definitely got the short straw as their places are
usually quite ordinary and they’ve taken no advantage whatsoever of their
locations or history. The Captains Cabin is a prime example of this as the
place, whilst being friendly and well run has all the charm of a B&Q
outlet. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rRUqq78o0Do/UQVtD7W34GI/AAAAAAAAArU/EMSFChGSR-o/s1600/cs_captains_cabin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rRUqq78o0Do/UQVtD7W34GI/AAAAAAAAArU/EMSFChGSR-o/s320/cs_captains_cabin.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Outside the Captains Cabin</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But talking about charm the ladies tuned their own brand of
charm on by not only joining in with drinking beer but upping the half pint
measure of last time by ordering pints! In fact the first order was for 6 and ½
pints of <a href="http://www.blacksheepbrewery.com/" target="_blank">Black Sheep</a> bitter and the half was for Aussie Pete. Retiring to a
corner table we got to know the two lucky ladies who Gemma had dragged along.
Firstly there was Charlene who has a disarming way of talking like someone from
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EastEnders" target="_blank">Eastenders</a> as if they were in an episode of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Only_Way_Is_Essex" target="_blank">TOWIE</a>. Charlie seemed delighted
that there was a female version of his name joining the tour so seeing as I’ve
never given him a nickname I’ll do the same for Charlene. The other tour novice
was Sarah-Jane for whom I’d already got a nickname, one that’s been hanging
around for some time. She’d once worn a yellow and black stripped dress at work
and Aussie Pete had referred to her as “Bumblebee” and even though she’s never
worn the dress since and both Pete and I had never spoken to her the intervening
time, the name had stuck.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So the first pints were finished, in fact it should be
recorded that the girls all finished before us although I suspect this was down
to much nose holding and gulping rather than savouring (Charlene slammed her
glass down with a grimace commenting “Gawd, my dad would be so proud of me!”)
but they were still on board enough to have a second pint (<a href="http://www.staustellbrewery.co.uk/" target="_blank">St Austell</a> Tribute)
although obviously Charlene’s dad would have been proud enough to let her onto
cider now.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DVW6Ej_AxC4/UQVtN1qmdkI/AAAAAAAAArc/YRtkfYAysS4/s1600/cs_girls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DVW6Ej_AxC4/UQVtN1qmdkI/AAAAAAAAArc/YRtkfYAysS4/s320/cs_girls.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Yeah, it's all smiles after the 1st pint - wait until it's your forth!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mag’s friends turned up about the same time as New Guy Micky
which meant the tour was well and truly <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oestrogen" target="_blank">Oestrogen</a> heavy for the first time. I
should add that I’d got the scan with the certificate being available just by
the bar but I did notice that staff were pouring beer with the swan neck nozzle
in the actual beer! They really should go on the Cask Marque Training Course!
(see <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/intermission-4.html" target="_blank">Intermission #4</a> for more details)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Across from Haymarket is Panton Street and it was there that
we found the corner pub of <a href="http://www.shepherdneame.co.uk/pubs/london/tom-cribb" target="_blank">Tom Cribb</a>. A cosy little place, this is a Shepherd
Neame pub with the walls littered with boxing related pictures (and the Cask
Marque certificate). Apparently Tom Cribb was a famous 19<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century bare
knuckle boxer, who when retiring from the ring ran a pub called the Albion Arms
on Panton Street. Although the number of the pub was different from today’s Tom
Cribb, both pubs are known to have being located in the same place.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E8GVKaGcPKE/UQVtgZs0xtI/AAAAAAAAArk/VF8pEuxg7Uw/s1600/cs_tom_cribb2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E8GVKaGcPKE/UQVtgZs0xtI/AAAAAAAAArk/VF8pEuxg7Uw/s320/cs_tom_cribb2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Outside the Tom Cribb - Nice hat Charlie!</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I think Tom would have approved of the pub. Although packed,
which meant the tour was spread between three tables, the pints of Late Red
were superb. (I think Gemma and Bumblebee were still bravely continuing with the
ale – Charlene downing pints of Strongbow like they were going out of fashion)
</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2BeK0duvSHU/UQVtxOjlO_I/AAAAAAAAAr0/SXLVkIYWElY/s1600/cs_girls2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2BeK0duvSHU/UQVtxOjlO_I/AAAAAAAAAr0/SXLVkIYWElY/s320/cs_girls2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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That doesn't look like cider Charlene!?</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I managed to catch a few words with Mag’s two friends, Anna-Maria stunningly
attractive, Italian with a 80 year old dad who’s a playboy apparently, and
Natalie, just stunningly attractive.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Pints of Late Red developed into pints of Bishop’s Finger, a
challenging pint for even the most seasoned of drinkers and it was this drink
that probably finished me off. We moved next door to the <a href="http://www.piccadillycomedy.co.uk/" target="_blank">Comedy Pub</a> where I
spotted the certificate at the far end of the bar and decided that a photo will
have to satisfy Trevor for this one, but the next thing I’m really aware of is
drinking Jägermeister shots with Mags at the upstairs bar of the Comedy Pub, which
was where their little theatre was. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mX5ZAQyKmhQ/UQVvY5xbgLI/AAAAAAAAAss/O3KdXtNzPk4/s1600/cs_comedy_club.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mX5ZAQyKmhQ/UQVvY5xbgLI/AAAAAAAAAss/O3KdXtNzPk4/s320/cs_comedy_club.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0QT3_GPcHgQ/UQVuEMxrtAI/AAAAAAAAAsE/Cr9h2uwNkk0/s1600/cs_comedy_club_inside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0QT3_GPcHgQ/UQVuEMxrtAI/AAAAAAAAAsE/Cr9h2uwNkk0/s320/cs_comedy_club_inside.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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That is the certificate at the end - honestly!</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was pints of Grolsch in plastic glasses for the comedy
show (if their full and bustling bar downstairs can use glass glasses why in
their limited seating theatre do people have to use plastic?) and I can remember
absolutely nothing of the comedians. I remember the compare, who looked like a
cross between Austin Powers and Rolf Harris and who used this as part of his
material, was the funniest of the evening and I can remember going back
downstairs after the show and being amazed that Gemma, Charlene and Bumblebee were
still there waiting for us. (apparently they couldn’t get into the show –
advanced tickets ladies! I did warn you!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Comedy Pub’s website promises a late night of disco,
karaoke and dancing but it was only Charlie, Micky and I who would descend to
the abandoned bar downstairs where no-one was dancing and there was no sign of
karaoke. Two or three Gin and Tonics later, one lost key later and one manly
bro-hug from Charlie later, I was more than happy to take Micky up on his offer
of a sofa for the night. All we had to do was cope with the mad Columbian on
the Central Line and cook up our own scrambled eggs…………never defeated, we’ll
fight ‘til the game is won!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Number of Cask Marque Pubs visited<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>= 148</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Laugh? = Well not at the comics anyway. Watching Charlene
drink a pint of ale, now that was worth seeing.</span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Is it wise to go on a pub crawl after a brewery visit? = Yes, of course. Did you really expect a different answer?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next Stop = Water Works</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-76196131909581701552013-01-27T17:28:00.000+00:002013-02-10T11:47:26.151+00:00Intermission #4<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The 25<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> of January was a date that had been
red-ringed in my calendar for many months now and not without good reason. Not
only because it would mean the arrival of the long awaited January wage packet
after scrimping since before Xmas, but because I wasn’t going to be at work
that day, I was instead going to be a guest at Fuller’s brewery for a day courtesy
of the fine folk from Cask Marque.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QmzzMYGOt6Q/UQVexvcYilI/AAAAAAAAApM/4VvkrQ_qCQ0/s1600/int4_gates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QmzzMYGOt6Q/UQVexvcYilI/AAAAAAAAApM/4VvkrQ_qCQ0/s320/int4_gates.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Gates of the Griffin Brewery</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Fans of the Cask Finder app will know that the “top prize”
is the honour of becoming a Cask Marque Ambassador for achieving 100 Cask
Marque certificate scans but along with this awe inspiring title comes an
invitation to visit a brewery and to spend the day on the Cask Marque Training
Day course, just to see exactly what those who want their establishments to
achieve the Cask Marque accreditation get up to.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This was the first round of these Ambassadors’ courses and parallel
courses were being held at the Black Sheep brewery in Masham and at Marston’s
in Wolverhampton as well as the one at Fuller’s in Chiswick. That gave Ambassadors
from around the county at least a fighting chance to visit a more local
brewery, although as it turned out, several of the chaps on my course in London
had travelled from much wider afield than the South and South East.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7vYnR4HAGqE/UQVffQ9sM4I/AAAAAAAAApU/M_-Aen_hmQU/s1600/int4_fullers_tower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7vYnR4HAGqE/UQVffQ9sM4I/AAAAAAAAApU/M_-Aen_hmQU/s320/int4_fullers_tower.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But for me the day started exactly as usual, catching the
same rush hour train into Paddington, the only difference being I wasn’t suited
and booted and having once arrived at Paddington I caught a west bound tube instead of an east
bound one to the City. It’s a comfortable 15 minutes stroll from Turnham Green
station to the brewery which is located adjacent to the busy A4 Great West Road
but at least all the snow had disappeared meaning I was nice and early for the
09:30 start.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Taking refuge in the brewery canteen (tea = 25p a cup!) I
was just kicking myself for shelling out nigh on a fiver for a roll at Paddington
station when I could have had a 6 item brewery from the canteen for £1.80 when
some likely looking other chaps started to appear. Introductions were swiftly
made (amazing how sociable us ale drinkers are!) including that of the
legendary Alistair Macnaught from Cask Marque who even recognised me as the BGC……………always
a winner.</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bc0cWgru0rU/UQVgXP6w-FI/AAAAAAAAApg/uUH_t1Tuego/s1600/int4_al.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bc0cWgru0rU/UQVgXP6w-FI/AAAAAAAAApg/uUH_t1Tuego/s320/int4_al.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Cask Marque's Alistair - He adopted this pose for the whole day!</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Alistair was accompanied by Natalie, also from Cask Marque and
who tweeters and facebookers will know from the social media side of things.
The final piece of the Cask Marque triumvirate was Day Harvey (yes, that’s the
right way round!) who was going to be leading our course today. We were taken
off to the training room and it was by far the best training I’ve even been in
as it was mocked out to resemble the interior of a pub. And if that wasn’t cool
enough, Day had also brought a long his own Cask Marque certificate which meant
that we could all collect another scan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">More official introductions were carried out as each of us
in turn had to state where we were from, how long we’d been drinking cask ale
and what our favourite beer was. Much joking around the second question (“too
many years!” – “not long enough!” etc) ensued but as I say, it doesn’t take
much for a bunch of ale enthusiasts to get to know each other. </span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xAVtQ7Bvcfw/UQVgnOGLP1I/AAAAAAAAApo/KOXRwC0qJsg/s1600/int4_training+room.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xAVtQ7Bvcfw/UQVgnOGLP1I/AAAAAAAAApo/KOXRwC0qJsg/s320/int4_training+room.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Day and Natalie demonstrate the equipment in the training room. Beats a projector any day of the week!</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Introductions out of the way, the day began with a tour
around the brewery itself. Doning some very fetching hi-vis vests in the Hock
Cellar tourist centre we began at the grist mill and finished three-quarters of
hour later at the barrelling plant. I am rather skipping over the details of
the visit mainly because I’m sure most readers of this will have either been
on other brewery visits and let’s face it, the process of grinding, mashing,
boiling, fermenting and casking doesn’t really change from plant to plant. What
was very interesting about Fuller’s though, was the historical elements as this
brewery has had to modernise around the listed and protected original brewery
buildings. The other interesting element was the top facts picked up along the
way. Did you know for example, that 80% of Fuller’s brewing time is spent on
London Pride? Well it is, and that’s a beer fact!</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x5pN7au4gLc/UQVgxYJterI/AAAAAAAAAqM/KgPB62RDIF8/s1600/int4_hock_cellar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x5pN7au4gLc/UQVgxYJterI/AAAAAAAAAqM/KgPB62RDIF8/s320/int4_hock_cellar.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Inside the Hock Cellar</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Retiring back to the training room, Day declared that it
must be time for a beer but not before we’d been shown the process that a pub
must carry out from receiving the new cask from the dray to the point that the beer
is sold to the punter. Although it’s not rocket science it does prove that cask
ale can live or die by what happens in this very final part of its journey and
it’s also a reminder of that cask ale, especially good cask ale does require
considerable more work than just connecting up a keg. Well the proof, as they
say, is in the pudding or in our case the pints of London Pride that we were
now able to pull ourselves from the training room bar.</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NaghjQO2fQM/UQVg4xr7FpI/AAAAAAAAAqU/9EOuD2LCTWk/s1600/int4_bgc_bar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NaghjQO2fQM/UQVg4xr7FpI/AAAAAAAAAqU/9EOuD2LCTWk/s320/int4_bgc_bar.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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It's harder than it looks!</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Lunch was next with a well deserved (it’s hard work this
brewery visiting you know!) fish and chip dinner on the Cask Marque tab before
returning to the training room and a lesson in how to detect the things than
can go wrong with beer and how to taste for these elements. Day, ably assisted
by Natalie had set up 9 examples of “bad beer” using our cask of London Pride
and adding some dastardly chemicals to make them “go off” – Our mission (and we
all chose to accept it) was to taste these concoctions and try to work out what
the off-taste actually was. Some were easy, the sour-vinegar smack of the beer
that had gone off due to age and bad sanitation was a gimme, but trying to
taste the different between the “skunky” beer (due to light contamination) and
the “cardboard” taste of the beer that’s gone off due to oxidation was much
more difficult. Luckily there was a slops bucket into which we could get rid of
these beers and it didn’t turn out that drinking this was the penalty for
coming last in the beer taste quiz!</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BGZnP2FCDhs/UQVhBPLvgqI/AAAAAAAAAqc/A0s2ya84b1k/s1600/int4_natalie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BGZnP2FCDhs/UQVhBPLvgqI/AAAAAAAAAqc/A0s2ya84b1k/s320/int4_natalie.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Natalie prepares the "off beer"</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We finally rounded up with a session on what we as Cask
Marque Ambassadors can do to promote and support Cask Ale and ended with a back
slapping photo in front of the training room bar.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It should go without saying that a day spent at a brewery
when I would normally be working is a fine way to spend a Friday, but it is
worth praising Cask Marque for the time and effort to lay on such a good day. I’d
like to take the opportunity to give a big thank you to Alistair, Natalie and
Day (and great to be able to put faces to the names now!) for such an enjoyable
day and hope that this report will enthuse those scanners who are edging
towards their 100 that the effort to get Ambassador status is well worth it!</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bY2ztQck9YE/UQVhKNu4QBI/AAAAAAAAAqk/AFdEqyCH9i4/s1600/int4_bgc_alistair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bY2ztQck9YE/UQVhKNu4QBI/AAAAAAAAAqk/AFdEqyCH9i4/s320/int4_bgc_alistair.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Alistair and the BGC - Who was more thrilled to meet who?</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-78932942083958383502013-01-12T19:52:00.000+00:002013-01-14T10:07:07.994+00:00Leicester Square<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m sure when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein" target="_blank">Dr Frankenstein</a> surveyed the remnants of his laboratory
the morning after the thunderstorm he said to himself, “Do you know what? That might
not have been such a good idea………” And in a similar fashion I am now reflecting
on whether my good intentions have released a monster into the world and am I
in fact beholdenly guilty for the chaos and damage this monster will no doubt
wreak. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway the background to this week’s tour. As all dedicated
readers will know, this was the 1<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup> square after the Xmas and New
Year break and as a celebration of the resumption of business as usual and to
also attempt to blow away those January cobwebs, I’d planned an ambitious but
not unrealistic seven pub trek around Leicester Square. I say “not unrealistic”
because there are so many bloody Cask Marque pubs around this area we’d only have
to walk a short distance up and down Charring Cross Road, pop into Leicester
Square itself to claim all seven venues.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GGprzc3derQ/UPG62QM7wmI/AAAAAAAAAmU/9aHJNd1zAfg/s1600/lq_leicester_square.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GGprzc3derQ/UPG62QM7wmI/AAAAAAAAAmU/9aHJNd1zAfg/s320/lq_leicester_square.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Looks pretty yes? But bloody cold! </div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The other factor that I’d hinted towards at the end of the
last post was that we might see a few new faces accompanying the tour regulars.
