Cricklewood's crowning jewel: The Crown

301 Cricklewood Broadway, NW2 3ED

As I've introduced in some post before, I live just between two areas in North West London: Cricklewood and Kilburn. Although I prefer the latter quite more, as it buzzes and offers quite better opportunities for having fun than the former, Cricklewood is not a bad place at all. And it has some interesting pubs as well. The Crown is maybe the best one I've been there until now.

First, a bit of history. The original building was erected on 1750, being called The Crown Inn, and it provided refreshments for coach drivers. The current building origin is dated 1889, and it has suffered several refurbishments and restorations since then.

What does it offer? First of all, an impressive Victorian building. Attached to a modern hotel with the same name, the building is really amazing, specially if you think about the surrounding suburb-like scary shacks built within the last years. The orange bricks create an interesting effect, and it is, without any possible doubt, the most interesting building in Cricklewood Broadway and almost sure the only one that deserves a picture as well.

Second, four different bars. The one on the right in the ground floor is the quiet one, great for having a relaxing pint. The other two on the ground floor are pretty lively, the kind of place you would like to go to watch a football game or having some late pints on a Wednesday nite you feel like an unexpected binge. Finally, the one on the first floor is dedicated to arranged private parties, so I'm not sure what goes on on it. I think they serve cocktails as well, but not too sure.

Third, live music or dj on weekends (check who's playing here), and a fair late opening license (1 am every weekday, 3 am weekends) that makes the crown an instead of clubbing alternate option.

Four, the quality of the food is fine. Menu available here.

Five, there's an eastern europe barmaid really appetizing. Hope my girlfriend's not reading this by the way.

Why it is not the perfect pub? The beer selection in three out of four of the bars is quite poor (nothing really 'british'), the prices are quite high for this area in London (hence it's not a good option for just boozing if you are not taking advantage of the 1.95 quid per foster's pint offer, between 5pm and 7pm) and the food is really expensive. And finally, too many Polish people around for my taste, quite out of control at closing time.

Did I say it was a good way for watching the Eurocup? ;)

David and my brother, enjoying another Spain's national team brilliant performance (I do really can't believe I'm saying this, but I am, indeed!)

A bit of Dublin in Covent Garden: The Porterhouse

21-22 Maiden Lane, London, WC2E 7NA

Really, it is not the kind of place you think about when you have in mind a Dublin pub. Not too dark, quite noisy, and no Guinness in the menu. But the first time I called there, in Reinard's birthday party, I definitely decided that was a place worth a second visit. And a third.

Covent Garden area is quite a tourist one, as anybody who has been in London quite well knows. It has a brilliant market, some of the best shops in London, street art performances... and thousands and thousands of tourists around. Fortunately, that's not really a problem to have some of the best pubs in the West End, as Lamb&Flag (it will have its own post sooner than later) or The Porterhouse itself. Of course, they are frequently squashed, but if you have the chance to go for an early beer on a week day, just before every body leaves the office for a pint, and you find a good place to have a sit and a quiet drink... well, you can't really match that with many other things, can you?

Covent Garden... lovely, ain't it?

Porterhouse is actually a Dublin brewery, fancied as an 'independent' one on its website (while it's not independent at all). What makes them different, however, it's not the beer, but the huge pubs they build up to sell and promote it. There are three in Dublin, one in Bray and another one in Covent Garden. That last, of course, is the one we are talking about. And, as you can very likely imagine, it involves it's not just a traditional pub what we are talking about, neither an old one. You should go somewhere else if your looking for that, tough.

In fact, the place looks like the investment has been huge. We are talking about a three story building that looks like a fascinating stairs and hidden corners maze. Decoration is amazing, with loads of clocks, commemorative plaques and huge wardrobes full of bottled beer. The furnishings are of oak and leather and the wood paneled ceiling is quite cool, matching the use of gleaming copper piping throughout the interior. They also use bottled beers as a decoration thing.

Decoration is quite cool...

