Thanks L&J! I fear the talk about the beer ends up taking a bit of a back seat when there's so much to get through in terms of history / architecture / interiors!
Wow Tweedy! Your videos somehow get even better as they come out (and they were great to begin with!) Wanted to let you know I just came back from my London trip, and I went to Ye Olde Mitre in Holborn based on your recommendation. What a wonderful outstanding pub experience it was! We got there right after opening. The staff was so friendly, the atmosphere was unrivaled. I had two pints and a toastie. Now my favorite pub in London. I just wanted to say a heartfelt thank you for your videos.
The Hemmingford Arms won the day there, I would say. What an inviting pub. All that paraphernalia all over the place. Perfect! Shame about The Queen’s Head not doing proper beer. It looked like it should. Taken over by the young, with their funny ideas of what makes a good pub!
I agree, the Hemmingford Arms was the one I would most likely return to, possibly followed by the Crown. The other two did a good job of satisfying a sort of academic curiosity but probably weren't the sort of places I'd want to wile away an afternoon/evening!
Afternoon Tweedy. Another cracking upload. At last my curtains are in the video!! They're still hanging up in The Queens Head. Have a cracking weekend.
Thanks Paul! I'm trying to remember now if you mentioned you had done some work at the Queens Head in the comments on a previous video - if I had known I would definitely have given them a bit more of a showcase in the video! I find it really gratifying that as a side effect of making these videos I'm getting to interact with people like you who have contributed to these interiors!
I’m completely addicted to these reviews. I grew up in Pimlico. Would absolutely love it if you would do a review of the pubs in Pimlico. There are so amazing pubs in Pimlico I believe this would be an addition to your reviews. My favourite pubs so far have been in Westminster and the east end. I’m sure there are so many quirky pubs in Pimlico that will surprise you 😊. Thanks again for the wonderful reviews.
I have been watching your channel for the last month and I have to say that when you mentioned Gibbons as inspiration for the fire surround I took my hat off to you. I was born in Barts and grew up in Bloomsbury Square. Your passion for the subject is fascinating and makes me yearn for my city. I left decades ago and live in the high mountains of Cyprus where I have a Cherry farm. I like you love a real ale (no Grapefruit vibes) but I produce organic Cherry Schnapps and Grappa. Would be happy to send you some as a chaser.You deserve far more subs as your content is fab.
Thank you very much for the kind words! I am learning as I go along with these videos, and have to admit I had barely heard of Grinling Gibbons before that Fleet Street video, which was only a few weeks ago. I found the parallels quite striking between the Cock on Fleet Street and the Old Queen's Head in Islington, given those relocated / reinstated 17th Century fireplaces. It's also fascinating that both were recorded in some form before they were relocated. I have been to Bassano del Grappa - as I understand it the birthplace of grappa - but at the time I was more into vermouths / amari rather than grappa itself. I enjoyed a "Mezzo e Mezzo" on that Palladian bridge with the Nardini distillery on one side. I wish I had been into making videos at the time as it would be great to have had a record of that!
As a young boy in the 70s my grandparents lived in Banner street EC1 only 50 mts from the city boundary in the Parish of Saint Lukes Clerkenwell. There you would have found the Whitbread stables where every day the Drays would take barrels around the City, At the age of ten I would clean the stables and ride on the Drays until Fenchurch or Holborn, I was given a pound for my trouble. The stables closed in 91. In 95 I went back to find it was a builders merchants.These days they are million pound flats, I still sometimes dream of the Shire horses and my time with the men in camel coats and Bowler hats. An innocent an beautiful time when Gentlemen were Gentlemen whether Toff or Vagabond.
Thank you so much for all your videos. I find them very uplifting - so good to live in the present and consciously experience what you are doing (especially if beer or food is involved). I know how much work goes into having a RU-vid channel and really appreciate your efforts
Thank you for those very kind words! Part of what I like about making these videos is it encourages me to really look at my surroundings and try and better understand what I'm seeing. I think that's perhaps what you're referring to when you say "consciously experience what you're doing"...? My knowledge of architecture etc is very amateur, and I'm learning as I go along, but I do find the more I know, the more I appreciate this huge wealth of visual information we have around us in built up environments, which is very easily ignored!
