London Pub Tour 55 - Lambeth North: Pineapple, The Steam Engine,The Three Stags and Duke of Sussex

I arrived back into Waterloo on a Sunday afternoon after a short weekend down at a wedding in Dorking. The missus was off to meet up with some friends so I took the opportunity to visit some pubs in the Lambeth North area, right near Waterloo. I walked about 10 minutes (including a road works detour) to reach my first pub the Pineapple (SE1 7DZ). The pub sits on what looks like a main road which runs alongside the railway arches. There are benches out front which were full of people who were outside during half time. Entering from the door on the bench side I discovered the pub was split into two rooms, with the majority of people in the other larger room. The floor is wooden and the bar runs across both sides of the pub. Staying on the smaller, and quieter side, I walked up to the bar where everything on offer was standard run of the mill. There were three hand pumps offering GK IPA, London Glory and Doombar, so nothing of interest for me there. The kegs were Budweiser, Fosters, Guinness, Coors Light, Carling, Stella, Carlsbery, Strongbow and John Smith. I selected a pint of Budweiser, for what reason I don't know, which came in at £4.30.

The floor of the pub is wooden but up ahead there is a carpet area with soft seating. The area was empty even though a screen with the match was in here. I sat down and looked around noting that this looks like a conservatory which has had the glass covered up, apart from a single sun light. All the furnishings are red (Chairs, walls etc). To my left were two middle age men playing and then discussing their chess match. They even brought the match back to a previous state after looking at a photo, and discussing what they could have done to change the outcome. There was memorabilia lining the top shelf on the wall from books to bottles to packaging and promo material. The pub had plenty of seating/stools and a clientele of old men and young lads.

Just as I left the pub it started to drizzle outside hence the empty outside photo I managed to grab. Fortunately the walk to the next pub, The Steam Engine (SE1 7BU), wasn't far. The pub sits again on a quiet road and has a dark blue painted exterior. Walking up to the pub I seen the Pub Love sign, which immediately cheered me up as I knew there would be a big selected of beers, and I wasn't disappointed. Aside from the 5 hand pumps (of which three were off and one was serving Old Rosie cider) and the usual keg lagers (Amstel, London Lager, Guinness) there was a selection of 36 cans and bottles, which is too many to list here. 

There is a menu listing all the beers but my eye was caught by a can I seen on the wall. I'm not a fan of peanut butter but once I seen the Peanut Butter Milk Stout by TailGate I knew I that was what I was going to drink. The can was the standard 330ml and cost £5.90, even though the beer was only 5.8% but oh boy it was worth it once I tasted the beer. The beer has a peanut butter nose and the taste is spot on. It's a stout with a beautiful peanut butter taste, which pairs well.

The pub wasn't too busy and it was easy to find a seat. There was a table of 6 seating and a few individual drinking. When entering through the front door your side on to the bar and in the more dinning area seating. There are stalls placed around the bar for those that wish to sit there. The rear of the pub had bench seating with tables and a rug area in front of a fire with soft chairs. A hostel is also based above the pub, with the entrance door being just to the side of the snug area. The walls are white with photos placed around relating to trains. 2000's Indie music is playing lightly in the background and fits with the pubs style.

As I was relaxed and it was still raining outside I picked up the beer menu and scouted for another drink to have. I settled on a 355ml bottle of the Castaway IPA by Kona Brewery. It led with a citrus nose and a grapefruit and hoppy taste. The pub started to pick up a bit from the 10 that were in originally to 30+ who had all come in for the burger menu offered by Pub Love. I finished up my beer and visited the men's where another train photo was hanging.

I made my way out to the main road and to pub number 3, The Three Stags (SE1 7PZ) which is directly opposite the wonderful Imperial War Museum. The Three Stags is a Greene King pub which was very gastro. The entrance is on the corner and your faced with an L shaped bar. The pub is very open plan apart from in the right corner where there is a glass segmented area named Chaplin's Corner. Next to this there is some bench seating. Along the other wall there is a raised seating area. The floor is wooden with tiles around the bar and Chaplin's Corner.

The bar had three hand pumps, which surprisingly had no Greene King ales on. The lagers were more non-mainstream: Pravha, Staropramen, Guinness, Aspall Suffolk, London Lager, London Pale Ale, Cobra, Punk IPA and Noble. I went for a pint of Sir Titus from Saltaire brewery for £4.10 which smelt nice but tasted chalky. All the tables inside were taken, mainly due to a large group booking. There were benches outside which had coverings to protect from the rain, which were in use by people even though on a busy junction. I took a dry seat on the outside bench and forced the pint down.

The sun was back out which made the walk back to Waterloo station easy. On the walk back I passed the Duke of Sussex (SE1 7AY) which I hadn't been in for over 6 years, so it made total sense at this stage to stop for a swift half. The outside had a large covered seating area which was empty at this time. The building itself still has the Truman tiles on the outside and look pretty with the blue exterior and a red bench. I entered via the corner door and wasn't prepared for the way the pub had changed.

