Wide Awake in Herne Hill

A whistle-stop pub crawl preceding the 2025 Wide Awake Festival in Brockwell Park.
A year ago, I managed to wear myself out before seeing any bands by racing around Spoons, pubs and a brewery tap in Brixton.  Surely I've learnt a lesson?

Veering east of Brixton, I intended to approach Brockwell Park by overground rail to Herne Hill.
Via Spoons, pubs and a brewery tap.  Of course.

Navigating across London on the Bakerloo line, I surfaced at Elephant & Castle, somewhere I haven't been for years and which is now completely unrecognisable to me.
My early-doors destination was a JDW in a sixties block that once housed the DHSS.

The Rockingham Arms (119 Newington Causeway, Elephant & Castle,London, SE1 6BN)
This is one of those pubs that elicits the CAMRA description "draws a mixed and lively crowd".  Yep, it certainly looked like it did, busy before midday with a diverse clientele.
The guest beer selection wasn't overly exciting with the only lesser-seen beer being Portobello 'Buckingham Best'.  Which was quite possibly past its best.

I just about made room for my pint amongst the table clutter...

Then passed 20-minutes frowning every time I took a sip of the beer and checking out the stage times and site map for the rest of the day.

Who'd be a festival organiser? 
Wide Awake! has been beset by problems this year. 
Unceremoniously shoved out the Saturday slot to a Friday by Field Day fest (who got the sunshine though, eh?!). 
Threatened by some local residents who won a legal challenge against Brockwell Live which could have prevented a whole series of outdoor events in the park going ahead. 
Under fire from some quarters for featuring headliners Kneecap, whose Mo Chara had been charged with terror offences. 
And I think I'm having a hard day at work when my headset stops working during a Teams meeting.

Luckily the festival was still going ahead, and to get me one step closer to the festival entrance, I boarded a train at Elephant & Castle overground and travelled the two stops to Herne Hill.  Step out the station and the 2025 Good Beer Guide listed Commercial is right in front of you.

The Commercial Tavern (210-212 Railton Road, Herne Hill, SE24 0JT)
Doing a decent pre-festival trade with all outdoor seats taken and a fair number of punters spread throughout the two rooms within. 

It's a nice enough pub, with a few traditional features disguised by the paint job and modern furnishings.  And seabass fillets and sandwiches for over a tenner aren't traditional pub fare.
There were three handpumps, the Harvey's 'Sussex Best' being pulled through when I arrived, leaving me with a choice of 'Wainwright' or Sharp's 'Twin Coast'.
In a plastic glass, 'cos you can't trust all these folks on their way to a music festival.

One reasonable pint of Twin Coast later, it was just a minute-or-so walk from the pedestrian street that the station and Commercial are located on to the railway arches with a brewery tap.

Bird House Brewery and Tap Room (Arch 1127, Bath Factory Estate, 41 Norwood Road, Herne Hill, SE24 9AJ)
This was the former home of one-time Canopy Brewery, prior to Bird House re-opening the railway arch in March 2024.
It's probably better to enjoy your cocktails, beer and pizza al-fresco on tables in the pleasant passageway running past the two arches that house Birdhouse.
But I'm a sucker for sitting by the brew kit under a corrugated ceiling.

There were six of the breweries own beers on draft: lager, pale, white, gold, amber, and stout.
Despite the weather tempting me towards the pale brews, I enjoyed the robust stout, entertained by a playlist featuring a host of the artists set to play the main stages later in the day.

Time for one more before sitting in a field drinking (marginally more) expensive beer in paper cups?
Yep, I figured I could squeeze in the three star ★★★ heritage pub.

The Half Moon (10 Half Moon Lane, Herne Hill, SE24 9HU)
The last time I was in here was in 2010 when space rockers Mugstar played in a back room launching their latest album (which isn't quite as impressive as it would be if I could tell you I saw U2 when they appeared here in 1980). 
Its time as a music venue came to an end in 2013, the back space now opened up to bright airy dining.  But it's the front snug that you really want to go and sit in.

The run of hand-pained mirrors is something else...

There was an inn on this site back in the 18th century but the pub we see today dates back to 1896.  It was designed in a luxurious Jacobethan Revival style by architect J.W. Brooker, its opulence due to the surrounding area being a prosperous home to the merchant classes, further enhanced by the arrival of the railway.