Talking about the regulars, we had the pleasure of Aussie Pete squeezing in a
potential last tour before the imminent birth of his first baby (apparently it’s
bad form to go down the pub when your partner’s in labour), Buddy Rob and New
Guy Micky (who had even come into town especially for the tour after working
from home). The housewives’ choice and One Direction stunt double Spiky Haired
Ed had even sacrificed a, let us say, “more intimate engagement” to be with us.
Honoured Ed, honoured!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But there was new blood! The one positive thing about the company’s
Xmas do was that a spare seat next to me on our IT department table was filled
by a certain delectable creature, namely Emma from the company’s Payroll
department. Now it’s worth just mentioning a quick word about Payroll as it’s a
curious section where 99.9% of the workforce is female, seriously you walk past
their desks and the smell of cats and knitting yarn pours over you like a cloud
of noxious gas and you suddenly get the urge to go and buy shoes. That said
they do have a reputation of being “up for a party” and can be see donning
various forms of fancy dress for certain themed evenings. So trying very hard
to keep my eyes off the “off the shoulder” bit of Emma’s stunning dress, I told
her all about the Monopoly Tour and said she should whip up some of her more
party-focussed colleagues and join us for a square in the New Year.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Well the good girl only just went ahead and did exactly what
she promised didn’t she, whipping up no less than three other tailess creatures
to join for the 1<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup> square of 2013. At one point there was going to
be 6 “pretty ladies” about which I was excitedly tweeting all week, but a
couple of last minute drop-outs (Mags, looking at you!) saw the number slightly
drop. But beggars as ugly as the BGC cannot be choosers and I’d settle for 4
fine examples of the fairer sex any day of the week! I’d tried to generate some
interest in what we generally do on tour nights (drink, scan, moan about work –
usually in that order) by sending the links to the Cask Finder app and a cut
out and keep version of the Beer Tasting Wheel. None of this was done with any
serious intent but you could have knocked me down with a very smelly kipper
when all 4 leapt into the spirit of things, even going so far as to promise to
drink some beer on the night (apart from Emma – I’ll say it again my dear, it’s
not that you don’t like beer, you simply haven’t tried the right one yet)!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The other strange thing all the ladies asked for, well no,
actually they demanded, was a nickname each. I tried to explain how the
nicknames were never meant to be a feature of the tour and had just grown
organically as a way to identify the tourists but this didn’t wash any with
them as the demand for nicknames warped slightly and became a demand for
derogatory nicknames. Everything I’ve ever learnt about treating ladies, well
like ladies, seemed to be turned on its head as I was forced to think of
something nasty for each of them. Could I do this? Perhaps I should start them
off with a nice nickname and see if events on the tour would change them. So to
that end I should do a quick introduction and say that alongside the lovely
Emma we had lovely Brenda, lovely Gemma and lovely Nicole.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LbcYBKG9u9M/UPG64M3cTvI/AAAAAAAAAmw/Q15Kng14vBI/s1600/lq_tube_station.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LbcYBKG9u9M/UPG64M3cTvI/AAAAAAAAAmw/Q15Kng14vBI/s320/lq_tube_station.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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(l-r) Lovely Gemma, Brenda and Nicole at the start of the evening. Note non-glazed eyes at this point.</div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Oh, talking about very smelly kippers (we were a moment ago,
read back if you don’t believe me) this was the smell that greeted us as we stepped
over the threshold of the first pub, <a href="http://www.traditionalpubslondon.co.uk/garrickarms/index.php" target="_blank">The Garrick Arms</a> in Charring Cross Road. I
won’t bore you will the travel route taken other than I was impressed by the
ladies’ preparations to wear non-idiotic shoes which allowed us to walk from
Embankment rather than have to change tube lines to get there. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MY7Q66WG72I/UPG60WRUPSI/AAAAAAAAAlg/Kand0hoAL0g/s1600/lq_garrick_bgc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MY7Q66WG72I/UPG60WRUPSI/AAAAAAAAAlg/Kand0hoAL0g/s320/lq_garrick_bgc.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Qlyz0qwLyww/UPG6zdClQYI/AAAAAAAAAlM/WVPLKluprfM/s1600/lq_garrick_arms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Qlyz0qwLyww/UPG6zdClQYI/AAAAAAAAAlM/WVPLKluprfM/s320/lq_garrick_arms.jpg" width="240" /></a> </div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I think I pull this off better. For example I'm not holding a big invisible poodle.</div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway back to
the Garrick…………..smell of fish aside (I knew it was a bad idea to bring the
girls) this is a smart Greene King pub doing a very brisk trade on a busy
Friday night. It’s quite a largish place so getting a fairly comfortable
position to order drinks and stand wasn’t too much of an issue although the harassed
barmaid bit another customers head off when he suggested that it was he that
should be next to be served. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2zzTz-J9oCY/UPG6zx1FaWI/AAAAAAAAAlY/N3Gl5876qMo/s1600/lq_garrick_arms_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2zzTz-J9oCY/UPG6zx1FaWI/AAAAAAAAAlY/N3Gl5876qMo/s320/lq_garrick_arms_2.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Garrick Arms - Note BGC's scarf (more of that later)</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The girls were true to their beer sampling words as Brenda,
Gemma and Nicole all joined me in a beer called Detox from <a href="http://www.oxfordshireales.com/" target="_blank">Oxfordshire Ales</a>,
which was in fine form and mine literally didn’t touch the sides. Emma was
sticking to her “no beer” pledge and went with a bottle of that awful
<a href="http://www.rekorderlig.com/" target="_blank">Rekorderlig</a>. Turning our attention to the certificate it was easily spotted
framed and hung on the wall, but in their infinite wisdom the pub management
had hung it about 11 foot high up the wall. Either they were expecting Peter
Crouch in that night or the only way this was going to be scanned was by either
forming a human pyramid or climbing on top of the fruit machine. Perhaps if we’d
come to this pub 3 or 4 drinks into the evening we might have attempted either
option but with only a sniff of the barmaids apron at this point we just finished
our drinks and left.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I1ACPuTk7-c/UPG6zG4uGnI/AAAAAAAAAlI/WSDXrRl-25c/s1600/lq_garrick_3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I1ACPuTk7-c/UPG6zG4uGnI/AAAAAAAAAlI/WSDXrRl-25c/s320/lq_garrick_3.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I mean, come on! How do they dust it?</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next stop was just across the road in the <a href="http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/thebearandstaffleicestersquarelondon/" target="_blank">Bear and Staff</a>, a smart
Nicholson’s pub done out in their usual black and gold livery. They still had
Ding Dong from <a href="http://www.stroudbrewery.co.uk/" target="_blank">Stroud Brewery</a>, which I’d last tried in the Black Friar and was
more than happy to try again. Because everyone (yes, even Buddy Rob had a Ding
Dong) apart from me were drinking halves (OK Ed and Micky were on pints of
lager but they don’t count) we were working the barmaid hard especially when
the Ding Dong ran out and we had to make a last minute substitution and order a
half of Atomic Blonde for Nicole – a substitution that was more than welcomed
as it turns out as the more “lagery” taste hit all the right notes. There was
no sign of the certificate unfortunately so the ladies were still to break
their scanning ducks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8wc4o1gFxzY/UPG6xuOayUI/AAAAAAAAAk0/qdv5RLimxfo/s1600/lq_bear_staff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8wc4o1gFxzY/UPG6xuOayUI/AAAAAAAAAk0/qdv5RLimxfo/s320/lq_bear_staff.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Bear and Staff. BGC and Staff.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was about this time that questions about previous tour
squares were banded around and the girls seemed to find it odd that certainly
at the start of the tour I’d visited more than one square on my own. This led
to the very witty Brenda renaming the BGC to BNM (i.e. Billy No Mates) which
went down with much more hilarity than it really deserved and instantly changed
“lovely Brenda” to “Bitchy Brenda”. The other subject broached at this point
was the history of my scarf, which again regular readers will remember was
saved and adopted when found abandoned in a pub on Fleet Street. I never knew
girls were such story tellers because by the time Nicole had finished with the
very innocent story, the origins of the scarf were now that I’d mugged a
homeless man and stole it from him. The story was even embellished to the
degree that she actually named the street that I dragged this poor fictitious
man down before beating him up all for the sake of an Austin Reed scarf. So
that was her “lovely” replaced with “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackanory" target="_blank">Jackanory</a>” – and if they didn’t have that
in New Zealand you can look at their wiki entry!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zXGrNQ79Xuk/UPG6ydtcmoI/AAAAAAAAAk4/H0oBwmC7CjI/s1600/lq_drinking_girls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zXGrNQ79Xuk/UPG6ydtcmoI/AAAAAAAAAk4/H0oBwmC7CjI/s320/lq_drinking_girls.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Girls and Beer - this could catch on! Pinky out Gemma!</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So back to the tour, Billy and I stomped across the road
again to the <a href="http://www.traditionalpubslondon.co.uk/brewmaster/index.php" target="_blank">Brewmaster</a>, another Greene King pub which had all the welcome and
charm of a kitchen showroom. The beer range was rather slim and the barman
recommended Old Speckled Hen as the best bitter but I have to give the ladies
even more credit as they tucked in with a gusto that the pub and the beer didn’t
deserve. Finally though we spotted a certificate that was available and with a
chance of scanning and whilst I can’t claim the girls were leaping in the arm
clicking their heels it was nice to prove that the app does work.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The final pub in Charring Cross Road was <a href="http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/theporcupineleicestersquarelondon/" target="_blank">The Porcupine</a> our
second Nicholson’s and by far the best of the 4 that we’d so far visited. Cosy
and intimate it also had a very fine barmaid who not only knew where the
certificate was hiding (for some reason behind a door behind the bar) also knew
that we wanted to see it for scanning. BNM decided that perhaps going to the
pub with other people required some social interaction so was more than happy
to stand a round for the tour newbies and tour oldies alike. London Stone from <a href="http://glh1979.wix.com/hp1" target="_blank">Ha’pennyBrewery</a> was selected as the standard drink but I also got a half of the Old
Engine Oil porter from <a href="http://harviestoun.com/" target="_blank">Harviestoun</a> and a bottle of the classic <a href="http://www.duvel.be/" target="_blank">Duvel</a> for comparison.
