London Pubs - best choices

[tod2]

It's definite - we are headed for London next May 2012. The apartment we have chosen is in an area familiar to us so that's a good start. It is in Sandwich street, off Leigh street known for the North Sea Fish & Chips restaurant.We have noted pubs in the area but none seemed inviting for food. Any you care to mention?

I found a Pub Walk site and need help in choosing the best out of these:

Beckenham (10 pubs)
Blackheath Village (5 pubs)
Croydon (9 pubs)
Sydenham Eltham (7 pubs)
Penge (10 pubs)
Sydenham Common (8 pubs)
Upper Norwood (9 pubs)
Woolwich (11 pubs)

www.london-footprints.co.uk/pubwalks.htm

[mickthecactus]

Not my area tod2. I'm a North Londoner....

Hope you're going to visit Kew......

[Deleted]

How could she, with all the time she's going to be spending at the pub?

[cheerypeabrain]

I spent many a happy hour in London pubs as a young woman...trouble is I can't remember any of them, I dunno why.....

[tod2]

Ha Ha Kerouac! I intend spending one or two evenings in a pub, mainly for some pub-grub, but thought of taking a day out and joining one of the many pub excursions. If you click on the website you will see they don't expect you to go the whole hog - part of the pub walk is quite OK. (Whew!)

Mick - Oh yes I fully intend making a day of it at Kew - that also of course depends on the weather ( which by all intents and purposes should be fantastic!) Luckily we are in London for 10 days, one of which will be at Chelsea Flower Show. Seeing the flowers in gardens and London Squares will be our main interest. We are also spending a week on the I.O.W. visiting gardens etc.

Now, I am hoping to find a few pub suggestions near the Euston/Bloomsbury area that have decent food.........

[mickthecactus]

Chelsea Flower Show? Good luck....

Practice moving in dense crowds and crossing your legs then..

[tod2]

Thanks for the good luck wishes Mick - You're right, we will need them but with 2 Chelsea's under the belt already we hope that this 3rd time will more enjoyable. Since last time my RHS magazine announced they had added one or two extra days to hopefully thin the crowd but somehow I wonder if that really works....

[mickthecactus]

tod, After the last time when I shuffled round the big Marquee without seeing very much I decided never again.

Now I go to the Hampton Court Flower Show which is a much bigger site and so much more comfortable (even if it always seems to rain there).

[patricklondon]

Tod: those aren't the sort of places most visitors would go to. Not necessarily anything wrong with the areas, but they are mostly pretty average residential areas. The only one I know at all well is Blackheath, and would probably recommend that because it goes up to Blackheath itself, and you could combine it with a stroll down to Greenwich through the Park. However, the Crown was undergoing fairly substantial renovation/rebuilding last time I went over there some months ago, and I don't know if it's still in business. The Hare and Billet and the Princess of Wales are OK, but I'm not sure it's a case of vaut le détour from Bloomsbury - there are so many good pubs and pub walks you can do in and around the centre and the City.

Are you on Fodors? See
www.fodors.com/community/europe/interested-in-joining-us-for-a-pub-crawl-in-the-city-of-london-tues-16-nov.cfm
www.fodors.com/community/europe/anyone-in-london-2-april-2011-interested-in-a-pub-walk.cfm

Scott and Jamie, who organised those, know Woolwich (and I think they would probably say, don't bother - AFAIK the Great Harry was burnt out in the summer's riots).

[tod2]

Patricklondon - I very rarely go on Fodors these days but with your suggestion will look up the info link you have given - Thanks!
I also thought the Blackheath Walk looked the most savvy out of the bunch.
Thanks again for all your input!

[tod2]

Just been looking through the links Patricklondon and we are definitely going to attempt the second Pub Walk (sans Jamikins) that features around the Borough Market. I regularly get the newsletter from Borough Market and making my usual pilgrimage there so why not include a pub crawl at the same time ;D

Whilst on the lookout for pubs I was really thrilled to see this said about one we are taking a 'day out' to visit -The Pot Kiln:
1. The White Bear, Fickleshole, Surrey, is an ordinary country pub on the outskirts of Croydon. It’s a long rambling pub, made up from a row of old artisans’ cottages. They serve good beers and unpretentious, straightforward food.

On a recent visit we ordered two sandwiches, a BLT and a tuna and mayo. They both arrived with fresh granary bread, the BLT was warm with crispy bacon, the sweetest tomatoes and a round lettuce, not the tasteless iceberg variety. The tuna mayo was a good balance, not too much mayonnaise, lightly seasoned, again sweet tomatoes and lettuce as a garnish. Both plates had chunky chips, hot and crunchy. Needless to say, we devoured the lot.

2. The Pot Kilns near Frilsham, Berkshire, is the pub of chef Mike Robinson, who’s exploits have been shown in the series Heaven’s Kitchen on UKTV. As you would expect the cooking is exceptionally good and most of the ingredients are locally sourced, some of the game is shot in the local woodland. The beers are local too.

We had pigeon breast, black pudding and bacon salad on a bed of lettuce for £5 and a succulent beef and venison burger on a bun, with chips, salad and shredded celeriac in a mustard sauce for under £9. It just makes my mouth water thinking about it; all this in the most relaxed surroundings of a small country pub.

These two pubs are poles apart in terms of renown, reputation and catchment, but both give the customer the best that they can offer and are unsurprisingly, very busy.

[patricklondon]

tod, I would add to the list for the Borough Market walk, a trip to the George in Borough High St, for the atmosphere - it's the last pub that would give you a sense of the Georgian/early Victorian coaching inns that once dominated Borough High St, which was the main terminus for many of the stagecoaches in the days before railways. It has a long courtyard with gallery balconies on the upper floors running the full length. In the past, they've even had people doing Shakespeare in the courtyard, supposedly in the style of travelling players.