Christmas Beers in The Coronet

A second day in London, during which I wanted to tick off a Heritage pub, return to a Wetherspoon cinema conversion which is now under threat, and see whether it's possible to get on & off the Oxford tube bus without banging my head.

The switch from the grey skies and rain of the previous day to glorious winter sunshine had brought out the Christmas shoppers en-mass.  A full bus and hefty traffic meant it was already lunchtime by the time I alighted at Marble Arch.
For a change, I wasn't the first person in the pub...

Barley Mow (8 Dorset Street, Marylebone, W1U 6QW - web)
The early customers had settled themselves straight into the unusual wooden drinking compartments to the left side of the bar which make this Heritage Pub so unique.
The barman was busy with an order for six pints of Guinness - blimey, it takes a long time to pour Guinness, doesn't it?!
I waited my turn to order Tring's seasonal 'Tringle Bells' 4% ale, a dark fruity bitter on top form.

A wood panelled passageway runs alongside the boxed drinking areas to a small snug at the rear.  Heading back to the front room I grabbed a comfy spot on the bench seating, admiring this lovely traditional pub as it began to fill up with a varied lunchtime crowd.

  

Right, where to next?
How about ticking off the two Good Beer Guide pubs that I'd never visited by Euston Station?
I spent over eight years living a few minutes walk from Euston, so it's been nagging me that I've never set foot in either the Exmouth Arms or Royal George.  Back in the day I used to make my way straight to the Head of Steam (taken over by Fullers and renamed the Doric Arch) or the Bree Louise (flattened due to being inconveniently in the way of HS2).

The Exmouth Arms narrowly escaped that fate, with the building site fencing and hi-vis workmen now their next door neighbours.

Exmouth Arms (1 Starcross Street, Euston, NW1 2HR - web)
This turned out to be part of the Pub Love chain ('Beer, Burgers and Beds') which operate with backpacker hostels above the bar.  That'll explain why I had to wait to be served whilst folks stored their luggage and asked lots of touristic questions.
I ordered a very average pint of Twickenham 'Session IPA' which the staff presented to me with a head taking up about a third of the glass.
"Is that alright?", they asked, somewhat sceptically.
Normally I stupidly say 'yes' to everything and complain about it later, but even I had to raise an eyebrow at this 'pint', a promise being made to come back and top it up in a moment.

The Exmouth Arms wasn't my cup of tea, but it was doing a decent trade - the customers tucking into their burgers seemed happy, so fair play to 'em.
Next!

The Royal George pub is designed to resemble the rear of  Navy flagship the HMS Royal George, after which it's named.

Royal George (8-14 Eversholt Street,NW1 1DG - web)
Taking a short-cut through the station to Eversholt Street, I just stopped for a swift Portobello 'Chestnut Pale' ale in this imposing 1930's pub.
Replacing an earlier public house, it was built by A.E Sewell for Truman, Hanbury & Buxton brewery.
This is somewhere that predictably attracts a transient crowd, with plenty of suitcases being wheeled in through the door and punters puzzled by pubs trying to form a queue at the bar.

Next on the agenda was a trip on the underground to Holloway Road.
The Coronet, a wonderful Wetherspoon cinema conversion, is on the list of the 39 pubs that the chain has put up for sale at the end of 2022, tempting me to revisit whilst I still can.

The Coronet (338-346 Holloway Road, N7 6NJ - web)
Originally opened by Associated British Cinemas as the Savoy in 1940, this became the Coronet when it was leased to an independent company in 1979.  A double-bill of Harrison Ford in Blade Runner and William Hurt in Body Heat provided the final chance for movie-goers to munch popcorn in the auditorium in June 1983.  The front section became an amusement arcade, the rear a snooker hall, the old balcony hidden above a false ceiling a gathering place for Holloway's pigeons.
Sitting vacant from 1987 onward, it was eventually converted into a pub by JD Wetherpsoon, opening in March 1996.

Entering through the front doors there are staircases either side to the now inaccessible balcony, whilst several steps take you down to the bar and rows of tables.
The layout is more interesting to the rear, where an old cinema projector is on display.

Whilst I wouldn't call it busy, there was a good crowd spread throughout the Coronet on a Tuesday afternoon and it's hard to imagine this isn't a successful pub.  Especially considering the bonus crowds each time Arsenal are at home.  I guess it doesn't come cheap to run and maintain a building such as this, but it'll be such a shame to see it disappear as a Spoons.
Where will the Mexican-themed parties go for wallet-friendly burgers and Brooklyn lager?

Back along Holloway Road to Highbury and Islington station, I made my way to the Brewhouse and Kitchen - in another intriguing building which was originally a tram shed.

