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London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
North London: Other locations – Crouch End
 Maynard Arms, N8. Pic: Greene King Contemporary pub, gastropub (Realpubs/Greene King)
70 Park Road N8 8SX
T 020 8341 6283 w www.maynardarmsn8.co.uk f Maynard-Arms
Open 1200-2300 (2400 Fri-Sat). Children very welcome until early evening.
Cask beer 4 (sometimes local or unusual guests) Cask Marque, Other beer 3 keg, 6 bottles, Also Around 50 wines, specialist spirits.
Food Enhanced pub grub/gastro menu, Wifi. Disabled toilet.
Mon BYO wine, Fri Scotch Egg night, occasional live music, quiz planned, beer festivals, functions.
As well as being a thoroughly decent pub, the Maynard Arms is also an illustration of how the upsurge of interest in quality beer and pubs in London is changing the rules. Previously when big operators swallowed up smaller ones, they quickly stamped their new acquisitions with corporate homogeneity as yet more outlets for their standard products. But when new national brewer Greene King bought Realpubs, a small but upmarket London pub chain, in 2011, it not only preserved the established identity of the new pubs, but set about converting some of its old pubs to the newly acquired model.
Previously a straightforward and unremarkable GK house, the Maynard is now a comfortable, independently minded gastroish place staffed by knowledgeable enthusiasts, with not an Abbot nor an IPA in sight. Instead the four handpumps rotate beers from the likes of Dark Star, Hog’s Back, Hopback, Sambrook’s, St Peter’s, Triple fff and Truman, while the kegs come from Camden Town and Staropramen. Brooklyn Lager and Duvel are top choices from the fridge. Big tables and a restaurant area with burger bar booths round the back provide spreading room to try slightly pricey but good food such as seasonal home baked pies, braised rabbit, Barbary duck breast or wild mushroom risotto, while interesting bar snacks stretch to oysters, hummus and pita and charcuterie platters. Big picture windows give an airy feel and the large and verdant garden adds to the attraction. There’s a long list of other GK pubs that could benefit from similar treatment.
Visitor note. Crouch End – the name is mostly likely from the Latin crux (‘cross’) – was once a rural village among woodlands on a major junction of an important route north from London. Developed from the 1880s into a middle class suburb for clerical commuters, in recent years it’s gained a gentrified and arty reputation, thanks partly to the presence of Hornsey College of Art, the centre of a Paris-inspired student protest in May 1968. It also boasts a famous symphonic choir, the Crouch End Festival Chorus.
National Rail Underground Finsbury Park Overground Crouch Hill Bus Wolseley Road (W7 Crouch Hill, Finsbury Park) Cycling LCN+ 82 Walking Link to Capital Ring
London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
East London: Bethnal Green and Mile End
 Sebright Arms, London E2 (Independent, small group)
34 Coate Street E2 9AG
T 020 7729 0937 w www.sebrightarms.co.uk f SebrightArms tw SebrightArms
Open 1700 (1200 Sun)-2300 (2400 Th-Sat, 2230 Sun). Children welcome until 2000.
Cask beer 5 (usually London guests), Other beer 5 keg, 25 bottles, Also 1 real cider, 18 wines, some specialist spirits
Food Burgers and hot dogs, Outdoor Benches on alleyway, Wifi.
Events most nights (live music, comedy, theatre), Fri-Sat DJs, quiz planned
Don’t be put off by the forbidding frontage this East End landmark presents to Coate Street – glance instead down Sebright Passage where stained glass windows and picnic benches on the narrow alleyway from Bethnal Green Road form a prettier picture. The place has had a chequered history, and was almost demolished and redeveloped, but was reopened in November 2011 by independent pub operator Charles Ross, continuing the tradition of performance with a packed programme in the cellar bar, and also offering an excellent lineup of beer in a funky but friendly and relaxed atmosphere.
The ground floor has been refitted in traditional style, divided into large slightly raised booths lined by red padded settles. Distinctive wood panelling with a curious lozenge motif is particularly evident in an attractive side room with a boardroom feel and a display of kitschy artwork. The five cask ales constantly rotate but almost always feature London or London-related breweries: Brodie’s, East London, Moncada, Redemption, Sambrook’s, Truman’s, Windsor & Eton and the like. Keg beers come from Camden Town, London Fields and Meantime. Other London brewers like Kernel and Redchurch pop up in the expanding bottled selection alongside numerous US craft brews (Brooklyn, Goose Island) and international choices like Chimay. Food is provided by pop-up chefs on extended residencies: at the time of writing it’s quality burgers and dogs from Lucky Chip but that may well change. Lovely Haggerston Park and Hackney City Farm are only a few steps away.
