TOPIC:

Bigears you do not need any more tips, once you go to the Wenlock Arms, you will be going no where else, because you will be unable to drink all the beer in one sitting.

Bigears,

I forgot to mention the most important thing, the Wenlock Arms, with the exception of the Pitfield Brewery operates a guest ale system, so if you go in on day one, the beer will not be the same the following day unless so is unsold at the end of the night. So why would you want to go from pub to pub, when all the beer operates on a one keg system and when that keg is gone a different beer same style ale is added. A black board tells what is currently on tap. So if you like a beer make sure you drink more than one pint, because the same beer may not be available for several weeks until it's next turn

Just back from a work thingie in London last week (coincidentally!).
I managed to escape and spend an evening in the Covent Garden area, and track down some great pubs and some good ales. I visited The Seven Stars in Carey Street, The Cittie of Yorke in Holborn, The Salisbury in St Martins Lane and The Harp in Chandos Place. Prices varied quite a bit (7 Stars was £3.10 for a pint of Harveys Sussex Best bitter) down to the Cittie of Yorke was the cheapest (£2.67 for a pint and a half of Sam Smiths Best bitter). All these pubs are within walking distance of each other.

Bigears,

I'm still working my way through the messages here so have only just come across this thread. I was in London last week, so if I'd seen this then maybe we could have arranged to meet! <!-- s:? --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_confused.gif" alt="" title="Confused" /><!-- s:? -->

I agree that London has some great pubs, my favourite being the Star Tavern in Belgravia. Didn't quite manage that one on this trip but went to Belgo for the first time and the wife loved it so that will be on the list for a return visit next time we are in London. <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

Whenever I comment that I've been to a pub anywhere in the UK my wife says it would be easier for me to mention the pubs that I [i:39ujceoy]haven't[/i:39ujceoy] been to! <!-- s:o --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_surprised.gif" alt="" title="Surprised" /><!-- s:o -->

Les,

Not to worry, maybe next time (although I'm sure you'll be over here before I make my next trip over).

Well I enjoyed the weekend. We were staying in Kings Cross and as chance would have it there was a pub on either side, one of which was part of the O'Neills chain (like the McDonalds of Irish pubs so we avoided this) and on the other side was a Fuller's pub 'The Euston Flyer'. We decided that this would be a good starting point. On tap they had London Pride, ESB, India Pale Ale and a guest beer called Dark Star Hop Head (which was very nice).

After a few pints we decided we'd better head and off we went in search of the Wenlock Arms where they had seven or eight real ales on tap - off the top of my head I can remember Adnams Tally Ho (barley wine), Adnams Bitter, Grand Union Mild, Acorn Dark Ale, Old Spot, Pitfield St. George's Ale and Caledonian XPA - later in the evening the XPA ran out and was replaced by Exmoor Gold.

Most of the beers were solid offerings, the Old Spot was well liked. I had been looking forward to trying the XPA but I found it rather underwhelming. The Wenlock itself won't win any awards for decor and it's a bit tired looking but the beer selection is very good, the locals were very friendly and the salt beef sandwiches on huge doorstop bread were a big hit. They are a meal in themselves, so much so that we needed to ease off the pints for a while we were so full. So all in all I would definitely reccomend the Wenlock and a big Thanks to all who suggested it.

long shot i know but.....anyone been to durham? heading over for the cricket in a couple of weeks. found a couple of decent looking pubs (ie with a decent selection of beers)colpitts hotel, dun cow and the half moon but if anyone's been and can say steer clear of that 1 or definitely go to this one, i'd appreciate it.