Brewhouse & Kitchen (2a Corsica Street, N5 1JJ - web)
I'd only ever previously been to the London Brewhouse & Kitchen at Angel, which is currently closed for a refurbishment.  The Highbury Corner branch was the chain's second in the capital, opening in June 2015.

Under the canopies housing outdoor seating is the entrance to the ground floor bar which stretches a fair way back to the brewing kit at the far end and a function room upstairs.
I enjoyed a decent half of whisky stout ("that's what everyone's picking at the moment", the barman told me, which you don't hear very often when ordering a cask ale). 

 

Leaving Highbury I traveled back on the underground towards the centre, making the admittedly foolhardy decision to get off at Oxford Circus late afternoon amidst Christmas shoppers.
But at least that meant I got to the see the impressive display of lights along Carnaby Street.

I'd decided to call into one last pub in Soho prior to catching the bus home.
I'm never entirely sure where I have and haven't visited over the years in central London, but I came to the conclusion that the Lyric - at the southern edge of Soho by Shaftsbury Avenue - was a new tick for me...

The Lyric (37 Great Windmill Street, Soho, W1D 7LT - web)
The pub in it's current incarnation was built at the start of the 20th century, the most striking feature being the lovely curved frontage with etched glass, leading to a recessed entrance.
The blackboard advertises a fearsome amount of beers, although the majority of handpumps were not in use on my visit - more like 3 than 13...

I picked the most unusual and least local of the cask ales on offer - a wonderful porter from Vale of Glamorgan Brewery - a fine choice to complete the day.
The Lyric was busy: standing room only. I just managed to get a place by the door with a ledge to place my pint and prop my elbow.  

Great to see a busy pub - more of this kind of thing please!

As this was the festive season, I'll end the post with a collection of Christmas ale pump clips of the beers I'd picked over these couple of days in London.
Crikey, maybe I'm not quite as grumpy about Christmas as I thought I was. 

Paneer Pies & Portobello Porter

It was the week before Christmas, under drizzle and grey skies, when I decided to hop aboard the London bus to undertake a route around a varying bunch of the capital's hostelries.

Alighting at Victoria Station, I was within a short walk of one of the 'Famous Five' - the quintet of pubs which have appeared in every edition of the Good Beer Guide to date.

Buckingham Arms (62 Petty France, SW1H 9EU - web)
Just gone midday I was the first customer in - unfashionably early...again...but it didn't take long for a few solo drinkers, be-suited office workers, and tourists to follow me in.

The Buckingham is run by Youngs, with three of their ales on the hand pumps, plus St Austell 'Tribute' and 'Stiff Upper Lip', from south-west London brewery By the Horns.
I picked the latter of those and grabbed the green leather cushioned seating by the window.  Great seat - just don't examine the collection of crumbs and detritus gathered in the buttons too closely.

The current building dates back to 1898 and retains a bit of an historic feel to it with wood panels, sweeping bar counter and small stained glass screens.
I'd always assumed I'd been here before but, on reflection, it wasn't ringing any bells.  A pleasant Westminster pub that I'll come back to another time to see what it's a bit busier.

Time to move on, I made a short walk down Buckingham Gate, past the street food stalls on Strutton Ground market and onto Great Peter Street. This little corner of Westminster used to be one of the cities most notorious slums called the Devil's Acre. You have to search quite hard now to find evidence of a sleazy past - it's looking as smart as anywhere else in the centre and the pubs aren't afraid to charge you upwards of £6 a pint.

The Speaker (48 Great Peter Street, SW1P 2HA - web)

This is a marvelous small street corner pub of the type central London does rather well.  Serving drinks only and not messing around with food, there are a lot of high stools and shelves to pop your pint glass on, a couple of regular tables at either end of the bar, and a precarious staircase to the loos on the first floor where there is also a small function room.

On the bar were no less than three Christmas beers from Falstaff, Mighty Oak and Tring, with Doom Bar and Landlord for those shunning the festive season.

Leaving the Speaker, having enjoyed a very tasty half of Mighty Oak, I walked ten minutes to Westminster, where I ventured down the escalators to the Jubilee Line.
A couple of stops to Lambeth and right outside the station is another beer guide entry...

The Ring (72 Blackfriers Road, SE1 8HA - web)
'Busier than usual' Google informed me. (Is there anything Google doesn't know?!)
And that was all down to a group who I'd guess were enjoying their office lunchtime festive drinks - taking up most of the tables, making plenty of noise, and sporting too many Christmas jumpers for my liking.
I've gotta admit that I contemplated giving this pub a miss, but was tempted to stay on the basis of a Plum Porter and the chance to procure one of their own beer mats to add to my growing collection.