The barmaid also produced a branded Duvel glass and went even further up in my
estimation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vLsrLRiM8-U/UPG6zNuPaOI/AAAAAAAAAlQ/UScfJmg8I0c/s1600/lq_duvel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vLsrLRiM8-U/UPG6zNuPaOI/AAAAAAAAAlQ/UScfJmg8I0c/s320/lq_duvel.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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That glass of Duvel</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There’s beer evangelists and tasting experts with much more
experience and knowledge than me (hey, I’m just a middle aged bloke who likes
drinking) but I’m going to give Billy a bit of a pat on the back here because this
tiny tasting experiment was well worth doing and it was really encouraging to
see all concerned trying the different types of beer and not turning their
noses (oh their cute cute noses) up at any of them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Before we started this evening’s entertainment Aussie Pete
had the bonza idea to bring along his 50 scan Cask Marque polo shirt as a
potential photo prop. He’s never worn it, claiming they sent the wrong size but
it was the perfect thing to produce from the bag as Alektorophobia Emma (one
for the QI fans here – it doesn’t mean what you think it might but it was the most
appropriate sounding phobia I could find. ) posed for a photo outside of the
Porcupine. We’ll never challenge London Fashion Week, that’s for certain, but
there’s a certain “street” honesty about our photo don’t you think?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7aODHk1dZbo/UPG63-_D20I/AAAAAAAAAm4/rqGl5BbhboE/s1600/lq_porcupine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7aODHk1dZbo/UPG63-_D20I/AAAAAAAAAm4/rqGl5BbhboE/s320/lq_porcupine.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We finally made the short walk into Leicester Square, which
was perhaps unsurprisingly fairly buzzing with folk even on a chilly January
evening. Just next to the famous Odeon cinema are two Cask Marque accredited pubs,
the <a href="http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-moon-under-water-west-end" target="_blank">Moon Under Water</a>, which from the name is easily recognisable as a
Weatherspoons and surprisingly a <a href="http://www.weareyates.co.uk/leicestersquare" target="_blank">Yates’s</a>, a chain not normally known for their
real ale. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ssXpu0OU7LQ/UPG622nufiI/AAAAAAAAAmQ/oeKqAPYAuIs/s1600/lq_moon_under_water.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ssXpu0OU7LQ/UPG622nufiI/AAAAAAAAAmQ/oeKqAPYAuIs/s320/lq_moon_under_water.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Fearing that both pubs might be very touristy and very full, it was
very pleasant to find the Weatherspoons not at all cramped and staffed by some
very pleasant barmen. The certificate was located at the end of the bar and
although several of the barmen claimed that it wouldn’t work they were
delighted to see the successful scan show up on my Ale Trail</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R0GyvSxu8vE/UPG61-Sl_AI/AAAAAAAAAl8/tqAbnIz3lUs/s1600/lq_koestritzer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R0GyvSxu8vE/UPG61-Sl_AI/AAAAAAAAAl8/tqAbnIz3lUs/s320/lq_koestritzer.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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No Nicole, it's not a new type of latte.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I think it was here that the drinks went off in all sorts of
variations and varieties. I know I had a pint of <a href="http://www.hoegaarden.com/" target="_blank">Hoegaarden</a> and Ed amazed me by
getting a fine pint of <a href="http://www.koestritzer.de/" target="_blank">Köstritzer</a>. Buddy Rob changed things all up by having a
pint of Budweiser rather than a bottle and I was rather fearing the girls had
reached their ale limit when various vodka based drinks were ordered but Brenda
pulled it all out of the bag by not only drinking a <a href="http://www.bombardier.co.uk/" target="_blank">Bombardier</a> but seeking it
out from the bar herself. And thus Bitchy Brenda became Bomber Brenda. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3VHXActCEYg/UPPYFuJV7aI/AAAAAAAAAoI/00dvZgVJ9j0/s1600/thumbs_up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3VHXActCEYg/UPPYFuJV7aI/AAAAAAAAAoI/00dvZgVJ9j0/s320/thumbs_up.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Thumbs up that Rob sometimes does drink something other than bottles of Bud.</div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m not
sure who was orchestrating the changing of the polo shirt but it was obviously
Gemma’s turn and she confirmed that apparently the correct procedure when
wearing it is to point to a breast. I will remember this next time I’m wearing
mine in Sainsbury’s. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YyCUm4R9QxE/UPG63l9_eII/AAAAAAAAAmo/ERLxegtT714/s1600/lq_polo_shirt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YyCUm4R9QxE/UPG63l9_eII/AAAAAAAAAmo/ERLxegtT714/s320/lq_polo_shirt.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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And just to be clear, that's not my hand.</div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Taking our leave from the Weatherspoons we braved the cold
outside as we pondered on the wisdom of seeing whether we should visit the Yates’s.
The place looked to be everything I feared about these two pubs; scary women
dressed in scary dresses queuing for entrance whilst burly bouncers were
stopping all who tried to enter. Giving this up as a bad idea I’m not sure
whether our attempt should count enough to claim the pub a scanned but I do think
we made the right choice.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p9KDQH8vajo/UPG64g0kzAI/AAAAAAAAAnA/cT5y4HGoDgM/s1600/lq_yates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p9KDQH8vajo/UPG64g0kzAI/AAAAAAAAAnA/cT5y4HGoDgM/s320/lq_yates.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Come on Cask Marque - surely near enough to award the scan?</div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So it was quick scoot up to the north end of the square and
a diversion into Leicester Street and the final pub of the night, <a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/imperial-soho/c0205/" target="_blank">The Imperial</a>.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FBZJKS9ozQ8/UPG61oYCQBI/AAAAAAAAAmI/PVQk7znuF3s/s1600/lq_imperial.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FBZJKS9ozQ8/UPG61oYCQBI/AAAAAAAAAmI/PVQk7znuF3s/s320/lq_imperial.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Apparently Brenda has to mark her territory when drinking.</div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This Taylor Walker house was positively abandoned in comparison with the other
pubs we’d been in and we almost had the whole of the bar area to ourselves,
which was rather lucky as the Polo Shirt fun and games took a curious twist
when after Bomber Brenda had proved she can pout and pose with the best of them
(but there’s no evidence of breast pointing) somehow both Gemma and Aussie Pete
ended up in the shirt at the same time. All sorts of cheap jokes about “pairs of
tits” of course leap to mind but I’m fair too polite to use them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yJQ5A9q2oz8/UPG6xo4JHFI/AAAAAAAAAkw/gvlc98A9m10/s1600/lq_brenda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yJQ5A9q2oz8/UPG6xo4JHFI/AAAAAAAAAkw/gvlc98A9m10/s320/lq_brenda.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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I am very suspicious of the dirty look on Ed's face.</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Emma was now well into the scanning and spotted the
certificate blu-tacked behind the bar. A helpful chap about who I have no idea
whether he worked for the pub or not leaned over and pulled it down and another
scan was in the bag. It’s also worth noting that whilst I’ve completely
forgotten what beer we were drinking, the more important thing was the vodka
based drinks were ditched for some more grain based magic.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ra91s9VI2c4/UPG63J78-lI/AAAAAAAAAmY/z8ojKceY9sM/s1600/lq_nicole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ra91s9VI2c4/UPG63J78-lI/AAAAAAAAAmY/z8ojKceY9sM/s320/lq_nicole.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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It's that bloody shirt again!</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’d very early on in the evening resigned myself to catching
the last train but the clock doesn’t stop ticking for anyone and as things
started to get hazy I was reminded by Buddy Rob that I’d better leave or turn
into a pumpkin. I seem to remember a final swap on the shirt as Nicole
completed the set of “girls in shirts” (I’ll have enough for a calendar at this
rate) and then it was time to tell everyone I loved them all and stagger back
to Embankment.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So was it the best square so far? Do you know what, I think
it may well have been. The ladies were delightful company and their willingness
to try the beers was exemplary. Did I change the perception of beer for them?
Well probably not but I did prove that there’s no need for special “lady’s
beers” appealing to what the idiot marketing people think girls should be
drinking. All we need to do now is encourage the standard measure to be 2/3rds
of a pint, served of course in a delicate stemmed goblet and I think we could
be onto something………………………..</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DmfuslbVOTo/UPG60_WiF4I/AAAAAAAAAls/ABqvuW7hSks/s1600/lq_group.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DmfuslbVOTo/UPG60_WiF4I/AAAAAAAAAls/ABqvuW7hSks/s320/lq_group.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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End of the night - Note glazed eyes and scared expression. The monsters are released!</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Number of Cask Marque Pubs visited = No idea – I need to
check…..</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Did Billy fall in love? = Yeah, or course he did, at least 4
times (no Ed, one of them wasn't you). Well 5 if you count the barmaid in the Porcupine.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Another Advantage = The girls “love” a photo don’t they? I
don’t think we’ve ever had so many on a single post! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Nicknames = So did Gemma remain "lovely Gemma" - No, no way, not after the polo shirt twosome with poor old Pete. Try "The Gemmaration Game"</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next Stop = Coventry Street</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Those of a nervous disposition - avert your eyes now..........</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ujL4TU-laKY/UPPYFshBNLI/AAAAAAAAAoA/l9QV5Jo8eB0/s1600/double.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ujL4TU-laKY/UPPYFshBNLI/AAAAAAAAAoA/l9QV5Jo8eB0/s320/double.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-35504093229468151502013-01-01T20:51:00.000+00:002013-01-01T20:51:42.647+00:00Intermission #3
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was going to leave it until the next tour to write a post
for the blog but then felt perhaps I should do a nice quick intermission update
as there are pieces of “tour related” news to bring you up to date on and also
seeing as we won’t in all likelihood be touring until the end of next week,
three weeks without an update is probably too long for even the most casual of
blog visitors. Oh yeah, and a Happy New Year to you all of course………………….</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Firstly you’ll remember I ended the last post asking the
question as to whether two days later at the firm’s Xmas party we would get
anything approaching decent beer made available for us. Extremely sadly but also
extremely predictably the answer was a resounding, no, there was nothing
approaching decent to drink in the beer stakes. This year we were at least
allowed to drink beer at the “champagne reception” stage of the evening but even
the charming smile of the uniformed waiter who answered my question as to
whether there was anything else than the bottles of Becks with a “no, sorry”
failed to lift my spirits.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XrtKP69SHf8/UONK3aBVLpI/AAAAAAAAAjY/IHWvf1F_Jzk/s1600/bgc_becks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XrtKP69SHf8/UONK3aBVLpI/AAAAAAAAAjY/IHWvf1F_Jzk/s320/bgc_becks.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Happy BGC with Becks. The breeches behind me used to belong to Kenneth Williams. It's true!</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now some of you will have cottoned onto the phrase in that
paragraph of “champagne reception” and will already be ticking the box next to
ungrateful tosser in your mental list of BGC attributes, and do you know what?
You’re right, 100% hit the nail on the head right. I am an ungrateful tosser.
Here we were with an all paid for party, hosted in the <a href="http://www.londonfilmmuseum.com/intro.php" target="_blank">London Film Museum</a> in
<a href="http://www.londoncountyhall.com/" target="_blank">County Hall</a> on the banks of the River Thames, with a three course meal to look
forward to and all colleagues looking their smartest best in black tie, or their
beautiful-est (yeah, scrubs up all right in fact) in party dress and I was
moaning about the beer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But although I’d admit to being a moaning tosser (or was it
ungrateful) I’ll still contend that my moan was legitimate. Caterers have to
face facts here; it really isn’t hard to put on a half decent beer now. You don’t
need a qualified cellar man or trained bar staff to achieve this, just instead
of sticking a pin in the list of crated lager your supplier is offering choose
something else you can chill in a bottle………oh and whilst we’re at it, supply
some beer glasses next time, not all of us appreciate swigging from a bottle.
If I have to respect you enough to wear a black tie to go to a party, you can
bloody well respect me enough not to have to act as if I’m sitting on a park
bench.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway, we leave the rants and raves of nasty bottled lagers
and return very quickly to the Cask Marque tour in a little fashion as when
selecting a pub for a pre-party drink the usual gang (Charlie, Ed, Pete,
Jayson, Rob) chose a couple of very nice beers in The Red Lion near Parliament
Square which we toured in during the <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/whitehall.html" target="_blank">Whitehall Square</a> visit. We then scampered
over Westminster Bridge to just behind County Hall for a quick one in <a href="http://www.slugandlettuce.co.uk/county_hall/" target="_blank">The Slugand Lettuce</a> on Chicheley Street. Amazed as we all were that this chain of pubs
actually has some Cask Marque accredited places, we probably shouldn’t have
expected to find the Cask Marque certificate whilst there (we certainly
struggled find any beer) but it did give us the opportunity to take a photo for
prosperity and send it to Cask Marque’s Magical Trevor to add the scan to our
scores. Trevor it seems has been given Xmas holidays (shock!) but Ali did reply
saying there was special Xmas prize for anyone scanning in a Slug and Lettuce…………..I
detect some sarcasm!</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ob2HNtU4yf4/UONLJ4NgR1I/AAAAAAAAAjg/Tpb8jIMOO5o/s1600/slug_lettuce.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ob2HNtU4yf4/UONLJ4NgR1I/AAAAAAAAAjg/Tpb8jIMOO5o/s320/slug_lettuce.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The oldest and most inappropriate boy band turn up at The Slug & Lettuce</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And in anther fantastic link, we jump from photos for Cask
Marque to, well, photos for Cask Marque as the boys in Cask Marque Towers have
been badgering Pete and I to get a photo taken in our 50 scan polo shirts.
Eventually I got around to doing it, on Xmas Eve of all days, just after
picking up my holiday beer from the <a href="http://wbbrew.com/" target="_blank">West Berkshire Brewery</a> (who I have to add
kept my taste buds tingling (in a good way) right into the new year) and
stopped in a lovely <a href="http://www.arkells.com/" target="_blank">Arkells</a> pub, <a href="http://www.yeolderedlion.com/" target="_blank">Ye Olde Red Lion</a> in the nearby village of Chieveley.