Visitor note. A pub first appeared on this site in the early 19th century, and became a major local attraction when a music hall was added in 1865 – Charles Chaplin and Marie Lloyd performed here early in their careers. The cellar space was created sometime in the 1980s, and turns out not to have been officially licensed until recently. In recent decades the pub has been associated with heavy metal, disco, cockney singsongs and music hall revivals featuring Barbara Windsor, drag shows and jazz. In 2009 it was closed following a police raid and slated for demolition, but was saved following a local campaign – a rare example of a pub closure story with a happy ending.
National Rail Cambridge Heath, Bethnal Green Overground Hoxton Underground Bethnal Green Bus Warner Place (numerous Hackney, Cambridge Heath, Liverpool Street) Cycling LCN+ 9 16, Shadwell link, Regents Canal towpath Walking Jubilee Greenway, link to London Fields paths
London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
East London: Other locations – Wanstead
 The Nightingale, London E11 Traditional pub (Enterprise)
51 Nightingale Lane E11 2EY
T 020 8530 4540
Open 1200 (1030 Sat)-2400 (0100 Fri-Sat). Children welcome until early evening.
Cask beer 5 (Wells & Young’s, 4 guests) Cask Marque, Other beer 3-4 bottles, Also Malts and specialist whiskies.
Food Extensive good value pub grub menu, Wifi. No disabled toilet but flat access.
W Irish music, Th quiz.
The former extent of Epping Forest can be traced today through the scattering of green spaces across suburban east London that are still managed by the City of London in its role as Conservator of Forest lands – a collection of patches, some of them tiny, that for various reasons had resisted development up to the passing of the parliamentary Act protecting the Forest in 1878. One such obscure patch is the curiously named Mob’s Hole, once known as a thorny haunt of highwaymen and harlots on a woodland lane but now a little recreation ground amid a tangle of residential streets in suburban Wanstead.
Overlooking the green is the Nightingale, a lovely old pub that adds a splendid splash of colour when its hanging baskets burst into life, as attested by a string of Redbridge in Bloom awards proudly displayed around an attractive snug in the immaculate interior. This is one of those front parlour pubs, managed by the same family for well over 20 years, and spotlessly clean with green padded furniture, rouched curtains, an old fashioned serving hatch for the back bar and displays of cartoons, celebrities and Irish-themed artefacts.
Such is the laid back, welcoming atmosphere that it pulls in regulars from all over east London. A surprisingly extensive menu includes sandwiches, “sizzler” plates of seafood and chicken, a variety of curries, staples like pies and steaks, children’s portions, a range of vegetarian comfort food and, according to one of the regulars, “the best chips in Wanstead”, all at keen prices. Courage Best as the regular cask beer nods to the pub’s former owners, while the well kept guests are likely to come from better known breweries like Adnams, Black Sheep, Everards, Greene King or Thwaites, with a range of styles that often includes a mild. Bottled Singha is the best lager choice. A genuine gem that’s well worth the effort of finding.
Underground Snaresbrook Cycling Link to LCN+ 55 158, 2012 Games Epping Forest route Walking Links to Epping Forest Centenary Walk, Roding Valley Way, 2012 Games Epping Forest route
London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
East London: Other locations – Romford
 Moon and Stars, Romford RM1 (London) Contemporary pub (Wetherspoon)
99 South Street, Romford RM1 1NX
T 01708 730117 w www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-moon-and-stars
Open 0900-2400 (0100 Thu-Sun). Children welcome until early evening.
Cask beer 8 (Greene King, Wells & Young’s, 5 sometimes unusual guests) Cask Marque, Other beer Regular Wetherspoon kegs and bottles, Also Real cider, a few wines.
Food Wetherspoon menu, Outdoor Tables on street, Wifi. Disabled toilet.
Seasonal events, big screen major sports, usual Wetherspoon promotions.
Romford was a small Essex market town in 1799 when Edward Ind bought the Star Inn, a pub with adjoining brewery in the High Street next to the river Rom. As Ind & Smith, and later Ind Coope, the brewery grew into by far the biggest local industry. By 1970 it was a core component of Allied, one of the then ‘Big Seven’ national brewers, employing 1,000 workers on an 8ha site. Yet a mere 23 years later, it was closed by new owners Carlsberg, and the site redeveloped into the Brewery shopping centre and leisure complex, with only a 50m chimney and some historic façades preserved as a reminder of its former use. Behind one of these is the award winning Havering Museum.
