Desert Island Pubs – Martin Harley, founder, London Village Inns
Beer Insider is pleased to bring you the latest Desert Island Pubs column, supported by Sunrise Beverages. So settle in and enjoy reading the stories behind the selection of pubs from…
Martin Harley, founder, London Village Inns
1. Earliest Memory of a Pub
My Dad would be mortified if he could read this, but probably being with my older sister sitting in the car park of the Cross Keys at the top of Tilbury Hill in Essex, being fed crisps and a bottle of coke through the car window. Which is ironic because I went with my parents to view the Rose & Crown (which I bought off my folks when they moved to Spain and it’s still in the family), and being told by the then landlady that I wasn’t allowed in because I was 14. My Dad was pissed off but that was 1985 and Stoke Newington was very different back then.
2. Most Inspirational Pub to my Career
I hate to say it, but probably The Southampton arms. I really liked what they had done. Pete was very upset with me when we copied his sign for The Jolly Butchers in 2009. I really didn’t give it much thought at the time and just told the sign writer I liked what they had done. Anyway, The Southampton was/is a great pub and it probably wouldn’t have bothered them too much but we were incredibly busy too and people asked if they owed it. There’s something about imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and all that.
3. My Current Local
I really like The Robin on Crouch Hill, North London. It has well-kept cask beer in a relaxed environment. It’s achingly trendy but has a good few characters, which makes it work really well.
4. My Favourite Pub
I assume I’m not allowed to say one of my own places, because we have some fantastic pubs that I’ve spent many a good night in, particularly The Wrestlers in Highgate when I was running it full-blast.
I have quite a few pubs I really like and I may save my favourite to take to the Island. I like pubs that are a bit old school and feel like they have a heart and a soul, so between The Robin, The Coopers in Kilburn, The Hand & Shears in Barbican, Jimmy’s Corner in New York City, The Blue Bell in York, Cross keys (in Covent Garden, definitely not Tilbury). There’s nothing quite like a boozer that is tucked away and off the beaten track, almost beery hide and seek.
5. The Pub you’d like to take to the Island
I probably would genuinely take one of ours as the price would be ‘right’ and I could demand a lock-in. Failing that, it would have to be O’Loclainn’s in Ballyvaughan on the west coast of Ireland (we have friends there). It’s known locally as Margaret’s, and Margaret is great. The place it so perfect and when there is a Ceilidh band playing. I’ll even agree to a whiskey chaser with my Guinness.
6. The beer (unlimited supply) you’d take to the desert island?
That’s tough. If we were having a few beers at night then something like Five Points XPA on cask, or an Augustiner Helles. But if we were on rations, it would be Rochefort 10 or St Bernardus 12.
Glynn Davis, editor, Beer Insider
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