Where to find an authentic pub
Michael GoldfarbMarch 20, 2009 17:55One alarmist has noted that at the current rate of closures there will be no pubs left in Britain by the year 2037. But if you are planning to visit any time before then, here's my personal guide on where to have an authentic pub experience.
In the countryside:
I have been drinking round Britain since I was 17 and walked into The Court pub in Durham, and without anyone asking to see my ID ordered a pint of Newcastle Brown Ale. I revisited The Court several decades later and the charm of the place had been ripped out in a modernization. That has been the fate of many of the pubs where I sank a few over the years. So now when I am on the road I find that the most reliable guide to a place is a sticker for CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, or The Good Pub Guide on the door or a window. If you are touring the British countryside and enjoy your beer it is worth getting a hold of the pub guide.
In London:
The best London drinking establishments, like the best country pubs, reflect the character of the neighborhood where they are situated. London more than any great city is a series of villages linked together by concrete. Each village has its own feeling and depending on what kind of character you like, you can find a pub where you will feel comfortable.
At the roof of London, in Hampstead, there is the Holly Bush. Interior basically unchanged in several decades, several rooms, rough wood floors, snugs for privacy, fires in winter, food not so great, reasonable selection of beer, and it's in a cul-de-sac so when you step outside for a smoke you are in no danger of being mown down by a car or buggy-pushing parent. Also in Hampstead, the Flask just down the hill in a little alleyway makes my list for its local feel and tucked away location.
If you dig trustafarian culture and want to rub shoulders with children of famous media types then most any pub in Notting Hill will do. That's not my style. There is one boozer for real people in the area: The Castle, more spit and sawdust than any other place in Portobello Road.
In the West End, without doubt the best pub is The French House. They do not pull pints there ... the French don't drink by the pint. But they do have more good wines by the glass than any pub in theater land and it's character is essentially unchanged since the war, when Charles De Gaulle used to take his lunch in the upstairs restaurant most days, and since the 1950s, when it was the center of London Bohemia and Francis Bacon used to make it part of his daily drinking circuit.
If you visit Tate Modern or Borough Market — and you should because the South Bank is where it is happening — then the Market Porter in Borough Market is absolutely the place to visit.
If you want to get a little lost on the south side of the Thames and find a remarkable bit of historic riverside London then make your way to Rotherhithe and drink at the Mayflower, so called because the Pilgrims' ship was moored there for a while. It's a tight squeeze inside but on a long spring evening you can watch the sun set over the financial district, the City ... a visual metaphor I don't need to explain.
I am reluctant to tell you about what I consider the best pub in London because I don't want it to be overrun, but since it is a little hard to find and you have to make an effort to get there I am going to share the secret. The Prince George in Parkholme Road between Dalston and London Fields in Hackney is it. The George is what all great pubs are: the neighborhood living room. It is situated at the meeting point of several residential streets. There are no shops or other commercial establishments nearby. It is just an old house, among other old houses, where all the neighbors get together. Excellent selection of real ale and Czech beer. The landlord is a Scot who lived for 20 years in South Africa, so there is an extraordinary amount of single malts to taste as well as South African wine by the glass. Juke box is canonical both Elvises (Presley and Costello), Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Hendrix and a very few hits from the '90s ... no soul music where "feel" is rhymed with "real." The clientele changes throughout the drinking day and as Hackney is the most ethnically and culturally diverse place in the first world it is a pretty changeable scene: old soaks to young, pierced trendies. There is no better place to waste time in London ... I should know I have wasted months of my life in here over the years.
Others worth checking out:
The Shakespeare in Stoke Newington; Lamb and Flag in Old Conduit Street, Covent Garden; Coach and Horses, Soho.
http://www.globalpost.com/notebook/united-kingdom/090320/where-find-authentic-pub