Brewery site, museum, shops and market might attract you to Romford today but the town is sadly bereft of pubs worthy of a special trip. About the best bet, right by the station and the only local pub with a Good Beer Guide listing, is this JD Wetherspoon. Opened in 1994, it’s a typical branch of the chain for its time, converted from a large high street shop with standard issue saloon bar furniture and some pleasant mirrored booths. Extra interest is added by a skylight, patches of red marble, a street terrace, and praiseworthy efforts both to stock good cask beer and to provide a community meeting place, as attested by the pub’s own newsletter and a notice board for local events and services. When I called, beers from Batemans, Brewsters, Oakham, Oxfordshire and Wold Top joined regulars Abbot, Ruddles Best and Courage Directors on the bar, and the pub keenly supports Wetherspoon festivals.
National Rail Romford Cycling Link to LCN+ 15 Walking Links to Thames Chase paths
London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
East London: Other locations – Woodford Green
 The Cricketers, Woodford Green IG8 (London) Traditional pub (McMullen)
299 High Road, Woodford Green IG8 9HQ
T 020 8504 2734 w www.mcmullens.co.uk/cricketerswoodford
Open 1100 (1200 Sun)-2300 (2230 Sun). Children welcome at lunchtime if dining, no buggies.
Cask beer 3 (McMullen), Other beer 3 bottles.
Food Pub grub lunches, Outdoor Benches in side yard. Disabled toilet.
Sun quiz, darts, occasional live music, golf society.
A wonderful thing happened when the Cricketers was refurbished in 2009: rather than indulging the current fashion for bare floorboards, church hall chairs and floppy sofas, the designers stayed faithful to the sort of traditional decor that would have been recognised by pub goers in the 1950s. It’s a perfect fit for this roadside ‘brewers’ Tudor’ building in villagey surroundings close to a swathe of Epping Forest. The pub retains its original layout with two rooms either side of a central bar area – a plain public bar with lino floor and dartboard, and a posher carpeted saloon bar with padded furniture. It’s still very much a community local, with pensioners’ meal deals on decently priced lunch offerings like steak and ale pie and various curries, a popular quiz and its own golf society. Long noted in the Good Beer Guide for the quality of its McMullen ales, it regularly stocks AK, Cask Ale and Country Bitter, with retro bottled offerings including Gold Label Barley Wine and Mac’s own strong ale, Stronghart. A recommended stop if you’re exploring the southern part of the Forest.
Visitor note. A corner of the saloon bar commemorates Winston Churchill, who among many other things was MP for Woodford from 1945 until he retired from politics in 1964. A little to the north, an imposing statue of Churchill commands the open space of Woodford Green.
Underground Woodford, South Woodford Bus Woodford Cricketers (179 W13 South Woodford) Walking Link to Epping Forest Centenary Walk, 2012 Games Epping Forest route
London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
Central London: Notting Hill
 Windsor Castle, London W8 Traditional pub (Castle/Mitchells & Butlers) National heritage pub.
114 Campden Hill Road W8 7AR
T 020 7243 8797 W www.thewindsorcastlekensington.co.uk
Open 1200-2300 (2230 Sun). Children welcome until 1900.
Cask beer 5 (Adnams, Sambrook’s, Timothy Taylor, 2 sometimes unusual guests) Cask Marque, Other beer 7 keg, 3 bottles, Also 3 real ciders, 26 wines, seasonal homemade soft drinks.
Food Upmarket pub grub, Outdoor Large beer garden, No disabled toilet but flat access.
Wed wine club.
It’s sometimes said that this pub got its name because you could see the real Windsor Castle from here, if it wasn’t for the houses in between. Given the geography this seems unlikely, but back in 1825 when the pub was built, its commanding position atop Campden Hill, surrounded by open fields, might well have reminded people of the castle. The fields are long gone, but the pub still retains something of a rural character, and you’ll certainly know you’ve climbed a hill to get there if you approach from the south. The effort is worthwhile, however, as this is one of London’s loveliest heritage pubs, barely changed since before World War II.
