Bloomsbury Pubs 

Thanks JohnRob!

Yes I agree the Queen's Larder is a gem! It seems to be a bit under the radar as well so there were what looked like a few regulars in, which was nice. Also I forgot to mention in the video but as far as I can tell it's independent! Not many genuine freehouses left in central London, alas.

It was better than I expected! I had slightly written it off as a tourist pub but I am glad I took the time to slowly appreciate its charms at a time when it was a bit quieter than usual. I would happily go back again now.

Very kind of you to say so Paul, thanks! I watched this video back myself and thought maybe I went a bit overboard on the architectural details. On the other hand I think if I just showed up at a pub and said "this is a nice pub" without explaining why I thought that it wouldn't make for a very interesting video! It's a bit difficult finding the right balance sometimes, but I will keep tweaking it and trying different things...

Keep doing it as is! Perfect 👌

It's a nice problem to have of course, but my current abundance of free time seems to mean I am increasingly going overboard on the research for these videos, and ending up with very verbose notes before I start filming. That in turn means I tend to record too much footage of me rambling on about tangents which probably aren't that important. I think you've hinted in some of your videos at a similar worry that the attention spans of the RU-vid audience are all too easily exceeded! Deleted footage from this video included an extended segment about the Bloomsbury set (I was fascinated to learn Keynes predicted WW2 in 1919 based on the economic sanctions imposed on Germany in the Treaty of Versailles), a survey of all the medical facilities around Queen Square, lunch at a wonderfully old school Italian restaurant called Ciao Bella next to the Lamb and a summary of the Tichborne case, which was tenuously relevant at the Duke (Roger Street being named for Roger Charles Doughty-Tichborne). Ysgolgerlan also mentioned the rarely seen tweed suit in the comments here! I hardly ever wear it because it doesn't actually fit very well - the trousers in particular are almost comically baggy. I bought it in a rush without really trying it on properly when out shopping with my daughter some years ago. I think she was only about 4 years old at the time and was very impatient! My attempts to placate her with Smarties only bought me a few extra minutes. I really should have just gone back another day alone to give it a proper try on, or should have left it altogether, but that ship has long since sailed. As it happens I bought it from a shop on Museum Street, possibly even part of the terrace featured in this video where I was rambling on about oculi and decorative grills... So it seemed appropriate to dig it out of the back of the cupboard and give it an airing for this video.

@@TweedyPubs a bit like a newsreader, you can get away with overly baggy trousers on these videos! The camera can be deceptive - the jacket looks a good fit. I really like the structure of the lapels. The extra footage sounds like it has potential for another video and I find myself really wanting to see the Italian restaurant, but it’s not a pub and might therefore necessitate the creation of another channel! An excess of footage is a sign of enthusiasm for the subject, so no bad thing. Binning lots of content in the edit is indicative of high standards and professionalism. I’m particularly enjoying the architectural commentary in these videos and you’re achieving a good balance between detail and the attention span challenge.

@@WC21UKProductionsLtd Thank you for the kind words! I find pub architecture and interiors fascinating, but I suspect it isn't everyone's cup of tea, and for some this particular video may have come across as a bit dry. In real life people don't sit in a pub and perform a survey of all the fixtures and fittings! Probably needs a bit more fun and frivolity: silly anecdotes about famous people and so forth. I shall keep iterating on the format!

@@WC21UKProductionsLtd here's the bit of footage from the Italian restaurant: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sZWbKXL4gXE.html

Thanks Dave! Yes I was initially delighted to see a new (to me) Timothy Taylor's beer, then a little disappointed when I looked it up and learned it sounded like they were trying to jump on the latest trendy bandwagon. It seems no brewer is immune!

@TweedyPubs it's being going for a good few years now, named after their brewery but too hoppy for me

@@SlurpyDave254 Yes I know I'm probably in an ever shrinking minority here but I just can't stand that Cascade / Citra family of hops. Why does all beer have to taste like grapefruit these days?

