A Trip to Poshley

I'm a bit of a fan of the Tweedy Pubs channel on YouTube. If you haven't come across it, Tweedy is something of a pub historian, wandering around London (and occasionally further afield) exploring pub history, architecture and stories. His videos have introduced me to corners of London I'd barely thought about before, and I've quietly built up a mental list of places I'd like to visit.

Last Friday after breakfast we had a little bit of business to deal with at the nearby Nationwide Building Society, and then had planned to wander towards town. As we dithered, a bit undecided, E suggested something better  why not do a Tweedy Pubs area?"  Maida Vale had caught my eye in one of the videos, so that quickly became the plan. Being just opposite Aldgate station, it was easy enough to hop on the Tube. We travelled down to Baker Street and changed onto the Bakerloo Line — wonderfully rattly and gloriously old-fashioned, running the oldest trains on the network, the 1972 stock. I’ve always had a soft spot for that sort of thing, having grown up in a railway family.

Maida Vale station lies deep underground and currently has only one escalator in service. We drifted slowly upwards while watching the opposite escalator, closed for renovation, where the brave were gingerly picking their way down the steep incline to the platform. We joked about attempting the same later with a full cargo of beer aboard — though as it turned out, that particular challenge never arose. 

Emerging into the daylight on rather a posh road and with a handy roadside map giving us our bearings, we set off down Elgin Avenue, along a very grand road to the proposed first stop, the Warrington Hotel.  What a beauty!  Grade 2 listed, with a portico entrance with imposing marble columns, the word "opulent" is the right one. I suggest you to have a look at what CAMRA says. It does it more justice than I could.

The outside of the pub had given us a foretaste and inside was even more grand. A pub though, no matter how ornate or humble, is only as good as its offering and here we were not disappointed. The landlady herself greeted us. Sharon was welcoming, friendly and happy to chat. Two cask beers were available, and I chose Twickenham Naked Ladies which was well-kept in this Good Beer Guide entry. Sharon also showed us a recently published book that mentioned the pub and outlined a suggested crawl around the local area. Most importantly, she gave us a firm recommendation: whatever we did, we shouldn't miss The Prince Alfred, just five minutes away down an even grander street than Elgin Avenue.

The walk didn't disappoint and took us in no time to the Prince Alfred, a Young's pub and again, a Grade 2 listed Victorian building.  Once more I will turn to CAMRA for a full description which you can read here. The pub was fairly quiet, but we settled into one of the snugs, both of us ducking under the low "pot boys" service doors mentioned by CAMRA.  Sadly, the welcome here was less than wholehearted and the beer, Young's Special in my case - Bitter was also available - was rather flat and over-vented, though the underlying taste wasn't too bad. Nonetheless, the whole experience of such an unspoilt pub was worthwhile and it may well have appealed more on a busier session. 

Across the road was Real Drinks a off-licence selling wine on one side and beer on the other. You can have a drink here, either on four keg lines or from the bottle with a reasonable corkage fee. We were warmly welcomed from the barman/ shop assistant, and settled on Augustiner Edelstoff for me and Helles for E.  The little space soon filled up and so jolly it was we stayed for two. Despite the location, the prices were very reasonable indeed, and the barman happily took E outside to point out some of the houses occupied by the famous.  Not that the names meant much to me. All popular culture passes me by.

We decided to call it a day for the area. Our nearest tube had become Warwick Road, a few hundred yards away, thus avoiding the precipitous stairs at Maida Vale. But we weren't quite finished and it was off back to Charing Cross for some Czech beer in the highly recommended Stranded on the Strand in cental London.  If you like Czech beer, offered either in UK or Czech style, this is for you. I enjoyed a couple of glasses of dark, while E had a glass of ordinary Budvar.  The place was busy which was gratifying as some had forecasted it wouldn't do so well. Next was the 15 bus and back to ours for a well deserved curry on Leman Street. 