The squat, sturdy looking building is often draped in a rich carpet of greenery. Inside, partitions with low hatches still divide the nicotine-encrusted drinking area into three spaces, named on the door glass as the Campden Bar, the Private Bar and the Sherry Bar, and the fittings and much of the furniture date from a 1933 refit, though the carved mahogany bar back is a Victorian survivor. The ambience keeps faith with the decor – there’s no recorded music, no TVs and no gaming machines, yet far from being a museum piece the pub feels lively and lived in, with a mixed, friendly and relaxed crowd. At the back, you’ll find one of the prettiest and most capacious pub gardens for miles.
There’s a good beer range too. Broadside, Landlord and Wandle are cask regulars, with guests that might come from Box Steam, Cottage or Marston’s. Sierra Nevada Pale and Franziskaner wheat beer enliven the cask selection while Budvar, Cooper’s and Innis & Gunn are in bottle. Dishes such as rare breed sausage and colcannon, chestnut and wild mushroom risotto or pepper steak pie are well priced given the area, with a value fixed price deal. This is the edge of Kensington and Notting Hill, with Holland Park a short wander away, so there’s a whiff of wealth about some of customers – but not to the exclusion of others. Remarkably, the place is run by a big pubco – but on this occasion they’ve had the good sense to allow the pub’s own unique character to shine.
Underground Notting Hill Gate Cycling LCN+ 45 Walking Holland Park paths
London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
Central London: Westminster, Victoria and Pimlico
 Red Lion, Duke of York Street, London W1. Pic: Fuller's. Traditional pub (Fuller’s) National heritage pub
2 Duke of York Street SW1Y 6JP
T 020 7321 0782 w www.fullers.co.uk
Open 1130-2300 (closed Sun).
Cask beer 5-6 (Fuller’s) Cask Marque, Other beer 1 keg (Fuller’s).
Food Enhanced pub grub lunchtimes, Wifi.
This miraculous heritage survivor, just round the corner from the celebrated Christopher Wren church of St James’s Piccadilly, is one of London’s prettiest pubs, and a lot more besides. The site has hosted a pub since 1788 but has been rebuilt and refitted several times since – the current handsome façade went up in 1871. Literally dazzling is the late Victorian interior, with two whole walls clad in original etched glass mirrors, complementing carved and polished wood and a richly decorated ceiling. The effect is intensified by the compact dimensions, with two small areas largely dedicated to vertical drinking fore and aft of a central bar – space would be even more restricted if the pub retained the original screens that subdivided these further. Visitors who find the pub through listings in various tourist guide books are often astonished by the small size.
Yet the pub retains the friendly atmosphere of a proper local, boosted by the lack of gaming machines and recorded music. It’s one of several famous London pubs acquired b Fuller’s in recent years, but they’ve made few changes other than introducing their excellent beers, including Chiswick at a deliberately low price, plus Bengal Lancer, ESB, London Pride, Seafarers and a seasonal or guest. Honeydew is on keg but sadly space precludes stocking a bottled range. Lunchtime food is solid pub grub like shepherd’s pie, fish and chips or squash and spinach risotto. Visit at quieter times to appreciate its splendour to the full.
Underground Piccadilly Circus Cycling LCN+ 50 Walking Link to Royal Parks paths
London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
Central London: Westminster, Victoria and Pimlico
 Le Gavroche, London W1 Restaurant (Independent)
43 Upper Brook Street W1K 7QR
T 020 7408 0881 w www.le-gavroche.co.uk
Open 1200-1400 (Not Sat-Sun), 1830-2300 (Closed Sun).
Cask beer None, Other beer 9 (Fuller’s, international), Also World class wine list, specialist whiskies and brandies
Food Haute cuisine. No disabled toilet but access via lift in adjoining hotel.
Given that Michel Roux’s double Michelin starred Mayfair restaurant boasts an astonishing wine list with over a thousand entries, including top Bordeaux and Burgundy vintages at four figure prices, it seems like being thankful for small mercies to dwell on the beer offerings that makes up the last page of the substantial volume that thuds onto your table. But Le Gavroche makes an effort that so few establishments in its bracket bother with, and the list does include some serious choices like Fuller’s Vintage and Rochefort 8 as well as the likes of Duvel and Innis & Gunn.
