Don't make me come over there!

[Gregg]

Okay, final call. I will be arriving in London next Friday, dinner at 8:00 at the Ivy, Kensington with a friend if anyone wants to come say hi. The rest of the week, my evenings are open and I would love to buy a few pints and put a face to the names I've been reading for years.

So, anyone have any suggestions or willing to brave meeting me in a pub?

[John Uskglass]

Just don't try going in any pubs with a red cross on the door...

[Gregg]

???

[John Uskglass]

A quaint old custom.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_cross

[Burnaby49]

If you want pub recommendations I'll make one. My favorite pub in all of the UK (and I've had a beer in well over a thousand) is the Black Friar in London. Just at the north foot of the Blackfriar Bridge. An Art Deco masterpiece. Have a pie in the back room, a stunning marble vault.

[NYGman]

If you want pub recommendations I'll make one. My favorite pub in all of the UK (and I've had a beer in well over a thousand) is the Black Friar in London. Just at the north foot of the Blackfriar Bridge. An Art Deco masterpiece. Have a pie in the back room, a stunning marble vault.

1000% Agree, and as a bonus it is near my London office when I have to go there. It is a Gem. It was thankfully saved from demolition by Sir John Betjeman in the 60's, or at least I think that's what it said on the sign.

[Burnaby49]

Years back when I went to London I'd go to the Black Friars for a pint and sit in the back room surrounded by the marble walls and ceiling. (it's flat, not gloss, and a warm brown-tan colour). Then they put in a dining only rule for the back room so when I go now I have a pie and pint in the back and another pint in the front.

Back room


Front

[Albert Haddock]

Years back when I went to London I'd go to the Black Friars for a pint and sit in the back room surrounded by the marble walls and ceiling. (it's flat, not gloss, and a warm brown-tan colour). Then they put in a dining only rule for the back room…

When did they do that? It’s been a few years since I was last there, but I’m sure I’ve sat in the back room without eating.

That pic makes the back room look rather larger than it actually is. The pub’s definitely worth seeing.

One of my favourites is the Lord Clyde, about a 10-15 minute walk South of the river from Blackfriars. A proper London pub that was run by the same family for over half a century. It changed hands last year, apparently, but still gets a good write-up: https://whatpub.com/pubs/SEL/10461/lord-clyde-london

[Burnaby49]

Don't know the date but the last time I was there, in 2018, I had to have lunch to sit in the back, same with 2017. In 2013 they allowed just beer drinking so there's your range. It's really just returning to the room's original purpose. The pub is 19th century but the back room was put in early 20th, 2013 I think, as a dining room.

John Betjeman was very involved in London historic preservation. There is, or was, a bar in King's Cross station called the John Betjeman (I had a beer there, it was great, right on the train platform) so named because he helped in the movement to save the old building.

I'm a fan of his poetry recitals, I have two CD's of them. sounds dreary but he's a very good narrator of his own works and he is accompanied by a great band. It sounds just like I'd imagine a dance band giving a concert at the end of Blackpool Pier in the 1920's to sound like. Check out his version of his most bizarre poem;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72O4jZxIxM8

There actually was a Captain Webb, a notable swimmer, who died proving that a swim everyone said was impossible was, in fact, impossible;

Webb's final stunt was to be a dangerous swim through the Whirlpool Rapids on the Niagara River below Niagara Falls, a feat many observers considered suicidal. Although Webb failed in an attempt at raising interest in funding the event,[12] on 24 July 1883, he jumped into the river from a small boat located near the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge and began his swim. Accounts of the time indicate that in all likelihood Webb successfully survived the first part of the swim, but died in the section of the river located near the entrance to the whirlpool.[13] Webb was interred in Oakwood Cemetery, Niagara Falls, New York.[14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Webb

[Albert Haddock]

Don't know the date but the last time I was there, in 2018, I had to have lunch to sit in the back, same with 2017. In 2013 they allowed just beer drinking so there's your range. It's really just returning to the room's original purpose. The pub is 19th century but the back room was put in early 20th, 2013 I think, as a dining room.

