Farringdon walkabout

Now that I'm working in the Farringdon area it would be rude not to visit the pubs nearby for research purposes. There are certainly worse areas to be in for an after work drink. Indeed there is a pub located practically across the road from our new offices, The Blue Lion. A former tied house this is now a indepenedent pub with a decent rotating selection of four ales. Sadly the frontage does not include a picture of a lion looking a bit depressed. Despite having a large bar there only ever seems to be two bored staff members pouring pints and glasses of Pinot Grigio for the ITN journos who work nearby. The beerintheevening review promises a goth barmaid with mammaries of appreciable size but sadly she must have left because I've never seen her - believe me I've kept a lookout. The place gets very busy on Thursdays and Fridays and frankly the staff can't cope but it's a nice enough place to pop into if it's not too manic. The ale is well kept and there's usually something pleasant to try.

Next up is The Gunmakers, a quaint little pub tucked in the arse end of nowhere. Nearby are grimy warehouses, some kind of grotty factory, and worst of all, the Ben Sherman headquarters. Inside however this is a welcoming little pub. I've only visited once so far and unfortunately it was during a Tyneside beer festival. I say unfortunately because every Geordie beer I tried had the taste of what I imagine water gathered from a freshly wet and muddy dog would taste like. The Geordie Pride from the Mordue Brewery was the best of a bad bunch and it still wasn't great, with a rather weak hoppy taste. The pub itself is a pleasure to drink in though, even if the beer was not great, with a conservatory in the back that had a friendly beer tent feel to it. I'm looking forward to returning when they aren't selling beer from our Geordie friends.

On Leather Lane is the Craft Beer Co, a well known mecca for ale lovers, with a tremendous selection of booze. Countless handpumps deliver well kept ale and a mind boggling selection of largers. On my last visit I was greeted with the pleasent sight of five Thornbridge ales on handpull, and a splendid pint of Crux went down very well indeed. Reminiscent of Kipling but with the tropical fruit juice flavours toned down a bit, I actually enjoyed this more than Kipling. A great pint. The only downside of Craft is that they choose to charge £5 for half a slice of pork pie. This is absolutely ridiculous. For that kind of money I would expect a pork pie made from REAL GOLD although I imagine that would be disgusting. The pork pie they do serve is inevitably delicious but the high cost does sour the taste.

Ye Olde Mitre is a charming little pub tucked down the most easy to miss side alley in London. A Fullers pub they usually have the full range on plus a couple of guests. I had a pint of Ilkley Black which sadly tasted a bit like coal but I don't think this was the fault of the pub. A taste of Fullers new Wild River went down well, a pleasently hopped summer ale, using American hops. It's a good attempt. The pub is small although you may be able to find a seat in the cosy upstairs room. The opening hours seem to be erratic, as being in Farringdon everybody leaves at around 9pm so don't be surprised if they've called last orders at 10pm. Pork pies are a much more reasonable £1.80 or so although they do appear to have been purchased from the nearby Sainsburys.

The One Tun is a strange beast. It feels like it should be a council estate pub but instead it's slap bag in the centre of London next to an incredibly busy train station.. It's got a lot of things I don't really like in pubs - TV's everywhere, sound deck and disco ball, Thai food and a snow machine(?!) But the ale selection is good and the beer well kept, and it has a weird feel of community spirit even though it's full of office workers. It was certainly a fun place to watch 22 men flail about on a grassy field for 90 minutes while desperately trying to kick a ball into the back of a net. I like the place but I can imagine it's a bit of an aquired taste.

I'm not going to say much about the Sir John Oldcastle except to say it's pretty much your bog standard 'Spoons and my lamb rogan josh was fine.

There are plenty of other places I need to visit in the area including the Jerusalem Tavern. A 10-15 minute walk away is the Holborn Whippet which I've been hearing great things about. There also seems to be a lot of places I need to avoid as well judging by the braying suits on their Blackberries standing outside. I shall no doubt keep you updated on any further pubs I visit!

Manchester

Manchester is one of my favourite places to visit in England. Laid back but with an lively energy to it, it's a great place to spend a weekend. Exploring the back streets of the Northern Quarter before vomiting with the students at the many bars and pubs along Oxford Road is always a pleasure. Manchester is also home to a splendid range of pubs, and I recently spent a day there visiting some highly rated pubs which I hadn't actually been to before. Curse my pub ignorance.

They're not kidding. It's pretty small. Actually they are lying a little bit, I didn't see any vines or leaves.

