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Party Pom Pom
Jun. 23rd, 2019 06:35 pmAhead of our flight to Argentina, we decided to head to London early. This was partly as an insurance mechanism for delayed trains but also partly because it would give us an opportunity to visit the two new Brewdog bars in the capital that we hadn’t yet gone to. I put a message out on furry Twitter asking if anyone would be interested in meeting up, with Fen booking a coach from Norwich to come see us. Gothicat was initially interested too but then had to bail due to work so it was only Fen who would be meeting us.
We had arranged to meet at the Dalston bar at around 2pm, which was pushed to 2:45pm on account of our train being delayed. It was one of those new Azuma ones based off the Japanese bullet train, but it breaking down twice due to the same technical fault did not engender a good first impression. The seats were perhaps a little hard for a long journey too, but ultimately the acceleration and comfort of the train was supreme and it was definitely a step up on the old livery. We even got to try their bespoke beer Hop On Board by Rudgate Brewery, which was a pleasant enough dry golden ale. During the journey I was on cold watch, with the corpulent gentleman next to me sneezing heavily twice and another passenger clearly sick. I hope we don’t pick something up. Also there was a loud group of French backpackers on our train too which was quite annoying.
Having got to London just after 2pm, we made our way by combination of tube and overground to the Dalston Brewdog, calling off for a Greggs vegan sausage roll on the way. Fen was already in the bar when we arrived, so we ordered a drink and chatted to the bar staff a while, largely about the struggles Brewdog had had opening the place. We picked up our visa stamp then chilled with Fen, observing the rough and ready nature of this part of London. There was definitely gentrification going on with some hipster type bars and eateries, but it was a bit of an odd place for a Brewdog. The bar itself was similar to the Angel one, my least favourite, but there was a nice downstairs too.
After a couple of drinks, we decided to move on to the Paddington branch, opting to get an Uber there. This was partly because amongst three it was only about £2 more expensive each to get it than public transport plus we had all our luggage with us and dragging it around and up and down steps on the network was proving challenging. Our driver was nice enough, although he did park on the opposite site of Stoke Newington Road, resulting in a yomp to his vehicle. Upon getting in, he put on LBC, where they were talking about arming police officers with tasers followed by that charlatan Boris Johnson who was appearing at the first Tory Party hustings for their new leader. Cue a number of choice words from me, which became something of an opinionated debate, but the taxi driver seemed to be in full agreement. Plus I guess it’s inevitable when you put political radio on. The journey was half an hour such is london traffic but soon enough we were deposited outside the Paddington bar, which we went inside to pick up our stamps and some beer. It was a rare nice day for this summer, and I would have liked to have sat outside as there was a nice little promenade with a water feature but Fen preferred indoors so that’s where we went. We did get to see a small dog sat on his owner’s leg though, which was fun.
The Paddington bar is quite large and has shuffle boards too, but what was striking here and in Dalston was that we had most of the beers already, despite not drinking much this month. This meant that by 5:30pm we had tried everything we hadn’t sampled and started scouting for good bars in the vicinity of Victoria as that’s where we needed to get the train to Gatwick from, and was where Fen’s coach back to Norwich leaves too. There’s very lucky decent round there but we did spot a cask beer place near Pimlico, equidistant between that tube stop and Victoria so we thought we would go there for a beer. This we did, navigating the Underground with all the bags, arriving there about forty minutes later. It’s very much a residential bar in a suburb but the range of ales was exceptional and the friendly bar staff told me they rotate the beers every day. It wasn’t a place I knew, but apparently Fen had been here before, but it’s definitely a place where I want to return. The staff were great, even refusing to serve a table of people because they were too drunk, while having a final beer and sharing some divine salt and vinegar flavour pork scratchings was a nice way to end a pleasant afternoon.
We were aiming for the 7:06pm service to Gatwick so we had to leave for Victoria at 6:45pm. Time was tight and Wolfie a little antsy but it was all smooth sailing, with Fen wishing is goodbye at Victoria station. I had tried to get some Speculoos spread for some Argentine furs but alas I couldn’t pick this up, but I did manage to get some things ahead of the trip. If only they had told me earlier, I could have ordered it all online. Still, my shopping in London aided by the duty free in Gatwick meant I did get some stuff and indeed my airport experience this time around was nowhere near as bad as it had been in November when we went to Armenia. Indeed we got through quickly and had some time for some food, stopping at the Jamie’s Diner for a burger. This was acceptable enough but the meet wasn’t overly succulent, although at least it was a burger you could pick up and fit in your mouth. It was passable enough and it passed the time ahead of our mammoth nearly 14 hour flight, which I’m just coming to the end of. This passed surprisingly quickly as I managed to sleep for a lot of it, while the two meals were amongst the nicest I’ve had on board an aircraft. Even the in-flight entertainment was decent.