The Ring is named due to the one-time boxing ring which once stood directly across the road.  The walls are busy with an impressive collection of pictures of boxers from days gone by, which I couldn't get past the Christmas party gang to examine and which wouldn't have meant anything to me anyway as I don't know the first thing about boxing.

One quick, and very tasty, pint of Plum Porter later and I was navigating the back streets towards Southwark.

My destination was The Gladstone, a desi pub hidden down a side street.  Lant Street was somewhere that Charles Dickens lodged at one time, the pub earning a mention in the Pickwick Papers.
(If I'd appreciated how full of pubs the Pickwick Papers was at the age of 16, I'd have read more than 40-pages before attempting - and making a complete pigs-ear of - an A-level English presentation on it).

The Gladstone Arms (64 Lant Street, SE1 1QN - web)
The Glad was destined for demolition in 2015, developers relishing the chance to build another apartment block in its place.  A campaign was successful in thwarting the wrecking ball, although it was still boarded up and empty for a period of time after an astronomic rent rise dampened the celebrations.
The pub reopened in 2017 with the current owners giving it a comfy, welcoming feel, bringing in murky craft beer and a menu of Anglo-Indian food.
Like the paneer pie, which was quite superb...

My food was accompanied by a Two Tribes 'Coal Drops Yard Stout' which seemed to be the most interesting of the craft keg selection.  There were three hand pumps on the bar, with a turned around Sambrooks shaped pump clip on one, but no cask on my visit.
Not that I was in need of a cask ale - a comfortable pub with some brilliant food were more than enough to keep me happy.

There's a CAMRA book by David Jesudason due out next Spring about desi pubs that I'll look forward to reading, as well as visiting some of the entries within it in 2023.

With a contented full stomach, my plan was to travel to New Cross next.
The lesson learnt on this London trip was: don't just jump onto the first bus you see with the right destination displayed on the front of it. 
I should have been on a service that made the London Bridge to New Cross journey in 20-minutes, but instead ended up on an unwanted Peckham excursion.

Darkness was encroaching and I was thoroughly grumpy, feeling like I'd been on the bus for hours, as I trudged down the street to the Shirkers Rest... 

The Shirker's Rest (9 Lewisham Way, New Cross, SE14 6PP - web)
This micro opened in June 2022 in a site that what was once a solicitors office. It's a joint venture between Shark micropubs, three chaps who'd previously planned to open a pub in  Camberwell, and South London bloggers/podcasters and authors Deserter.

There was a mix of high and low tables, pictures on the wall of abandoned furniture, Johnny Cash on the stereo, an impressive display of crisps, and plenty of choice of keg or cask ales.
Of course I picked the wrong one - going all Christmassy with the Cloudwater Cranberry and Orange session pale ale.
A beer-description-fail by Cloudwater as this was very much a sour and never a session pale.  That'll teach me to turn down the taster I was offered.

I made my way through New Cross to the Royal Albert as a final pub of the day (well, unless the train happens to take me to Cannon Street and I end up in the Spoons on the platform (of course I did)).

Royal Albert (460 New Cross Road, New Cross, SE14 6TJ - web)
A pub with a grand frontage and a patio elevated slightly above the busy New Cross Road, it's run by Portobello Brewery and was clearly going to be busy later in the evening with 7" singles acting as reserved signs on each table.
It was all a bit too moodily lit and modernised for my taste, but the Portobello 'Market Porter' was a fine pint in good condition.

Micro pub, desi pub, boxing pub, famed beer guide pub...I felt I'd covered a good variety of places on this day out in the capital.
All that was left now was to travel to Cannon Street, divert into Spoons, order my beer, and exclaim "How Much?!"

Belgian Blue in Bracknell

On a crisp cold December day I took the chance to visit the Berkshire town of Bracknell, calling in to the two current Good Beer Guide pubs, as well as popping to neighbouring Binfield for a pint of London Pride.

I'd consider I've explored Berkshire reasonably well over the years: completed the Reading Ale Trail; walked the Thames path, taken in the sights of Maidenhead; risked frostbite at the Siren Brewery fifth birthday party during the 'Beast from the East'; even watched Lewis Capaldi at Reading Festival by mistake once.
But I'd never set foot in Bracknell, so off I went on a maiden voyage. 

Bracknell spent most of its existence as a market village before being designated a new town at the end of the 1940's.  Over the years it expanded to incorporate nearby villages, topping 100,000 residents and attracting an impressive roster of tech firms to make this their home.

