Annual Ale Trail
Club member and CAMRA stalwart Ian White has been organising these pub crawls for years, each one focusing on a particular part of London, with a tour of watering holes offering good beer and interesting architecture. This time our route took in Shoreditch, De Beauvoir Town, Hoxton, Hackney and Stoke Newington. We began at the Griffin, an airy Victorian gin palace, where I had what was for me the stand-out pint of the day, a hoppy ale called Stampede by Elephant School. Next was the Stag’s Head, a cosy 1930s boozer with plenty of period details. It was also the first of many places where Gillian tried and failed to get a hot port and lemon (mostly she just got blank stares). Our third pub was the Army and Navy which I would have guessed was 1920s, though with a much older-looking bay window. But it was actually 1936, and featured sort of half-timbered ceiling panels of a design that cropped up in at least one other pub on our route. Next was the Rose and Crown, another 1930s pub where they were obviously doing something right, as the place was rammed and we struggled to fine a table. As it was Sunday their focus was on serving roast dinners and the staff were rushed off their feet. Our final official port of call was the Dolphin, a return to Victorian style after the run of 1930s establishments. And it couldn’t have been more of a contrast with the Rose and Crown: despite the walls covered in full-height exotic tilework, the place was now clearly a locals’ pub, with few locals actually in it. There was some half-hearted karaoke going on, with which Gillian gamely joined in, and a lot of enthusiastic Halloween decoration. As a final bonus, we stopped off at the Wetherspoons pub on Liverpool Street Station. Located in the old ballroom of the Great Eastern Hotel, it is a riot of rococo plasterwork, making for an architectural change of gear on which to end our crawl. Many thanks to Ian for organising the day.