They have something as five or six different bars, two or three barmans on each, but it doesn't look enough as the biggest problem of the place is it take too long to get a drink, specially after job or at weekends.

Talking about the beer, they (obviously) sell different Porterhouse draught and bottled types, including Temple Brau (a nice lager) and Plain Porter (a compact stout). I have just tried those two and were both brilliant, so I imagine any other on the tap is quite good as well. Prices weren't too bad, just above 3 quid each, specially if you remember the tax increase I talked about some posts ago. If you feel like picky you can always go for the bottled ones, as they have over 50 different types, including Estrella de Galicia and the common Belgium stuff (Delirium Tremmens, Leffe, etc.).

Feel a bit Irish tonight?

The food, although I didn't try it, is quite good as well (as overpriced), or at least that's what I have red in some pub comparison sites. And almost everyday wed-sun they have live bands playing on the underground floor, non additional cover asked for. Whether there are bands playing or not, music volume is frequently quite high, but not over a disturbing volume, and that makes the place a great venue to begin a birthday party, as Reinard did, or to begin a hard long Saturday night. Which doesn't mean it's not a great place for having a relaxing one as well, of course. And on summer, you can even have a pint outside!!!

Some of us prefer inside...


... some others outside :D

Alternative tourism (I)

One of the coolest things about London is you never stop discovering new interesting places... and, much more important than that, you never stop doing that for free. Yesterday I focused on the City, hence it was a difficult task as it is very likely the area I know better. I succeeded, though, as I found out as much as four new different things you might be interested to visit the next time you're coming to this great city.

1. Old Bailey
Old Bailey EC4M 7EH, London


The Old Bailey (Central Criminal Court) is one of the few places in the world you are allowed to attend a trial. You have even brochures on the door, so you can choose the petty criminal you prefer to be jailed today... quite weird stuff, by the way. It is one of the oldest Criminal Courts in the world, and, very likely, the most famous one. Moreover, you can check on the Internet what trials are going on every single day, and decide if you feel like murdering or rape as today's dessert ;D.
Or, at least, it is supposed to be like that, because the real thing is I wasn't let through. The reason? No electronic devices are permitted inside, and that includes an ipod (fair enough) and a mobile phone (¿?¿?)... so, if you want to visit it, leave all that at your place, and forget to dress one of those cyberdog t-shirts :D



Even not going in, the building from the outside is impressing, so the visit was worthy enough. And I'll go back when Adrian (a lazy lawyer friend of mine) is coming in a couple of weeks, so he'll kindly explain all the technical stuff. And, if you are really pissed off about not surpassing the door check, you can always go back to this blog most referred movie, V for Vendetta:



2. The Guildhall
London Guildhall

The Guildhall was really a discovery. The center of the city's government since the middle age, this amazing building highlights an great square, where the Guildhall Art Gallery (a nice museum I didn't visit as it's not for free) and a couple of churches make up a relaxing hidden den in the middle of the city's din. The Great Hall is the third biggest civil Hall in Great Britain, and it is possible to visit it when no meeting or honorific event is taking place on it (I did so). If something's going on, you can always take sit and attend the event, which sure creates an incredible old fashioned atmosphere.
The Great Hall is cool. The coffered ceiling is amazing, and all the paintings, engraved statues, stained glass and embellished furniture add up to an awesome place to visit. There are some monuments to Britain Heroes as Churchill or Wellington. Moreover, as it is quite unknown, you'll be able to visit by your own, which contributes to the place's charm. And the reception workers are really sympathetic, and treated me in a really warm and friendly way (in cotrast with the bloody Old Bailey bastards).


3. The clockmakers museum
London Guildhall

This cosy museum, adjacent to the Great Hall and the Great Library in Guildhall, describes the history of clock making craft, focusing in its London history. I am not really crazy about clocks or swatches, but I have to say that it was a piece of instructive museum, this one. Founded by the Clock Makers Company (former clockmakers guild, 1631), it's not big enough to get boring, and not as small as to be completely irrelevant, I really enjoyed the visit, as the explaining panels are concise, clear and quite entertaining. You discover there that the clockmakers guild was once a powerful mafia, as chemists or taxi lobbies or associations are today in Spain ;). Again, the reception personnel were really nice.

