Made a quick trip down to London at the tail end of last week - a day at Lord's, bookended by a couple of gigs. First stop after arriving at Heathrow was Reading, where I dumped my bag at Dave's pad and we then headed for the train in to London. Just time for a swift visit to the Three Guineas at Reading Railway Station, where there were eight ales on handpump:
Our Thursday night gig was in Belgravia, in the heart of Sloane Ranger country. There were plenty of attractive pubs around, but, as usual in central London, mostly tied to one of the breweries. We opted for the Duke of Wellington (http://www.shepherdneame.co.uk/pub/belgravia/duke-of-wellington.aspx), a Shepherd Neame pub. They had pretty much the full standard range for this time of year - Early Bird, Master Brew, Spitfire and Bishop's Finger - all in good nick.
We spotted the Antelope, a Fuller's pub just along the road, but didn't have time to sample the fare there before the gig. We decided we could wait until after we were back in Reading for our next beers - but we forgot we were in the land of the uncivilised, where pubs shut at 11pm, so just missed out on trying some of the always interesting and largely LocAle beers at the Hobgoblin in the heart of Reading's pedestrian area.
We had a lovely day on Friday at the Test Match and enjoyed pints of Pedigree sitting on the lawn at the Nursery End, baking in the sun - although we were rather shocked at the price of £4.25 per pint!
Leaving Lord's early in good time to get a few pints down our throats before the gig at the Royal Albert Hall, we decided to head for the Star Tavern (http://www.fullers.co.uk/rte.asp?id=243&itemid=287&task=View), a former CAMRA West London pub of the year. We did finally get there, but not before two prior pit stops, one of them completely unscheduled. We had intended to stop off for a quick one at Kevin Moran's Nag's Head (http://www.flickr.com/photos/costi-londra/sets/72157606315357697/), but accidentally dropped in to the nearby Wilton Arms, which was OK, but nothing to write home about.
Kevin Moran's Nag's Head, however, was well worth a visit - a quaint, old fashioned little place. The web site link above quotes "mounted on the counter is a wonderful pewter beer engine with pretty pink ceramic Chelsea Pottery handpulls." - pictured here:
The web site claims it is a genuine free house, but, as you can see, it was distinctly an Adnam's evening when we were there.
We did finally make it to the Star Tavern, although it's not that easy to find, located as it is in a fairly quiet mews side street. It's another Fuller's pub, but it feels a bit like a private house inside - some faded grandeur, with lots of photos, paintings and mirrors on the walls and chandeliers hanging above.
Donovan's gig at the Royal Albert Hall ran on a lot later than we expected so we never made it back to Reading in time for a visit to our favourite community pub, the Nag's Head, even although last orders were at the slightly later time of midnight, it being Friday night.
Back home, the only other ale I've had this weekend is Bombardier at the golf club - but I'm looking forward to sampling a few interesting beers at the festival at Pittodrie this week.
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