Goldwood Review: A 4.7, and the Name Is Two Nouns
Goldwood Review: A 4.7, and the Name Is Two Nouns | Gold and wood, put together, meaning nothing – and it is the modern naming formula, and it is everywhere
Tag: pub review London
Old Spot Review: One Review, and the Gloucestershire Old Spot Is a Real Pig
Old Spot Review: One Review, and the Gloucestershire Old Spot Is a Real Pig | An orchard pig, said to be bruised by falling apples, and it very nearly went extinct
The Hope Review: The Cheapest Optimism in Bloomsbury
The Hope Review: The Cheapest Optimism in Bloomsbury | A one-word name promising the single most valuable and least deliverable thing a pub can offer
Attlee Review: He Was Boring and He Changed the Country More Than Anybody
Attlee Review: He Was Boring and He Changed the Country More Than Anybody | No charisma, no oratory, no presence – and the NHS, the welfare state, and the largest peacetime reform in British history
Mayflower Review: The Ship Sailed From Here and It Was Not Going to America
Mayflower Review: The Ship Sailed From Here and It Was Not Going to America | They were aiming for Virginia, they missed by several hundred miles, and the ship was broken up for scrap
Cannick Tapps Review: A Tap Is a Cock and We Have Been Here Before
Cannick Tapps Review: A Tap Is a Cock and We Have Been Here Before | Two words for the same object, four hundred years apart, and the English chose the one that could not be laughed at
Clachan Review: A Clachan Is a Village That Was Cleared
Clachan Review: A Clachan Is a Village That Was Cleared | The word is Gaelic for a small settlement, and most of the ones in the Highlands were emptied on purpose
Good Mixer Review: Britpop Was Decided in This Room
Good Mixer Review: Britpop Was Decided in This Room | The pool table, the jukebox, and a rivalry between two bands that the press invented and the bands then believed
Arbitrager Review: Buying Cheap Here and Selling Dear There
Arbitrager Review: Buying Cheap Here and Selling Dear There | Arbitrage is the purest trade there is – a riskless profit, taken from the fact that two markets have not noticed each other
Eagle Review: The Third Eagle, and Pop Goes the Weasel Is About This Pub
Eagle Review: The Third Eagle, and Pop Goes the Weasel Is About This Pub | A rhyme about pawning your coat, a road in Shoreditch, and nobody agrees what a weasel is
Candlemaker Review: Tallow and Wax Were Different Trades and They Hated Each Other
Candlemaker Review: Tallow and Wax Were Different Trades and They Hated Each Other | Two separate livery companies, two separate materials, and one of them made candles out of rendered animal fat that smelled appalling
Millers Review: The Miller Was the Most Distrusted Man in England
Millers Review: The Miller Was the Most Distrusted Man in England | He took a share of every sack he ground, nobody could check it, and six hundred years of folklore says he stole
Boleyn Review: The Ground Is Gone and the Pub Is Still Standing
Boleyn Review: The Ground Is Gone and the Pub Is Still Standing | West Ham left Upton Park in 2016, the stadium became flats, and the pub outlived it
Lock Tavern Review: A Lock Is a Machine for Lifting Boats
Lock Tavern Review: A Lock Is a Machine for Lifting Boats | It works on nothing but gravity, it has no moving parts worth the name, and it has not changed since 1820
Red Lion Review: The Commonest Pub Name in England
Red Lion Review: The Commonest Pub Name in England | There are hundreds of them, and the leading explanation is a Scottish king who told everybody to put his badge up
Bucks Head Review: A Buck Is Any Male, and It Means Nothing
Bucks Head Review: A Buck Is Any Male, and It Means Nothing | Deer, rabbits, goats, hares and rats all have bucks, and the word tells you nothing about the animal
Bricklayers Review: A Brick Is the Size It Is Because of One Hand
Bricklayers Review: A Brick Is the Size It Is Because of One Hand | Every brick in the world fits in a bricklayer’s grip, and that constraint has held for five thousand years
Dublin Castle Review: Madness Lied to Get Their First Gig
Dublin Castle Review: Madness Lied to Get Their First Gig | They told the landlord they were a jazz band, because he would not have booked them otherwise
Earl of Camden Review: He Owned the Fields and Waited
Earl of Camden Review: He Owned the Fields and Waited | Charles Pratt granted building leases in 1791, and the entire leasehold system of London is the same trick
Edinboro Castle Review: The Second of the Four Castles
Edinboro Castle Review: The Second of the Four Castles | One pub per nation, so the navvies would drink apart – and the spelling on this one is wrong on purpose
Quinns Review: The Belgian Beer List Is the Point
Quinns Review: The Belgian Beer List Is the Point | An Irish pub in Camden with one of the best Belgian lists in London, and the monks are the reason
Fitzroy Tavern Review: Fitz Means Bastard and the District Is Named After One
Fitzroy Tavern Review: Fitz Means Bastard and the District Is Named After One | The Norman-French for son of, used almost exclusively for the illegitimate children of kings
Windmill Review: The Second Windmill, and the Sails Are Aerofoils
Windmill Review: The Second Windmill, and the Sails Are Aerofoils | They are not flat boards catching the wind – they are twisted wings generating lift, and somebody worked that out by feel
Hawley Arms Review: It Burned Down and Camden Rebuilt It
Hawley Arms Review: It Burned Down and Camden Rebuilt It | The 2008 fire gutted the pub, and the people who drank there raised the money to bring it back
Newman Arms Review: Orwell Drank Here and He Invented the Perfect Pub
Newman Arms Review: Orwell Drank Here and He Invented the Perfect Pub | The Moon Under Water – ten qualities, described in loving detail in 1946, and in the last paragraph he admits it does not exist
George Tavern Review: The Landlady Fought the Developers and She Won
George Tavern Review: The Landlady Fought the Developers and She Won | A grade II listed pub, a block of flats proposed next door, and she took them on twice and beat them
Newman Arms Review: Orwell Drank Here and He Invented the Perfect Pub
Newman Arms Review: Orwell Drank Here and He Invented the Perfect Pub | The Moon Under Water – ten qualities, described in loving detail in 1946, and in the last paragraph he admits it does not exist
Hippo Review: The Hippopotamus Is the River Horse and It Is Not a Horse
Hippo Review: The Hippopotamus Is the River Horse and It Is Not a Horse | Its closest living relatives are whales, it kills more people than lions, and it sweats a red antibiotic
Jack Horner Review: The Plum Was a Deed and He Stole an Abbey
Jack Horner Review: The Plum Was a Deed and He Stole an Abbey | A steward carrying title deeds to the King, a pie, and a very convenient property acquisition
Coborn Review: She Left Her Money to Educate Poor Girls in 1701
Coborn Review: She Left Her Money to Educate Poor Girls in 1701 | Prisca Coborn, a brewer’s widow, founded a school – and she is the thirty-second woman and we can name her