Spotting the certificate propped by the entrance door window, I paused my first
sip of Arkells Xmas offering, Noel Ale, and got my co-pilot, SlowPoke Sam to
snap my ugly mug with pint, polo short and certificate all aligned like a celestial
eclipse. The moment was only spoilt when settling ourselves for a second shot
(I think the first shot captured my bad side) when the landlord rather tetchily
warned us that the sign right behind me was in fact Wet Paint. Well, I know
nothing about running a pub, but perhaps putting freshly painted wet things by
the main entrance to your premises is not a good idea…………but what the heck do I
know? Anyway, I emailed the picture off to the boys and have then discovered
that the Cask Marque website has been refreshed and no longer contains a “rogues
gallery” of Cask Marque Ambassadors! I will have words with the management
about this…………………….</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q6BwRwQsZrg/UONLWWx-ldI/AAAAAAAAAjo/hYML_3xvXc0/s1600/bgc_cask_marque.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q6BwRwQsZrg/UONLWWx-ldI/AAAAAAAAAjo/hYML_3xvXc0/s320/bgc_cask_marque.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Happy Xmas!</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And this leads me on to my final subject in that the day
after Xmas Eve is of course Xmas Day and I was luckily enough to receive two
pub guides as presents. And just any old pubs guides, but more specifically pub
guides to London no less. Firstly there was Peter Haydon & Tim Hampson’s “<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Londons-Best-Pubs-Interesting-Unusual/dp/1847739199" target="_blank">London’s Best Pubs</a>” a very nice, photograph laden book and then there was Bob Steel’s “<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/London-Walks-Camra-Walking-Guides/dp/1852492163" target="_blank">LondonPub Walks</a>” a slimmer more wordy guide, but both welcome additions to my bulging
beer book collection. “London’s Best Pubs” covers a total of 117 pubs and I was
rather shocked to discover that I’ve only actually visited 16 of them and a similar
analysis of “London Pub Walks” shows I’ve done percentagely the same amount
(nearly), covering only 23 of the 186 pubs mentions (albeit some of them twice)
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- So no prizes for guessing what New
Year’s Resolution #1 is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- I will report
back again next year!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And finally finally finally, I wish all blog readers,
re-tweeters, followers and likers (that’s likers, no lickers Ed) a hale and
hearty Happy New Year and look forward to having you all join me again for the
next episode of the tour. It promises to be a good one! Leicester Square no
less, I have 7 pubs lined up and a lead on some new tour personnel…………all will
be revealed!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Cheers!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-35626505102005578422012-12-19T19:40:00.001+00:002012-12-20T13:49:25.248+00:00Fenchurch Street Station<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“It’s Christmas time and there really is no need to feel
afraid.” Well, speaking personally Paul, if I was to ever wake up and find you
whispering those words into my ears I’d bloody well shit myself……..but that
unlikely scenario aside, that introduction is just meant to inform readers
(still hopeful that I can use that noun in the plural) that this will be the
last posting before we stuff our faces with turkey whilst wearing paper hats.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Again in an amazing piece of planning, the square on this
festive week is Fenchurch Street station, which if you’ve noted that Vine
Street was the nearest square to our offices then you’ll know that this is the
second nearest square. An ideal opportunity to rally the troops and force all
the previous excuse-mongers and tour-dodgers out on the street.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tu4-cRLLmF4/UNIVvdqkXNI/AAAAAAAAAiQ/G4gjZh4P8oQ/s1600/fenchurch_street.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tu4-cRLLmF4/UNIVvdqkXNI/AAAAAAAAAiQ/G4gjZh4P8oQ/s320/fenchurch_street.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Fenchurch Street Station - One of the prettier London Stations.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In reality what happened was illness claimed Aussie Pete,
early Xmas holidays claimed Buddy Rob and most of the other fair-weather
tourists cried off for one reason or another. Still, we had the welcome return
of No-Nickname Michael after his dry month of November had ended, New Guy Micky
had come back from the wilderness of working from home and tour regulars
Charlie and Spiky Haired Ed can always be relied on. We also had the surprising
appearance of Big-J, who apart from a fleeting appearance during Cask Ale week
in a non-tour venue had avoid the tour so far, quoting excuses ranging from
guitar practice, family taxi duties, bicycle repairs, filing claims against
other road users and writing the 10<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> volume of M&S memoirs (I
understand the working title is “Mark, Spencer and I”).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Talking about Spiky Haired Ed (well sort of) I haven’t heard
anything back from Debbie and her cut and keep Spiky<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Haired Ed but in other blog news I did
stumble across another <a href="http://pubman79.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">pub review blog site</a> thanks to a tweet from <a href="http://twitter.com/NateDawg27" target="_blank">Beery Nate</a> –
It would seem that the mysterious <a href="http://twitter.com/PubMan79" target="_blank">Pubman79</a> has visited several pubs that we’ve
also took in as part of the tour and it’s interesting to see his opinions
compared to mine. But imagine my surprise when on his review of <a href="http://pubman79.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/blue-posts.html" target="_blank">The Blue Posts</a>
(we did this for <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/pall-mall.html" target="_blank">Pall Mall</a>) the cheeky beggar had gone and used my photo! Not
that I’m particularly bothered and if someone else has decided that my awful
quality snaps are good enough to borrow then I’ll take it as a compliment! </span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></o:p> </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2Gcv3yUobw8/UNIUvUZn29I/AAAAAAAAAhw/ujLGfiNarKI/s1600/cheshire_cheese.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2Gcv3yUobw8/UNIUvUZn29I/AAAAAAAAAhw/ujLGfiNarKI/s320/cheshire_cheese.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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No-nickname Michael and a blurry New Guy Micky do their Flanagan and Allen impression - "Underneath the arches....." - Just ask your gran.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway, onto the tour. Much in the same way as when we did
Vine Street, it was but a short stroll past Tower Hill tube station and into
Crutched Friars and the first pub, <a href="http://www.cheshirecheeselondon.co.uk/" target="_blank">Cheshire Cheese</a>. I promised this one when we
visited a similarly named pub during Strand, not that I’ve found out in the
meantime why this seems to be an not uncommon pub name whereas there doesn’t
seem to be anywhere called The Wensleydale. This Cheshire Cheese is tucked
beneath the arches that the tracks from Fenchurch Street Station run from and is
owned by the <a href="http://www.stonegatepubs.com/" target="_blank">Stonegate</a> pub company, who I have to admit I’ve never heard of
before (we have previously visited one of their pubs, The Earl of Camden) but
they’re the company behind chains like Yate’s and Slug and Lettuce. The Cheshire
Cheese is part of their “Great Traditional Pubs” brand and the pub is certainly
traditional in the sense that it has a bit of an eighties feel about it. Dark
red wallpaper (flocked?), patterned carpets and large hanging chandeliers. The
beer range was a bit limited, nice to see 5 handpumps but all had fairly
regular ales on, Pedigree, Hobgoblin, London Pride etc. I plumped for Shepherd
Neame’s Spitfire with Big-J and Charlie following my lead whilst the other
three went for <a href="http://www.krombacher.com/" target="_blank">Krombacher</a> – which came in very nice branded and fluted glasses.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sZc_T0IebW4/UNIVFEvS4jI/AAAAAAAAAh4/4wcQo_2B3J8/s1600/inside_cheshire_cheese.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sZc_T0IebW4/UNIVFEvS4jI/AAAAAAAAAh4/4wcQo_2B3J8/s320/inside_cheshire_cheese.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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It looked more 80's in real life</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Even though it was only a Tuesday I think a lot of workers
had decided to celebrate the lead up to Xmas as the place was quite full with a
raucous crowd, which wasn’t helped by the loud music being unnecessarily pumped
over it all. We also had several big screen TVs playing footie repeats (at
least the sound was off) which no-one was watching.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the plus side the Cask Marque certificate was easily
found, pinned on the wall just above the sink behind the bar, but accessible to
lean over and scan. One drink saw us through though and we made our way further
along Crutched Friars to the aptly named <a href="http://www.thecrutchedfriarfenchurchstreet.co.uk/" target="_blank">Crutched Friar</a>. But before we discuss
this pub, let’s have a quick history lesson. The name <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crutched_Friars" target="_blank">Crutched Friars</a> comes
from a religious order so named because of the staff the monks carried. There
will be a test on this later……………….</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Crutched Friar (the pub) is another from the Stonegate
stable but this time from their Classic Inn brand. It certainly has a more up
to date feel than the Cheshire Cheese and seemed to attract a plethora of
“suits” as again the pub was heaving. I seemed to wait an age to get served but
to their credit there were hundreds of barmaids and as soon as I was actually being
served they all seemed to want to ask what I wanted. The one that did serve me
failed to get three pints from the barrel of Black Sheep Bitter so Big-J and
No-nickname Michael actually got pints of Cocker Hoop (they didn’t know this on
the night) but the other three got their desires of Meantime Pale Ale, Cobra
and Grolsh (no prizes for matching the beer to the drinker)</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p> </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-65rAdvEhE6g/UNIVN3URLpI/AAAAAAAAAiA/wx7XO4UgbJA/s1600/crutched_friar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-65rAdvEhE6g/UNIVN3URLpI/AAAAAAAAAiA/wx7XO4UgbJA/s320/crutched_friar.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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BGC and Big-J - I am the crutch to his friar.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Again to Stonegate’s credit the certificate was hanging nicely
available on the wall but as I was scanning I noted that there was a duplicate
certificate opposite it. It turns out one certificate was running out at the
end of December and the one for next year was already hanging up. Charlie tried
to scan them both but Cask Finder is wise to this trick!</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Again it was a rather hurried drink and another hurry along
the street, turning right into New London Street and the <a href="http://www.stonegatepubs.com/windsor-fenchurch-london" target="_blank">Windor</a>, which ducks
beneath Fenchurch Street Station itself. Amazingly again this was another
Stonegate pub (they must save on delivery costs to these three) but we were
back to the Great Traditional Pub brand now. It’s a compact little place not
helped by the fact that half the pub was cordoned off for a poker evening.
