London: More Serious than just a Pub Crawl, honest!

I travelled to Charing Cross Station on Saturday because of the second anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, although I didn't join in with any other commemorations or demonstrations (Independent) as I had my own objective. I did enjoy my walk from the Station, when soon after leaving Charing Cross you reach Trafalgar Square, and can cross to The Mall, which is closed to traffic at the moment, so meaning a peaceful walk along The Mall to Buckingham Palace (above).

Buckingham Palace was originally called Buckingham House when John Sheffield, then the Duke of Buckingham acquired the property and had an older house demolished and the site then rebuilt on at the end of the 17th century. George III acquired Buckingham House in 1762 as a residence for his wife, Queen Charlotte, and when his son (George IV) acceded to the throne in 1820 he decided to turn the building into a palace. Over the years since, and under many monarchs, the building has been altered and added to. For a detailed history of Buckingham Palace go to the Royal Collection Trust website.

If you pass to the right of Buckingham Palace and walk up Constitution Hill you reach the Wellington Arch (above), situated on the Hyde Park Corner roundabout. The arch was originally built as an entrance gate for Buckingham Palace, later becoming a 'victory arch' following Wellington's defeat of Napoleon. Above it was added the largest bronze statue in Europe depicting "the Angel of Peace descending on the 'Quadriga' - or four-horsed chariot - of War." (English Heritage)

From Hyde Park Corner I crossed through Hyde Park, walked north-westerly to Victoria Gate on the Bayswater Road, where I crossed the road to Brook Street. Then walked along a short distance, ignored Hyde Park Gardens, and turned right onto Stanhope Terrace and along to a small roundabout. Here sits The Victoria (above), on the corner at 10a Strathearn Place, W2 2NH (website), a mid-19th century Grade II listed building with an original 1864 built counter and a wonderful interior indeed. Legend has it that Queen Victoria stopped here once on her way to nearby Paddington Station, oh yes, and I drank a couple of pints here too. 😉

Friendly welcome from the staff on entering the pub just after opening at 11.00. I drank Fuller's Grand Slam Spring Ale (3.4%), which the brewery says very little about on its website, so nothing to link. However, I did note at the time that it does what it says on the label, "refreshing, light gold and a subtle fruitiness, nice one" - it must have been, as I did drink 2 pints. 😉

When I left The Victoria I walked straight down Stanhope Terrace to Lancaster Gate and turned right (westwards) onto the Bayswater Road. In just a short distance I reached Leinster Terrace and turned right where, on the right, I reached The Leinster Arms at number 17, W2 3EU (facebook). The Leinster Arms is another Grade II listed mid-19th century pub, and  yes, I had another wee pint. 👍

Again I went for their House Ale called Lennie (4.3%), brewed by nearby West London brewer Portobello (website). Hasn't changed, still a decent enough pale amber bitter, a wee bit sweet to taste at first, and I have no reason to believe that it's not Portobello's 4.3% Star British Bitter, but probably a variation on the theme with English hops used. But I'm only guessing still, however I'm always ready to try something different, and the only alternative was Doom Bar...

On leaving, I headed back to the Bayswater Road, turned right westwards yet again, and continued on to Notting Hill Gate, where the road then becomes Holland Park Avenue. Just before reaching Holland Park tube station, on the corner with Holland Park, on the left (south side of the road), I reached my link to the Ukrainian anniversary day:

The statue of St Volodymyr (above) on the corner of Holland Park Avenue and Holland Park. Volodymyr was from Kyiv, and a major actor in bringing the Russian peoples together in the 10th and 11th centuries. He had been a 'pagan' and converted to Christianity for 2 reasons. He believed having a single deity as in Christian Byzantium (Constantinople), rather than having many pagan deities, would help the unification of the Rus' tribes, and he could only marry the sister of the Byzantine Emperor Basil II if he converted to Christianity (Encyclopedia of Ukraine). 

Volodymyr successfully ensured the unification of the Rus' people, and their conversion to Christianity, and was canonized in the 13th century. However, this statue remains a symbol of Ukrainian defiance of the Russian imperialist assault on Ukraine as you can see from the photograph above, taken yesterday. Incidentally, St Volodymyr is not only the patron saint of Ukraine, but a patron saint of Russia too...

