This is especially for those of you still out there. (Distant chorus: "No we're not!) A good workman never blames his tools, as they say, but I do find the new way of having to do things on Blogger a real nuisance. It was all so simple and straightforward in the olden days. Anyway:
London never ceases to amaze me. I found myself yesterday in Wilton Row, which is basically the mews for Wilton Crescent in Belgravia. And found this, The Grenadier pub, complete with what looks like a genuine sentry box outside. Very useful for propping-up over subscribers I should think. By my reckoning this must be the nearest pub to Hyde Park Corner, but the usual London hub-hub seemed very distant. All was quiet, literally just the sound of my pint of London Pride being pulled. (Four quid- of course.) I could have stayed some considerable time had my business in an adjacent mews house not beckoned me. But it will still be here, as it has been since 1720 when it was built as the Officers Mess for the First Royal Regiment of Footguards. It became a pub proper in 1818, named The Guardsman. The roping off, reminiscent of the barriers at film premieres, is to corral customers onto the pub pavement, presumably to stop them straying into the very exclusive hinterland. And yes, it's every bit as good inside.
13 comments:
Hear hear on the new Blogger design - I don't much like it either. Did you know though that you can still switch back to the old look (for now)? On the top right, click on the cog symbol (Blogger options) and there should be the option "Old Blogger interface".
All this chopping and changing would be enough to drive a chap to drink - and you seem to have found the perfect place to do it! It's always amazing how many hidden gems there are in London - The Grenadier sounds absolutely splendid.
Hello from one of your newer followers, by the way. Good to see you back.
Yes, still here, and hanging on your every blog, of course.
Lovely photograph, and what a great find! A pity that the humble working-man's pint is now priced almost out of range of the humble working-man's pocket, however.
Good to see you back. When I saw your post I straight away thought the pub seemed familiar, but at the same I was sure I'd not been there. Could I have read about it? Yes. In Nairn's London, that treasure among guide books, no less a treasure for being 46 years old. Nairn points out that, being in the mews, it would have been the servants' pub. Now its habitués are more likely to be rich - especially with the price of beer what it is. Great post: thank you.
Ah London! Ah Blighty!
Just to get all bitter and twisted in my ghastly expat way:
£4 for a pint of ale is £32 a gallon. For something that is effectively boozy water made just around the corner.
Makes petrol at around £6 a gallon seem absurdly cheap, eh what?
Bruce P-P: Thankyou for the Blogger Tip. Very welcome. Martin H: Thankyou for hanging on. Phil: Thankyou for the Nairn ref. Looked him up on The Grenadier, so have started dipping in all over the place. Ron: I'm amazed you and I didn't discover this one. Very near is that tiny pub in Kinnerton Street where I chucked a glass of whisky over actor Nigel Davenport's trousers, and he called me a very rude word.
Four quid a pint?! £2.75 in my local
You're very lucky Bill. The average around here is £3.20.
Good to have you back Mr.A and in such convivial surroundings as The Grenadier...couldn't agree more about the new 'workings' of Blogger.
Thanks Jon. So glad it isn't just me being an old git over the new Blogger set-up. Why do techies have to complicate what was working so well? Because they can, I suppose.
I'll give the pub a go if ever in the vicinity....more posts please.
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