First up was the Micro Bar, which is not really a pub but more of a stall in what is known as the Arndale "Market." This area is basically a tiny little market shoved into a back corner of the Arndale shopping centre. One half is full of tantalising food stalls, the other half packed full of stalls selling all the tat imaginable. Although if you want real tat you have to go to Afflecks, a five storey monstrosity which is basically like Camden Market packed into a building. Although it has its fans I find it a dreadful experience, trudging up floor after floor looking at more shiny spiky boots, neon necklaces and t-shirts with odd foreign words like "Slipknot" and "Man-o-war" printed on them, surrounded by gormless goths and excitable 14 year old girls with hair the same colour as my bathroom towels. Not my idea of fun.

Although the Micro Bar is small it packs a punch. An outpost of the Boggart brewery, there were a couple of Boggart brews on offer plus a couple of guests. I tried the Boggart Cascade, a sturdy bitter which didn't set the world alight but was a pleasant pint. I also tried the Great Orme Brewery Cambria which was much better,  a pleasent and light session ale with an excellent crisp, hoppy taste. Both ales were in good condition and the service was friendly if a little scary. But as a Southerner I find all Northerners terrifying with their friendly attitude, chatty humour and frequent eye contact. The Micro Bar also had a well stocked off sales section, including a magnum of Chimay Blue which I was tempted to buy but for the safety of my mind and body I decided not too. The Micro Bar has obvious shortcomings due to its market location, such as there's not really anywhere comfortable to sit, the atmosphere is non existant and the places is restrained by the Arndale opening times so it closes ridicously early, especially on a Sunday. The plus is that it's in a food market, so plentiful curries, meats and cheeses are just round the corner (or next door if you get cheese) to accompany your tasty pint.

One of the best pub interiors I'd seen. Fantastic.

Next up was the Marble Arch, a historic pub on the outskirts of the city centre. The interior is tremendous, perfectly preserved with a sloping floor leading to the bar, the way a pub should be. Food is a strong focus here although I didn't get the chance to try any. The cheese selection in particular looked brilliant but I was stuffed full with a Wetherspoons breakfast so didn't stand a chance of eating any. Luckily beer is also has a strong focus here. This pub is an outpost of the Marble Brewery, whose brewery is located behind. There's plenty on offer, although sadly I wasn't able to try the Marble Pint as it was off. My dream of ordering a half pint of Pint was shattered. Instead I plumped for the Bitter, which was surprisingly fruity and light. It was a top notch pint. All of Marbles ales are organically brewed, although unlike most things labelled organic it didn't taste of a hippy's socks. This pub is a must visit for the interior alone, and the wide selection of ales is just the icing on the cake.

The Angel is located a stone throws away from the Marble Arch, although it's a different beast, a modest and cosy local. On a lazy Sunday afternoon there weren't many punters in, although I imagine it get's livelier in the evenings. There were plenty of ales on offer and I went for a pint of the Three B's Stokers Slates, a rather good mild with a very pleasent chocolate taste. It looks like I'm not the only one who has enjoyed this pint as it has amassed a rather sizeable collection of awards. It deserves them as it's a great example of a mild.

What my readers have been waiting for:
another fabulous picture of TLJ's nails! This
time holding a Welsh ale.

In between the pubbing me and The Lovely Jemma enjoyed a good meal at Dough!, a pretty decent pizza place in the Northern Quarter and not a Simpsons tribute restaurant. Although it wouldn't surprise me if Manchester does have s Simpsons tribute restaurant. Or at least a bar. It's that kind of town. Our last pub before heading on the Virgin Train to London was The Castle Hotel, a pleasant little pub deep in the Northern Quarter. A Robinsons pub, it had a fair range of Robinsons ale on offer. You don't seem them too often in London so I went for a pint of Unicorn and Crusoe. To be honest neither were that memorable, probably why I'm not too fussed that you don't see Robinsons in London that often. The pub itself was a bit of a charmer, with a small open area at the front and a cosy little room behind the bar. Behind this room was a intimate little gig venue. The small back room packed in an ecelectic mix of punters and the atmosphere was jolly. A nice little pub.

I must give special mention to the The Font, a bar which is as studenty as a student bar can be (£2 cocktails, cheapo food, loud music, full of students) but had a pretty good cask ale selection, which I wasn't expecting. The bottled selection also looked very good with a wide range of Thornbridge ales amongst other goodies. Coupled with a decent CAMRA discount which meant a cocktail and a pint on a Saturday night came to £4.25 (astonishing) it was a pretty good night.

If you find yourself in Manchester you can do worse than visit one of these pubs. And the good news is there are plenty more places in Manchester that I need to visit. I'll be sure to test them out next time I'm up there (sorry Jemma!)

A final shot of the magnificent Marble Arch.