@@TweedyPubs goldings, fuggles & Challenger all ya need for decent English Bitters

@@SlurpyDave254 I completely agree!

Thanks Vince! Very nice to hear this was your favourite video so far as I was a bit worried I had gone slightly overboard on all the architectural details and maybe it ended up a bit dry...? I'm still figuring out the right mix for these videos. Although I do find the structure of the buildings (inside and out) really interesting, I'm also interested in the social history of pubs - who drank there and what they did while they were there. Unfortunately that seemed to be a bit thin on the ground in Bloomsbury, compared to, say, Fitzrovia or Soho. Yes as I mentioned in the video I also tended to skip the Museum Tavern for the same reason, if I ever needed a pub stop near the British Museum I would always tend to go to the Plough instead... but if you can manage to catch the Museum Tavern at a quiet time I think it's definitely worth a look.

Thanks Rob! It's a bit of a backwater as London neighbourhoods go but that's all part of the charm in my opinion. I think the Lamb at least is definitely a destination pub, as is the Duke if Art Deco happens to be your thing.

Yes I have done a Southwark video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UojvKxhz9Ew.html ...plus one on Greenwich more recently: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nvTVdyaCvcY.html ...but yes still lots more south of the river to cover!

​sorry. I have missed that one.

@@user-qu5sq1sc8g No problem! You're right though I definitely do spend a lot more time north of the river, and I ought to explore south of the river more.

I think I had only been once before this visit and I am not sure first time round I had paused to fully appreciate what a special place it is! It was completely empty this time as well, so a really great opportunity to wander around inspecting all the features without getting in anyone's way.

Thank you, I love this comment! To be honest I'm starting to wonder whether I really like beer in practice as the styles of beer I like are increasingly becoming a relic of the past in pubs in London. I felt that particularly acutely on this trip. Despite that I still really enjoyed visiting each of these pubs. I might alienate some of the audience here but for me when it comes to pubs the setting is more important than the drink!

I did in fact have lunch at Ciao Bella during this outing! I even recorded a bit of video in there, but I thought this video was getting a bit too long, and that segment seemed a bit off topic, so I cut it in the end. I've been a fan of Ciao Bella for over a decade, but it's quite hard to put my finger on why exactly. It has some magic ingredient that other Italian restaurants in London don't have, but I don't know exactly what it is...

Here's the brief footage I took during my lunch at Ciao Bella: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sZWbKXL4gXE.html

I'm impressed you noticed! I've had that suit a good few years but hardly ever wear it as it doesn't really fit very well. The day I bought it I had my daughter with me, so I didn't really do a proper job of trying it on as she was very young back then and a bit impatient! ...but I bought it from a shop just a few doors down from the Museum Tavern, as it happens, and so I thought it deserved an outing on this occasion!

Thanks for replying @@TweedyPubs Would you maybe class it as a winter tweed as it looked a bit more 'fluffy' than your usual ones. 🙂👍

@@ysgolgerlan Yes it is quite a heavyweight cloth, but at the same time the fact the jacket is a bit loose means it can get a bit chilly!

I did originally record a short sequence about Keynes, but alas the video was getting a bit long so I cut it out in the final edit. Before researching this video I didn't know that he was part of the Bloomsbury Set. As mentioned in the video, I got the sense that crowd probably didn't spend time in the local pubs as a group, because they valued their privacy when they wanted to discuss their work (or each other!). I also read at least some of them had quite refined tastes, with Boulestin - apparently the most expensive restaurant in town at the time - being a favourite haunt... but of course individually their behaviours may have differed, and I'm fairly sure all of them would have socialised with others outside the group. One other thing I cut out from the final video is that the Bloomsbury Tavern was the last pub in London to be given a "wine only" licence. So it could well be the case that they served Champagne there in Keynes' time.

Sorry to hear that - it's a mixed blessing but I've found staff (and even management) turnover in most London pubs, particularly those operated by pub chains, is fairly high. So if you just waited a few months you'd find probably a completely different set of people working there.