London Restaurant News

The Square Mile Pub Crawl

Gary Blake
LondonEats.com

Tuesday, October 10, 2000

The City Of London Pub Crawl From The Tower To The West

The Square Mile Pub Crawl

Good Beer

Introduction
Once you've decided to do it, the next decision is how strictly to interpret The City. If you want to be very strict then don't even visit pubs on the wrong side of the road of the old City boundary!

Inevitably with such a large number of pubs over a relatively large area (we visited around 150 pubs to make this list) the final crawl is to some extent a compromise to make a route that is both varied and interesting.

The route takes us past some of the most famous landmarks in the City, and these are pointed out in the route descriptions between pubs. You may have to start quite early to enable a visit to some of the pubs that close earlier than normal - a common City practise where are lot of pubs would be empty after eight o'clock anyway. Another common City practise is the application of a dress code. While most of the pubs in the actual route are on the more relaxed side for City pubs, it's worth pointing out that others are not, and nearly all have some kind of blanket ban on "Site Clothes", although of course one person's site clothes are another person's John Paul Gaultier techno-style of the season.

Lager Lager Lager!

General Advice
Pub crawling on the whole is a perfectly safe activity, the most hazardous part being getting from pub to pub. Some roads are busy and you'll find your eyesight and judgement worsen as the evening progresses. Be careful.

Know your limitations, don't be persuaded to have more than you want. It is quite reasonable to skip a pub or two, or switch to smaller measures or non-alcoholic drinks. Take a map if you're the type with leadership qualities, but don't be surprised when you get criticized for leading everyone else the wrong way. Bring enough money, beer is not free and remember to bring some extra so you have the fare home. Do not even think about drinking and driving, let alone attempt it.

The Route
The nearest stations to the first pub are Tower Hill (tube) or Fenchurch Street (mainline). From Tower Hill leave the station and turn left, walking toward the Tower Gateway Docklands Light rail station. (See the TOWER ahead of you as you walk out of the station). Take the first left under the office block and into Crescent (yes, just Crescent), continue on under the railway arch into America Square. On your left is a tall office building under which is:

The Pubs

The Hogshead - 1 America Square
Brewer: Whitbread
Beers: Marston's Pedigree, Fullers London Pride, Morland Old Speckled Hen, Flowers IPA, Wadworth 6X, Brakspears Special, Greene King Abbot

Whitbread appear to be making a reasonable effort with their Hogshead chain of pubs. This particular one is a bit like a mythical beast - part pub, part office block, part cellar bar, part coffee shop. The entrance looks like a hyper-modern bar/restaurant, but once you're inside you have a ceiling which is the underneath of the railway arches of Fenchurch Street station with the typical arty air conditioning system for good measure. It is large enough to swallow all but the biggest crowd, so spotting the early starters may be a problem! Also given the rotation of beers it'll be a bit of pot luck as to what's available, though you could always drink Pride (in fact in nearly every pub on this crawl), but we'd leave that to a Fullers pub ourselves. Perhaps not a pub for locals, but fun all the same.

Leave the pub and take the left down Crosswall and into Crutched Friars, continuing past the Pitcher & Piano and the Cheshire Cheese under another railway arch. Take the next left up Savage Gardens, then dogleg right-left to reach Trinity Square. Go right around the edge past Willis Corroon, past the nascent Chez Gerard and into the back door of:

The Liberty Bounds - 15 Trinity Square
Brewery: Wetherspoons
Beers: Fullers London Pride, Theakstons Best, Courage Directors, Shepherd Neame Spitfire, York Yorkshire Terrier, Breakspear O Be Joyful, Ash Vine Plug & Play, Springhead Bitter

Pretty much the usual Wetherspoons formula, albeit with a slightly unusual name. Plenty of space, though not with large open areas often found in JDW's pubs, and there's an extensive upstairs area to get away from the smoke. The books on the bookshelves are very fake, obviously too many people stole the real ones. An interesting range of guest beers, including the first one we've seen with a computer theme - Plug & Play! Plenty of slightly mediaeval/tower-of-london themed artefacts and decorations, but then you don't visit a pub for those, do you? Still when you can sit and see the REAL Tower of London, who needs a theme?

Out of the back door, going left and then down Seething Lane. At he bottom a left/right dog-leg takes you up New London Street and into the forecourt of Fenchurch Street Station (admire front of station now). Continue straight into London Street, you'll hit Fenchurch Street. Cross at the pelican to our left, and continue up Blitter Street. At the end, Leadenhall Street, take a right and cross over (CARE) as you finished walking under the scaffolding, to bring you to Creechurch Lane, along the side of St. Katherine Cree, the guild church. A few yards up on the right is a gated entrance into a yard containing:

The Old Tea Warehouse - Creechurch Lane
Brewery: Greene King
Beers: Greene King IPA, Greene King Abbott, Greene King Triumph

Quite a cosy pub after the two previous large ones. It's worth finding in its secluded position, and has a number of smallish bars (including the Early Grey Bar). The newcomer to use was the Triumph from Greene King, and though we didn't try it on the dry run we're looking forward to a taste on the night. If the pub is busy, there's always the courtyard outside and perhaps they'll turn the heaters on

Leave the courtyard and turn left back on to Leadenhall Street. Turn right and continue past a number of wine bars until you reach a pelican crossing more or less in front of the Lloyds building. Cross here, and head down Lime Street all the while gazing up at the purple lit tower of steel piping. There are some interesting square buildings on the other side of the road too, but they pale into insignificance against this Richard Rogers showpiece. Curving around to the right we reach Leadenhall Place, turn in to it and be confronted by a magical doorway to the old Leadenhall Market. Head straight on into the market, stopping at the first pub on the left:

The Lamb Tavern - 10/12 Leadenhall Market
Brewery: Youngs
Beers: Young's Bitter, Young's Special, Young's Winter Warmer

Maybe not the best example of a Youngs pub in the City, but certainly the most well known and in the most picturesque location. If we can't squeeze into the bar or the balcony there should be tables outside on which to perch our beer while we gaze around at he heavily restored and protected market. Perhaps the ultimate tourist trail in the City! If you're getting peckish you may want to run ahead to the next pub and order a pizza.

Just continue on through the market towards Gracechurch Street, and on the right you'll reach:

The New Moon - 88 Gracechurch Street
Brewery: Whitbread
Beers: Fullers London Pride, Boddingtons, Flowers IPA, Batemans Mellow Yellow, Brakspears Bitter

No, NOT a Wetherspoons pub despite the name, it's a Whitbread pub with a Pizza Hut franchise that fortunately retains a nice looking bar upstairs in stark contrast to the underground "Vaults Room". Go downstairs if you must (get a pizza if you have to!), but the die-hards are likely to stay in the relatively unusual plain rectangular area that makes up the bar area facing on to the market. Another reason to hang around in Leadenhall market, and likely to be one or two interesting guest beers.

Exit the market onto Gracechurch street, turn left. About 30 yards down the road, set back in Ship Tavern Passage to the left is:

The Swan - 77/80 Gracechurch Street
Brewery: Fullers
Beers: Fuller's London Pride, Fuller's Chiswick Bitter, Fuller's ESB, Fuller's Red Fox

The smallest pub on the route, and one of the gems. Minute downstairs bar with no room to swing the proverbial Fuller's Griffin, and the stairs up lead to a bar hardly any bigger, which could pass for a small drawing room. A frequent meeting place for the recce team during our researches - it's easy to find a face in here - and the Red Fox slipped down a treat. We hope the place won't be overshadowed by the large building works happening next door

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