 So Maida Vale? We enjoyed it.  The Warrington Hotel and Real Drinks offered totally different drinking experiences, but were extremely enjoyable. We missed out on others, so we'll be back. You can't say fairer than that. Recommended.

The curry was a touch confusing, as I had thought we'd agreed on a takeaway, but E thought we were eating in. We ate in!  At least the flat didn't smell of curry, though our clothes did.

The Czech beer is way better in the actual Czech presentation. Don't make the mistake of ordering British style just to get a pint. Two thirds Czech is the way to go. 

 

 

Location, Location, Location

Last week, on a visit to London, we decided to walk over Tower Bridge to the Hand and Marigold in Bermonsdsey, and hence along Tooley Street to the Sun Wharf, a new Wetherspoons, in the former London Dungeon.  In October the tourist hordes have died down somewhat and our walk along Royal Mint St to the rear of the controversial sometime to be Chinese embassy, was an enjoyable one as we checked out yet another high-rise building being squeezed into the smallest of spaces.  On the bridge, gratifyingly, we didn't have to dodge photo taking visitors quite so much.  We noted a foreign, but unidentified warship, moored to HMS Belfast and the ever-changing skyline, before walking along Tower Bridge Rd and its nose to tail city bound traffic.

I have mentioned the Hand and Marigold favourably before and, on this Thursday, late afternoon, it was very quiet.  The friendly barman was line cleaning and mentioned he'd have rather a good porter on soon. Fine by me. In the meantime, a very decent pint of Lacon's Norfolk Gem was no hardship. I liked the taster I had of an Abbeydale beer a lot less and disagreed mildly with mine host about its distinct but denied whiff of vinegar, but all was redeemed by the aforementioned porter, Abyss from Other World Brewing, which hails from near Edinburgh it seems. This was an absolute belter of a beer. Highly recommended, as is the pub.

Moving on along Tooley Street, the Shipwright's Arms may be located in a bustling and increasingly refined area, but it still maintains more than a touch of its working-class roots. 

Inside, the atmosphere is lively, with a mix of commuters and local characters - geezers if you will - mingling around the large circular bar. The traditional woodwork and tiled shipbuilding murals add to the appeal of this classic pub. Outside, in that peculiar London way, we noted drinkers spilling out onto the streets, opting to stand and drink on the pavement rather than squeeze into the packed indoor seating.  The whole thing, inside and out, was going like a fair. It was good to see.

Of course, into each life a little rain must fall. There were three cask beers. Doom Bar and its stablemate Sea Fury along with Southwark Brewing's London Pale Ale which I had (in an abomination of a Sharp's branded glass) and found thin, weedy, and pretty flat. This was a shame, but this pub is better than its beer choice and was enjoyable despite it.

And so to our destination. Just past London Bridge Station which is in itself a railway wonder of the world and sharing its arches, is JDW's newest London pub - well probably - the Sun Wharf.  Inside this is a maze of separate areas which are served by one large and long bar. You could easily get lost inside, though, so packed it was. Exploring was rather difficult, and I'm pretty sure given there was more than one entrance, that I must have missed bits of it.  Service was good, though, and I noted that a couple of staff seemed to have been allocated solely to bring glasses back for washing and to clear and wipe tables. Given the throng inside, they were needed. I had an excellent pint of Buckingham Best, which of course had gone off when I returned for another.

There is little doubt that the Sun Wharf will succeed. It is in a prime position, has more passing trade than you could shake a stick at, and is reasonably priced. It is almost like a giant station bar. I'll still spend more time in the Hand and Marigold though.

Given the traffic, we walked back to Tandleman Towers South, thus missing out on the chance to use our bus passes. I still couldn't identify the unknown warship, given the darkness and the distance.

Unwisely, we called into the Goodman's Field as we passed. That was a bad idea, but overall, albeit by a majority, London cask passed muster.

I have had no end of trouble formatting photos in Blogger recently. It used to be easy, and now it just isn't if you want them to wrap. Apologies.