Yes, exactly that. I get excited about columns, pediments, diocletians and funny round things on top of columns with a latin name. Makes life much more interesting. Please do keep it up if you can
Hi John. Thank you such a fascinating episode. Your historical research gets better and better. Four very interesting pubs indeed. 👏👏👍😀🍺 The Queens Head though deserves to be educated in the joys of real ale. It looks bereft without it. Such a shame. I hope you get to go out west and seek out the pubs of West London in Ealing, Chiswick and Hammersmith, my old stomping ground. 👍😀
Love the channel and your delivery. Would love to see you go further afield to places like Norwich and York eventually but also love learning history about the pubs I frequent in London
Thanks Michael! Yes York definitely has been on my list for a while now, i just never seem to quite get round to it! Norwich is also a great suggestion - I've only ever been there once actually, and I went completely uninformed, but stumbled into the Adam and Eve and it left a lasting impression.
Loved this. Came here from outdoors so was not sure what to expect, but so much history, and so much research you put into these, and eye-opener. I now have hours of catch up to do. Thank you again.
Thanks Chris - I really appreciate that you noticed the research that goes into these videos! They're quite a different style from the Tweedy Outdoors videos in a way (more like amateur documentaries than "vlogs"). I'm glad you liked both!
Fantastic video as usual. What about doing the highest pubs in England, Scotland, Wales? Or how about some Cornish pubs, especially The Blue Anchor at Helston where they brew Spingo bitter? In 1972 The Daily Mirror ran an article on the strongest beers around the UK and it was mentioned. My Brother and I headed off in an Austin A40. Forty years later we repeated the trip (minus the Austin A40). We also had several visits in between. I can say that the pub is still unchanged.
Love these videos, Come up to the Midlands there are some great local public houses in this area.. the Cross Keys hednesford built in 1746, The Vine Stafford 1763 (formerley the Saracens Head 1406)...
Enjoyed that Tweedy, and I got the impression you did too. All pubs I don't think I've been in, certainly something to think about the next time I'm down in the Big Smoke from the North East. Shame most of these pubs have sold out to food, but I suppose it was either that or closure, so I accept that reluctantly. Is it just me, or do others hanker to go back in time, say 1975 and see what these pubs would've been like then. Maybe I imagine the pubs to have been better than what they actually were, but I would love to go back in time for a day, and enjoy a lunchtime session in these pubs, probably frequented by drinkers not diners, Postmen, Taxi Drivers, Railway workers, Coppers and Road Sweepers, White people and Black people, with a hard faced no nonsense woman serving on behind the bar, and a glum faced landlord like Dave off Only Fools and Horses, with his face buried in the racing page of the Daily Mirror. A shame a lot of these pubs don't serve a good selection of beers, especially as there are so many wonderful breweries setting up around London. Of course the big pub co tie has a lot to do with it, nothing against Greene King beers, they're okay if nothing special, just the amount of bloody pubs they own, that restricts choice and good quality. Nothing against lager or craft beers either, though not my cup of tea, just why do they have to be a couple of quid more than a pint of real ale, why ? I don't buy the usual excuses put forward, of dearer ingredients and kegs not reusable etc. Have you ever walked the Regents Canal ? and visited a few pubs along the way? Narrowboat, Wenlock Arms, Baring, Lord Morpeth, Palm Tree, The Grapes at Limehouse etc. Think it would make for a great Vlog, walked it with my son on a lovely sunny day a couple of years ago, great walk, away from the stresses and congestion of London, had a pint and something to eat in the Narrowboat, balcony table overlooking the canal, and a drink further on at the Morpeth Arms.
Cheers Ronnie, and yes you're right I did enjoy this day out! I agree it's a shame the way so many pubs are gradually morphing into restaurants. I know some people who aren't into traditional pubs don't understand this, but the atmosphere is fundamentally different. A group of people sitting at a table having a meal in a pub are like an island, they're very unlikely to strike up a conversation with anyone nearby. It's not really a social space. Whereas proper pubs are a wonderful free-for-all. At my local on a good day I might talk to ten different people, we all know each other's names, and none of us planned to go together.
