09/03/26 - On the Trail of..... The Small World of Sammy Lee

Checking The Gentrification of Soho

It seems that it's impossible for me to simply watch TV without thinking - "I wonder what that location looks like now?". It takes me two hours to get through an episode of The Sweeney. And I haven't even started on Minder yet.

No surprise that the opening sequence of The Small World of Sammy Lee had me planning my annual trip to Soho. I need to make sure that Fuller's haven't ruined the Coach and Horses.

The film is pretty good.... Sammy Lee being what you would get if Bob Monkhouse worked in a strip club and lost all his money gambling.

The Small World of Sammy Lee (1963) is a British black-and-white crime drama directed by Ken Hughes and starring Anthony Newley, Julia Foster, and Robert Stephens.

The film follows Sammy Lee, a fast-talking compère at a Soho strip club who has run up a £300 gambling debt with a bookie. Given just five hours to repay the money, he rushes around Soho trying to borrow cash, call in favours, and make deals while still hosting the club’s stage shows.

This website does all the hard work of deconstructing the locations and making my days easier. Less time planning, more time walking.

Without going too mad.... the changes over 63 years....

The opening scene in Peter Street looking west

Once a striptease, now a restaurant at 50 Frith Street

At least the Indian remains at 44 Frith Street

And my favourite change - Books and Mags for Harry Bloody Potter at 157 Wardour Street

Whilst in the location - it's important for me to check on the Coach and Horses in Greek Street. Other pubs are available but none mean as much to me as this place. No need to repeat myself.

Fellow Casketeers waiting for the bolt slide

Fuller's took it over at the turn of the decade. The beer quality and range has improved (Kernal, no less) and the piano has (thankfully) been removed. Only so many times you can listen to Soho loveys belting out "Knees Up Mother Brown" ironically.

The view from the ghost of a piano

I was convinced the wooden bar backboard would be the first thing to be sacrificed in the name of progress. I'm reasonably sure I sent an email offering to buy it, if it was ever to be stripped out. Delighted that Skol, Ind Coope and Double Diamond have not been replaced with Pride, ESB and 1845. As much as I love them all.

Dread to think how long I have stared at this over the years

The final test - the gents. There was a time when you had to be very brave to even venture in. Now it is the inspiration for art. Even if the painter has caught it on a good day.  

Unsure I ever saw it so clean in the 1990s.

The hand dryer - no longer wall-mounted or working - suggests that gentrification has made only small inroads into my happy place.

09/03/26 - Following the River Westbourne

A Guide Book Complete

It's taken a long time. Since 2007 to be exact. 19 years to complete the final walk in Andrew Duncan's 50 Favourite London Walks. That's dedication for you.

Today's walk is one of London's Lost River Walks. The Westbourne rises from several streams in Hampstead, joining together into a river somewhere near Kilburn before debouching (Andrew is teaching me more than just London) at Chelsea Embankment.

Today, of course, it is completely covered. Although there are signs in the street names and evidence in the Long Water at Hyde Park. This was filled by the Westbourne and now is topped up from rainwater and another stream.

The walk takes me from the bustle of Paddington, through genteel Knightsbridge, before crossing the river to see what they have done to Battersea Power Station. I'll save you the effort - turned into a shopping mall with flats on top.

Servants quarters down Brook Mews (A river clue is in the name)

Italian Gardens at the top of the Long Water

Far end of the Long Water / Serpentine

The Westbourne delta forks at debouchment - this is Grosvenor's Canal Basin

Viewed from the Bridge

On the hunt for floating pigs

No pubs on this walk - I am heading to Soho to make sure my favourite hasn't been gentrified.

Walk Details 

Distance - 3.75 Miles

Geocaches - 4 

Walk Inspiration - Andrew Duncan's 50 Favourite London Walks

06/03/26 - The Mug House, Claines

Ghostly Goings on in the Good Beer Guide

I'll never get around to visiting every pub in a Good Beer Guide, but I can set myself a target of keeping my home county of Worcestershire "greened". 2026 saw five new entries.

The Mug House, Claines, becomes my latest quarry.

Now part of the Marston's chain

It probably comes as no surprise that this pub is detailed in two of my other books. Worcestershire's Historic Pubs and Haunted Pubs of Worcestershire. Let's deal with the stories.

Book 1 incorrectly claims it is the only pub on consecrated land in the UK. It is indeed housed within the Churchyard of St John the Baptist but book two says it is one of two, without providing details. AI confirms that the Ring O'Bells in Kendal is the other. With a name like that, it certainly sounds plausible.

Both books agree that during 1947 renovations, the silver head of a bishop's crozier was recovered, hidden in the walls. Handed to the Bishop of Worcester, it has been used in annual celebrations since.

Ghost tales? The usual hysterics in Haunted Pubs of strange noises, dogs that won't settle, and the tapping mallet going missing. Both books comment on a haunting by a ghost from the English Civil War - who goes to the front door, shouts "Beware!" and then heads to the church to play the organ.

No organ playing today, but it was "doors open".

The pub is as higgledy-piggledy as you would expect. The front room packed with solo men drinking. No photos from there, but it is the obvious place to see the wares and order. HPA and Butty Bach are a rather pedestrian offering for this part of the world.

A rear dining room offers fine views of the Malverns and a large mural painting by someone whose main career wasn't art.

The distant Malvern

How the pub looked in 1745

Finally, a smoke room/snug - where mugs hang from the rafters and a fox's head is nailed to the wall.

Butty Bach in fine condition

A perfectly good GBG recommendation and surprisingly easy access to public transport. Waiting for the 303 back to Kidderminster, every other car is flashes me as I look out for the bus.

The drivers of Worcester giving it to the man. Speed traps ahead.

04/03/26 - The Crown, Peopleton

Serendipity

Time for a Hidden Places of Worcestershire walk. The process? Spin a random number generator for a page number, see the place on that page and then plot a walk.

Number 73 today:  Peopleton.

Located near Pershore. Home to around 600 souls. Not any of them are out on a lovely spring day - no gardeners, no dog walkers. The place can be classified as quiet.

The walk turns out to be better than hoped for. The map indicated agricultural fields, so I was expecting a mud-fest. With the exception of one field of calf height grass - which actually gave the boots a good clean - this was easy going.

The ford at Barrel Bridge

Three highlights;

#1 - Wolverton Hall. Commandeered by Hattons jewellers in WWII for the "Industrial Diamond Trade". The guide book attests to rumours of tunnels packed with treasures.

Diamond Lights

#2 - St Nicholas Church. Back into Peopleton and an unassuming and quite simple church. Doors open - and in-the-field research suggests the wooden beamed barrelled roof is the standout feature.

St Nicholas Church

The roof looking towards the altar

#3 - The Pub. How's this for fortune? We're there on the first day of opening for the new landlords. If I hadn't been looking at curved roof beams in a 13th-century church, I would have been the first customer. Coming in late did provide the opportunity to gauge the cask quality based on the punters in the queue before me.

The London Pride looked good in the sunshine. The crisps, four days after their BBE - I'll let it slide and wish the new patrons luck in their endeavours.

Mrs M could have got the round in whilst I was on church duties

Take Pride in the Wye Valley

Walk Details

Distance - 4 Miles

Geocaches - 0

Walk Inspiration - Hidden Places of Worcestershire and Walks in the Country, Worcestershire - Walk 7