London Pub Tour 37 - Victoria: Cask and Glass, The Colonies and Phoenix

Photo by Ewan Munro

So it's back to the Victoria area again where they're still plenty of pubs between the station and Westminster that I need to survey. My first port of call today was the Cask and Glass (SW1 5HN) which is close to St James's Station and Buckingham Palace. This pub is a Shep Neame pub on a street corner behind a small restaurant/shopping area in Victoria. The pub itself is tiny inside with the majority of the space being the large footpath outside which provides space for the drinkers to stand. As you walk in through the door the small bar is directly in front of you. To you left the pub becomes even more narrow and has soft cushion seating for about 6 people. To the right there is more seating but still probably a stretch at 15 people and some room for people to stand just to the side of the bar. Once you have 20 people in this pub it can be considered packed. The pub interior is dark wood with a carpet floor. The walls are filled with portraits and pictures and higher up the wall there are old Shep Neame Bottles and merchandise.

As a Shep Neame the lagers on offer were Guinness, Asahi, Oranjeboom, Whitstable  Bay Blonde and an Symonds Cider. There were 4 four hand pumps offering Whitstable Bay Pale Ale, Master Brew, Spitfire and Hog Island. I hadn't come across Hog Island before so opted for a pint of that. Hog Island is brewed by No. 18 Yard Brewhouse which is a subsidiary of Shep Neame. This seems to be a common theme now with big breweries opening up small brewhouses without any mention of them name attached. The pint had a good lacing but didn't taste anything like an American Pale Ale as advertised and more like a British one. As the pub wasn't busy I was easily able to grab one of the cushioned sofa seats and there were 4 older guys just down the other side drinking. This pub is very much a fair weather pub and as the sun had gone in and it's wasn't looking like it would be busy. This is a nice pub to visit when it's not too busy, so generally between lunch and after work or on a bad weather day early in the week.

As I finished my pint the pub did start to become slightly busier and as expected it was because the sun had started to reappear. I left the pub and walked mere metres down the road to my next stop The Colonies (SW1E 6PR). This is again a Taylor Walker pub which had completed its conversion to a Greene King. The pub is suited in the middle of a street with housing either side, but unfortunately due to development the building to the side had been knocked down and was now a building site. This has an impact on the pub as the rear of the pub is a large tarmac space with lots of benches which connnects onto the road behind. The sun normally shines through but due to the building site, the sun was blocked. I can only assume it won't be long before they consider selling off part of this rear space as it is quite large. To give an idea, the length outside is actually larger outside than the pub inside.

Upon entering the pub the bar is to your right, and you might need to navigate any crowds that gather at the tables by the front door. The pub was very busy with what looked a work function. I'm assuming the work function had started a few hours back as the people seemed quite merry at this time and were already ordering shorts. The bar stretches along the side wall and had 5 hand pumps, of which only three were on offering Boltmaker, IPA and 1730. On the keg front there was Aspalls, Becks, Fosters and Guinness. I bought a pint of Boltmaker and packet of crisps and made my way back through the work party and up the steps onto the raised seating area to go out the back door. I easily found a table and sat and drank my pint whilst watching the elder barmaids looking at a bench near the rear end on which school kids were gathering. The due went over to the bench to ID all the kids who were from a local 6th form. Any without ID were told they were unable to stay on the premises and made to leave. It made for enjoyable viewing particularly attempting to guess which seemed underage and shocked at ones that supposedly weren't.

It started to get cold so I walked inside to finish the last part of my pint and return my glass to the bar. I then walk back past the Cask & Glass which was now rammed and the pavement outside full of bodies. I made my way a few hundred metres towards Buckingham Palace but stopping shy at the Phoenix (SW1E 5JA) which is at the rear of Victoria Shopping area. The Phoenix is a large pub run by Young's under their Geronimo's brand. The work crowds were in here as well and all the tables were taken. The pub was very spacious though with some semi circle booth seating on one wall and large tables along the other wall. It was busier than the colonies but as more open plan it feels more spacious. The bar is against the back wall in the far corner as you enter from the front. There were four hand pumps dishing out Doombar, Grandstand and Young's Bitter with the final pump being off. The keg offering included the likes of Estrella, Amstel, Heineken, Peroni, Guinness, London IPA, Hells, Camden Pale and Flatiron.

