{"id":2577,"date":"2022-03-25T13:19:55","date_gmt":"2022-03-25T13:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=2577"},"modified":"2022-03-25T13:20:36","modified_gmt":"2022-03-25T13:20:36","slug":"london-pubs-group-on-the-buses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2022\/03\/25\/london-pubs-group-on-the-buses\/","title":{"rendered":"London Pubs Group on the buses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The London Pubs Group\u2019s daytime tour of Lambeth, Wandsworth, Barnes, Brentford and Chiswick on Saturday 19 February 2022 was on the theme of \u2018Resurrections\u2019, i.e. pubs that had been brought back into use or otherwise improved in recent years. The event was planned on the basis that rail travel would be the main mode of transport between pubs, primarily using services on the Hounslow Loop out of Waterloo. Unfortunately, engineering work, announced after the tour had been planned, meant that there were no trains between Clapham Junction and Barnes. The jumping off point, at noon, was the Hercules in Kennington Road, a stone\u2019s throw from Lambeth North Tube. Now a Fuller\u2019s house, this former Courage pub is an example of a hostelry converted to restaurant use which lasted for many years and it did not reopen as a pub until 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The ground floor interior is now a modern split-level single space with much use of unpainted wood. There is also an upstairs bar and a meeting room. London Pride and Dark Star Hophead are the regular beers but, be warned, the prices are not for the faint hearted! Participants next had a choice of two bus routes (344 then 87), a train from Waterloo and then bus (87) or rail replacement bus to reach Wandsworth and the Ram Inn at 68 Wandsworth High Street, our lunch stop. This is a Grade II listed building dating from 1883 but with 1930s remodelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ground floor exterior is clad in glazed cream terracotta tiles, which include distinctive ceramic plaques bearing the Young\u2019s ram that originally indicated the status of bar the adjacent doorway would have led to, i.e. public bar, private bar etc. These can also be seen at the Bridge Hotel in Greenford and on the former Young\u2019s Crown & Anchor in Chiswick. In 1974 it was renamed the Brewery Tap but closed in 2006 when Young\u2019s moved out of Wandsworth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 2019 it reopened under its former name. The pub is host to the SlyBeast microbrewery whose products are available here. (Editor\u2019s note: alas this situation will be changing shortly. See under SlyBeast in the Brewery News section).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bus 485 took us to Barnes and the next venue, the Waterman\u2019s Arms (formerly Barnes Eatery), at 375 Lonsdale Road. The pub appropriately overlooks the Thames (a waterman was once a river worker who transported passenger across and along rivers in the UK). Like the Hercules, although not a listed building, it is another example of premises converted to a restaurant for a long time. This one reopened as a pub in 2019. Given the proximity of the former Mortlake Brewery, it is no surprise that the pub once formed part of the large Watney estate. A 10% discount is offered to CAMRA members and the ales stocked generally include Draught Bass and Harvey\u2019s Sussex Best Bitter, plus Sambrook\u2019s Powerhouse Porter and Wandle. Up to this point, the on\/off drizzle and cold temperature had been a nuisance but a greater setback occurred when it emerged that rail services from Barnes Bridge station had been suspended for reasons unstated. Consequently, what would have been a quick journey to Kew Bridge by train taking minutes had to be rescheduled into two separate bus routes, firstly a 419 to Richmond and then changing to a 65. Despite heavy traffic, we eventually reached the Express Tavern, 56 Kew Bridge Road, in Brentford. The pub had been included on the tour because it was near to the fifth pub (q.v.) and on CAMRA\u2019s Regional Inventory of Pub Interiors of Special Historic Interest. Part of the description is as follows: \u2018Recently lightly redecorated [in 2014] with no <\/em>changes to the original fittings \u2013 a model example on how to bring a pub up to the high standards liked by customers but respecting the historic interior\u2019<\/em>. The pub appears in the 2022 Good Beer Guide (GBG) and offers a 10% discount to CAMRA members. Beers on offer included Big Smoke Solaris Session Pale Ale and Harvey\u2019s Sussex Best Bitter plus seven guest ales and several real ciders. Draught Bass has been on sale here for many years and there is an illuminated neon sign advertising it on the exterior. Bass is still reputedly the biggest selling real ale in the pub. However, on our approach, it was clear that door staff were controlling entry. This seemed odd, as the tour date had been specifically chosen to avoid Brentford FC home games at the nearby Brentford Community Stadium. Unfortunately, what had been overlooked was the venue\u2019s use for other sporting fixtures, in this instance the London Irish vs Saracens London derby match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that the Express was packed with supporters, many on the tour decided to move swiftly on to the penultimate pub, the Steam Packet (formerly Caf\u00e9 Rouge, then Dome, but originally the Steam Packet Hotel), at 85 Strand on the Green W4. Like the Hercules and the Waterman\u2019s Arms, this pub is not listed, but is a further example of a pub once converted to a restaurant, in this case only reverting to pub use in 2020. Another Thames-side pub, it was built in the 1870s as the Steam Packet Hotel and named after the pleasure launches that once served Kew Pier. Adnams Broadside, Brunning & Price Traditional Bitter (brewed by St Austell Brewery) and one guest ale are normally served here. The interior d\u00e9cor is modern and there are further drinking areas away from the serving bar in a back room and on an upper level. In its previous days as a pub it came under the Courage banner. Ironically, it now sits right next to the new administrative offices of Fuller\u2019s pubs, following their vacation of their traditional Chiswick brewery site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There then followed a return to Kew Bridge and one further bus ride (237 or 267) to the final pub, the Black Dog Beer House (previously Back Lane, and originally Albany Arms), 17 Albany Road, Brentford. It is thought that there was a pub was on this site by the early 1860s but it was rebuilt in 1900 by the Royal Brewery (Brentford). The corner of the building still carries the initials \u2018RBC\u2019 (Royal Brewery & Co.?) and \u20181900\u2019 at roof height. It might have been designed by Thomas Henry Nowell Parr but, if so, it would have been a relatively early example of his work. The pub originally took its name from the Royal Dukedom of Albany, a title that has not been granted since 1919, after the last holder, Prince Charles Edward, sided with Imperial Germany during WW1. The L-shaped room has plentiful seating plus two welcoming log fires which were certainly appreciated at the time of our visit. Reopened in 2018 after many years of infamy, including stabbings and illegal use as a strip club, the Black Dog is now a welcoming and busy pub. It is also in the 2022 GBG and serves seven ever-changing real ales, plus real ciders and perries. Like many other Royal Brewery pubs, it eventually ended up with Courage but fortunately patrons no longer need to \u2018take courage\u2019 before entering, as it has seen a true resurrection!
Jane Jephcote and Kim Rennie<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The London Pubs Group\u2019s daytime tour of Lambeth, Wandsworth, Barnes, Brentford and Chiswick on Saturday 19 February 2022 was on the theme of \u2018Resurrections\u2019, i.e. pubs that had been brought… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2580,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pub-crawl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2577"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2582,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577\/revisions\/2582"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}