Whilst in the area, I also visited The Castle, 100 Holland Park Avenue, W11 4UA (website), which was originally built in 1827. and the frontage added in 1857. I hadn't been here for about 15 years, and it was strange to discover it is not a listed building when I searched the Historic England website, because it's really a lovely building. 

I drank the Suffolk brewer Adnams (website) Ghost Ship (4.5%), a pale sharp refreshing ale, with a slight citrus flavour from the Citra hops used (and other unspecified hops from the USA) and a dry bitter finish, their best ale, I believe, and enjoyable too.

Oh yes, and I did come for football too.😉

And I was lucky with the weather, that's all for now folks, cheers!🍻

Visit to West/South West London

So what were we doing drinking in a Wetherspoons pub? Well, historically, as in the last few years, I've considered the Bricklayers to be my pub of choice in Putney, sadly, they've gradually descended into the abyss, it's freezing out of the summer season, I've been there and they've had no beers at all, recently very few ales available, and on our last visit we were served up a very poor pint from the usually reliable Twickenham Ales, and at £4.40 a pint... I've given up! So, to The Rocket, Putney Wharf Tower, Brewhouse Lane, Putney SW15 2JQ (website), it has a great view of the bridge and down the river (Thames), and is next door but one to St Mary's Church (website), who's 15th century tower is visible, and the church where the Putney Debates were held by the Parliamentarian forces during the English Civil War, proper historic!

Also, as I'm a member of CAMRA I get another 50p off a pint of real ale there with a voucher, and during my recent visit, that was off an already low £2.29 a pint, so just £1.79 each for a few very different decent ales, instead of £4.40 a pint plus for poorly conditioned/dead ale, no competition, and there's not much else in Putney for real ale these days either! My brother Dan, really liked the 4.9% Romsey brewery Flack Manor (website) Hedge  Hop, a traditionally copper coloured bitter, slightly sweet biscuit flavour, with hints of fruit and spice the result of the use of Cascade, Pilot and Challenger hops, not bad and Dan kept returning to it...

But I prefered, from the much more local Wandsworth brewer, Sambrook's (website) Powerhouse Porter (also 4.9%). I have to admit I wasn't too impressed with Sambrook's in their early days, but their ales seem to get better every time I try them, and this one is a gorgeous example of a Porter! Brewed using a variety of malts, and producing a smooth deep dark red ale with plenty of body, and a hint of chocolate in the taste, very nice, cheers!

The next day we walked a circuitous 18 mile route to Richmond and back, via Wimbledon Common, Richmond Park, and the Thames footpath (mostly Middlesex side). In Richmond we visited The Victoria Inn, 78 Hill Rise TW10 6UB, our new 'favourite' pub there, with excellent service from the Cornish 'maid' (oops! My history of living in Devon and Cornwall coming out there, sorry, all women down there are called 'maid' and all men are called 'boy', so 'young boy' or 'old boy' etc!). Anyway, here we both drank the Suffolk brewer Adnams (website) Ghost Ship (4.5%), more expensive, oh well, you can't be paying £1.79 a pint everywhere, sadly... This is a pale sharp refreshing ale, with a slight citrus flavour from the Citra hops used (and other unspecified hops from the USA) and a dry bitter finish, their best ale, I believe.

When we got back to Putney we dropped down in strength at The Rocket, but what a great brewery to find an ale from, Oakham of Peterborough (website), and again at £1.79 for CAMRA members, still great value at £2.29 though for others! Jeffrey Hudson Bitter (JHB, 3.8%) is a wonderful pale golden ale, with citrus in the aroma and flavour provided by the Challenger and Mount Hood hops used, quite sharp and refreshing, with a dry bitter finish and, indeed, one of the best session ales brewed!

I usually prefer to drink at smaller local ale houses, but the manager/cellar manager appears to be keeping their ales in very good condition, and, although quite a busy pub, The Rocket has an appropriate number of staff working to keep the drinks flowing and the till ticking, cheers!