I selected a pint of Flatiron Red, which I've had before, but couldn't quite remember whether I liked it. The beer was okay, nothing special and I managed to drink it. There is a small outside patio area in the pub which was filled with smokers so I ended up staying inside standing near a post in the pub. The TV was on showing The Chase but with the sound off and music playing but the noise volume was quite high in hear and you couldn't properly hear the music because of this. The pub was decorated with green wood panelling and the area above was painted white. The floor was the standard wood flooring and the tables also wood. This was very much the textbook equivalent of a gastro pub. I even seen the bar staff walk out to table which already had a group sat on it and place down a reserved card for an hour's time, poor show indeed. I finished off my pint, used the facilities and made my way back out in the quieter London rush hour to head homeward.

London Pub Tour 14 - Waterloo: Waterloo Tap, The White Hart, The King's Arms, The Windmill Tavern and The Beer House

Since my last venture out between the Christmas and New Year period was disappointing, I opted to go out again once people were back at work on the Thursday just before New Year's. I kept it simple and headed to Waterloo and started at a new-ish venue, the Waterloo Tap (SE1 7ES).

The Waterloo tap was open in March 2016 by the owners of the Euston Tap (and the Bloomsbury Lanes) in a disused railway arch. The arch was previously not used, but Network Rail have been bringing a lot of railway arches back into use because of the money that can be earnt through rentals. The Waterloo tap is on the major pedestrian thoroughfare between South Bank and Waterloo station. The outside is simply glass through which you can see out the other side, as the venue isn't that large. Upon walking in the bar is to your left with taps on the wall behind the bar number from 1 through to 27 (I think). Above head height behind the bar are the chalk boards showing what each of those taps are serving.

Whenever you walk into a place like Taps or Craft you will inevitably discover that you've never had half these beers before, and some you never even knew about. This does then make it had to choose what will be your poison, so rather than use a complicated method of working out which might be a rare brew or rare for London, you just randomly find a percentage and go with it, which is how I ended up with a pint of Gun Smoked by Four Pure Brewing. It did indeed live up to it's name and be smokey. It was also quite dark and didn't let any light through. At 4.7% it was a solid drink to start with considering this was going to be a bit of a heavy night. I kept it Bermondsey based and choose a pint of 21|03 by Brew by Numbers. Now I didn't actually choose this one, but the bar man pulled two of these by accident so rather than waste beer I took it. This was higher at 5.2% and was a cloudy, bitter, citrus beer but nonetheless went down easily.

As you would expect from a railway arch, the roof of the pub is an arch. When looking at the back window, you don't get a view of anything, but you can see some of their used key-kegs and see what you missed out on. The toilets for the pub are on this back wall, and strangely the men's toilet has a lock for the customer to close the door even though it is a urinal inside. The Tap wasn't that busy but then this was an early start and no doubt it would get busy later. I left the Tap and walked on to the White Hart (SE1 8TJ) which is in the back streets of Waterloo but still a very popular pub.

The White Hart stands proudly and bright on this quiet street corner. Upon walking in through the front door you are facing straight on to the smaller side of the bar, where a display or some lagers and all the cask ales are displayed. On the left are tables running along the bar, and on the right is the longest side of the bar with more seating all the way down. There are extra beers available on the two other sides of the bar, though at first I wasn't aware of this so surveyed the ales and chose a pint of Cornish Trawler by Skinners. The beer felt very dry on the mouth and wasn't as refreshing as I expected. This put was certainly busier than the Tap, with all the seats taken, but only a few were standing at the further reaches of the bar, which is where I headed. I then noticed that alongside the London Lager, Camden Pale, Becks and Carling they also offered Franzisknner, Veltins, Meantime Pacific Red and Stigel. There was also a very good selection of Begian beers including the amazing Delirium. Considering I didn't want to jump straight to 9 or 10% I thought I'd give the Steigel a go, as I've never had that in the UK. But upon looking at the pump clip it turned out this wasn't Steigel this was Steigel Pilnser (They had used Stigel badge and just added a tape saying Pilsner), which I certainly wasn't going to say no to. I only ordered a half of the Stigel Pilsner (Pils) and really enjoyed it. Some wonderful raisin hints came through whilst drinking and I wished I had seen this prior to ordering the Skinners, The White Hart was now getting quite busy with the after work and pre-theatre crowd so I moved on to another busy back street Waterloo pub, The King's Arms (SE1 8TB).