Fullers took over the pub in the 2010's and gave it a make-over.
So no surprise to see Pride and Hophead as the cask choice.
I know, I know...Dark Star 'Hophead' isn't the beer it once was, but I'm pretty impressed by the glass...

That was a decent and enjoyable pint, sat in a spectacular pub, 'Across 110th Street' playing in the background.

Right, onward to the music festival.
No repeat of the enormo-queue that we had to stand in last year, this time waltzing in through the south entrance via a sniffer dog that got tangled around me in overexcitement about my hay-fever tablets.
The craft beer bar was set up with a run of London brewery counters, featuring Brew By Numbers, Queer Brewing, Five Points, Anspach & Hobday, and several more that are skipping my mind right now.

I headed to one that I was unfamiliar with, Blondies, who brew their beer in the NE of the city in Lea Bridge.
Stout at a festival is a rarity and was my pick of the bunch.

That was a really tasty brew, although I'm skeptical what sort of measure I was getting for my hefty £7.90, unable to see quite how much froth you have in those paper cups.
Top marks for the Biriyani food stall who quite possibly filled me up with one of the best tubs of food I've ever had a festival.

I veered very much toward the guitar end of the music choice on a diverse bill.  Gurriers in the Shacklewell Arms tent made enough of a racket to wake up anyone who'd got a bit carried away on a lunchtime pub crawl.  As they finished, I nipped across to the Moth Club marquee to catch the last few tracks by reformed seventies Zamrock group W.I.T.C.H.

Martin Rev confounded.
CMAT was country-pop perfection.
Mannequin Pussy and Sprints were loud and angry about stuff.
L.A's Frankie & the Witch Fingers were my undoubted festival highlight.

And this was the best t-shirt I saw all day.

Everything came to a close with the nation's current most controversial band, Belfast rappers Kneecap drawing a big crowd to the main stage as dusk fell.

Another great day out at this music festival.
I'll be back next year, if they've got the energy to organise it all over again, but where will it be?

Belgravia Pub Crawl

On Saturday 1st Feb I headed to London where a group of folk from the one-time Central Southern Region CAMRA branches had organised a West London pub ramble.

Making good speed on the Oxford Tube, I found myself in Victoria with time to spare and Spoons crying out that a pre-noon pint would be the ideal preparation for the beery day ahead.  It really probably wasn't, but never mind.

The Willow Walk (25 Wilton Road, Victoria, London, SW1V 1LW)
Handy for your £3.49 pint of real ale to prepare you for Wicked at the Apollo, The Willow Walk is a couple of minutes on foot from Victoria station, black cabs lined up in front of it.
Between 1954 and 1984 this site was part of the Wilton Road Woolworth's which had the longest store frontage in the whole of the chain.  Record Rendezvous and the pick 'n' mix section are long gone, part of the building becoming a JD Wetherspoon's in 1999. 

On this occasion there was a mini beer festival line-up on the bar featuring London breweries...

I ordered the By the Horns 'Foundry', a very drinkable 4.2% stout.  After enjoying this pint, it was sad to read a couple of days later than the Wimbledon brewery has gone into liquidation.

Pints came in sturdy plastic cups, my neighbour at the bar asking the staff why this was (plus why are there three security guards on the door and a police van parked outside, for that matter).
"There's a CAMRA regional pub crawl passing nearby."  Actually no, that wasn't the answer.

The chap turned to me when he didn't catch the actual reason.
"What did he say?  Who's playing?"
"He said there's a march for Tommy Robinson."
"Oh, right.  I'm an Ipswich fan myself."
???!

The meeting place for the pub ramble was Pimlico's marvellous Cask, which would be unlocking the doors at midday.  As the clock was ticking towards that time, I strolled in that direction, stopping for supplies in Sainsbury's, reaching the pub at ten-past.

Cask Pub & Kitchen (6 Charlwood Street, Pimlico, London, SW1V 2EE)
A couple of steps through the door and I found myself at the end of an orderly long queue to the bar, a gaggle of folks from the Oxon, Berks and Bucks CAMRA branches waiting in line to peruse the hand pumps.

Credit to the lone member of staff who worked efficiently through this early customer influx and never showed any consternation that most of us wanted two half pints and a picture of the pump clips.