Unfortunately the framed and hung certificate was in the cordoned off area but
that didn’t stop Ed and me sneaking in for a sneaky scan. </span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wQuaJ5DpoiM/UNIVXZLU07I/AAAAAAAAAiI/hOMuzCZoGsE/s1600/windsor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wQuaJ5DpoiM/UNIVXZLU07I/AAAAAAAAAiI/hOMuzCZoGsE/s320/windsor.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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At the Windsor, not! Geddit, Windsor Knot.....Oh please yourselves</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was another different ale for the ale drinkers, this time
being Adnams’s festive offering of Shingle Shells although No-nickname Michael and
New Guy Micky went for a different Admans offering of Ghost Ship. </span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We started to take casualties on the night now. Charlie had
to leave for a family gathering whilst New Guy Micky had to scoot off to the
late night Marks and Spencer to buy a dinner jacket for this Thursday’s Xmas
Party. No-nickname Michael was getting a taste for the demon sauce again and
persuaded us to take in one more pub. Just around the corner from the station
is the Shepherd Neame pub of the <a href="http://www.shepherdneame.co.uk/pubs/london/east-india-arms" target="_blank">East India Arms</a> – the last remnants of the
East India Company whose offices used to stand in the area.</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-53l4yLREaPQ/UNMXL0vuMNI/AAAAAAAAAi0/1doWOCx8Pqg/s1600/east_india_arms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-53l4yLREaPQ/UNMXL0vuMNI/AAAAAAAAAi0/1doWOCx8Pqg/s320/east_india_arms.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If Ed had taken the photo properly you might have been able to read the history here.</span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After the crush of the other pubs we elected to stand
outside keeping ourselves warm with pints of Late Red (Oranjeboom for Ed and
diet coke for Big-J) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and after the
rather identikit fittings of the first three pubs the unique and charming
character of the East India Arms was quite lovely. On return from the toilets I
asked the barman what the interesting looking bottles in the fridge were. The
answer was a 5% Double Stout, a 7% Christmas Ale and a 9% IPA. I volunteered to
start No-nickname Michael and myself off on the Double Stout whilst Ed changed
to Asahi. Big-J knowing that a wobbly bike ride home was still to come sensibly
stuck to the coke. </span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Double Stout was gorgeous and when asking for the
Christmas Ale I even got the choice as to whether I wanted a chilled one or a
room temperature one. I went for room temperature which was a good idea
initially but as the pint went on it did get quite heavy and claggy. </span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Although I would have been most interested to see what the
IPA tasted like, I think at 9% it would have landed me in the same position as
the previous square so good sense won over and I decided it was time to leave –
a short stagger down Fenchurch Street to Aldgate Station and a journey round to
Paddington muttering to myself on the tube. At least this way you always get a
seat.</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The final funny to report is when ordering some sustenance
from the buffet car on the train I asked for “something with bacon” – The host
turned a puzzled look on me and replied “something with pain killers?” – Well
she did have a point!</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Number of Cask Marque Pubs visited<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>= 133 – I do declare the first visit where
every pub had the certificate available!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Why are the Crutched Friars so called? = Please provide your
answer in the form of a 200 word essay.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Will there be ale at the office Xmas Party on Thursday? = BGC reckons "no" and that means he'll have to winge and moan, boring the tits off those around him as he decrys how come no-one in Britain seems to respect the British brewing industry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next Stop = Leicester Square</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-74490398805892068472012-12-09T21:25:00.003+00:002012-12-10T13:30:32.971+00:00Trafalgar Square<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2HEBHANrCuI/UMUA79TDW9I/AAAAAAAAAgw/yA8jbiAhyYc/s1600/trafalgar_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2HEBHANrCuI/UMUA79TDW9I/AAAAAAAAAgw/yA8jbiAhyYc/s320/trafalgar_3.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Thought I'd start with a picture this week.</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I think it’s actually a pretty good achievement that I’ve (we’ve) managed to complete two whole sides of the Monopoly Board and got nearly half way along the third side when finally we hit our first “venue issue”. Basically the nearest Cask Marque pubs to Trafalgar Square are the Silver Cross and the Lord Moon of the Mall, pubs we previously crossed off the list when we did <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/whitehall.html" target="_blank">Whitehall</a>. The next nearest seemed to be The Harp, which again had already been<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>visited as part of <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/northumberland-avenue.html" target="_blank">Northumberland Avenue</a> and going by the Cask Finder map, the next grouping of pubs were all centred around Leicester Square, a place we have yet to visit and therefore not one I wanted to encroach onto just yet.</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1LiCEVBgdbc/UMUAenJAG0I/AAAAAAAAAgg/-at2YODRVnk/s1600/trafalgar_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1LiCEVBgdbc/UMUAenJAG0I/AAAAAAAAAgg/-at2YODRVnk/s320/trafalgar_2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Blue Peter never seemed to shut up about this tree - Now I've finally seen it!</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Luckily though, Leicester Square has an absolute plethora of Cask Marque pubs surrounding it, so I decided that if we concentrated on the easterly side of this pub grouping we could still cover a nice little section of the pubs but still leave a sizable bunch to be done come Leicester Square time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So although the location of the pubs was decided we took rather a hit on the number of attendees as come Friday when we finally decided to make the trip it was only Aussie Pete, Spiky Haired Ed, Charlie and myself on board. Buddy Rob had prior engagements, New Guy Mickey was feeling under the weather and No-nickname Michael was coming along all until the last minute when he bailed on us! And this even after his dry month had ended!</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Never mind because although it was only the four of us who ventured into the biting cold of Trafalgar Square to take the all important photos – I successfully managed to ignore the encouragement of the others to straddle a lion – and have a look at the twinkling Xmas tree, both Charlie and I had been in contact with old friends who were hoping to make an appearance sometime during the night.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L1i0mpRuPhM/UMUAuqiuX2I/AAAAAAAAAgo/WdnK-V3d2oU/s1600/trafalgar_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L1i0mpRuPhM/UMUAuqiuX2I/AAAAAAAAAgo/WdnK-V3d2oU/s320/trafalgar_1.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Ed wanted me to lie in the lion's paws! Yeah! Right!</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">From Trafalgar Square we dodged the traffic and made our way up St Martin’s Place to the first pub, a Taylor Walker place called <a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/salisbury-covent-garden/c3111/" target="_blank">The Salisbury</a>. Absolutely rammed to the gunnels, as one might expect on a Friday night near the heart of Theatreland we never the less threaded ourselves through the throng and somehow I found myself nominated as kitty man, again! Amongst the more common ales (Bombardier, Tim Taylor & London Pride) I spotted a festive special from Solebay Brewery called Santa’s Spirit. Puzzlingly I cannot find anything about this brewery on both the internet and in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide and I wonder if this is a test-microbrewery from Adams? Any further information to the usual address please!</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yTi0CtWUc5g/UMUBEnTmu_I/AAAAAAAAAg4/4QUMPotag-s/s1600/salisbury.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yTi0CtWUc5g/UMUBEnTmu_I/AAAAAAAAAg4/4QUMPotag-s/s320/salisbury.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The Salisbury, all gleaming lights and brass.</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The beer itself was fine, nice deep ruby red with a good bitter hop character and even lager boy Ed was kept satisfied with a pint of proper Budweiser. Although the pub was full, service was excellent and the polite barman even touched his heart after I paid for the round - I can’t even say the bloke behind me yelling in my ear “3 pints of Bomba mate!” put me off! Amazingly although the pub was a real squeeze we easily found the certificate, framed and on a pillar by the bar. We did need a little bit of extra light help to get the scan but it was soon in the bag.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The pub is one of Taylor Walker’s gems, all gleaming etched mirrors, low hanging crystal lanterns and bronze arte nouveau lamps so it was a bit of a shame that we decided to escape the squeeze after just one pint and made our way just round the corner into St Martin’s Court and another Taylor Walker place, the inappropriately named <a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/round-table-leicester-square/s5682/" target="_blank">Round Table</a>. I say inappropriately named because for starters, it’s not round and secondly there’s not many tables, and none of the ones that are there are round too!</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ryf9MV4YrAk/UMUBPw-PQhI/AAAAAAAAAhA/AdJ8ydNQ3NY/s1600/round_table.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ryf9MV4YrAk/UMUBPw-PQhI/AAAAAAAAAhA/AdJ8ydNQ3NY/s320/round_table.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The Round Table - not in the least bit round or tabley</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Initially the pub was just as full as The Salisbury and it was a fight to get to the bar and get our order of 3 pints of Bombardier and 1 pint of Estrella. Spiky Haired Ed had the audacity to correct my pronunciation of Estrella (apparently it’s “estraya”) as we installed ourselves in a cramped little corner of the pub by a table (not round) with two Norwegians and the biggest camera in the world. </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We spotted the certificate on the wall behind the bar but it was an old style out of date one without the QR code. Aussie Pete asked the barmaid why they had an expired certificate up and she raced to get the bar manager who explained how the new one was “in the post”. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Although the pub isn’t anywhere near as decorative or attractive as The Salisbury we decided to stay for another round and passing the kitty over to Pete I asked him to get 3 pints of Abbot Ale as this was the last beer we hadn’t tried. “3 pints of Abigail?” repeated the antipodean special one. So maybe I can’t pronounce Estrella but there are limits…………….!</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Just as we were half way down the pints of Abigail, Charlie reported that his old schoolmate One-Time Tom was in the vicinity of the pub, and he wasn’t wrong as One-Time Tom joined us with a pint and an immediate download of Cask Finder as soon as we explained what it was we were actually doing. He then went on to demonstrate his uncanny party piece of being able to list the highest chart position and number of weeks on the chart for any 80’s song. A very impressive if not a little bit worrying talent.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And then talk about good timing, just as we were pulling on jackets to leave my old Army mate, Romanian Reg appeared! No time for a drink Reg we’re off to the next place!</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The next place was <a href="http://www.theangelandcrown.com/" target="_blank">The Angel and Crown</a> which meant retracing our step to The Salisbury and crossing to the other side of St Martin’s Place as the two pubs are opposite each other. The Angel and Crown is one of a small chain of 9 pubs across London run by the ETM Group, or brothers Ed and Tom Martin. The pub is a cool trendy venue, attracting a cool and trendy crowd, which means I certainly don’t fit in, but the beer range was excellent with a couple of pints of <a href="http://www.caledonianbeer.com/seasonalbeers.htm" target="_blank">DoubleDark</a> Oatmeal Stout from Caledonian and a couple of pints of Jugged Hare from <a href="http://www.sambrooksbrewery.co.uk/" target="_blank">Sambrooks Brewery</a>. Ed got the lovely treat of a pint of <a href="http://www.bitburger.com/" target="_blank">Bitburger Pilsner</a>, a real German classic and one I hope he enjoyed!</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Charlie took the plunge to ask the barmaid about the certificate but it was one of those occasions when we could have been asking if the chiropodist was free as the poor woman didn’t have a clue what we were going on about. So we escaped the cool and trendy throng and stood outside to drink our pints which enabled Reg and myself to catch up on old times and for Aussie Pete to get someone to take our photo whilst we were all still standing.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F1mhz5XQ6Pk/UMUBjARZi2I/AAAAAAAAAhI/yjI784Uz5As/s1600/angel_crown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F1mhz5XQ6Pk/UMUBjARZi2I/AAAAAAAAAhI/yjI784Uz5As/s320/angel_crown.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Outside the Angel & Crown - L-R, Romanian Reg, Spiky Haired Ed, Charlie, BGC, One-Time Tom, Aussie Pete - I win the best turnups competition. The others didn't know that was happening.</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We pushed on up the narrow and winding New Row to the junction of Garrick Street and Bedford Street and the corner pub of <a href="http://roundhousecoventgarden.co.uk/" target="_blank">The Roundhouse</a>, a Fuller’s pub which at least has the decency to be round, well at the front anyway. One-Time Tom led the rush to the bar and secured pints of a Fuller’s special limited edition ale called <a href="http://www.fullers.co.uk/rte.asp?id=31&pressid=187" target="_blank">Traitor’s Gate</a>. The website says it’s only been brewed in limited supply and only stocked at a handful of specially chosen pubs, which on the one hand is great because I now feel privileged to have tried such a lovely pint, but on the other hand a shame because it’s such a nice tasting brew it’ll be a shame to not see it regularly.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was about now that the evening started to get a bit wobbly and I can remember getting a handful of bottles of Fuller’s <a href="http://www.fullers.co.uk/rte.asp?id=31&pressid=163" target="_blank">Black Cab Stout</a> (I’d asked for London Porter, but they didn’t have any) and a single shot of <a href="http://www.jagermeister.com/" target="_blank">Jägermeister</a> for Ed because he wanted a bomb but the barmaid told me it was a waste of money for the can of Red Bull for just one shot – so I drank it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next thing I know I’m sat on the floor amongst the coats, jackets and bags. </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Taxi for BGC time; Aussie Pete kindly guided me to the Leicester Square tub station but that still didn’t stop me making a torturous route back to Paddington, via Euston Road where I dashed through 6 lanes of traffic and vaulted over a central reservation and somehow didn’t die.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Paddington saw me board a sleeper train to God only knows where until I realised that I might be better to get off this one before it left and instead take the last proper train home instead and someone or something must have been smiling down on me as I managed to wake up at the right stations to change trains and eventually successfully navigated home. </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I blame the food.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Number of Cask Marque Pubs visited<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>= 126 - It was a scan disaster. Only one added - TREVOR!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Walking tip = Bouncing from one curb to the other increases your distance by at least double.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Is Spiky Haired Ed original? = Well apparently not. Charlie found this blog and <a href="http://debbie-lovepapercrafting.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/spiky-haired-edward.html" target="_blank">this character</a>. The resemblance is uncanny! I’ve mailed Debbie, the owner of the blog, to see if she agrees!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next Stop = Fenchurch Street Station</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">P.S. We didn’t have any food.</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-48538815600176399722012-11-28T20:48:00.000+00:002012-11-29T11:36:14.302+00:00Fleet Street<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Apologies, apologies, apologies………to all the faithful tour readers out there, a hundred thousand heartfelt apologies. There was no update last week and if each and every one of you have now gone off and are reading blogs about baking cookies or the mating cycle of wading birds then I can only hope you’ve checked back now that you know the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reddish_Egret" target="_blank">Reddish Egret</a> uses bill clacking in its courtship rituals (it’s true – honest) and you just have to know what the Monopoly boys are up to.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The reason behind last week’s no-show was a company music quiz on Monday night and then the gang couldn’t settle on a day for the rest of the week. So we took the ready-made excuse and had a week off, which in retrospect was probably a good thing if not for our livers, definitely for our wallets.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But just a quick note about the music quiz, we didn’t win, nowhere near to be honest although we did briefly hold the lead, but we did receive a prize for the best team name. So congratulations to Charlie, Spikey Haired Ed, Mags for allowing me to name the team Gang Bang Style and winning each of them an advent calendar.</span></div>
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The sort of victorious Gang Bang Style</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So onto <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleet_Street" target="_blank">Fleet Street</a>, that street once famous for being home to the majority of the UK’s daily newspapers and apparently former home of the demon barber, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweeney_Todd" target="_blank">Sweeny Todd</a>. It’s basically a continuation of Strand (remember no “the”) but instead of continuing the tour from West to East, I decided to approach the street from the other end and begin by getting off the tube at Blackfriars. It was but a short hop straight across Queen Victoria Street and into <a href="http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/theblackfriarblackfriarslondon/" target="_blank">The Blackfriar</a>, a Nicholson’s pub saved from destruction by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Betjeman" target="_blank">Sir JohnBetjeman</a> no less. I’m certainly glad he took the effort to do that, and so should everyone else because it’s an absolute gem. </span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nnv7zxagLkw/ULZx7I5DcqI/AAAAAAAAAdw/Lbl1-tJ5EYU/s1600/blackfriars_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nnv7zxagLkw/ULZx7I5DcqI/AAAAAAAAAdw/Lbl1-tJ5EYU/s320/blackfriars_3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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A pointy cornered building.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">From the outside it appears as a tiny pointy cornered building perched on the junction of Queen Victoria Street and New Bridge Street, a row of gleaming mosaic tiles shining with the reflection of the passing traffic spell out “Brandies” and the number 174. Twinkling lights peep out from behind the stained glass windows and promise a warming welcome inside, and thankfully the interior doesn’t fail to deliver with carved relief pictures of the Blackfriars themselves cavorting around the top of the bar. </span></div>