This King's Arms is a wonderful looking pub on the outside that fits in with the surroundings. If you didn't know about it, you might just miss the place. The pub has quite a few doors and is separated into Lounge and Saloon. I couldn't honestly tell you which side I walked into as the pub was packed on both sides, so I just selected the one with the easiest access to the bar. Sadly the area of the bar I walked up to only had the more standard lagers you would expect to see. I enquired about the ale selection but turns out there are around 9 pumps so I opted for the easiest one to remember which was Ale of Kings which turned out to be made by Sharp's. Also on tap was Hark by Thornbridge, Adnams Bitter, Dark Star Pale Ale and Calif-oregon Amber. The Sharp's was a good choice at £4.50 being nice and crisp and the usual standard expected.

The side of the bar I was in started to empty out a little which gave me the chance to move around and look at the craft kegs on offer. There was Nouvelle Saison, Queen of Diamonds, Neck Oil and N 7.7. I was too tempted by the N 7.7 and the few I'd tucked away prior to this obviously didn't help my decision making, so I went and ordered a half. The N 7.7 (v1.0) 2016 by Hammerton Brewery was, as you've guessed, 7.7% ABV. A half pint cost £2.90 and this was a Double IPA with a massive hop and citrus punch. Whilst 'sipping' my 7.7% half pinter I had a chance for a better look round the pub. There was a dinning area in the rear that was quite empty, and the opposite side of the pub was straight and long, but felt like it held less than the area I'd been in. I also had a look in the fridges underneath and there were quite a few craft cans and bottles tucked away in there. I do keep saying I should visit this pub more, and I think I will, but perhaps at a less busy time so I can sit and enjoy it more.

It was next onwards to The Windmill Tavern (SE1 8LW) which was only a minute or two walk away, but takes you back out onto a high street. The Windmill Tavern is actually owned by the same company that owns the King's Arms however, the two pubs really couldn't feel any different. Whereas the King's Arms offered a varying selection of standard keg and ales, alongside a good selection of guest beers, the Windmill's offering was more tied to Fuller's with Montana Red, Frontier and Fullers IPA on Keg and on cask were Bengal Lancer, London Pride and Doombar. The pub also didn't have the more cosy feel of the King's Arms, it felt more a spit and saw dust style pub.

Pump clips facing inwards

The entrance to the pub was on a side stairway which leads you into the back bar. You can then walk through a door opening to reach the front bar which mainly consisted of short tables with short stools. To be honest I'm not sure if there was another entrance, but with my quick look in the front bar I didn't notice one. The rear bar was a long connected sofa on the back wall, with some tables. The bar separates the two areas but is very open allowing you to easily see the other side and out the front windows, along with letting the noise flow through. The pub wasn't packed as there remained seating, though I wouldn't say it wasn't busy. The pub serves Thai food which explained the smell. The strangest thing about the Windmill is the position of the ales. The pubs are attached against the partition between the two bars, with the pump clips facing inwards, so they're only visible from the opposite bar. I ended up selecting the Fullers IPA, which was my second time trying the beer, and I must admit it hadn't improved on second tasting.

After the disappointing pint at the Windmill I made my way back to Waterloo station and down the stairs from the platform to the Beer House (SE1 7LY). I had come to assume the Beer House pubs were owned by Greene King as all the ales they ever stock are Greene King, but when typing up this blog I learned they're in fact owned by a company called SSP. The Beer House offers a selection of standard and premium lagers, and it actually quite a good selection for a station pub compared to what is offered by the other station pubs Sloe Bar. I opted for a pint of Erdinger Weissbrau which comes in a 5.3%. The beer came in a beautiful pint glass which only made this final pint all the more better.

The Beer House itself was it's regularly self, not too busy, but lucky if you get a seat, which I managed to do. The pub has no natural light as its underground and the train screens were not working, which also meant, no phone signal. Thankfully the free WiFi was working which enabled me to check my train times. As a station pub in London this isn't a bad location to sit out any delays or have a swift half whilst waiting for your train. I just about managed to finish my very filling pint of Erdinger Weissbrau, before heading off to catch my train.

On reflection The Taps lived up to the expectation from it's bigger brother in Euston and provided a large selection of beers. But prior to the Taps there has been many other venues offering a varying selection of lagers and beers and this is something the White Hart and the King's Arms do well, and can be seen by the number of people always at these venues. The Windmill was disappointing mainly due to how well the King's Arms has been run by the same company, though I understand appealing to different clientele. And as a station pub in London, the Beer House this isn't a bad location to sit out any delays or have a swift half whilst waiting for your train.