Food is top class inventive French cooking that’s still reckoned to be among the best in London; a potentially challenging cellar space has been rendered charmingly attractive with fresh flowers and sparkling utensils; staff are polite but warm and attentive. Of course you’ll pay for the privilege – the dinner tasting menu clocks in at £100 and the beer sells for at least twice the price you’d pay in a pub. And it was especially disappointing to overhear a waiter respond to an enquiry about the beers on offer by suggesting Kronenbourg – I doubt they’d suggest branded Chardonnay as a first choice wine. If a place like this can manage a beer list, surely others further down the gastronomic pecking order should see the opportunity, as this is one area where it wouldn’t take much to better M Roux.
Underground Marble Arch Cycling LCN+ 5 50, Hyde Park cycle routes Walking Hyde Park links to Jubilee Greenway, Princess Diana Walk
London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
Central London: Shoreditch and Hoxton
 White Horse, Hoxton, London N1 Contemporary pub (Independent, small group)
153 Hoxton Street N1 6PJ
T 020 7729 8512 w www.hoxtonwhitehorse.com f whitehorsehoxton tw hoxwhitehorse
Open 1700 (1300 Sat-Sun)-2400 (0200 Fri, 0100 Sat). Children welcome until 1830.
Cask beer 1 (Everards/Trumans), Other beer 4 keg (Camden Town, Meantime), 10+ bottles (mainly London), Also Bottled ciders, specialist spirits
Food Popup street food, Outdoor Rear beer garden in development, Wifi.
Thu-Sat DJs, occasional quizzes, film nights, themed events, functions, pinball, board games.
Reopened late in 2011 and still a work in progress, this former East End boozer on Hoxton Market has been reincarnated as an arty but casual and relaxed haunt with something of the vibe of a 1980s community centre. The smallish single bar has bare brick and jigsaws of wooden panelling in various colours, old film and advertising posters, vintage kitchen chairs and stools, and a foodie corner that hosts a rota of guest pop-up chefs with different specialities: gyoza one day, pizzas the next, then hot dogs and so on. Downstairs is a clubby space with its own bar, and a rear yard with artificial grass is due to open later in 2012. Admirably, the beer policy pursues a London theme: Truman’s Runner on cask; lagers, wheat beers and stouts from Camden Town and Meantime; and bottles from London Fields and Redchurch, both within walking distance. The bottles are set to expand still further with the ambition of stocking beers from at least a dozen London brewers. A range of imaginative events includes ‘flaps nights’ with free manicures.
Visitor note. The pub is a short step from the Geffrye Museum, one of London’s most intriguing collections which recreates the history of English domestic interiors within a terrace of 18th century almshouses set among elegant gardens.
National Rail Underground Old Street Overground Hoxton Cycling LCN+ 10, links to 9 16 and Regents Canal towpath Walking Link to Jubilee Greenway
London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
Central London: Southbank
 Crown, Blackfriars Road, London SE1 Contemporary pub (Independent)
108 Blackfriars Road SE1 8HW
T 020 7261 9524 w www.thecrownpubandgrill.com
Open 1200-2300 (2400 Fri, Closed Sat-Sun). Children welcome until early evening.
Cask beer 3 (often unusual guests), Other beer 4 keg, 10 bottles (mainly US and New Zealand), Also 28 wines, specialist whiskies.
Food Pub grub and Tex Mex, Outdoor Front terrace, rear sheltered courtyard, Wifi.
Occasional quiz, occasional big screen sport.
This smallish pub run by friendly New Zealanders is just that little bit too far from the newly lively area of the Cut around Southwark station, but as its loyal customers – largely local workers – will attest, it’s well worth the extra step. Inside is smart and stylish but relaxed, with a single downstairs bar, an overspill area and function room upstairs, and a garden at the back with a big marquee. The big screen TV sound is only turned up for major sporting events, and you’ll find an attractive snug tucked round the back.
Besides a regularly changing trio of cask beers – Brewsters, Crouch Vale, Dark Star, Redemption, Triple fff and Windsor & Eton are among the favoured suppliers – there’s keg Brooklyn Lager and Budvar Dark, and a small but well chosen selection of imported bottles: Anchor, Odell, Victory and Sierra Nevada, for example, with deals on buckets of four bottles. The transatlantic theme also permeates the food menu, where quesadillas, Santa Fé chilli and jambalaya line up alongside fish and chips and sausage and mash. Note the weekend closure.
National Rail Waterloo Underground Southwark River Bankside Cycling NCN 4, LCN+ 3 7 Walking Link to Jubilee Greenway, Jubilee Walkway, Thames Path
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London’s Best Beer  The fully updated 3rd edition of my essential award-winning guide to London’s vibrant beer scene is available now from CAMRA Books. Read more here.
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