Boddies Going Down a Storm

Since my last post on the subject, I have been reading on social media that the new JW Lees version of Boddies is meeting with much approval from the cask drinking public and, importantly, from publicans.

It is of course still largely in its Manchester homeland, and probably not straying too far even in the North West, but it will I’m sure in time.  I note that such fine establishments such as the Fox and Pine in Oldham - CAMRA's Greater Manchester Pub of the Year say it is flying out and in Stockport, the newly re-opened Crown run by the same team as the award-winning Petersgate Tap, is shifting the stuff at a rate of knots, selling their three casks in 24 hours.  Of course, at the moment there is a large novelty factor at play, but speaking to folks in my local Lees pubs, who have been quizzing me about it, it is clear that it has definitely piqued interest locally, not least of all from the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham and the Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Suzuki. 

Boddingtons
Cream of Manchester
“By’eck, it’s gorgeous”!!! pic.twitter.com/ozBFF0cGd9

— Hiroshi Suzuki (@AmbJapanUK) September 5, 2025

The reputation of the beer will be enhanced to travellers, too, as it is being sold by the Piccadilly Tap and the Victoria Tap, at the city's main railway stations. Maybe passengers, nipping in for a pint will spread the word?  

There has been a bit of  minor grumbling about whether the beer is true to the original, but of course, the question to pose when that arises, is "Which original version?" as it is clear that Boddingtons Bitter changed many times over the years, though nobody can say with any certainty when the halcyon version was, or when it changed from that.  Beer memories are fickle and subjective, so it is better surely to take this view as expounded by Boak and Bailey, which I regard as entirely sensible.

"A perfect historical recreation might work as a one-off special, which people would seek out once, as a novelty. But this needs to be a beer that will sell in 2025. That it reminds people of how it felt to drink the original* is good news in that regard. (*As someone pointed out in that social media discussion, there is no ‘original’. In reality, the beer changed and evolved over the course of decades.")

I will be keeping my eye on it from my perspective as CAMRA's JW Lees Brewery Liaison Officer of course - as well as from my own interest - and will report back from time to time.  In the meantime, it has given a bit of a buzz to the cask ale market and that, for sure, is a good thing.

I am told that Boddies is also available in JW Lees Rain Bar, but this isn't verified and there are other places in the city too, so plenty of chances to try it should you be so inclined.

More About London

Let's make one thing clear. London has a fabulously diverse selection of pubs and, yes, it has to be said, some ropey cask beer.  Now that's out of the way, let's concentrate on the praise - with the odd, minor criticism to liven things up.

On a cold Wednesday evening, we started as always in the Aldgate Tap. I've a bit of a soft spot for the various Taps in the Bloomsbury Leisure empire and even though this one is completely devoid of any real character, it being an architect designed lump of steel and glass, sort of plonked in a London square. Its nearness to Aldgate Tube station though, makes it a handy pit stop for those Londoners that still roll up at offices and who tend, thankfully, to spend most of their visit outside in the square, leaving the pub to wusses like me who prefer to see the bar from where I'm drinking and to avoid both smoke and cold. The pub - or is it a bar? - is adjacent to a very old church, St Botolph's, a survivor of the Great Fire of London, so it goes back a fair bit and provides a bit of contrast, as Aldgate Square is a recent invention.

There are two cask beer lines here, and they are served free flow through a wall of steel behind the bar. I always think that the beer suffers a tad when served this way, but here, while not the peak of cask conditioning, it is usually in decent nick and rewardingly in London, under a fiver a pint.  The manager, John, is a great lad and always happy to chat. The staff are efficient and friendly, so we like it and enjoy it too for people watching. The London office crew in the wild is always worth a look and an earwig. They really are a genre apart and a throwback to teatime drinking, which happens less often elsewhere. 

