31/1/17 - The CAMRA Good Beer Guide Pubs of Covent Garden

Covent Garden - often agreed as a destination meeting point when hooking up with friends.  Without anyone actually knowing the best pub to meet in.   Invariably, a suggestion will be made and we'll end up in some hideously packed hell-hole, drinking substandard fayre and wishing we were  somewhere else.  The Lamb and Flag is excluded from this appraisal.

So, on a very rainy night in Soho, I head out with the GBG Bible to try and track down the three entries that ring no bells with me.  Holborn is the easiest tube to get to.  By the time I have made it down Great Queen Street to Wellington Street, I am soaked to the bone.

Its not all giggles, this pub ticking.

The Coach and Horses, Wellington Street - Tribute

Random BeerintheEveningQuote - "I always try to find time to visit this little diamond; like many of my favourites it is small, friendly & seemingly out of place in its inner city location."

Did I tell you it was raining?  Battery on my phone is at a low 10% and I don't want to risk water damage so I kind of get into the right area and am lured in by marketing.

It would appear that I am not the only one ticking tonight.

The Signage is enough to get me out the Rain

Bar Scrummage

It was OK.  Once the harassed looking barmaid asked for ID, they melted into the night.

It left me chance to order a perfect pint of London Pride, peruse my surrounding and determine that I had peaked slightly early.

Pride in Covent Garden

In my defence, the Globe is next to the Marquess of Anglesey, which is next to my real destination. My navigational skills needed correcting, but not before I had taken my tea.

The Coach and Horses is a small independent Irish pub offering the best pint of Guinness in London.  I'm not falling for that again, I've been to the Toucan.  It's a community pub, so a well fed, very damp looking stranger gets eyed up on entry but only so they know the amount of gusto to put into their greeting.

These sorts of places always amaze me.  Out of the handful of people is man who has popped in after taking his dog for a walk.  I find it incredible that normal people who frequent classic boozers still live in this part of the city.

Only two real ales on - a Tribute or a Adnams - looked after and served with care by a man who has an identical outfit to Al Murray's Pub Landlord.

File under success.

Excuse the photo - needed to get out of the rain

Perfect Tribute

The Cross Keys, Endell Street, Wadworth 6X

Random BeerintheEveningQuote - "The barman was friendly. The interior felt less cluttered than on previous visits."

I can only guess at how cluttered it must have been.  If its brass, its hanging from the ceiling.  Pots, pans, musical instruments.  A long bar, with dimpled glasses hanging from hooks.  Every available wall surface covered in pictures and memorabilia.

I loved it.

The other thing the reviews have pointed out is the prices.  £3.60 for a perfect pint of 6X was easily the cheapest in the area by some distance.

All was going well until the landlady came out with the brasso and started polishing.

Another Dodgy Outdoor Night Photo

Well done to the GBG - highly recommended and this will be my future rendezvous point, whether my friends like it or not.

The White Swan, New Row, Orkney Dark Island

Random BeerintheEvening Quote - "The last time I was here the pub was an O'Neils and pretty bog standard it was too"

I have just enough battery on the phone to navigate myself to the White Swan.  I'll be finding an alternative way to scan in the Cask Marque certificate, proudly displayed just inside the door.

Its directly opposite the Round House.  One of the more ghastly previous rendezvous points.  Despite it being grade II listed, it looks corporate - especially on the inside.  It instantly looks like a Nicholsons pub and you can see how it used to be something much, much worse.

Time is getting on... moments after ordering an unexpected Dark Island from Orkey, the bell is rang with a vigour that is only ever found in Central London pubs.   Its 10:51 and they obviously cannot wait to get home.

To be fair, apart from a damp man taking a photo of a certificate in which to scan it later when his phone has power, its a slow night with just three other punters.  They are sat huddled together - with the patriarch telling his adult child about will provisions.  The future recipients protestations were not convincing enough to suggest he wasn't disappointed.

Might have been harsh - looks better than initially observed

Just me, the will makers and Trump.  Recipe for a good night.

So GBG - All three were new locations to me - despite coming to the area for 25 years.

And two out of three ain't bad.