4. College of arms
Queen Victoria Street, London EC4V 4BT


Well, this last one really didn't worth the visit. The College of Arms is a pompous institution devoted to armorial bearings and heraldry in the UK. Great for them. The only thing you can actually visit is the Earl Marshall Court (the one in the picture), which is nice but not nice enough for the walk. No reason to come back, really, unless you are really interested in heraldry, family trees and all those posh things.


5. Street Art (Tate Modern)
Bankside, London SE1 9TG

Tate Modern is one of the best modern art museums in the world, and one of my favourites. It worth an own post in the blog, so I won't write a lot about it now. What I visited yesterday was a new and original graffiti exposition (Street Art, as they call it) in the front walls of the museum... just have a look at the pictures I took with my mobile phone, they are cool (they are something as 15 m tall each!)

Live London: The Good Ship

289 Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JR

As I've posted before, I currently live in Cricklewood, a North West district between Brent, Barnet and Camden borough.s Well, in fact, my place is located there... I do actually LIVE in Kilburn. Ten minutes walking down Cricklewood broadway, this originally Irish area begins, and... well, I have to say it was a nice success to select this place to live in! A multicultural feeling, but not just the pakistani and polish communities, but a quite appetizing melt including those and Irish, Spaniards, Brazilians, Italians... Plenty of shops, pubs, even some clubs and a cinema, you don't really feel like going to Central London that much once you've found out what's going on in here. And, of course, you can cash in on the beer lower prices you have in zone 2. And of course, you can enjoy The Good Ship.

First thing I did when I arrived here, I checked what kind of clubs we might have around. You know, sometimes you don't really want to get the bus to go to Central London, and you don't want to spend the huge money going out out there costs. Apart of that, you can feel cheerful a Tuesday night, and... well, you aren't going to go to Fabric a Tuesday night, are you? So I checked what we had in Kilburn, and The Good Ship, on the web, looked fine.

Yet, much better than fine, I have to say. We've been there a couple of times, and some facts surprised us. Gladly we discovered they have live bands every single day but Tuesday (Comedy Club) and Sunday (acoustic crap). Every other day you have 3-5 live bands playing between 8pm and 11.30 pm, for a 5 quid cover. 5 good bands in a cover for 5 quid is actually a good deal, depending the quality of the bands, of course... well, mate, you can be quite sure you won't be deceived. We have seen four different gigs by now (as Spanish, we never go there before 10 pm, so we systematically lose the first 2-3 bands), and three of them were awesome (in capitals). The other one was lousy, that's true, but it gives you a 75% chances to enjoy a great concert. Not that many in most venues in Madrid, I have to say...

Of those three bands, the best one, no doubt about it, was Cherri Prince (their space and songs here). A black soul singer performing absolutely great, I really can't understand why they don't have a proper contract with a big discography. Maybe their lyrics are stupid (my English is STILL not good enough to get'em :D), I can't find any other likely reason... I drop a video found in you tube, with the usual bad sound quality... nevertheless, it gives you a tip about how good they are (she is, if I'm fair).




Yesterday night the best one was Capisce? (their songs and space here), a pop-rock band with the best amateur drummer I have ever seen. That was very likely their only flaw... as the drums sounded so aloud it was pretty difficult to hear any other instrument, the singer neither. But still they were quite good, and helped us to enjoy a good nite. By the way, their songs in their space sound much better than live... they have a quite good producer, I guess.

Anything else to say? Well... they have a great site on myspace where you can check which bands are playing every night, and, going to their own spaces, decide yourself if you feel naughty enough to go there. Ah, yes... another thing I forgot... just a tiny one... they close at 4 pm every weekend, and at 2 pm every other day. Luckily I don't have much money to spend at the moment... if not I would be there every fucking single night, can be sure about that!