Hi John, this is the first one of your pub videos I've seen and really enjoyed it, well done!!. I particularly enjoyed the chimney depicting the story of Actaeon and Diana but you picked out lots of interesting details backed up with period documents and maps. Here's one for you to look out for at some time perhaps in your outdoors videos. The Royal Oak at Langstone. Near Portsmouth set on a quayside opposite an old windmill and tidal mill it's very picturesque both inside and outside. At spring tides the quay can flood, the pub and houses in the village all have boards to stop flooding ! Easily reached by walking from Havant station following the old Hayling Island branch. Look forward to seeing where you go next. Have a great weekend!!
Thanks David! Mr WC21 once said he considered this to be my "most serious channel" - which I think was meant as a compliment! My other channels are all fairly straightforward "vlogs" (I'm still not really comfortable with that word) - a record of an experience - whereas I suppose with this channel what I'm trying to do is more like mini-documentaries about the pubs. A lot more research goes into these videos than the ones on the other channels and I spend more time on the editing too. I have been considering a pub video in Portsmouth for a while now - I have family connections there - just waiting for the right moment! Thanks for the suggestion. Hope you have a great weekend too!
@@TweedyPubs I think the documentary style is what really appeals to me, a great combination of old documents and maps and the research really shows. I lived in Portsmouth for many years and still have family and friends there. A lot of pubs have closed over the years but plenty of interesting ones remain especially in Old Portsmouth. There used to be a site dedicated to them not sure if it's still running, I'll have a look
Always very pleased when another one of your videos pops up, especially the pub channel. As I said on my first comment on one of your other videos, I particularly enjoy watching you in pubs that I’ve been to many times (Soho etc) but sadly you’ll run out of those at some point. Wondering if you’d ever break out into reviewing the beers available at the pubs you’ve been to? Gives you an excuse to revisit pubs you’ve already featured, with a different angle, and would help me make a beeline to my old favourites that currently have the best beer on tap…. Keep up the good work though, great to see your channel growing.
Thank you for the kind words! I do plan to revisit some areas of London - particularly I'd like to remake some of the early videos (Belgravia, City of London etc) because they were actually made before I started this channel, as slightly out-of-place @TweedyOutdoors videos, and the way I went about making them was quite different to how I do these pub videos now. I didn't do any research beforehand for those early videos, I just went to pubs I already knew and said whatever came to mind when I got there. So they don't really feel like they're up to the same standard when I look back at them now - I'm a lot more thorough these days!
Just by looking at your video,I can tell that you have unearthed a little gem that I have not been to (The Hemmingford Arms).Which I will rectify this weekend. Great video and yet again your research is second to none.
I did enjoy the "The Sweeny/The Professionals" vibe I got from your intro scene there, Mr Tweed, deliberate or not... And I quite liked the "ship's stern" look and feel of the bar end at the Crown, though it may make me feel a little seasick after a pint or seven...
Thanks John! I agree it was right up my street too. The Greene King "branding" wasn't very obvious, and I think if I had gone for the Timothy Taylor's Landlord that was on offer rather than the house bitter I would barely have noticed!
Yes, sometime a reasonable lager trumps another so so real ale. Think Camden are still brewed at the original brewery, even though it was bought out some years ago…
I have almost been there once - but I think I chose a bad time and it was so packed I couldn't get in! I should definitely address that and give it another go...
@@TweedyPubs just make sure you visit the front bars, and not just the back bar...the garden is also lovely. It's a sports pub though so make sure there isn't a one on when you visit maybe.
I have done a few forays on the channel to other cities outside of London: Oxford, Cambridge and Brighton; but I would definitely like to explore further afield. It's partly just a case of finding the time!
Ohhhh I would absolutely love that! I have been to Edinburgh a few times in the past (long before I started this channel), and there are some absolute gems there, plus it's just generally a beautiful city. It's obviously quite a trek for me though! I might have a chunk of free time from family commitments etc this spring, perhaps then...?
@@TweedyPubs You could perhaps do it as a series over a period of time. The train between Kings Cross and Waverley is far less onerous than many imagine. As you say, there are lots and lots of hidden gems and I am sure that it would appeal to a wider audience especially those visiting for the festival in August etc.
In hindsight I regret it, I probably should have given it a go - if nothing else I'm fairly sure it would have been much more reasonably priced than the Camden Hells.
This isn't North Islington, this is south Islington, the North would be archway upper hollway, Tollington area, you are literally by Emily Thornburys gaff who is MP for islington South, don't mix us up with archway lot 😂