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Charlie & BGC, tempted by the twinkling lights....</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I could carry on in this vein for more paragraphs so I’ll just end by encouraging all pub fans to seek this place out and raise a glass to Sir John, and instead will turn to the attendance of the tour for this square.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All the faithful were there apart from No-nickname Michael who was having a month off the sauce, so it was Aussie Pete, Charlie, New Guy Micky, Buddy Rob and me who travelled the 4 stops on the tube and met up with the housewives’ favourite Spiky Haired Ed, Munchkin Steve (back down from up t’north on a visit) and a newbie to the tour, Mike who for guessable reasons I will name Bam for the purpose of the tour – We’ve already got one Michael anyway!</span></div>
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Pumps at The Blackfriar</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Munchkin Steve and Bam were quick to come forward with their recommendation for a pint of Ding Dong from <a href="http://www.andwells.com/" target="_blank">Andwell Brewery</a>, which is apparently brewed specially for Nicholson’s. It was a good recommendation, a ruby red seasonal ale just right for a gloomy November evening. Not forgetting the real reason we were there, the Cask Marque certificate was easily spotted, framed and propped up on a stand by the door and one scan and one pint later we knew if we were to be able to cover the 6 pubs I’d got planned for the evening we have to move on – a shame really, pubs this special shouldn’t be rushed.</span></div>
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Munchkin Steve & BGC, tempted by the single twinkling light.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Heading north towards Fleet Street, it was a quick detour into Bridewell Place and the aptly named St Brides Tavern, a Greene King pub but on the way there it was Buddy Rob who got treated to the BGC’s very special guided tour. A quick potted history of the area records that when the Bridewell Royal Hospital was destroyed in the Great Fire of London it was rebuilt as a prison which later became school buildings. The original gatehouse has now been incorporated into an office block on New Bridge Street. This can be seen complete with relief portrait of Edward the VI who granted a charter to Bridewell Hospital, and I pointed this out to Rob as we passed. He seemed to be more interested in the office girl that looked as if she’d just been knocked over but you can but lead horses to water! (Oh, and for the record the girl already had a host of people looking after her – we didn’t leave her sprawled in the road!)</span></div>
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BGC fitting well in with the 70's look</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway, St Bride’s Tavern – a lovely little oasis tucked away from the crowds and has a feel of a 1970’s working man’s club. The beer, something from Titanic, (it had red on the label but I can’t see it on their website) came in traditional dimpled jugs apart from Ed and Micky’s lager which was something I’d never heard of, Noble, a 5% brew from Greene King themselves. It also came in a very nice stemmed glass and didn’t taste too bad to boot. The certificate was hanging proudly on the wall unfortunately just over the head of a chap with a very dodgy Movember moustache. Now when I say dodgy, I mean dodgy – I know I’m calling the kettle black, and Aussie Pete currently looks like a 1980’s car salesman but this guy looked like a German Porn star and in fact if you have a minute, he looked like a German Porn star that was actually playing the Bontempi Organ (with his socks on). But did that stop Pete starting up a very brotherly-love conversation with the chap. In fact for all the time it took us to drink our pints, for us to try to surreptitiously take a photo of the pretty barmaid, for Charlie to download Cask Finder and get his first scan and various other activities Pete and this dude talked each other’s hind legs off. In fact it makes you rather suspicious as to whether it was just hind legs they talked off.</span></div>
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Charlie demonstrates that the beer comes in jugs</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Poor Munchkin Steve had to leave us now as the border to the north closes at 21:00 but the rest of the gang finally reached Fleet Street proper and quickly entered <a href="http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/theoldbelltavernfleetstreetlondon/" target="_blank">The Old Bell Tavern</a>, another Nicholson’s located right at the east end of the street. Although not as ornate and decorative as the Blackfriar it’s still another lovely olde worlde pub. </span></div>
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Aussie Pete and BGC, tempted by the lights of the shop next door.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We spotted the certificate instantly, as it was hung on the wall behind the bar, but in a dark and dingy corner. I was surprised when the barmaid was more than happy for me to go behind the bar to scan but I needed Charlie to come to my rescue and illuminate the certificate with his phone in order than my phone could “see” it. Pretty soon there were about 6 of us behind the bar all clamouring to get the scan or help others do the same. It was then that the shortest little bar manageress in the world asked what we were up to. “Where are you from?” she demanded, “Just regular drinkers” I tried to explain “doing the Cask Marque thing.” For a minute I wondered if she would think we were actually from Cask Marque and perhaps I should demand a free sample from all the beers………… But I didn’t, and anyway I’d already spotted another guy in a Cask Ale Week T-Shirt and thought perhaps he was a real inspector and he might then challenge me to a “taste off” which I’d no doubt lose in disgrace…………………..and back in the room.</span> </div>
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Bunch of Octopodes getting the scan.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The pints of something or other (see note at end of page) were quickly downed and after a profuse thank you to the diddy manageress again it was back onto Fleet Street to what I thought would be a bit of a slog to the western end of the road, but actually turned out to be a gentle stroll to the next pub, <a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/ye-olde-cock-tavern-holborn/c1188/" target="_blank">Ye Olde Cock Tavern</a>, which is a Taylor Walker pub and also scores top points for having the words “Ye”, “Olde” and “Cock” in its name – yeah childish I know, but still makes me giggle. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After the Old Bell I was expecting the Cock to be similarly crushed even for a Tuesday but surprisingly it was quite empty with only a couple of its tables filled with drinkers. Pints of <a href="http://www.hooky.co.uk/" target="_blank">Hooky</a> were ordered (for those of an ale persuasion anyway – it was Staropramen for the others) and we retired to an empty table only to find it occupied by a forgotten scarf. Quickly adopting this as my mascot for the night we then began to discuss the problems of trying to drink with a moustache as it doesn’t let you form a seal around your mouth. Well that was my excuse for the dribble down my shirt front anyway. The Cock was another impressively decorative pub with some fantastic low hung lanterns along the bar; it boasts Samuel Pepys and Charles Dickens as former clientele but they didn’t seem to be in tonight. A pit stop of crisps and nuts was called for, anything to stop Pete dashing off to order a three course meal, and then it was up and away to the next place.</span><br />
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BGC & Scarf outside The Knights Templar</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Across the road, and slightly up Chancery Lane is <a href="http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-knights-templar-chancery-lane" target="_blank">TheKnights Templar</a>, a pub whose name conjures up images of chain-mailed, sword wielding, red-crossed men at war and crappy books by Dan Brown. The pub itself is a Wetherspoons emporium and looks and feels like it, occupying the vast interior space that used to be a former bank. The ceilings are enormously high and the artistic suit of armour pinned high on the wall behind the bar looks impressive. What wasn’t so impressive was the stop of our run of 4 consecutive scans as the ruddy faced Irish bar manager explained his certificate had got knocked off the wall and smashed. We made an order for pints of “something” but found that the “something” had run out after pouring three of the pints. I then had to have a pint of Naked Ladies which I presume is this one from <a href="http://www.twickenham-fine-ales.co.uk/beers.html" target="_blank">Twickenham Fine Ales</a>.</span><br />
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Suit of armour behind the bar - note twinkling lights.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The problem with the big Wetherspoons are that if you don’t have a crowd in, the size of the place can make you feel like a pea on a drum. Although for the Tuesday night the crowd was pretty healthy the place lacked a little atmosphere so we didn’t linger over our drinks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Finally we came to the last pub of the evening, back onto Fleet Street and the Fullers emporium named <a href="http://oldbankofengland.co.uk/" target="_blank">The Old Bank of England</a>, which isn’t just a name as it’s the old law courts of The Bank of England. It’s also apparently situated between Sweeney Todd’s barbers shop and the pie shop owned by Mrs Lovett………………it’s all bollocks but it makes for a good story! We were greeted by an enormous Xmas Tree just inside the door and the second bank conversion of the night. I have to say that Fullers have done a better job than Wetherspoons did in the Knight Templar. In the Old Bank of England, the centre of the room is dominated by a massive oval bar and then tables have been arranged around the outside whereas in the Knights Templar the tables are arranged like theatre seats, lining up facing the bar cum stage. Obviously you can take your pick and there’s different strokes for different folks and I reckon that was Aussie Pete’s second chat up line of the night as he moved in on a poor unsuspecting father and son combo and subjected them to ½ an hour’s worth of inane chatter. We, instead, had to put up with a very attractive but grumpy barmaid who didn’t react at all positively to one of us telling her she looked like Pamela Anderson. Bam actually went so far as to ask if someone else could serve us but to give her<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>credit the poor girl persisted and at least produced the Cask Marque certificate from behind the bar where it was wafting around like a scrap piece of paper. </span></div>
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Charlie (or Caspar) celebrating his first scan - this actually happened in St Brides but I don't have any good photos of the Bank of England!</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We tried to order pints of “something seasonal” at first but happy Pamela informed us that this had run out (then turn the pump clip round!) so we settled instead of pints of Chiswick Bitter which is a good alternative in anyone’s books. Once Pete had finished chatting up and no doubt organising his three way dad-son-marsupial gangbang, (never thought I’d get that word in twice in a blog entry!) Bam decided to round off the evening with a round of Jägerbombs. I’ve got to say for a tour newbie, he certainly knows how to impress the old soaks. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And finally-finally, I’ll say another thing for the Old Bank of England – it’s got some of the most impressive toilets I’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting. </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Excuse me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Number of Cask Marque Pubs visited = 121 (Speedy Trevor already added the Knights Templar)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“something” beer? = I usually Unttap all my beers that I drink but was cursing the 10-15 mins it takes me out of the conversation to do so. So this time I didn’t and promptly forgot half the drinks we ordered. Normal service will be resumed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Who’s in the closet? = Not Petey! He’s samba-ing down the street with pink feathers in his hair singing “I will survive!”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next Stop = Trafalgar Square</span><br />
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Just to prove we were in Fleet Street - Look at the sign, not the tramp in the foreground.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-66504346745651601122012-11-18T01:40:00.004+00:002012-11-19T09:57:36.922+00:00Chance #2<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So dearest reader, do you remember <a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/chance-1.html" target="_blank">Chance #1</a>? It was quite a while ago now but for those who require a memory jogger then you’ll recall that I solved this square’s problem by buying a lottery ticket and visiting Camelot’s offices…………………and then going on to lose my season ticket. Remember? Ah those happy sunny carefree days!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway it’s now time for the second Chance square and this led to a great deal of head-scratching to decide where to visit. Once again the ideas of throwing darts at a tube map or rolling a dice came to the fore and I even sent out an email plea to the constant tourers for suggestions of where to go and then we’d pull a selection from a hat but with only two suggestions there didn’t seem to be the point………..and no-one had a hat anyway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Then, whilst surfing around the net, I stumbled upon an on-line BASIC programming environment called <a href="http://www.quitebasic.com/user/" target="_blank">Quite BASIC</a>. Now hands up, who remembers <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASIC" target="_blank">BASIC</a>? Anyone who was brought up in the classic era of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zx_spectrum" target="_blank">ZX Spectrums</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bbc_micro" target="_blank">BBC Micros</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64" target="_blank">Commodore 64s</a> will remember this very “basic” programming language like yesterday. I cut my computing teeth on the awesome <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Electron" target="_blank">AcornElectron</a>, and before you all take the mickey just remember this far outlasted all those other models I’d previously mentioned, and spent many a happy afternoon faithfully typing in lines and lines of BASIC code from the latest <a href="http://www.acornelectron.co.uk/mags/eu/top_lvl.html" target="_blank">ElectronUser magazine</a>. So, whilst I’d love to boast that quick as a flash I’d created a random pub generating location program, it was more like quick as a stumbling pensioner I’d created a random pub location generating program.</span></div>
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For all the geeks, here's the actual program</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now I won’t bore those less technical with the ins and outs of the program but basically it randomly chooses a tube line, a direction, the number of stops and the number of pubs to be covered. We obviously needed a glamorous assistant to press the buttons to do the selection and fitting the bill with plenty to spare is the lovely Chrissie, every IT team’s favourite administrator. Pressing the button as only she can the random journey generator conjured up the following combination.</span><br />
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Debbie McGee, eat your heart out! The lovely Chrissie makes the prediction. Note BGC's colletion of Steins on his desk!</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“You will take the District Line in a West direction. You will travel for three stops and visit two pubs.”</span></div>
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The predictor's prediction brought to life.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So a quick referral to the Tube Map and the Cask Marque website revealed that we would be travelling to Mansion House and there was a Cask Marque accredited O’Neills just round the corner from the tube station. The other nearest pub from the station was the Green Man in Poultry but Aussie Pete and I had already visited this basement pub as part of Cask Ale Week when we were on a lunchtime pub frenzy to get the special T-Shirt, so casting the net further afield the next pub was the Ye Olde Watling (in Watling Street). But threatening to derail the random prediction was the fact that almost next door to the Ye Olde Watling was the Williamson’s Tavern, which (and here we go again pub fact fans) holds the oldest excise licence in the City of London – it was also a residence for the Lord Mayors of London and William III and Mary dined there – Surely we couldn’t miss this pub?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was a cold blustery and pretty damn miserable Friday night which saw the faithful tourers (Aussie Pete, Spiky haired Ed, Buddy Rob – with Charlie to follow) step out from the offices and immediately defy the random predicting program by electing to walk to the first pub rather than jump on the tube. It was only a brief 15 minute walk down Great Tower Street and onto Cannon Street that saw us into the first pub and with Buddy Rob announcing that there were delays on the District Line it would seem bending the rules had been a wise thing to do. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was initially very surprised to see an <a href="http://www.oneills.co.uk/oneillscannonstreet/" target="_blank">O’Neills</a> pub with Cask Marque accreditation in the first place. These “Oirish” themed pubs seem awfully dated now with a real whiff of everything that was bad about the 90’s in abundance. From the mosaic tiled “Fáilte” on the doorstep, to the row upon row of Guinness taps everything screamed no Real Ale here. I did spot one hand pump with the very unexciting Doom Bar on sale so determined to try to enjoy “the craic” I ordered pints of Smithwicks Irish Bitter for Aussie Pete and myself, Ed went with a Coors Light (got to watch his figure after all) and Buddy Rob went for………yep, you go it!</span></div>
