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| sorry if it's going slightly off topic, but can someone tell me is there really an "english pub" anymore in London? (i only frequent there, sorry)
'cos i seem to recall reading an article about the pub going all gastropubby and wine bar etc...ist this true?
or is it just 'cos London is so big, there isn't that cosy-local-down-the-road thing? i also remember being in Brighton alot and the pubs have all gone trendy also (serving fajitas and what not) | |
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You're spot on. An awful lot of pubs are now either restaurants with a bar area or standardised national pub chains like Wetherspoons which are the same but on a bigger scale. I guess it's because times and tastes have changed in the UK. There are so many wine bars because that's what people want and with no real "restaurant" culture outside the big cities the pubs filled the gap and morphed into gastro pubs (tho' "gastro" is a joke). As for the "local" I think the car and commuting were the nails in the coffin. People don't limit their evenings out to one place anymore. There are some pubs in the centre of London which still cling to the more traditional tho' even they have moved with the times. Here are a few:
Argyll Arms in Argyll street near Oxford circus
Dog and Duck Frith Street Soho
Ye Old Mitre, Ely Court, Chancery Lane
Old Cheshire Cheese off Fleet Street
The Old Cheshire Cheese is my favourite - It's just off Diagon Alley (Or Wine Office Court as it's known in Muggles speak) if you can find it! They even used to have sawdust on the floor but it's a while since I was there so I don't know if they still do. I think Harry Potter and Hagrid are regulars:
http://www.pubs.com/pub_details.cfm?ID=216
Another good one is the Prospect of Whitby in Wapping Wall, down by the river and not too far from St. Katherine's dock.
http://www.pubs.com/pub_details.cfm?ID=227