The first thing I noticed was that the two bar pub had become a one bar pub. The bar had been moved left on the back wall and the space on the right had been knocked through to create a single L shaped curved bar. The second thing to strike me was the strange/unique hand pumps used for dispensing the ales. 4 ales were on offer Wandle, Black Sheep, Sharps Atlantic and Truman's Bow Bells. The Kegs included Amstel, Heineken, Estrella, Guinness, Aspall Suffolk, Shipyard, Longhorn IPA and Yakima Red. I went for a half of Bow Bells for £2.15. The beer is named after the nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons. The badge even had oranges and lemons on it though from the beer I only got a slight lemon taste.

There are no stalls in the bar, with seating round the corner being low tables and chairs, which were all occupied. Opposite the bar there was soft seating with accompanying tables, then a row of high tables in front. The floor is wood apart from a rug with some poofs near the entrance. The pub smelt of garlic pizza, which was certainly making me hungry. On the soft seating there looked to be a homeless man who had bought a half pint, which he a drunk a bit of and then fell asleep seated upright on the soft seating. Who can blame him, I think I would do that in his situation as well. The pub has certainly changed since I used to visit, but it had improved its interior and exterior, which is always a plus. I made my way back to Waterloo to meet up with the missus and make our way home.

London Pub Tour 15 - King's Cross: Euston Flyer and The Boot (New Years Eve)

So early evening New Year's Eve was going to be spent at a few pubs in and around King's Cross before heading onto a party. Whilst awaiting friends I had scoped out how busy some of the pubs were in Euston to King's Cross area. I noticed that the Betjeman Arms in St Pancras wasn't too busy and schedued to meet my mates there. Sadly when walking into the pub half an hour later at 7pm the barman informed us the pub was closing. Evidently they decided trade was slow that they would let staff have the evening off, and I certainly don't begrudge them for that.

Photo by Ewan Munro - Flickr

So instead it was off to the Euston Flyer (NW1 2RA), a Fuller's pub directly opposite the British Library which is located closer to King's Cross than Euston. The pub was busy due to showing the Footie, but there was a little seating available. Managing to grab a table I had my first of three beers at the Euston. My first two pints were the ever dependable ESB, though perhaps on a night like New Year's I should have started on a lower ABV. My last pint was a switch to Frontier, which was Fuller's first ever lager when it launched about 3 1/2 years ago. I've never really enjoyed Frontier as much as some of the other craft lagers and generally in a choice between this and mainstream lagers, in most instances I would select mainstream. On this occassion I felt like a lager and considering I don't like Peroni (The one mainstream lager I really can't stand) I chose Frontier.

The Flyer is based on the ground floor of a sixties building that you can tell was a conversion into a pub. It's a large-ish open plan pub with some high level areas aimed at dinning, but not specifically restricted for eaters only. The pub has been given the mahogany look, and the bar itself on one of the side walls wouldn't look out of place in an old Victorian corner pub.

The Euston Flyer was still busy when I set off to my next pub which was down the back streets away from King's cross moving towards Russell Square. It's was an Irish pub which I used to frequent quite often 8+ years ago called The Boot (WC1H 8BS). On the outside the boot didn't look too busy, but on the inside it was buzzing with a variety of age rages and both genders. As it was New Year's the pool table had been pushed against one of the walls and covered, and the expected Irish food spread had been laid atop. That's always one thing I do love about proper Irish pubs, and it's the element of offering free food on certain occasions.

The boot isn't a large pub, more a modest size, that is square. When walking in the bar is to your right against the side wall. All along the walls are photographs and paraphernalia from a variety of sports, including the Hurling and Gaelic Football. I had thought from memory that The Boot served Murphy's but clearly my memory was lying and they offered up Guinness or Guinness Extra Cold. On the bar they also had a house lager with the imaginative name 'The Boot'. I opted for a pint of this but lived to regret it. The beer was very metallic and had an off smell. After looking into it at the pub I found out that the beer was actually Belhaven House lager and it has very mixed reviews. I swapped over to the Guinness for my next two pints as there had to be safety in numbers at that stage.

Sadly that was all for my pub tour before heading off to the party I attended. I didn't drink anything too extra-ordinary. The only drink worth mentioning is the Big Wave Golden Ale by Kona Brewery in Hawaii. I've had this bottle beer before. It's smooth and easy to drink, but not something that if I seen in bottle would make me reach for it over other beers.

So I finally managed to write up all my December exploits before January ended. As January wasn't too busy a month due to friend's being on Dry January I have less Pub Tours, meaning I should hopefully be able to play catch up in February, and maybe even start writing up some of my non-London pub tours amongst other pieces I have in the works.