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Conrad (l) joins Spikey-Haired Ed, BGC and Buddy Rob outside O'Neills - It can only get better Conrad, only get better........<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Friday nights obviously mean rammed pub nights so we escaped outside to try to find some breathing room and were soon joined by an ex-work colleague of Aussie Pete’s, Conrad who with obviously nothing better to do on a Friday night had elected to join the tour. I went back into the melee that was the queue for the bar and after ordering Conrad’s pint asked the most barmaidy looking barmaid in the world whether they did indeed have a Cask Marque certificate. “To be sure, I’ve only been here 2 days” she liltingly replied proving that whilst 90% of the pub might be fake Irish she was at least the real deal. Unfortunately neither she nor her colleague knew anything about the certificate, or Cask Marque at all if I’m to be honest.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A visit to the loos just before we left was quite amusing as the pub had decided to use the Irish for “male” and “female” on the toilet doors. Now who would have guessed that the Irish for “male” starts with an F (it’s Fir) and “female” starts with an M (Mna) and who would have also guessed that your brain only seems to read the first letter of the word and who would have guessed that she’d be so furious………..well luckily it didn’t go that far but it could have.</span><br />
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M for Ladies</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A quick jog across Queen Victoria Street saw us into Watling Street and the packed rafters of <a href="http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/yeoldewatlingwatlingstreetlondon/" target="_blank">Ye Olde Watling</a> and as Ed correctly said, a pub with “ye” in the name is going to be good. First thing that hit us was the very Christmassy scent of spiced mulled wine and the second thing was a large group of young guys all dressed in awful Xmas jumpers and sporting even worse Movember moustaches. </span><br />
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Ye Olde Watling - Note Cask Marque plaque in foreground.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Charlie now joined us (you missed nothing at O’Neills) and was just in time for pints of Ruby Mild (in cracking form) bottle of Heineken for Buddy Rob and pint of Blue Moon for Ed. The unframed certificate was wafting around behind the bar and the enthusiastic and attentive bar staff (seriously, there were hundreds of them and all seem genuinely willing and wanting to help) were glad to pass it across to be scanned. The pub, out of the Nicholson’s stable, is a cracking little place and unfortunately it’s the “little” which was the downfall for us, although we found respite from the crowds outside the patter of raindrops saw us only have a single pint before dashing just across the road to the <a href="http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/williamsonstaverngrovelandcourtlondon/" target="_blank">Williamson’s Tavern</a> and the breaking of the second of the predictor’s rules.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Although the Williamson’s Tavern boasts the colourful and interesting history I reported earlier the back alley way outside doesn’t match the rather uninteresting ad boring inside. Again, wrestling through the crush to the bar it was another bottle of Heineken for Buddy Rob (Heiney Rob?) Veltins Lager for Ed and Conrad and three pints of something called <a href="http://www.northpeakbeer.com/vicious" target="_blank">Vicious</a> for Charlie, Pete and me. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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Pump clips at Williamson's Tavern. Vicious pump clip furthest left. Unfinished Vicious in foreground.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The pump clip said it was an American Wheat IPA but to our English (and Aussie) taste buds it was pretty awful. Now I like wheat beer and I also like IPA but mixing them together just didn’t work for me or the other two and saw Charlie digging his hand into his pocket to buy pints of Ghost Ship for him and Pete and a bottle of proper Bud for me (Buddy BGC?). Williamson’s Tavern, another Nicholson’s, could have done with half the staff from Ye Olde Watling as there seemed to only be two very overworked chaps on bar duty. Luckily the certificate was hung on the wall in such a position that we didn’t require their help and distraction from their thankless task of serving the hoards. </span><br />
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Buddy BGC in Williamson's Tavern</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Again it was the crush that beat us and fighting our way to the exit saw a quick leap up Queen Street to the <a href="http://gkpubs.co.uk/pubs-in-london/golden-fleece-pub/" target="_blank">Golden Fleece</a>, a Greene King pub which again Aussie Pete and I had already scanned on Cask Ale Week but slightly larger size gave us some much needed breathing room. I remember pints of St Edmunds Ale and slightly more worryingly remember Aussie Pete trying to kiss me (?) but most of all I remember Monika and Adriana, the poor young Polish barmaids who had the misfortune to be on duty when the tour was in town. I took a shine to Monika’s fringe and with Ed turning on the charm to ascertain the poor thing was only 20 I probably scared her to death by handing out BGC business cards and explaining how they would star in the next episode of the blog. When Monika appeared in her coat and I offered to walk her to the tube, she fled…………………a wise move in the circumstances.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In my defence I was really leaving at this point, just as another ex-colleague of Pete’s arrived so I never got to properly meet Marcin but he’s probably quite glad of that………………</span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Number of Cask Marque Pubs visited = 113 (with one to come)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Moustace Advice = No-one enjoys kissing a moustache. No-one.</span></span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Language Advice = Przepraszam, nie chciałem cię przestraszyć.</span></span></div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next Stop = Fleet Street</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Post Update!!</span><br />
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I was more than delighted to receive a text message from the lovely delectable Monika saying how much she enjoyed reading the blog (finally, someone has actually read it!) but was most disappointed that I’d failed to mention her cut thumb (or finger – there’s some disagreement about the exact nature of the wound) which happened as our demands for beverages of various styles and flavours increased during the evening. She also let slip though that apparently her escape from me was not down to being scared but was because there was Karaoke in the bar downstairs! The cheek of the woman! (but "Thumbs Up" for the fringe!)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-41167756560260349212012-11-07T09:51:00.001+00:002012-11-15T14:54:59.553+00:00Strand<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">OK, let’s get something straight. It’s not “The” Strand, or Strand “Street” or Strand “Road” or any other combination of road related words, it’s simply “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strand,_London" target="_blank">Strand</a>”. </span></div>
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See - Strand. Now move on.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">OK, clear enough? That does mean of course the composers of “Let’s all go down The Strand”, a certain Harry Castling and C. W. Murphy no less, have a lot to answer for but maybe we should forgive them their poetic license. Perhaps the “ ‘ave a banana!” chorus didn’t scan right without the all-important “the”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway we digress much too much and we should concentrate on the beginnings of the red topped squares and the start of our third side of the board.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For those of you who are glued to every episode of this famous saga you’ll remember that when we did the first of the Chance squares we inadvertently encroached onto Strand (sounds weird with the “the” doesn’t it?) already but luckily for the tour there are lots of possibilities along this street and a nice conglomerate of three pubs at the east end of the street seemed to excuse us the necessity of any repetitions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But before we slake our thirst at the first of these hostelries we need a quick word about why we were out on a Tuesday night which in anyone’s book is hardly the party night of the week. In short other engagements between me and Aussie Pete (that’s engagements we each had, not an engagement between the two of us!) meant no other day this week could be arranged and it was either go on Tuesday or miss the tour for the week. As we hadn’t had a “proper” tour last week I was keen to ensure we didn’t miss a week and although at first the lads all moaned and groaned it was a still a very well respectable if not <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">understandable but definitely comfortable 4 of us who set off for the legal district of Temple and the three pubs which I'd arranged for tonight's sojourn.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">First on the list was the ancient <a href="http://www.capitalpubcompany.com/our-pubs/the-george/" target="_blank">George</a> on the actual Strand itself. Currently run by the Capital Pub Company, a smallish chain of 35 pubs across London. This is a marvellous "ye olde world" half-timbered building which looks to have been here since the great fire but was actually built much more recently give or take a couple of years. </span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7BXpZDKjlP0/UJotT63SHlI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/o-vXbV0GBUA/s1600/george.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" rea="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7BXpZDKjlP0/UJotT63SHlI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/o-vXbV0GBUA/s320/george.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Outside the George - Rubbish photo doesn't do it justice.</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The inside is just as amazing as the exterior with low black beams, stained glass partitions and an amazing selection of 9 or so gleaming real ale pumps. The purple legginged barmaid quickly served Aussie Pete and me a lovely dark pint of <a href="http://darkstarbrewing.co.uk/" target="_blank">Dark Star</a> Stout, whilst New Guy Micky ducked out of my recommendation circle and plumped for a pretty average pint of Fosters. At least Spiky haired Ed pushed the boat out somewhat by choosing a pint of <a href="http://www.meantimebrewing.com/our-beers" target="_blank">Meantime London Lager</a> which he declared to be "very nice". A compliment of the highest order no less, especially from someone who thinks fine dining is picking up a rotisserie chicken from Waitrose! The Cask Marque certificate was easily spotted on the wall just next to the doorway and in terms of scans we were off to a flying start.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Although the pub is an amazing building, unfortunately it does have a slight tourist feel about the place, as if it's almost theme parked to look like an “ye olde world” English pub rather than being the authentic thing. That's a shame because it's much more than that and shouldn’t need to play on this sort of thing. </span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lifjtmoUQeM/UJot4cPe0fI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/o6zp3QPm3Zc/s1600/george_pumps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" rea="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lifjtmoUQeM/UJot4cPe0fI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/o6zp3QPm3Zc/s320/george_pumps.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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By George! The range of pumps inside the George</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As previously attempted with other pubs, I'd tweeted the pub yesterday that I would be in with the tour, hoping for a red carpet welcome, but unfortunately it wasn't until we were long gone down the lane to pub number three that I saw they had actually re-tweeted the tweet and, high five glasses in the air, actually "<a href="https://twitter.com/thegeorgestrand" target="_blank">favoured</a>" my tweet also. So although we've still not achieved the accolade of being welcomed into a pub by the power of the Tweet, this was at least a step in the right direction. (Quick postscript on this factor – when looking at the George’s website when arriving home it was my <a href="http://untappd.com/" target="_blank">Untappd</a> Tweet that was featured on their page!)</span></span><br />
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Fame at last!</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We moved on and slipped silently down the next door passage of Devereux Court into <a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/devereux-temple/c7177/" target="_blank">The Devereux</a> itself. This is a secret and silent Taylor Walker pub, tucked round the end of a side street so unobtrusively that almost no-one would know it's there. Which is a shame because it's a little quiet oasis only a couple of hundred metres away from the West End but yet has a local feel about it that The George would probably give its right arm for. That said of course, if everyone knew where it was it wouldn't be a quiet oasis, but leaving stating the obvious aside, it's still a nice tidy place. Unfortunately for all the merits of it's quietness and speed of service, the Hispanic barman couldn't lead us to the certificate and although he threw us a line of "ah, yes, there was someone yesterday looking for it but we don't know where it is", it smacked more of desperation that actual customer concern. Aussie Pete managed to record my bar pump pose for posterity so once again we'll have to rely on Magical Trevor to add to the scans, which also is a shame because Spiky haired Ed was on course for his 25<sup>th</sup> scan and that would mean celebrating his Cask Marque bottle opener!</span></span></div>
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Feel pity for Trevor - This is going to land on his desk sometime today!</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">One beer did for us at the Devereux and it was only a short hop down Little Essex Street to the oddly named <a href="http://thecheshirecheese.tripod.com/" target="_blank">Cheshire Cheese</a> for our third and final visit of the night. Now I say "oddly" but in reality it seems that this is a not uncommon name for a pub. Firstly, not too far away in Fleet Street there is a much more well know pub called the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a Sam Smith's emporium which boasts such historical luminaries as Samuel Johnson and Charles Dickens having drank, played dominos, arm-wrestled and flicked dry roasted peanuts at each other in times past. Also there's another pub called Cheshire Cheese just further along to the east in Crutched Friars, not a million miles away from our work place (which we'll be visiting on the Fenchurch Street Station stop in a couple of weeks time – so stay tuned!). So quite why we have plenty of pubs named after this particular brand of fermented curds and not after Cheddar, Gloucester or Leicester I'm not too sure……..answers on a postcard please.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-j5gLRaXtGS0/UJouPDhadwI/AAAAAAAAAaM/zNSGyU9QLcg/s1600/outside_cheshire_cheese_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" rea="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-j5gLRaXtGS0/UJouPDhadwI/AAAAAAAAAaM/zNSGyU9QLcg/s320/outside_cheshire_cheese_2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Outside</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-po1CIRrpQzY/UJou4tBefTI/AAAAAAAAAak/mjsT_pVVPe8/s1600/inside_cheshire_cheese_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" rea="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-po1CIRrpQzY/UJou4tBefTI/AAAAAAAAAak/mjsT_pVVPe8/s320/inside_cheshire_cheese_2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Inside</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway this particular Cheshire Cheese is a lovely little boozer (with a ceiling full of chamber pots) again seemingly tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Theatre Land. Obviously it was a Tuesday night so perhaps fearing crowds of swilling drinkers was a wrong assumption but the local type feel to the place was a lovely difference to some of the pubs we've been in lately. The Cask Marque certificate was on display right next to where we chose to sit (well actually there was no choice, it was the only free table) but it allowed Aussie Pete and I to pull a classic pose for the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>tour and showed off Aussie Pete's bright yellow jumper to the best of its garish and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>gaudy ability. </span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mTUBPuamBE8/UJouYEHN-SI/AAAAAAAAAaU/9htOLa9Xvpc/s1600/inside_cheshire_cheese.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" rea="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mTUBPuamBE8/UJouYEHN-SI/AAAAAAAAAaU/9htOLa9Xvpc/s320/inside_cheshire_cheese.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Note manly difference in Movember 'taches</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">One pint led into two and two led into three, especially as New Guy Micky kept the salt and vinegar crisps flowing and charging each new round to his credit card, which certainly was generous if not a little misguided. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was perhaps one of the more sedate evenings on the tour and certainly I was able to put my new tablet to good use typing the story up on the train home rather than the last time I tried to use it and it looked like a cross between a Tourettes sufferer and Stephen Hawkins had tried to type up the adventure.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A final postscript – Those of an observant nature will see that the appearance of the blog has changed somewhat – This new styling is all down to the design skill of New Guy Micky and my skill at wheedling this marvellous work for free. Micky is available for all types of design work and can be contacted at his cousin’s strip club……………..<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Number of Cask Marque Pubs visited = 108 (with one to come)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Fashion Advice = Yellow isn’t always mellow<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Relationship Advice = Don’t play ‘Indecent Proposal’ with Spiky haired Ed<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next Stop = Chance #2</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687782411254701383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-509707660171452372.post-48653016633364939892012-10-30T22:09:00.002+00:002012-10-30T22:09:39.107+00:00Free Parking
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ever since I started the tour I have been doing some conscious
and some sub-conscious head scratching, wondering how the heck I was going to
cover the Free Parking square. Other “odd” squares had been quite easy, I mean
Electric Company, all you needed to do was think of an Electric Company in
London and bingo, pretty simples, but (as was pointed out to me by <a href="https://twitter.com/NateDawg27" target="_blank">Nate Dawg</a>)
there is no free parking in London, unless there’s some little old man who
rents his drive out for goodwill somewhere. I could of course have tried to
visit one of the luxurious NCP Car Parks, but that wouldn’t have been
fulfilling the “free” part of the quest would it?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As these and other thoughts (the other ones usually being <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>about beer and women (not necessarily in that
order)) were tumbling around in my minuscule head, it dawned on me that the
week when Free Parking was due to be ticked off was also half-term holiday week.
