General

The Blue Posts pub in Soho has always been a special place for me as one of the rare unchangedboozers in the beating heart of the capital. Despite much around it changing, especially on BerwickStreet where it has historically been the market traders’ pub, it remains resolutely a must-visit forpeople looking for a bit of…

We travel and ride with the rhyme of time, in search of both new and familiar scenes, with few guesses about what comes next unless it is another glass of beer. Writing these words in a Schaerbeek coffee shop that also sells beer (a glass of dry-hopped Hommelbier if you must know), once again I…

The Nag’s Head, The Grenadier and The Star Tavern in London’s smart Belgravia area have comprised my favourite concise pub crawl since I first came to the capital to work in the late 1980s. Every now and again I feel compelled to retrace my steps along the compact mews properties on Kinnerton Street and the…

Earlier this year, the Blue Naan restaurant in Felixstowe jettisoned its long-standing alcoholic drinks menu and went all in on an alcohol-free list, with an impressive selection of beers, wines, pre-mixed spirits, mocktails and soft drinks that certainly give it a unique proposition in the market.  The array of options represents a lot of sourcing…

Let us take ourselves to the pub, for it is autumn and the leaves are falling and there are both hints of summer and winter on different days. In the pub, though, there is a generosity of spirit and a softness of light and on the late September Monday afternoon I was in one in…

Cycling back from King’s Cross on a recent early Sunday evening, I thought I’d pass by The Tamil Prince pub and grab a quick pint on my way home as I’d seen it had been on the market and had new owners running the show.  On peering through the window of the attractive north London…

On arrival at the bar in the Princess Louise pub on London’s High Holborn recently, I was informed it was cash only. This struck me as pretty odd when most hospitality businesses seem to be going in the complete opposite direction and becoming cash-free. It was even odder when the barman would not take my…

Ahead of entering the new BrewDog bar in Waterloo my expectations of it being busy were low asI knew the paint had only just dried on the place and that it was of vast proportions. Iunderestimated both its size and the number of people guzzling beers and cocktails on this rainyThursday in early September. I…

While sitting at the long bar of the Torch & Crown brewpub in New York City earlier this year, I received a message from a friend asking if I was watching that night’s big American football match. I glanced upwards and saw the game was playing away on one of the bar’s many screens. I…

Some years back, I visited a property with a friend who was considering buying a flat in the building, which was situated in the Highbury area of North London and backed onto a hidden side street. His interest in this specific part of town was very much piqued by the proximity of The Compton Arms. …