They want to close down The George Tavern, I say "no no no"

373 Commercial Road, London, E1 0LA

First of all, a bit of history. In a post here I said The George Tavern, in Commercial Road (east end) looked like a red-light bar ('puticlub', in the Spanish written original post). And I have actually believed it until quite recently, when I noticed several campaigns on several papers talking about... saving The George... they couldn't be possibly talking about the same dive, could they?

Well, they actually did. Just two links (of many):

http://www.vogue.co.uk
http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk

So, the thing is people as Amy Winehouse, Kate Moss, Ian McKellen (yes, Gandalf!), Mick Jagger and even several MP have actually campaigned to save the place, even wearing some t-shirts about it (see pretty Kate on the right). So, what the story is about? Isn't it really a red-light bar? That were the questions I had in mind when some guys asked me about going to a 60's party on the East End. Whereabouts, I asked? Commercial Road, called the George Tavern, they said... fair enough, that was the chance I was expecting to find out!

So there we went, my brother and me, after enjoying several pints and pool games on The Castle (unfortunately the Spanish waitress wasn't around, and the pool hole to get your money back was closed). We have been told to be dressed up on a 60's themes, but, you know how it actually works: you go to the towncenter for having a couple of drinks around 4pm and, after that, you are not going back home to wear a stupid flowered shirt. Indeed, we weren't even dressed for a good night out, but... hell, we had already been in The George, and it didn't worth the fucking fancy dress. So there we arrived, and, surprise surprise:

1. Almost anybody was dressed up (hurray for us!)
2. Around 30% of the people over there were Spanish, included former Victor flatmates (that's another story...)
3. The cover was 6 quid, not as bad as told in advance (around 12)

And so, we did what we would't ever expected to do one year ago: go upstairs to the first floor, that is, where we expected some hookers to be. Of course, they were right: not red-lighted rooms, but a concerts venue, a pretty small one indeed.

Once concealed our deception, we went down again to the bar. As I've said before, Guinnes is really nasty on that place, so we went for the common stuff (Becks, Stella and so on). They have great sofas, that's something to concede the place. And decoration is quite weird... of course, if you like the Madrid's Lavapies way of life you'll love it. Bymyself, I'm done with hippies selling pretty expensive booze, pretty expensive and bad food, and trying to convince you how good communism and anarchy are as well. So, please, sweep the bloody floor from time to time, lazy bastards! :D

The concerts were quite different, the three of them. The first band was a bit boring, and Aqua Nebulla Oscilator were alright, but maybe a bit weird for my musical taste (psichodelyc punk, they call it). Volume was too up, on their defense.

The last band, The Draytons, was the one I preferred: just pop, how can it be that difficult to do that? We are in London, aren't we? Bloody hell...

Anyway, DJ were much better than live music, if you want my real opinion. They played fairly good music, and got the mood up quite a lot. Closing at 1.30 am, after paying 6 pounds, it's not a good deal, though.

Final brief? Well, clear enough, the place is not a red-light bar (it's got one attached, by the way, but it's not part of The George). And it is a quite good place, indeed... as so many others in London. Stuff is cool, DJ are fairly good, and, like'm or not, you have live bands performing on the weekends. Even a bit of history, if you believe the story saying Charles Chaplin and Oliver Cromwell used to drink there (yeah, the original pub dates from the 17th century). But from that to get Amy, Kate and all the others supporting the place and its greedy owner... well, that's maybe a bit too much.