I followed the two halves trend, unable to narrow the strong choice of cask down to one single pint pick.
The Newbarns/Omnipollo 'Henok's Mild' was a top notch 5.2% mild, chocolate and roast malt flavours edging it towards a porter.  Lined up next to this, I had the Heritage Brewing Co 'P2 Czar's Imperial Stout', deceptively smooth and easy-drinking for the 8% strength. Unsensible, maybe, but oh so nice.

Other than not being able to try all the beers, Cask made for a great meeting place for the participants on today's west London pub excursions.
It's a comfy place, those slanted front windows in the Grade II listed post-tower block Lillington Estate building giving this 60's pub some character. 
The cask prices didn't break the bank (it's usually a diversion to the keg that does that for me).
And it has a great descent to the gents...

Cask was very much the outlier on the itinerary, necessitating a 15-minute walk to the next stop.

When I moved to London as a youthful whippersnapper, our next destination was one of the few places brewing beer in the capital.  In a city dominated by Youngs and Fullers, Pimlico's Orange Brewery was a rare spot to drink beers concocted in the basement.  I vaguely remember Orange Square, on which the pub is located - artisan market just packing up as we arrived.  But I can't remember much about visiting the brewpub or if it was a bit more down-to-earth than the current incarnation.

The Orange (37 Pimlico Road, Belgravia SW1W 8NE)
Searching online I discovered a description of the latest refurbishment, detailing where the lampshades and fabrics had been sourced and how 'natural paint made from earth and mineral pigments' had been used.
Probably best not to expect rickety bench seating, spit and sawdust, and graffiti in the gents, then.

The Orange is a multi-roomed place- you can do a full circuit of the ground floor, taking in the characterful dining area to one side, seats by the fireplace, and staircase leading down to a subterranean 'Blood Orange Bar' or up to first floor bedrooms.  £200 for the night, should I not be able to face that bus journey home.

There were two hand pumps on the bar, one turned around, the other being Allsopp's 'Pale Ale', served to us in continental handled mugs that made half pints look very small.  

Moving on, we deviated from the suggested route, figuring we'd skip past a couple of small pubs that wouldn't be comfortable if all the CAMRA ramblers were to descend on them at once.
Another 15-minutes took us to a bit of a classic in Belgrave Mews...

The Star Tavern (6 Belgrave Mews West, Belgravia, SW1X 8HT)
The Star is famed as one of the 'famous five' pubs that have appeared in every edition of the Good Beer Guide, a blackboard by the staircase celebrating that achievement.
This Grade II listed pub dates back to 1864 and has hosted a colourful clientele over the years.  John Profumo was reputed to have met up with Christine Keeler at the Star; Diana Dors, Peter O'Toole and Albert Finney also drank here. 

In the sixties it was said that the well-heeled and celebrity clientele made themselves comfy downstairs, whilst a whole different set used the first floor library, most famously the collaborators planning the Great Train Robbery.

The cask ale choice at the bar was Fullers 'ESB' or 'Pride'.
Here's Michael by the upstairs library bar, making extensive tasting notes on his Fullers 'ESB'...

Or perhaps he's scribbling down his ideas for the next audacious heist to be dreamt up in the Library of the Star?

We finally had a shorter walk between pubs, trekking along the southern side of Belgrave Square to a pub hidden down a narrow cobbled street, featuring some fine foliage out front and evergreen window boxes.

Horse and Groom (7 Groom Place, Belgravia, SW1X 7BA)
The interior of the Horse and Groom is micro-size - five tables if I remember correctly, plus additional seating in an upstairs room that I didn't explore.  It's a cosy, brown-hued pub, with wood panelling, and a wooden screen secreting the steps down to the WCs.

This is a Shepherd Neame house, giving us a choice of the familiar 'Whitstable Bay', 'Master Brew', or 'Spitfire'. 

My 'Master Brew' was close to being past its best - the only significant beer quality dip of the day, whilst the 'Whitstable Bay' got a thumbs up from my drinking companions.
We perched on a handy vacant table in the corner, content in this classic west London pub, even if the TV showing the rugby was a little out of place in these surroundings.

It was a short walk back around Belgrave Square to reach the next pub on our list.  We tested our flag knowledge en-route; then, on request, I took some photos of a young lady holding signs in front of one of the embassy doors, with no idea what sort of protest I'd become an accomplice in.
Tucked down (yet another) back street was The Grenadier...

