The Best “Londonist” Pubs
Posted: June 9th, 2017, 11:49 pm
While I’m not London born I’ve been living at the north-west London end of the Piccadilly Line for near 35 years. Now retired I’ve never been a serious drinker. Indeed, I can’t remember the last time I had hard liquor, as for wine I’ll only drink it if someone else buys a bottle. However, I do like beer – and the blacker the better. Over the years I’ve become quiet partial to a pint or two of porter on occasions. Unfortunately, these days it’s becoming ever-more difficult to find the genuine article on draught. Now, I don’t mean the bitter dry stout porter beer that is Guinness, though I will drink Beamish and Murphy’s Irish Stout when I can find it on tap.
For the uninitiated, the brewing history of porter and stout beers are intertwined. Porter, as it became known, was said to have been brewed in London as early as 1720. It is also said that it got the name porter because it was cheap and the favourite thirst quencher for street and river porters who didn’t trust drinking the standing water. It wasn’t long after that London brewers began producing a stronger version of the beer which they named either double porter or stout porter. It was not until 1759 that Arthur Guinness founded the St James’ Gate Brewery, Dublin and began producing his particular brew. Which I’ve learned was sometime after the historic Griffin Brewery, later to be owned by John Fuller, was doing its thing on the site of Bedford House on the Chiswick Mall.
Like I said, I’m retired now and I’ve an ex-work colleague, retired also, who is a long-time resident of Notting Hill and who I occasionally visit. And, when in the mood, we have been known to pay a visit to a particular Fuller’s public house on Kensington Church Street that has London Porter ale on tap. While I’m going to make you wait a bit longer for the name of this establishment, it was reportedly built in 1750 and later named after a famous British Prime Minister because reportedly a relative of his would on occasions be known to partake of refreshments there. However, in recent years it’s become something mini-tourist attraction, for those who know or have been told about it, during the summer months for reasons that will become apparent.
I recently came across a website called “Londonist” devoted to all things London (obviously). A section of which champions the supposedly best pubs in London as voted for by devotees of the site. For those interested enough, you will find each pub voted for broken-down into London districts by clicking on the link below and scrolling down the page in order to further click on one of the 88 London district links of your choice to view what pubs have been deemed worthy of mention …
http://londonist.com/pubs
I daresay a few of them will ring one or two bells for some. Being that it was the aforementioned pub below that rang a very loud bell for me when I looked up the watering holes in Notting Hill at …
http://londonist.com/pubs/pubs/the-churchill-arms
The spectacle that is the Churchill Arms has even made itself known to the wider world on You Tube at …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HloYH0OqY1I
OTT being a somewhat understatement.
For the uninitiated, the brewing history of porter and stout beers are intertwined. Porter, as it became known, was said to have been brewed in London as early as 1720. It is also said that it got the name porter because it was cheap and the favourite thirst quencher for street and river porters who didn’t trust drinking the standing water. It wasn’t long after that London brewers began producing a stronger version of the beer which they named either double porter or stout porter. It was not until 1759 that Arthur Guinness founded the St James’ Gate Brewery, Dublin and began producing his particular brew. Which I’ve learned was sometime after the historic Griffin Brewery, later to be owned by John Fuller, was doing its thing on the site of Bedford House on the Chiswick Mall.
Like I said, I’m retired now and I’ve an ex-work colleague, retired also, who is a long-time resident of Notting Hill and who I occasionally visit. And, when in the mood, we have been known to pay a visit to a particular Fuller’s public house on Kensington Church Street that has London Porter ale on tap. While I’m going to make you wait a bit longer for the name of this establishment, it was reportedly built in 1750 and later named after a famous British Prime Minister because reportedly a relative of his would on occasions be known to partake of refreshments there. However, in recent years it’s become something mini-tourist attraction, for those who know or have been told about it, during the summer months for reasons that will become apparent.
I recently came across a website called “Londonist” devoted to all things London (obviously). A section of which champions the supposedly best pubs in London as voted for by devotees of the site. For those interested enough, you will find each pub voted for broken-down into London districts by clicking on the link below and scrolling down the page in order to further click on one of the 88 London district links of your choice to view what pubs have been deemed worthy of mention …
http://londonist.com/pubs
I daresay a few of them will ring one or two bells for some. Being that it was the aforementioned pub below that rang a very loud bell for me when I looked up the watering holes in Notting Hill at …
http://londonist.com/pubs/pubs/the-churchill-arms
The spectacle that is the Churchill Arms has even made itself known to the wider world on You Tube at …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HloYH0OqY1I
OTT being a somewhat understatement.