Some Lesser Known Holborn Pubs (and the Princess Louise, which is well known) 

Thanks Dave! Yes the early videos (e.g. the Belgravia one) were a bit rough and ready, I didn't do any research beforehand, and just said whatever came to mind at each pub. Nowadays for a video like this I spend at least a day beforehand doing the research and about the same amount of time again editing afterwards. So a lot more time goes into them, but I don't mind that. I feel like I actually have some novel contributions to add here and there now! I haven't seen any other sources talking about the Old Nick / Three Cups as a former coaching inn, for example.

@@TweedyPubs Hmmm, I thought the first ones were mighty fine. But, then, I want to take you to dinner...

It's great isn't it? I have been a London pub fan for a long time, but to be honest it's only since I started making these videos that I began to research where those different kinds of stone come from. It's fascinating to me that a trained geologist can look at those beautiful slabs of rock and figure out not just the country but often the precise town it came from.

@@TweedyPubs Yeah is amazing that they can do that and the precise town as well. It for sure makes the pub visit more interesting. Before i saw this videos i never gave such details any thought but now i can't help to noticing this thing, and i always pointing out that Swedish. 😃

Ah you've known it a fair bit longer than I have then! I think my first visit was probably a mere 20 years ago. Have you noticed any changes since the 1970s?

@@TweedyPubs I last popped in about 6 years ago on a pre show Saturday night. It was heaving and noisy. Very difficult to see past the crowd and remember how it was in 1978.

Thank you! I share those bittersweet feelings toward those fine Victorian pub buildings which replaced beautifully ramshackle old coaching inns. Indeed I read that the demolition of the Oxford Arms, a famous example, was one of the motivations for the formation of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, which I suppose is a Victorian forerunner of English Heritage / Historic England. Before doing the research for this video it hadn't really occurred to me that Holborn was a hub for coaching inns akin to Southwark. I'd labelled it in my mind as London's legal district, going back, I believe, to some king or other (possibly Edward I?) who hated lawyers and decreed they could not ply their repugnant trade within the walls of the City of London. So they set up shop just outside, in Holborn. The fact those legal institutions - Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn etc - are called inns should have been a clue! I believe in their very earliest incarnation the lawyers were effectively working out of pubs. If you visit the Seven Stars at the back of the Royal Courts of Justice today you could be forgiven for thinking not much has changed! I love delving into those old maps, and it was a special treat for me this time to see the inns in question clearly labelled and named. Normally there's at best a confirmation that the street a given pub is on was laid out at that point in time. I think you're right about the location of the modern pub vs the original inn regarding the "Old" Red Lion, not least because the pub today is so tiny. Where it sits now might have been one small corner of the overall inn complex, but given the amount of nearby real estate named after it, it would surely have been quite a significant set of buildings. The Old Nick / Three Cups however does feel like it might be the original site of the main inn building, given the way it has that arch straddling the little alleyway, and the fact the yard behind it has taken the name of the old inn. Making that connection was quite exciting, one or two sources I'd seen just mentioned that the pub was formerly called the Three Cups (a name I think it still had in the late 20th Century), but I haven't seen anywhere else discuss that it was previously a coaching inn, or highlight that it appears on Morgan's 1682 map. Yes I thought this was a very good showing from the pubs on this outing. I'm used to there being at least a couple of duds on a tour like this, but I think this time they all had at least something worthwhile to offer. I think I should work on developing a jingle / logo for pub bingo for future videos!

@@TweedyPubs Yes you do need a bingo jingle! It needs to come in every time Oliver Cromwell gets a mention - which I note he did this time! Was Sir Francis Drake’s house in Southwark? I know I’ve seen a picture of it, just before its demise. I think I have been in that Seven Stars pub - I was royally lambasted by a lawyer who was very unhappy about me having a conversation on my phone. I think there was a rule that I hadn’t noticed. They probably insist on quill pens only, too!

Thanks David! I didn't know that other meaning. I have encountered a couple of pubs called the Quay, or some variation thereof, so I suppose it could be something along those lines...? It is interesting that between the Ship, the Dolphin and the Enterprise (albeit that name is relatively modern) half the pubs on this tour had maritime names, and yet the area isn't particularly close to the river, and certainly not the sea. The Seven Stars nearby also possibly has some derivation in Dutch sailors, I'm led to believe. I know the banks of the Thames have moved somewhat over the years, as the river became gradually more contained, and of course there are some smaller rivers in the area like the Fleet which now run underground. Not to mention the fact Holborn itself almost certainly takes its name from some "old bourne" or other (either the Fleet itself or a tributary thereof)... So perhaps there were at one time inlets around here which were navigable?

Thanks Ronnie! I completely agree, for those in the know Holborn has long been the best bit of London in terms of pubs. It has always wonderfully slipped between the cracks: just outside the walls of the City of London, so much of it escaped the Great Fire, and nowadays it both escapes the tourism of the West End and the relentless building of skyscrapers of the City.

Thanks Paul! Yes I've had it, mostly when in Wales, and it is indeed right up my street - so I was spoilt for choice here! Definitely the best pub of the day in terms of beer selection.

Thanks Rob! Fleet Street is a great area too, another bit of London where you can go to a handful of really great pubs practically next door to each other.

Ah the Old Cheese, the Bell, the Punch Tavern, the Tipperary, the Old Cock Tavern, the George. Many happy times Tweedy.

Thanks Desmond! I wasn't aware of that rather macabre piece of history associated with the Princess Louise.

Thanks John! Yes there is something very poignant about that clock in the Dolphin. I have to admit I would rarely ever order a half in a pub under normal circumstances! However when making these videos I want to be sure I'm still fairly coherent by the last pub. I am slowly coming round to the realisation that half pints have a lot going for them though. If nothing else it's a lot less of a disappointment when the beer isn't particularly good!

😂 Yes once you start noticing it you realise it's everywhere! I think it's also useful in terms of dating exteriors as I am led to believe it was a relatively short run fashion, mostly of the later Victorian era, but possibly continuing slightly into early Edwardian. I suppose the fact it's so hard wearing and easy to maintain means there hasn't been much impetus to replace it with something else.

Absolute tons of it left. You need to start building more pubs.

Thanks Dave! I think all of the pubs on this tour are worth at least a quick visit, but I agree the Dolphin is a superb boozer and if there's one place out of this bunch I'd want to sit and wile away a whole afternoon or evening it would be there. (Although I think the Ship had the best beer of the day.)

All around £3 for a half on this trip, so around £6 for a pint.

I don't mind Sam Smith's Old Brewery Bitter, but it's not something I'd choose in a line-up if there were practically any other bitter to have instead. Which of course there never is at Sam Smith's pubs. They're such beautiful interiors though, sometimes I just see the beer at their pubs as a sort of ticket to the museum.

Yes I completely agree - the sound of conversation and clinking glasses should be enough!

Thanks Mark!