I have a weekend to catch up on, and a very good weekend it was. Here, in London on Friday night, is where it began — specifically the ‘Princess Louise’ pub on High Holborn, a great old-fashioned Victorian drinking palace with tiles, etched mirrors, little booths and snugs and good beer, what more does one need? (The flare to the bottom right of the image is a bit distracting, but I think I get away with it.)
The former ‘Hole in the Wall’ pub did feature on a post or two (like this one) back in late 2012 when it was temporarily accommodating a pub business forced out of its usual premises due to the flooding that summer, but it has been closed again for a year or so now. I believe it will soon be renovated, but I doubt it will remain a pub.
Never seen the point of this particular puzzle myself — but Clare likes it and it’s good brain-exercise for the Boy. Sunday afternoon in the pub: a relaxing weekend comes to a close.
The half-timbered structure in the rear is Sinclair’s Oyster Bar, probably the oldest extant pub in the city of Manchester, even if it has moved a couple of times. The lights in the foreground are reflected in the perspex fencing that keeps the Mitre Bar — where we were — from its more venerable and also cheaper rival.
Yes, I’m travelling again – couple of days’ work in Norway. But after this trip I’m at home, at least am projected to be at home, for four and a half months, by far the longest such period since I started this blog. So I’ll have to find inspiration there. I’m sure I can do it.
Yes, I also spend a lot of time in pubs, I admit it, but that also means I appreciate a good one and the Cardinal certainly is good — I would go so far as to say that it’s the best I’ve found in Norway. Stunningly broad (if expensive) range of beers, great atmosphere: definitely a prime example of the genre. You’ll find it on the street called Skagen, close to the quayside in the city centre.
Second evening in a row at the pub – naughty, naughty. A birthday celebration for our friend Steve, these are the remnants of his very nice birthday cake going up in smoke. Yes, we could have recycled. But it’s cold out.
As pictured in The Railway. I didn’t ask to take this picture, it’s candid, but you know, sometimes you just gotta use them anyway. Also while I’m 95% certain this guy is called Ian, I can’t be completely sure, so I hope I’ve got it right…
Taken firstly because I liked the light (it’s been a damn good month for it) and secondly for the novelty factor of actually being able to see across Oxford Road without a bus being in the way. The tower block in the background has appeared on the blog before, by the way.
Well, this has been a fairly unreconstructed weekend — a Friday night out and a Saturday afternoon in the pub, too. The results in the Championship are nothing to speak of at the moment, however. But that does not mean that going out is unenjoyable.
Having been convinced, over the three years I have been coming here regularly, that Norway actually doesn’t have any decent bars or pubs, I have over the last couple of visits ended up in three spectacularly good examples, one in Stavanger, one in Oslo and tonight, this one in Bergen — Kafé Spesial — each of which has literally hundreds of different beers. Am I complaining? Not at all. As you may have gathered from following this blog, I quite like beer. The choice and quality of the stuff available in each almost makes the outrageous alcohol tax in this country tolerable. Well, almost.
Being 42 