All about the Beer 50
The Poet Laureate Edition
The Pig’s Head, Clapham Common (Rating 8.3) SW4 0JL
The pub is very focused on being a restaurant. It does welcome drinkers and we were found a table and enjoyed a very good pint of Harvey’s Sussex Best. I liked the décor, the ambience and the beer. I will go again. I have indeed already been again (with family and friends) and had drinks at a table on the pavement.
Betjeman Arms, St Pancras (Rating 8.4) N1C 4QL
I have never been here before but my historical childhood heroes are Isambard K Brunel and Sir John Betjeman, so sitting in a pub named after the poet, looking out the window at a load of trains was irresistible. Now to the important stuff. It is a Young's pub but also serves Harvey's Sussex Best so I'm in a very good place. The beer is 13.4 Celsius. The only thing I currently lack is a companion with whom to share my unalloyed joie de vivre. The French is in recognition that the trains outside the window will shortly be off to Paris or Bruxelles. The pub is grand as befits one of London's grandest major stations. I had to wait a long time to get my pint because the staff seemed to be serving complicated cocktails or freshly brewed coffee so my humble desire for a pint was clearly too unsophisticated to get the attention of the bar staff. Hey ho! The bottom line is that I like the pub, the beer, the temperature, good station architecture and the Varsity Student's Rag. Nearby is the Parcel Yard at King’s Cross. It has no views but excellent Fuller’s ESB.
Bankers Draft, Eltham (Rating 7.6) SE9 1BW
I am having a pint of Wainwright Gold at 14.5 Celsius. The second most notable thing is that is cost me £3.50 for the pint. It my first time in Eltham. I'm astonished I haven't been before and it isn't, before you speculate, a Wetherspoons. I learned two other things in my first three minutes. It was the barmaid’s birthday yesterday and she hasn't completely shrugged off the hangover because she poured me the wrong pint first time. Anyway, while it isn't my birthday, it feels like it because I like Wainwright Gold, I like 14.5 Celsius and it cost £3.50! The Eltham GPO and Park Tavern are also very much worth a visit.
Carpenters Arms, Shoreditch High Street (Rating 8.3) E2 6EG
My wintry escapades in E2 have got better. The pub only opened 15 minutes ago, so I couldn't arrive much earlier and it is a 20 minute walk in the wind and rain (Storm Darragh) to get here from the Florist Arms. The pub is modest in size, so I'm sitting at the bar, because in the 15 minutes it has been open every table has been taken. I am at least twice the age of every other person in the pub. I'm going to have a portion of chips to help me warm up. They are good. The pub was originally a Truman’s establishment, being not very far from the brewery. Today it serves two beers, mine being a modern East End ale - Five Points Best (which is a firm favourite). The other is Atlantic Porter. I like the cheerful noise of the younger people around me, I like the simple quality of the pub and I love the beer. I have a very good friend who has been pub visiting with me and he has become an ardent fan of Five Points beers, as all thinking beer drinkers should be. Just yesterday he was suggesting I take his brother in law somewhere we can imbibe a Five Points pint or two. Eating the chips has slowed my beer consumption which is good on several fronts, not least because it gives the Best a chance to warm up. It started life in my glass at 12.5 Celsius which is too cold on any day of the year. Listening to the barmaid talking to her friend, they are disappointed the pub isn't busier and suggest that's because some punters are out doing Christmas shopping. I will drink to that. Otherwise I wouldn't have got my stool at the bar or anywhere to rest my bowl of chips.
Mabel’s Tavern, St Pancras (Rating 7.5) WC1H 9AZ
I am in this pub off Euston Road near St Pancras Station. It is the second Shepherd Neame house I have been in 48 hours. Clearly, I'm a very well travelled man going to all the right spots. Mabel offers four ales but the one I wanted is having the barrel changed. My Spitfire is 13.4 Celsius. Mabel's Tavern has a subdued interior, a long bar and Halloween decor. It might have been more fitting to serve Late Red, the autumn ale. Those matters aside, I like the Tavern and my pint is OK. Although Mabel’s is West London, it is literally across the road from St Pancras and the Betjeman Arms which is N1.
Pint of the Week: ESB from the Runaway Brewery in Stockport. 5.8% 15 Celsius. Delicious. CAMRA tasting notes talk of Bonfire Toffee and Prune. I say it has an attractive thickness to the taste. I came across it at The Trafalgar Arms in South Wimbledon.