A short wander away, right under the Gherkin, you’ll find Craft - a pub that, on paper, should be an absolute gem. Soft lighting, exposed brick, big windows, loads of breweriana - ticks all the right boxes. Except… the cask beer, which, more often than not, is over-vented and flat as a pancake. My usual tactic here? Try the cask, pick the least bad one, then immediately wash it away with a pint of London Black. Works every time. That said, it’s a lovely spot - just proceed with caution when ordering the real stuff.

So two pubs in one small area of EC3. Somewhat surprisingly, I feel, as mentioned above, you can trust the cask more in the one that isn't called Craft, than the one that is, though that certainly wins as a pub. 

(I'll draw a veil over the appalling beer in Fullers Trinity Bell next door to Cask. You could have poached an egg in the beer and it was flat as a pancake. Just the sort of stuff that puts people off cask forever, and not at all what you expect from Fullers managed house.)

The next day - Nunhead - Why?  Honestly, because we kept seeing the 78 bus going there and thought , why not? And you know what? Great decision. The ride itself was a treat, with top-deck views as we rolled over Tower Bridge, down the Old Kent Road, through the madness of Peckham Rye’s high street, and then… Nunhead. Which, it turns out, isn’t exactly buzzing. We checked out the local bakery (nice), butcher (also nice), fishmonger (smelly), and spotted two pubs. The Shepherd Neame boozer didn't appeal - well - its Shep's innit so - not this time for the Man of Kent. So we headed into The Old Nun’s Head, more or less across the road.

It was pretty deserted  mid-afternoon, but we were greeted warmly by the young barman (who confirmed no cask at the Shep's pub, so a good call) and after a taste of a local beer - awful - we settled for a Northern beer, Vocation Bread and Butter, which was fine, but needed a few more drinkers to liven it up. The pub itself was a mix of old and quirky new, and as the barman started laying out reserved signs on almost every table, it was clear this place gets packed in the evening - probably when the beer is at its best too.  All in all we liked it, so it is recommended.

A short stroll through fairly villagey backstreets, and we popped out just by the Angel Oak, a fine old roadside boozer which promised - according to WhatPub - four cask beers and delivered absolutely none.  Yes, I've advised the local CAMRA branch.  Big windows again - they really work, I'd say.  Other than us and a few local young women, a couple with babies, the pub was empty but somehow the warmth, the low chat and the lack of any music, made this a strangely enjoyable visit. We sipped our tasteless keg craft (Kona Big Wave I think) and simply enjoyed this large, but cosy bar, with attractive tables, low seats and fine views of the common and busy road outside.  Despite the beer, we left with a degree of reluctance.

Last up on this jaunt, the White Horse on Peckham Rye.  This is a fine old ex Charrington house, which is pretty well unspoilt inside, with much original wood panelling, a public bar in front and a well appointed (in 1970 style) lounge at the rear. A very warm welcome from the barmaid, who advised me it was happy hour, and provided me with a decent quality pint of Five Points Pale. Locals nodded and one even spoke to us. It was a journey into the past and an enjoyable one at that as we watched people, just enjoying the pub, some hardy souls even sitting outside.It would have been rude not to have a second, so we did, before nipping round the corner and the 78 back to SE1.

Summing up the trip to Nunhead, we really enjoyed the three fairly random pubs we visited. OK, the beer didn't really reach top standards, though I reckon both with real ale would have done so with a little more turnover and quality control. The Angel Oak struck me as the type of pub that would have greatly benefitted from a couple - no more - of decent cask ales. But then again, it is a Greene King House. 

So, no disasters in Nunhead, Disappointment in EC3 and going back to Nunhead/Peckham, a fab afternoon out and three very different pubs, which all appealed in their own way. 

Top tip if you is very old like me. Jump on a bus and see where it takes you. It is free after all. Even if it isn't, it is a great way to see London.

 Shortly after, I watched a Tweedy Pubs report on the 37 lost pubs of the Old Kent Road. Only two remain. Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road!  Tweedy Pubs is well recommended.

Blogger wouldn't let me place my photo of the White Horse without distorting everything else, so there is a link instead.