Sastre, Nadal, National Football Team... and The Spaniards Inn

Spaniards Road, Hampstead, London, NW3 7JJ

Almost everybody here, with a mix of admiration and envy, is lastly talking about our unquestionable sports success as a nation. Rafa Nadal (I don't like him, but I love his tennis), Sastre (doped?), The National Football Team (Vicente del Bosque? hehehe), Hockey National Team, Gasol, hopefully the National Basketball Team, and so on... it is really an amazing global performance to be quite proud of, even when the Italians, those jealous bastards, start talking about doping. It was just so bad for them we beated their ass on penaltys, if you want my opinion, because... how can indeed a fellow countryman of guys as Pantani, Ricco or Del Piero (amazing how this old creep is playing now, isn't it?) even dare to talk about doping? Nevertheless...

Anyway, talking about pubs, and taking advantage of this Spanish furor, let's talk about The Spaniards Inn, in Hampstead Heath.

Hampstead, located in North West London and a part of Camden Borough, is really one of the nicest and poshest areas in London. The 'millioniare per squared meter' ratio is the highest in England, and over 20 million pounds houses are quite common.

The list of famous writers, artists or politicians who have lived here is endless, and currently some famous faces as Gwyneth Paltrow, Bjork, Hugh Grant, Hugh Laurie 'House', Emma Thompson, Cesc Fabregas or Jonathan Ross (the British 'Buenafuente', an incredible fellow, on the pic on the right), among many others. (the complete list here). Obviously, it is a really nice small town, with no Indian people shop, wine shop, off licence or any other aberration so common in other NW London areas (yeah, I'm exactly thinking on the area where I live).

Its main asset, under my point of view, is Hampstead Heath. It is a quite big park (320 ha) with everything a park has to have: lakes (called ponds here), natural life (squirrels, foxes and hedgehogs are quite common), and magnificent sights: Parliament Hill is indeed one of the highest points in London, and the global view of the whole City, reaching to Canary Wharf and longer, is really a have to in London. As a quite wild park (closer to 'Casa de Campo' in Madrid than to 'El Retiro'), going there on Monday-Friday is a really entertaining experience, unbeatable for reading a good book or hiking. And of course, as in any other English park, drugs dealink or any other crime is just out of consideration.

And I think that has been enough 'Lonely Planet' post for today, let's go to the pub thing. Almost in the middle of the Heath there is a great pub, The Spaniards Inn, marking the frontier line between Camden and Barnet boroughs. Built up originally at 1585, this is one of the oldest pubs in London, and some famous customers include Keats, Karl Marx, Byron, Dickens and Bram Stocker. Keat's house, the place where he lived his last years and wrote some of his best poetry is indeed on of the main attractions of the area.

Don't think it's one of those ancient pubs, though. It has been refurbished several times, looking old but not that old. Conformed by two different buildings, the tollhouse and the pub one, both are listed buildings (considereed as a part of Enghils architectural heritage). Anyway, the Spaniard's best asset is its beer garden. It is really big, and cosy, with many plants and trees and sunny areas as well. I have been there twice, and the first, on Tuesday, was really great. Last time I went there was last Sunday, and my advice is to avoid the place on weekends, as it is really packed and it is absolutely pointless waiting for 20-30 minutes to be served.

Food is supposed to be great, and in fact it has been awarded several times (surprisingly though, some people complains about frozen food in the Spaniards in beerintheevening, and my experience says this kind of opinions should be listened). I haven't tried it, though, as prices were a bit higher than average and I didn't feel spendthrift that day. The beers range is really wide, and, again, it has been awarded several times for the quality of its ales. They have more than 30 different beers if you put together tap and bottled ones, and the drought Adnams I had was really good. It cost 3 pounds, which is expensive but not particularly for this area of London.

Finally, the pub has some literary heritage with mentions in both Dicken's The Pickwick Papers and Bram Stoker's Dracula. Scary, isn't it?