Society for the Preservation of Beers from the Wood

LONDON PUB OF THE YEAR 2010: ROGER’S BLOG

DAY 1

DAY 2

DAY 3

DAY 4

DAY 5

Wednesday, 18th August

Another year goes by and it’s time to get back on the pub judging trail. We have 14 pubs to tackle in 6 sessions; there are 4 former winners and 6 first time nominations so there should be some keen competition.

We start at the furthest flung pub, in Carshalton deep in south east London. This gives me a thankfully rare opportunity to join the commuter trail with the workers going home from London Bridge. I have the pleasure of a 10 minute wait at Tulse Hill, where I change trains, but the journey is painless enough. When I disembark at Carshalton I notice Mike Hall down the platform looking shifty and John Rooth further away looking confused. So we’re on our way!

Our destination is the Hope, 48 West Street, just a few minutes walk from the station (turn right and left at the main road). This is a mock tudor building named after a ship, judging from the pub sign. It’s very much a traditional inn with various drinking areas, one containing an antique bar billiards table (it only accepts florins!), and a small beer garden at the back. The young lady behind the bar was very friendly and efficient and we had a decent selection of ales to ask her for.

The Hope

The one regular beer is Horsham Best from King & Co and there were also offerings from Welton, Dark Star, Kelham Island and a couple from Wolf. Not so many months ago the Hope was in danger of being closed as a pub and converted to a restaurant. But the locals rallied round and 33 of them formed a consortium to buy the place free of beer tie; it reopened in May and it certainly appears to be thriving. It should soon be an even better proposition when the kitchen is up and running – traditional pub food is promised. The four of us (Bill English had joined us) were delighted to see the legendary Rodger Molyneux-Roberts (one of the 33) who sat down for a chat. RMR is a former NEC member who (rest of sentence deleted on lawyers’ advice).

The Hope (www.hopecarshalton.co.uk) was certainly a good start and I would definitely visit more often if it wasn’t so far from home. We retraced our steps to the station and the train back to Victoria arrived right on time. On arrival at Victoria I was in need of bladder relief so I made use of the facilities at the station Wetherspoons, telling the others that I’d catch them up.
Our second and last destination was the Cask Pub & Kitchen, 6 Charlwood Street, SW1V 2EE (www.caskpubandkitchen.com). This is in deepest Pimlico, very close to where I lived for a couple of years in the late 80s. I therefore know the area quite well and made good time to the pub to find no sign of my colleagues. They trooped in shamefacedly a few minutes after I sat down with my pint, evidently knowing the area less well than me. The Cask Bar was formerly known as the Pimlico Tram (and I’m sure that can’t have been the original name) and was reopened about a year ago.
	The Cask Bar
It consists of one fairly plain room furnished in modern style with a bar counter filling one side. There was a good array of handpumps and Dark Star and Thornbridge breweries were well represented. The beers were in fine condition but prices were definitely in the premium bracket (£3.35 a pint). As well as the draught ales there is a small range of quality lagers and other foreign beers and a large menu of bottled beers. The pub was far from full but still nicely bustling, although the background music was a trifle intrusive. Pimlico is not a great area for pubs and the Cask seems to be a worthy addition to the scene. So that’s one session and two pubs out of the way. We’re back in action next week and finish in mid-October. Stay tuned!

THURSDAY, 26th August Here we go on the second leg of pub judging on a damp and gloomy evening. Once again I’m on the commuter run, from London Bridge to Catford, wondering how people put up with doing this, each way, every day. It’s only a 12-minute journey but I have to stand in a crowded compartment perspiring heavily. It’s a relief to get off at Catford Bridge and enjoy a half-mile walk between showers to the Blythe Hill Tavern (319 Stanstead Road, SE23 1JB). So, what about the beer? There are 5 handpumps in operation and most popular of the offerings was Dark Star Hophead. Also available were London Pride, Adnams Broadside, Harvey’s Best and Courage Best, the latter presumably a legacy of the pub’s past ownership. All these cost under three quid a pint (Broadside by just a penny!) and were all in fine condition.

	I arrive to find Mike already in situ and I thrill to his fascinating account of his bus journey to the pub. And talking of the pub, it’s a former Courage house now owned by Enterprise Inns and a traditional, dare I say it, working person’s local. The BHT is rare in having two separate bars (although one was deserted when I looked in); the larger of these is in an L-shape and there is a garden at the back. There are at least two TV screens if you want to watch football – and apparently the pub gets pretty lively when the Irish version is showing. The pub is run and staffed by Irish people and this is reflected by an abundance of Guinness memorabilia.
The Blythe Hill Tavern
Indeed, had we been able to stay longer we would have been regaled by Irish folk music. Mike and I were eventually joined by John Rooth, cursing having taken the wrong route from the station; Alasdair Boyd, once again on the judging panel; and John O’Connor of Special Branch, Catford resident and nominator of the pub. A worthy choice indeed, let down only by the Millwall team photo in the corner.

We leave JOC to his beer and make our way back to the station. Although John R leaves first he somehow manages to end up on the wrong side of the road and turns up on the wrong platform. Happily all is well in the end and the train to Charing Cross arrives on time. Our second pub of the night is the Harp (47 Chandos Place, WC2N 4HS) in Covent Garden, winner of this competition in 2008. In serious need of bladder relief I rush from the train to the pub, where I shove customers aside on my way to the stairs and the gents. On my return to the bar I discover that Mike and John are being treated to pints by Binnie, the estimable owner of the Harp. Being the generous lady she is, she adds me to the freebies and I plump for a pint of Sambrook’s Junction bitter. As ever, the pub is very busy, even more so when Bill arrives after a late shift at work.
				The Harp
Alasdair scouted the upstairs room and discovered that there were some free seats so we moved up. Here we got talking to a couple, Geraldine and Peter, who Alasdair knew from Camra circles but who are also friends of my good friend Derek Legg, known in Special Branch as Catweazel. The Harp is very handy, not just for Charing Cross station, but also several theatres and the London Coliseum, not to mention Trafalgar Square. It’s of fairly modest dimensions so inevitable it gets very crowded but the service here is second to none. The beer choice is also pretty useful as well: on our visit there were two beers from Sambrooks of Battersea, three from Dark Star (Hophead, American Pale Ale and an 8.5% Belgian style), Harvey’s Best and a couple of others which I can’t remember. But they were all in very good nick and most were £3.10 a pint, which in this part of London is not at all a bad price. The Harp was formerly owned by Punch Taverns but, since winning our award, Binnie bought the pub so it is now a genuine free house. I must admit, I like the Harp very much and recommend it highly if you’re in this part of town. If you prefer quiet pubs it may not suit you unless you visit ‘off peak’ as it were. But for the high quality of its beers and service, it’s hard to beat. I’m not sure what time they finished serving but it was well past 11 when I drained my last drink and headed for home. We now have a two and a half week break before the next session.

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