Hopping off the train at 11:30 on a Saturday morning I strolled through a recently redeveloped busy shopping centre.
Lots of modern buildings...

And underpasses which I needed to navigate to find my way to Wetherspoon's...

Which is housed in one of the few old buildings in town, a grand Tudor manor house next to the ring-road...

Old Manor (Grenville Place, Bracknell, RG12 1BP -web)
It's a bit of a cracker.
There was a choice of various rooms to sit in, two bars, grand old fireplaces, wooden beams and low doorways complete with 'please mind your head' signs.

The real draw is the characterful old hall, surely one of the most impressive rooms in a Wetherspoon pub anywhere in the country.  There's a priests hole beside the fireplace, plus stories of secret tunnels used by highwaymen evading the law - all the kind of stuff I'm a complete sucker for.

Having been a private residence, club and residential hotel in the 20th century, the Old Manor is now a regular Good Beer Guide entry serving the best selection of real ales in the town.
The choice on my visit included two local breweries: Rebellion and Stardust, as well as a blueberry bitter by Coach House Brewery or a Brewsters pale ale.
But I only had eyes for the seasonal Bradfield 'Farmers Belgian Blue', a bit of a rarity round these parts.  Guaranteed to generate small talk with the bar staff about it's unusual colour (more purple than blue).

Mmmmm!

Moving on from the Old Manor, Google told me it was going to be a 25-minute walk to my next destination in the suburbs.  The route took me south of the centre, through a housing estate, across some parkland called 'The Parks', and onto a fantastically named street: Ralphs Ride', where I'd find a new Beer Guide entry...

Newtown Pippin (Ralphs Ride, Harmans Water, Bracknell, RG12 9LR - web)
This is something a bit different: a two-room 1950's flat-roof estate pub.
According to a local news article this was named the worst pub in town a few years ago and had a rotten reputation, before being recently revived by new tenants.

I picked the right hand bar where there were a couple of old boys furrowing their brows over their crosswords, a hi-viz trio on the high tables, and a couple of ladies perusing the laminated menus.

I settled down with a pint of Rebellion 'Overthow' (the other choices being Black Sheep bitter or Youngs 'Special').  A good beer considering no-one else was on the cask and the chap behind the bar took the opportunity to teach his colleague how to pull a pint when I ordered.

I checked the bus times, spotted a local service was due to pass the pub in a few minutes time, and quaffed the last quarter of my pint...  Then decided to take one last picture outside at which point the bus whizzed straight past me.
Oh well, at least some quality chips from Churchills next door fueled a walk back to Bracknell bus station.

Once there I hopped aboard the 150 service for the 20-minute journey to Binfield.   All was quiet in this village on the northern edge of Bracknell, as I ambled down the road on my way to the Victoria Arms.

Victoria Arms (Terrace Road North, Binfield, RG42 5JA - web)

A large central bar has counters looking out into three different drinking areas, the largest being the extension to the right with its beams being home to an impressive display of beer bottles.
Extra TVs had been dotted around to ensure no-one missed England being knocked out the World Cup later in the day.  The clientele mostly seemed to consist of various varieties of blokes from the village, all seeming quite cheery as they got behind Morocco in the afternoon quarter final.
I grabbed a seat by the fireplace and settled to watch the first half of the match, supping a  decent pint of London Pride.  The other cask options were familiar Fullers pub fare: ESB, Hophead and Seafarer.

Loving the bottle collection.

Upon leaving the Victoria, the bus that I aimed to catch didn't materialise.  During a chilly sub-zero wait as the sky began to get dusky I conceded that plans to pop into Wokingham or out into more housing estates to the Canny Man would have to be curtailed today. (I'd promised to get back to Oxford at a sensible hour).

But there was still time for one last pint thanks to a delayed train.
The Market Inn sits handily across the road from the bus and train stations and nowhere near a market.

Market Inn (Station Road, Bracknell, RG12 1HY - web)
This is a one-time Firkin brew-pub, now a Stonegate boozer, offering drinks promo's, good value food, and TVs for the football in every direction. 
Not a great deal of choice on the real ale front...

That'll be a Landlord then.

This pub seemed to be doing a good Saturday afternoon trade, with most tables occupied, leaving me with a choice of sitting conspicuously under one of the TVs or on a bench between the entrance and Christmas tree.
It was never likely to be my favourite pub of the day, but the 'Landlord' was passable and I was comfier sat in here than spending half on an hour on a freezing station platform watching a departure screen.

And just to show I'm not a complete Grinch at this time of year, here's a picture with the Christmas tree in it to bring the post to a close...