We had arranged to meet at the Dalston bar at around 2pm, which was pushed to 2:45pm on account of our train being delayed. It was one of those new Azuma ones based off the Japanese bullet train, but it breaking down twice due to the same technical fault did not engender a good first impression. The seats were perhaps a little hard for a long journey too, but ultimately the acceleration and comfort of the train was supreme and it was definitely a step up on the old livery. We even got to try their bespoke beer Hop On Board by Rudgate Brewery, which was a pleasant enough dry golden ale. During the journey I was on cold watch, with the corpulent gentleman next to me sneezing heavily twice and another passenger clearly sick. I hope we don’t pick something up. Also there was a loud group of French backpackers on our train too which was quite annoying.
Having got to London just after 2pm, we made our way by combination of tube and overground to the Dalston Brewdog, calling off for a Greggs vegan sausage roll on the way. Fen was already in the bar when we arrived, so we ordered a drink and chatted to the bar staff a while, largely about the struggles Brewdog had had opening the place. We picked up our visa stamp then chilled with Fen, observing the rough and ready nature of this part of London. There was definitely gentrification going on with some hipster type bars and eateries, but it was a bit of an odd place for a Brewdog. The bar itself was similar to the Angel one, my least favourite, but there was a nice downstairs too.
After a couple of drinks, we decided to move on to the Paddington branch, opting to get an Uber there. This was partly because amongst three it was only about £2 more expensive each to get it than public transport plus we had all our luggage with us and dragging it around and up and down steps on the network was proving challenging. Our driver was nice enough, although he did park on the opposite site of Stoke Newington Road, resulting in a yomp to his vehicle. Upon getting in, he put on LBC, where they were talking about arming police officers with tasers followed by that charlatan Boris Johnson who was appearing at the first Tory Party hustings for their new leader. Cue a number of choice words from me, which became something of an opinionated debate, but the taxi driver seemed to be in full agreement. Plus I guess it’s inevitable when you put political radio on. The journey was half an hour such is london traffic but soon enough we were deposited outside the Paddington bar, which we went inside to pick up our stamps and some beer. It was a rare nice day for this summer, and I would have liked to have sat outside as there was a nice little promenade with a water feature but Fen preferred indoors so that’s where we went. We did get to see a small dog sat on his owner’s leg though, which was fun.
The Paddington bar is quite large and has shuffle boards too, but what was striking here and in Dalston was that we had most of the beers already, despite not drinking much this month. This meant that by 5:30pm we had tried everything we hadn’t sampled and started scouting for good bars in the vicinity of Victoria as that’s where we needed to get the train to Gatwick from, and was where Fen’s coach back to Norwich leaves too. There’s very lucky decent round there but we did spot a cask beer place near Pimlico, equidistant between that tube stop and Victoria so we thought we would go there for a beer. This we did, navigating the Underground with all the bags, arriving there about forty minutes later. It’s very much a residential bar in a suburb but the range of ales was exceptional and the friendly bar staff told me they rotate the beers every day. It wasn’t a place I knew, but apparently Fen had been here before, but it’s definitely a place where I want to return. The staff were great, even refusing to serve a table of people because they were too drunk, while having a final beer and sharing some divine salt and vinegar flavour pork scratchings was a nice way to end a pleasant afternoon.
We were aiming for the 7:06pm service to Gatwick so we had to leave for Victoria at 6:45pm. Time was tight and Wolfie a little antsy but it was all smooth sailing, with Fen wishing is goodbye at Victoria station. I had tried to get some Speculoos spread for some Argentine furs but alas I couldn’t pick this up, but I did manage to get some things ahead of the trip. If only they had told me earlier, I could have ordered it all online. Still, my shopping in London aided by the duty free in Gatwick meant I did get some stuff and indeed my airport experience this time around was nowhere near as bad as it had been in November when we went to Armenia. Indeed we got through quickly and had some time for some food, stopping at the Jamie’s Diner for a burger. This was acceptable enough but the meet wasn’t overly succulent, although at least it was a burger you could pick up and fit in your mouth. It was passable enough and it passed the time ahead of our mammoth nearly 14 hour flight, which I’m just coming to the end of. This passed surprisingly quickly as I managed to sleep for a lot of it, while the two meals were amongst the nicest I’ve had on board an aircraft. Even the in-flight entertainment was decent.
