Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Pub Crawl!
Hubby and I had been planning our pub crawl for about a year and we finally decided to do it in July. We caught the bus from Liverpool Street to London Bridge and got off to have a look at the Monument first. From London Bridge we watched Tower Brige opening up to let a tall-masted Thames barge through. London Bridge is the only place in England that you can see two cathedrals at once - St Paul's and Southwark (apparently).
The George Inn in Borough High Street is the only galleried pub left in England and in the courtyard they used to put on Shakespeare's plays. It's owned by the National Trust now. http://www.pubs.com/pub_details.cfm?ID=187 Nearby Borough Market was open with its fanastic food and drink stalls. From there we walked along past the Clink, onto the South Bank and over the Millenium Bridge to St Paul's and along to our second pub, The Blackfriar. It's amazing in there! It's an Arts and Crafts/Art Nouveau pub and awesome to look at. We got a really good look around it as almost everyone was drinking outside.
http://www.thejoyofshards.co.uk/london/blackfriar/index.shtml
Fleet Street was next on our walk to our third pub but first we peered into the entrance of the old Daily Express building. It's a fabulous example of an Art Deco structure with a beautifully decorated lobby. http://www.cityofsound.com/blog/2003/10/daily_express_b.html
The Cheshire Cheese was our next destination for refreshment, a poky little rabbit-warren of a place rebuilt in the 1600's. It was Samuel Johnson's local. It was a little too dark and pokey for me but worth a look. http://www.pubs.com/pub_details.cfm?ID=216
Next a stroll through Lincoln's Inn Fields, where we saw people queuing to get into Sir John Soanes house, and on to the Princess Louise in High Holborn. It's a fine example of the Victorian era with ceramic ties and etched glass panels (and smelly Victorian drainage in the vicinity of the men's toilets!). http://www.pubs.com/pub_details.cfm?ID=226
Our last stop was the fish and chip shop, The Fryers Delight, http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/features/28.html which seemed very dull and dowdy, with its formica tables and bench seats, after all those lovely places but the fish and chips are always fresh and delicious, just like Yorkshire ones (no mushy peas though!). We walked back to Liverpool Street after that with a brief foray into Thornton's as it was choccy day for me! Sigh, the perfect end to a perfect day.
The George Inn in Borough High Street is the only galleried pub left in England and in the courtyard they used to put on Shakespeare's plays. It's owned by the National Trust now. http://www.pubs.com/pub_details.cfm?ID=187 Nearby Borough Market was open with its fanastic food and drink stalls. From there we walked along past the Clink, onto the South Bank and over the Millenium Bridge to St Paul's and along to our second pub, The Blackfriar. It's amazing in there! It's an Arts and Crafts/Art Nouveau pub and awesome to look at. We got a really good look around it as almost everyone was drinking outside.
http://www.thejoyofshards.co.uk/london/blackfriar/index.shtml
Fleet Street was next on our walk to our third pub but first we peered into the entrance of the old Daily Express building. It's a fabulous example of an Art Deco structure with a beautifully decorated lobby. http://www.cityofsound.com/blog/2003/10/daily_express_b.html
The Cheshire Cheese was our next destination for refreshment, a poky little rabbit-warren of a place rebuilt in the 1600's. It was Samuel Johnson's local. It was a little too dark and pokey for me but worth a look. http://www.pubs.com/pub_details.cfm?ID=216
Next a stroll through Lincoln's Inn Fields, where we saw people queuing to get into Sir John Soanes house, and on to the Princess Louise in High Holborn. It's a fine example of the Victorian era with ceramic ties and etched glass panels (and smelly Victorian drainage in the vicinity of the men's toilets!). http://www.pubs.com/pub_details.cfm?ID=226
Our last stop was the fish and chip shop, The Fryers Delight, http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/features/28.html which seemed very dull and dowdy, with its formica tables and bench seats, after all those lovely places but the fish and chips are always fresh and delicious, just like Yorkshire ones (no mushy peas though!). We walked back to Liverpool Street after that with a brief foray into Thornton's as it was choccy day for me! Sigh, the perfect end to a perfect day.