The last time I was in there was probably about ten years back so that fits.

John Betjeman was very involved in London historic preservation. There is, or was, a bar in King's Cross station called the John Betjeman (I had a beer there, it was great, right on the train platform) so named because he helped in the movement to save the old building.

That’s actually over the road at St Pancras. There’s a statue as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_John_Betjeman

And he even had a locomotive named after him, which I’ve seen.

The pub at Kings Cross is called the Parcel Yard. I’ve had beers in both while waiting for trains.

Betjeman was also the original author of Private Eye’s “Nooks and Corners” column, which focuses on buildings threatened with demolition.

[YiamCross]

Okay, final call. I will be arriving in London next Friday, dinner at 8:00 at the Ivy, Kensington with a friend if anyone wants to come say hi. The rest of the week, my evenings are open and I would love to buy a few pints and put a face to the names I've been reading for years.

So, anyone have any suggestions or willing to brave meeting me in a pub?

I assume you didn't mean next friday as in the day after you made this post but Friday 24th.

I shall certainly be making an effort to come meet up with you, if the weather is not too shit I'll ride up on the bike as I expect the trains will be somewhat pants on xmas eve.

Remember, pubs only open at lunchtime on xmas day and usually then are packed with locals who like to pretend they drink there all the time. Boxing day used to be a nightmare in London with the sales starting but I don't see that being the case this year depending on what's locked down and how motivated people are to go out in the cold when they could do better on line.

Realistically I suspect it's more likely that I'll be able to get into town after xmas so let me know what's on your agenda for Monday/ Tuesday.

[YiamCross]

Well it's xmas eve and the rain is raining hard. Don't know if you made it into the country but let me know if you have and give me some clue as to where you intend to go from here. Hope we can meet up somewhere sometime soooooon.

[Gregg]

I made it and had a wonderful dinner Friday night. Christmas Day I went to services at Westminster in the morning and St Paul's in the afternoon. Boxing Day, in a few hours, I am going to Golden Tours to see what alternative they have to the fourth tour they cancelled after substituting the one I chose. I'm trying to get to Canterbury and have even booked a tour in Japanese trying (by mistake but even it was cancelled). So maybe I can get to Windsor today. I should be back in London where ever I go by 19:00 or so. My cell phone occasionally works here, 01 513 535 9034.

[ArthurWankspittle]

Be careful if you are going to Windsor https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-b ... e-59791247

[hucknallred]

My cell phone occasionally works here, 01 513 535 9034.

For UK phone owners you'll most likely be calling a massage parlour in Liverpool with that format.

From a good old landline 00 1 513 535 9034
Mobile +1 513 535 9034

Enjoy your stay.

[longdog]

For UK phone owners you'll most likely be calling a massage parlour in Liverpool with that format.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Oh... Liverpool you say? As you were.

I've often wondered... If you really do want a massage rather than a carnal experience with a woman / man / other / both of negotiable virtue... What do put into Google? "Local massage NOT knocking shop?"

Asking for a friend.

[John Uskglass]

If you really do want a massage rather than a carnal experience

You can tell you live in Hull rather than Totnes, Glastonbury, or Hebden Bridge, where the problem is reversed!

[longdog]

If you really do want a massage rather than a carnal experience

You can tell you live in Hull rather than Totnes, Glastonbury, or Hebden Bridge, where the problem is reversed!

I would think in Glastonbury and HB they call the knocking shops something else. Chakra Realignment Therapists or something.

[ArthurWankspittle]

If you really do want a massage rather than a carnal experience

You can tell you live in Hull rather than Totnes, Glastonbury, or Hebden Bridge, where the problem is reversed!

I would think in Glastonbury and HB they call the knocking shops something else. Chakra Realignment Therapists or something.

"Can you relieve my chakra?"

[YiamCross]

Don't know if you're still here or how long for but let me know if you're up for a meet up, this time maybe with a place and a time?