I’d already booked this week off work, ostensibly to spend some quality time
with the children, but in reality I was looking forward to a week of watching
<a href="http://www.itv.com/jeremykyle/" target="_blank">Jeremy Kyle</a> in my pants eating ketchup sandwiches. And anyway all the children
are of that sort of age when spending any time with me is hardly a major
pleasure in the first place, or at least that’s how it appears as they clock up
another 24 hours without leaving their respective bedrooms.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So with the best will in the world I set about arranging a
visit to London in conjunction with the Monopoly Tour trying to cover the Free
Parking square as best I could. There are loads of books about free things you
can do in London, highlighting all the best possible ways to spend a day out
without spending two arms, two legs and half your head, so perhaps if I could
focus in on the “free” element the “parking” part would also fall into place.
And then, like a falling piano, it hit me! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">What are some of the most famous free things in London?
Things that are world renown and the envy of other capital cities? The answer?
<a href="http://www.royalparks.org.uk/" target="_blank">The Royal Parks</a> of course! And there you have it, problem solved; it would be a
day in London taking in some of the free Royal Parks, making a day of “Free
Park-ing”! Geddit? I would be going around the “parks” and not paying a penny, so
I would be “park-ing for free”! I thank you and good night, my work here is
done!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And just to top my feeling of being more chuffed than a Xmas
robin who’s been given a scarlet waistcoat, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as well as dragging my youngest, Reubot, along
the middle one, daughter Han-Ban, also actually amazingly wanted to come along
too, as long as best friend (very best friend) Lizstock could accompany of
course. I’m sure they were only fleecing me for the cost of the train tickets
and lunch money so I set them a challenge to see how much free stuff they could
get!</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vYZ0NlkHXuk/UJBNqz6NhzI/AAAAAAAAATI/XMCUQgpGl-4/s1600/metro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vYZ0NlkHXuk/UJBNqz6NhzI/AAAAAAAAATI/XMCUQgpGl-4/s320/metro.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Dad, dad, there's a lady on the 07:42 from Charring Cross who fancies you!</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Luckily the weather gods were smiling and it was a pretty
glorious day as we set off from the station, first free thing was captured was
a copy of the excellent <a href="http://www.metro.co.uk/home/" target="_blank">Metro</a>. Once again I scanned it to see if I was included
in “Rush Hour Crush” but alas no such luck, so perhaps I need to up the anti on
my new pocket squares and make sure my new <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downton_Abbey" target="_blank">Lord Grantham</a> suit is looking
especially good. Of course whilst the weather gods were on our side, the train
gods were in a right old pissed off mood as delays and cancellations led to a
jam packed train and it looked like every earnest half term parent were taking
their kids into London, but hopefully not for some “free park-ing”! (Copywrite,
all patents pending!)</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JJyBaelzMlA/UJBN7WohyRI/AAAAAAAAATQ/UmzLzKRHiQU/s1600/hamleys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JJyBaelzMlA/UJBN7WohyRI/AAAAAAAAATQ/UmzLzKRHiQU/s320/hamleys.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Hamleys - Apparently they do not use an apostophe</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Han-Ban and Lizstock
did indeed escape from us at Oxford Circus, after securing £20 lunch money of
course, leaving Reubot and me to retread some of the steps of my evening on
<a href="http://monopoly-with-the-bgc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/marlborough-street.html" target="_blank">Marlborough Street</a> as we took the short stroll down Regents Street to the
famous <a href="http://www.hamleys.com/" target="_blank">Hamleys</a> toy store. Now Reubot had especially asked to visit and I was
only too happy to comply as firstly, a visit to Hamleys is free and secondly it’s
a well easy way to entertain kids for an hour or two. The shop is littered with
staff demonstrating (i.e. showing off!) some of the more popular toys and
generally clowning around with the visiting children. </span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-41pSbnxltWY/UJBOKAKhX3I/AAAAAAAAATY/-EFwOEUy0p8/s1600/lego_royals.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-41pSbnxltWY/UJBOKAKhX3I/AAAAAAAAATY/-EFwOEUy0p8/s320/lego_royals.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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They look better in lego, at least this lot are free too!</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now I have to admit, this would be quite possibly my worst
job in the world, having to do this forced enjoyment for the benefit of others,
but I’ll give the staff their due, they genuinely seem to really enjoy what they
are doing and it wasn’t that much of s surprise to hear Reubot announce that he’d
like to work there one day. But although we had a good old time trying out all
the various toys (I was especially taken with a rubber sucker crossbow being
demonstrated by a blonde skin-tight black attired “gadget girl”) we were on a
free day, and the prices at Hamleys definitely aren’t free. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My plan was to continue down Regents Street and cut across
The Mall to the first of the parks but both of us agreed that even though it
was the early side of midday, a stop for something to eat would be the right thing
to do. As if by magic, we were just crossing Glasshouse Street and I spied <a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/leicester-arms-piccadilly/c0109/" target="_blank">TheLeicester Arms</a>, another Taylor Walker pub, so knew it would be Cask Marque
a-ok. </span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g-8iu2yrvA0/UJBOVSjtBCI/AAAAAAAAATg/CIEcIcsH_IQ/s1600/leicester_arms_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g-8iu2yrvA0/UJBOVSjtBCI/AAAAAAAAATg/CIEcIcsH_IQ/s320/leicester_arms_2.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Family resemblance? I have NEVER looked this glum by a pub</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was probably a good idea to eat slightly early as the
place was just ticking over in terms of customers and we easily got a table and
ordered some suitable grub. The pub was fully bedecked ready for Halloween;
cobwebs across the lamps and windows, plenty of creepy posters and some
brilliant skeleton toppers for the beer pumps. I also continued the spooky
theme by ordering a pint of <a href="http://www.bathales.com/our-ales/aid/dark-side" target="_blank">Bath Ales Dark Side</a> (which was darkly delicious –
maybe made more so because it felt a bit naughty drinking so early in the day)
and when I came to pay I noticed a sign advertising 10% off real ales for all
<a href="http://www.camra.org.uk/" target="_blank">CAMRA</a> members. As quick as a flash, I produced my membership card only for the
barmaid to try to swipe it through her payment machine – now it that had worked
that really would have made it a free day!</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-elXdHotalp0/UJBOgXTGlWI/AAAAAAAAATo/THVe1Cb1myg/s1600/leicester_arms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-elXdHotalp0/UJBOgXTGlWI/AAAAAAAAATo/THVe1Cb1myg/s320/leicester_arms.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Ooooo, spooky!</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had a good search around for the Cask Marque certificate
but could see it anywhere and I reckoned asking the barmaid might have left her
so confused she’d have tried to use the till as a cash point machine, so it
will be down to lovely Trevor at Cask Marque Grand Central Station to add the
scan if he’ll accept the photo of Reubot rather than the one of me!</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yH544PzyNc8/UJBPJ4-iaVI/AAAAAAAAATw/FKMk5I6rGdc/s1600/st_james_park.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yH544PzyNc8/UJBPJ4-iaVI/AAAAAAAAATw/FKMk5I6rGdc/s320/st_james_park.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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St James's Park - Apparently they do use an apostophe</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’ll not bore you with the walk through Piccadilly Circus,
through Waterloo Place across The Mall and into <a href="http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/st-jamess-park" target="_blank">St James's Park</a> (oh I just did,
well now you feel exactly as Reubot did – honest I could take that boy to the Serengeti,
show him a pride of lions feasting on freshly killed antelope and he’s still
just shrug) but we’d made it to the first of our Royal Parks and at least the
sight of a squirrel every 2 yards seemed to cheer him up. </span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eoH9LAKY5bw/UJBPb0LwIYI/AAAAAAAAAT4/IJ2G7j2IPbs/s1600/pelican.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eoH9LAKY5bw/UJBPb0LwIYI/AAAAAAAAAT4/IJ2G7j2IPbs/s320/pelican.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After tripping over a
pelican we found ourselves by Buckingham Palace (with the flag up no less) but
it was no time to stop for tea and iced buns as we turned left to go up
Constitution Hill whilst taking in a small part of our second free park, <a href="http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/green-park" target="_blank">GreenPark</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At this point I’d like to just mention a couple of memorials
we spotted which seeing as it’s almost <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_Day" target="_blank">Armistice</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day" target="_blank">Remembrance</a> Day (take your
pick) made them seem all the more poignant in the chilly autumn sun. At the
Buckingham Palace end of Green Park there’s the <a href="http://www.londontown.com/LondonInformation/Sights_and_Attractions/Pierre_Granches_Canadian_War_Memorial/8616/" target="_blank">Canadian War Memorial</a>, a
beautiful item of simple peaceful reflection which is the exact opposite of the
powerful and “in your face” force of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_artillery_memorial" target="_blank">memorial to the Royal Artillery</a> at the
top end of Constitution Hill by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_Arch" target="_blank">Wellington Arch</a>. But possibly the most
effective is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_War_Memorial,_London" target="_blank">Australian War Memorial</a> (also by the Wellington Arch) which is
so clever in its construction and design it makes the effect all the more, well……..effective.
</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3ehHTcX1JX0/UJBPmuorjRI/AAAAAAAAAUA/18X4UC_MkN8/s1600/canadian_war_memorial_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3ehHTcX1JX0/UJBPmuorjRI/AAAAAAAAAUA/18X4UC_MkN8/s320/canadian_war_memorial_2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Detail from the Canadian War Memorial</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">By now we’d reached our third free Royal Park, <a href="http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/hyde-park" target="_blank">Hyde Park</a> and
unfortunately for us we couldn’t do much more than skirt the outer ring as our
destination was Kingsbridge and the museums.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iKkSyICm4qk/UJBPuQWOwCI/AAAAAAAAAUI/G_FtJr7AQKc/s1600/hyde_park_corner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iKkSyICm4qk/UJBPuQWOwCI/AAAAAAAAAUI/G_FtJr7AQKc/s320/hyde_park_corner.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Hyde Park Corner</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A drink was called for on the way of course and tucked into
a corner just off the main Knightsbridge road was the <a href="http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/tattersalls-tavern-knightsbridge/c0674/" target="_blank">Tattersall Tavern,</a>
another Taylor Walker house. It had also obviously received the Taylor Walker Halloween
decoration pack, as there were more cobwebs hanging off every available light,
lamp and picture, including one that went right across the Cask Marque
certificate but by the power of Scooby Doo, it didn’t stop me managing to scan
it. A quick half pint of <a href="http://adnams.co.uk/about/news/beer-news/adnams-ghost-ship/" target="_blank">Adnams Ghost Ship</a> (see, still continuing with the Halloween
theme) and a J2O later we were on our way past the majesty of Harrods (“Is it
all one shop?” asked Reubot) and into the <a href="http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/" target="_blank">Science Museum</a>. I have to admit, this
wasn’t our first choice, but neither of us fancied the long long queue by the
Natural History museum and with no queue whatsoever at the Science Museum there
really wasn’t any competition.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UeeyCMdUhdo/UJBP1TEPhkI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/oqKzSRnosQ8/s1600/tattsersall_tavern.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UeeyCMdUhdo/UJBP1TEPhkI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/oqKzSRnosQ8/s320/tattsersall_tavern.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Idiot fag-woman has her head over the Cask Marque plaque</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Again, going back to the original plan, I’d hoped that after
the museum we could walk up to our forth and final park, <a href="http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/kensington-gardens" target="_blank">Kensington Gardens</a> and
maybe take a early evening meal in another pub, but hours of waiting and
standing around in the <a href="http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/galleries/weblab.aspx" target="_blank">Web Lab</a> had knackered us both in so in agreement it was
but a short tube ride back round to Paddington and the chaos of fatalities on the
tracks and more delayed trains. We made it home finally and apart from the fact
I had a stranger’s buttock on my shoulder for the journey to Reading all was
ok, especially as we claimed a final “free” thing when the <a href="http://www.costa.co.uk/" target="_blank">Costa’s</a> lady charged
us the take away price of the muffin and we ate it in store. That’s 30p to you
and me – makes you almost tempted to change it into pennies and throw them at
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19967397" target="_blank">Starbucks</a>!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Number of Cask Marque Pubs visited = 104 (with one to come)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">How much free stuff did Han-Ban and Lizstock get? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>= Useless! A big fat zero!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Differences with this visit = I got home and could remember
every minute of the trip!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next Stop = Strand</span><br />
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