London station pubs are generally rather disappointing. Their prices are often high, the beer offering lacklustre (fizzy keg for the most part), and the premises depressing.

The Betjeman Arms might mark an interesting new departure.  It has real ale – Adnams, Meantime, and Sharp’s (‘Betjeman Bitter’) as well as Belgian beer. That’s a very interesting list for a London pub, with three ales usually on handpump.
At £3 a pint, prices are not extortionate for London. And while I’m not a lover of the faux-traditional style, at least it’s not a fluorescent strip-lit waste of seventies decor, like so many other station pubs. Still,  I’d rather sit outside (there’s a little roped off area with tables as you can see in the picture) and admire the Victorian glass roof of the station, and watch people passing by.

The only downside, I think, is the food prices. The menu looks interesting, but the prices are steep.

Oh yes. One warning, which I have from North London CAMRA (I didn’t use the facility myself when I was there) – the toilets are really, truly, unisex! You have been warned!

Photo credit – Ewan Munro on flickr 

Post from: The London Traveler

There’s a superb piece in the Independent today looking at the decline of the traditional English pub, and featuring interviews with landladies, a pub quizmaster, and regulars.

It includes  one lovely old favourite that every Londoner should try once – the Wenlock Arms in Islington.

But I’m not so sure that the great British boozer is on its way out. Look at the Jerusalem Tavern near Farringdon tube station – owned by Suffolk brewery St Peter’s. When I first started drinking there, Farringdon was still the wild west of the City, and the spit-and-sawdust feel of the pub was not post modern or ironic, but really down to earth.

Now, real ale seems to have become trendy. Amy Winehouse lookalikes and smart lads in suits crowd the pavement outside, and they’re not drinking lager. (Though you might not get grapefruit flavoured beer or honey mild in many old style boozers.)

Photo credit: James Cridland on flickr 

Post from: The London Traveler