Literary pub crawl

So, I'm off on a Literary pub crawl on Wednesday. I've picked six pubs in London that writers were known to haunt

Pubs selected (yes, there are loads)

1/ The Spanish Tavern Hampstead – Keats, Byron, Stoker – the Romantics
2/ The George In Southwark 75-77 Borough High Street
3/ Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese 145 Fleet Street
4/ The Lamb 94 Conduit Street – Charles Dickens
5/ Fitzroy Tavern Fitzrovia – Virginia Woolf, Dylan Thomas, George Bernard Shaw 16 Charlotte Street
6/ The Dove Hammersmith – Hemmingway, Regency, Pre-Raphelites – 19 Upper Mall Hammersmith (does food)

So, I'm preparing a piece of reading from a writer who frequented the pub to read to the group and we'll see how it goes. Maybe there'll be an insight gained from visiting these sites. Who knows? I'll return and let you know.

Happy crawling ! Look forward to your insights on the poets.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

Good luck

Ok, pub crawl complete and hangover gone.

I'll start by pointing out that I don't live in London, which is why this pub crawl, geographically speaking, is mad and impractical - I suspected this from the start, but since the concept of a pub crawl is pretty crazy anyway - I decided to follow this anyway - the order of the pubs changed due to companions joining in at various points - and this made the journey a little bit longer. anyway -onwards.

Pub 1 - The Spaniards Inn - Hampstead. This was the 1st pub, because it is the one that is the farthest out - and Hampstead is a lovely green part of London that is best seen in the day. To get here you should get the bus - which stops 50 yards from the pub. The tube drops you off in Central Hampstead and it is a bit of a hike to get there. The pub says its been there since 1585.

where Keats wrote Ode to a Nightingale, and met his friends and other poets. Byron paid a visit here as well.. Also I learned at the pub, that Dickens hung-out here too - the pub gets a mention in the Pickwick papers. The pub is on the brow of a hill, by a busy road - the interior is wood and sprawloing, with a fire place - and there is a large garden out the back with tables. This is a Fullers pub (which means it stocks the beers from its brewer). It also offers food - the pub is aiming at the gastropub range - which means the offerings are rather pricier than most. It opens at noon, which is when we arrived and had half a pint. The beer was well kept. On arriving a nuthatch, rather than a nightingale greeted us - so I guess that'll be my ode that will come from this. The town has grown around the pub, and the noise from the busy road is intrusive. However, I'm sure you could spend a glorious afternoon in the beer garden with good company.

Pub 2 -The Dove in Hammersmith - this is also far out of London's centre, but circumstances forced this change. We took the bus and tube to get here. It took over an hour. If you can, sit on the top deck of the double decker bus on the way - you get wonderful views of the city Of the pubs we visited, this is one of the nicest - and smallest. It sits on the banks of the Thames at Hammersmith and you can see the effect of the tide and the light upon the water. Rowers go buy and a range of boat traffic.

A former landlord of this pub courted celebrities - Hemmingway & Graham Green went. Hemmingway said it was one of the finest pubs in London - and certainly its position by the river does give that opinions some credence. The pub's biggest claim is that the words to "Land of Hope & Glory" was written here. again the pub has Fuller's range of ales, but has a smaller menu - as the kitchen isn't big. If you are there on week-days, the sandwiches (with chips) are good value.

Pub 3 Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese --London

This pub is on Fleet Street - it was rebuilt after the fire of London and has been there since. The pub certainly looks like it is 400 years old with timbers and signage displaying its age. Being on Fleet street, this pub was probably visited by every writer who worked in journalism. Yeates, Boswell, Dickens, Dafoe all spent time here. This pub is quite dark inside - due to its age. You can sit in here and imagine yourself back in Olde England - there's a woodsmoke smell from the fireplace . This is a Sam Smith pub - which means you get that range, and there's food - the prices are rather good. This is one of the most evocative pub of London's past. #

Pub 4 - The George, Southwark. This pub has a gallery upstairs which shows it's age. It has a large courtyard and stocks Greene King's ales. Shakespeare & Marlowe visited here, as did Dickens. The time of day (after work) meant that this pub was very busy - lots of folk having an after work drink. In the interior there's an old "Parliament clock". Certainly you could sit here and imagine Shakespeare going through the accounts of the Globe theatre or cracking jokes.

Pub 5 - The Lamb - Lamb's Conduit Street, Bloomsbury. Now, this caused some confusion, as there is more than one Lamb in London - and this is the one you want. This pub is known as Dicken's favourite haunt, but it is also around the corner from where J M Barrie lived too. This a sumptuous Victorian pub. It is run Young's brewery. There's glass and mirrors here and pictures on the wall. It has "snob screens" which allowed Victorians to have a drink without having to look at the lower classes beneath them. There's a Dicken's museum nearby - which was closed when we got there, but if I were going back, I'd plan a visit to the museum followed by a trip to the pub. This was a busy and bustling place. The surroundings are apartment blocks with high ceilings. You can imagine the well to do of London strolling the streets here.

Pub 6 - The Fitzroy Tavern - Bloomsbury. This is the pub of the Bloomsbury set - Virginia Wolf drank here with artists and painters - Dylan Thomas drank here as did George Orwell. Sam Smiths has taken the pub on, and changed the interior (I'd been here before) into its standard stuff of mirrors, glass and dark wood - it looks Victorian, but it isn't. This pub makes the most of its literary heritage. Just look at the staircase, there is a gallery of artworks and newspaper clippings. Dickens also made another appearance.

So, we started at the Spaniard's Inn in Hampstead at noon, and reached the finishing line at 10.30pm. Half of the time was spent on public transport, or on foot travelling between the bars. The nicest spot was The Dove, the most evocative pubs of Old London were the Old Cheshire Cheese & the Lamb - and the most informative was the Fitzroy.

But what did I learn? We'll you may have noticed that the shade of Charles Dickens followed me around. He'd been to at least five of the pubs. we'd visited. Of course, he was a journalist and he walked the streets of London to get his stories - but is Dickens the bon vivant discussed? His books are moral tales and Dickens was a reformer, but I think the crawl revealed that he was not against fun.

Keats' Hampstead almost exists, but is nearly gone due to the 21st century traffic - a walk along the Heath (to get you away from the traffic) followed by a drink at the pub would be the best way to evoke Keats' stay in Hampstead.

Well done, Sandy!

Excellent post. I enjoyed it immensely.

Sandy, if you want to spread your wings come up to my part of the woods. The Eight Bells in Old Hatfield. Dickens stayed there when covering a fire in Hatfield House and he incorporated the character of Bill Sykes into one of his novels as being there after murdering Nancy in London.

Sixteenth century timber frame and nineteenth century exterior. The American tourists love it during the summer season, but the beer is better at the Horse & Groom nearby.

Small world, I was born in Hatfield, but left when I was three.

Coincidences, coincidences.

But yes, a trip to Hatfield isn't impossible from Reading.

Thank you, Sancho.

Wow, I'm late to the game, but this was fun. If I ever get to London, I hope to visit some of these places! Than you, Sandy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by qimissung

Wow, I'm late to the game, but this was fun. If I ever get to London, I hope to visit some of these places! Than you, Sandy.

Wow,q! Long time, no see. Welcome back.