The Grenadier (18 Wilton Row, Belgravia, SW1X 7NR)
This is somewhere that I visited in the not so distant past and covered on this very blog as a Halloween post.  So, no need for me to go into detail here or recount why the ceiling is plastered in banknotes from around the globe.

My beer pick in the Grenadier was the house brew from Woodforde's of Norfolk, other options being Greene King 'IPA' or Tim Taylors 'Landlord'.  The 'Grenadier Ale' was served in reasonable condition but far from the most exciting of best bitters.

Right: let's visit a London classic, with a set of strict rules.

The Nags Head (53 Kinnerton Street, Belgravia, SW1X 8ED)
Something went amiss with the photo of the frontage, as you can see above.
Could the Czar's Imperial Stout have finally caught up with me?

Set in another quiet side street, the Nags Head has a few outdoor tables, plentiful hanging baskets and a canopy labelled 'Kevin Moran'.  Kevin - probably Mr Moran to me - is a former guardsman and actor who has created a set of rules for the pub, proclaiming himself 'Britain's strictest landlord' in an article in The Sun.

The upper front bar claims to have the lowest counter in London, and features a pewter beer engine with pink ceramic Chelsea Pottery hand pulls.  Real ales came from Adnams with 'Southwold Best Bitter', 'Ghost Ship', and 'Old Ale' available.

 

Our fearsome host hurried along our orders (Old Ale for all) serving them in dimpled mugs and efficiently taking four separate payments being as we'd reached end of buying rounds.
"It's eight pounds a pint, cash only for anything under sixteen pounds," she instructed us.

"No, not up there, there's no seating up there - sit there!"

What with the 'no mobile phones' signage and insistence that coats be hung on pegs and not draped over chairs, we were all a bit overwhelmed as we settled on a table next to the fire and took in the plethora of vintage games machines, curiosities, memorabilia and old pictures around us.

"Hang on a minute...£8 a pint for a 4.1% beer?!" said John when the penny dropped a few minutes later.
WhatPub suggests considering the steeper end of London real ale prices as an admission fee for a unique gem of a pub, something I can't argue with.

Several of our colleagues from Oxford caught up with us here, as our own adapted route around the Belgravia pubs crossed paths with the original itinerary.
They got told off for moving a stool to a spot in front of the fire and told to squeeze in on the bench by the window instead.  The last thing I heard as we departed and waved them goodbye was "did we just pay £8 a pint?!"

The 'Old Ale', by the way, was excellent, the whole pub experience the best of the day.

We had missed three suggested pubs compiled for the pub ramble (not a crawl... even at this stage, definitely a ramble!) but had now reached the end of the route and didn't have the inclination to back-track to the ones we'd skipped.
Instead, we opted to poke our heads into the second pub on Kinnerton Street.

The Wilton Arms (71 Kinnerton Street, Belgravia, SW1X 8ED)
Dating back to 1826, I suspect this would once have been as characterful an old inn as many of those we'd visited today.   But from it's 'Card Only' sign to the bright airy uncluttered space, it's 50 meters yet a million miles from the Nags Head.
The latest refurbishment came in 2021 after Shepherd Neame let the pub go and it was taken over by a small gastropub group.

Cask ale on offer was Fullers 'London Pride' or Allsopp's 'Pale' - we picked the pale again, being as this is something we're less likely to see back home.

Most of the other custom were eating and we were the odd ones out without our shopping bags from exclusive West End boutiques.
If I came in the Wilton Arms by myself I'd probably have hated it, but good company usurped by grumbles.  I'll even forgive the display of vintage Playboy covers - a pitiful attempt at mild smut in the gents...

Our day - or my participation in it, at least, as I headed for the bus stop afterward - ended in the Paxton's Head in Knightsbridge.  An old gin palace dating back to 1900 with a superb central bar and lots of etched glass and wood panels.
Unfortunately the guest beer had just run out leaving us with an unexciting 'Abbot Ale' - we'd gone downhill as far as exotic beer choice was concerned since Cask at midday.

I extend my thanks to those who arranged this pub ramble, taking me to a few new pubs hidden in the streets of Belgravia, making for a lovely afternoon in London.