3 Brothers Drinking Together in SW19 and 2 in TW10!

Well, the 3 of us hadn't met up together as a trio for some time, and we decided again to meet up on the edge of Wimbledon Village, by Wimbledon Common. There are quite a few decent pubs in the area, but we whittled the choice down to two, a few yards from each other. The Crooked Billet (website), 15 Crooked Billet SW19 4RQ, built in the early 18th century, became a pub in the 1850s, the name coming from the pub sign that was a crooked piece of wood broken from a tree apparently, but there are many theories! Anyway, the name of this small local part of Wimbledon Common, and the road, was taken from the name of the pub; so not a chicken or egg situation. It's a pub I have visited off and on for many years, but Rob arriving last let us choose...

So, we chose the very nearby Hand in Hand, 7 Crooked Billet SW19 4RQ (website), dating back to 1831 and originally a bakery, but was a family owned pub for a hundred years before Young's took it over in 1974. Indeed, a wee bit underage maybe 😉 I first drank Ruddles County there before Young's took it over, and Ruddles Brewery was still an independent brewery then. Nowadays, like The Crooked Billet, both pubs sell guest ales in addition to Young's.  

In addition to the ales in the photograph above, there were also Sambrook's Sidekick, a 3.4% session IPA and Adnams single hopped Mosaic Pale Ale (4.1%) on the other bar. However, from the 4 shown in the photograph above, I drank, from Wandsworth brewery Sambrook's (website), their Pumphouse, a 4.2% pale ale, named after the Pump House Gallery in Battersea Park. This is brewed with 3 British hops, Admiral, Goldings, and notably Ernest, which gives it a strong fruity American style pale ale aroma and taste; light, slightly spicy with apricot and citrus. It was pretty good actually, and despite giving the always excellent Proper Job consideration, I surprised myself and kept to the more locale Pumphouse throughout our visit, nice one.

The next day just Dan and I walked across Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park to the Roebuck, 130 Richmond Hill, Richmond TW10 6RN (website), arguably the pub with the best view in London; the view is protected by an Act of Parliament of 1902! The Roebuck was built in 1717, believed to be on the site of a much older pub, and was a regular drinking hole of Dan and I in the late 1970s and 1980s, and occasionally since. It was recently tastefully refurbished by new owners Greene King, and doesn't appear much altered, if at all, from our older visits.

I was pleased that it wasn't just Greene King ales on sale though, as we enjoyed an excellent couple of pints of the Oakham Ales (website) single-hopped 4.2% 'Session IPA' Citra. Their Citra is, as you would expect, zesty with a hint of citrus in the aroma and taste, very pale, and a great dry bitter finish. An ale I love, and have written about regularly (for example blog), and would include as a luxury item on a desert island discs theme, along with a cooling system. 😉 Oh yes, and we were very pleased with our choice of lunch here, their Sharing Platter, with a portion of chips that we didn't need as it was plenty enough, even for us 2 gluttons!

The view from outside the Roebuck is one that has been painted many times, for example by J.M.W. Turner, and, as I forgot to take a photograph on the day, I thought I would share a photograph of an oil painting of the view. However, this is by a less celebrated, though very local artist, James Isiah Lewis (1861-1934), and is at Orleans House Gallery (in a villa built in the 'Palladian' style in 1710), Orleans Road, Twickenham TW1 3BL (website).

And this view hasn't changed much at all either, cheers! 😁

Oh yes, afterwards we carried on walking eastwards along the Thames to The Ship at Mortlake, the ales were a bit boring sadly, not like on a previous visit (blog)!

The Eight Bells & Sambrook's Black Forest

On my way to London yesterday I noticed on their Facebook page that The Eight Bells, 89 Fulham High Street SW6 3JS, had put on a very interesting ale, so we visited for a couple of pints. The 18th century building became The Eight Bells about 1754, although a pub had been on the site as far back as 1629, when originally licenced as the Blue Anchor. The pub is situated just north of Putney Bridge in Fulham High Street, which used to run down to the older wooden bridge, originally Fulham Bridge, that was built in 1727-29; the present Putney Bridge (opened in 1886) is a hundred yards or so to the west of where the older Fulham Bridge's north end was.

The ale that had interested me is brewed by Sambrook's Brewery (website), which is now situated in the old Young's Brewery site in Wandsworth, London SW18 1UR, and was their 4.5% Black Forest. Imagine my surprise when I discovered it wasn't the stout or porter I was expecting, but a cherry flavoured bitter! OK, I wrote "I get the cherry, but quite subtle with dry bitter finish." Much easier to drink than I thought it would be, and not bad! 

My brother drank Fuller's London Pride, which he assured me was one of the best pints of Pride he's drunk for a while, and the 2 pints together came to £9.80, which is pretty good for the Fulham/Putney area. Overall, a very nice pub, pleasant service, happy bunnies, cheers! 👍

London Pubs and an apology...

Apologies because I haven't written for a while, which is a combination of IT problems, other responsibilities and, let's face it, I'm notoriously in the pub! 😉 Well, I do have plenty to say and have been hoarding topics to write about since last year, and a mate posted this link to me on facebook, cheers Rod, which prompted me to pull myself together and write this easy blog! 

It's easy because I don't really have to say much this time, if you haven't looked at the link, it's to a website called Londonist, and article called Real Ale Trail: Where To Drink The Best Cask Beer In London. There is a lot there new to me, I can't visit the 40,000-ish pubs and bars in the country obviously, for which I again apologise, though I do try, but that article is pretty good and informative. I have previously visited and written about some of the pubs, for example, The Harp (above photograph, and blog from my older blog) and the Cask Pub & Kitchen (older blog), and the breweries, for example Sambrook's Brewery (blog), and I will try harder...

Anyway, expect more soon... ish, cheers! 🍺

Ram Brewery Returns!

Many thanks to my brother for providing the information (Wandsworth Borough Council website), which tells us that brewing is returning to the old Ram Brewery site, now called the "Ram Quarter." The brewery will be installed in a restored grade II listed former brewery building and will include a tap room and off sales. Sambrooks Brewery (website) is the business apparently moving from Battersea into the heart of Wandsworth, although I couldn't find anything about this on their own website yet. I wish good luck to them in this venture!