And beer is fairly priced (3 pounds per pint). Talking about beer prices... if you have a look on the earlier posts on this blog, don't give a shit for the prices I told you pubs had. They were ok at that time, but a recent booze tax rise (6 percent above current inflation this year and 2 further points in the following ones) has changed it everything. An average pint in the UK costs now 2.64 pounds in the pub... but that's another history to talk about (yeah, sure I'll find some V-for-Vendeta quote to stand my opinion there :D). The thing is the Good Ship charges 3 pounds per pint, whatever you have (Pride, Carlsberg, Stella or Guinness, the ones I remember now), and that's a fair price for a club closing at 4, particularly if they are served by barmaids as cute as they are. No idea about spirits or bottled beer prices, though.

Finally, the DJ. The live bands eventually finish, and after that you have a pretty good DJ playing a cool mixture of electronic/pop/rock cocktail, were Kaiser Chiefs or Chemical bro. are melted with stuff for sure you haven't heard before. And you'll enjoy it... promised.

Less waste, less liberty

And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there?
V

Yes, there is, I would say. When you see on the news this country has the highest cctv cameras per person ratio in the world (above one per every 14 people), you start thinking something's not alright. The same, of course, applies to speed cameras on the road, or to the recently approved law which allows the police to keep people under arrest for 42 days without charge, under terrorist suspicions. This is all pretty bad enough. You may add up some mor stuff, for instance the tv license (you've got a TV, you pay), or, even better, the tv license inspections that permit someone to enter into your house to check if you have a tv, regardless if you use it to play in your console, to watch football or to iron your shirts on it. Wherever you make a little effort to check it, you realize the liberty vs security compromise is always unbalanced, favouring the latter. Does it make any sense?

Is quite easy to carry on. Alberto, a friend of mine who lives in Guildford, told me a couple of weeks ago that local police was handing out mobile speed radars to pensioners in order to check themselves over the limit speeds in several roads. Yet, what kind of credibility have someone who's usually doing nothing , as a pensioner does, to check anything at all, less something that might be object of further prosecution if you are found to drive too fast? Does it make any sense? In that same town, Guildford (it is actually a quite posh town, I have to say), the police is breaking up youngsters gangs on the street whose only crime is to be talking... and, of course, look like menacing. So what if I look menacing? So what if I like to hung up some mates in a bench? So what the fuck if I want to enjoy a beer with them?

Anyway, the reason for the post wasn't any of those. The thing is I have read this morning inspectors are being rolled out all around the country to check random people's rubbish bins. Yeah, your rubbish bin can be checked now, in fact, it can be being checked right now, no notice required. The mighty reason? Well... national security, you know... it looks like some nasty people are wasting too much food. Yeah, food. I mean, they buy a kg of potatoes, some of it go off, and... well, you are not gonna believe it, it's so monstrous... yes, they do it. They take the rotten potatoes into the litter. Even more, those... animals... some of them don't even wait the food to be rotten to throw it out, they spoil it while it is eatable! And there are so a terrible famines all around the world, in Africa, Asia... it can't be tolerated.

So you can be checked out. Be quite careful, tear every important document in a thousand pieces, be sure someone else will know the condoms brand you prefer and remember... happy new 1984 year.

The funniest thing? They are stoutly firm against ID cards, as they are a horrible affront against liberty.

I love this country. I really do, and I think this blog is a nice piece of evidence of it. But sometimes I think... they are crazy, those romans...

Amy, Amy, Amy...

I just can't stop listening this song.



So absolutely great... Amy is not too well known in Spain, but here she's a mass media superstar. Altogether with Lilly Allen (another fairly good singer) and Pete Doherty (an actual piece of shit), they are everywhere in the papers, everyday. Amy's usually portraited in one of her huge binges, smoking crack, swearing, completely stoned or drunk in her dodgy shack in Camden... and everybody's blaming her for her way of life and, maybe reasonably, because she's only 24 years old. Some times we forget how the Rolling Stones used to be when they were younger (or not that younger, if you thing about Mr. Richards), tough.

I don't give a shit about it. Every single time a listen 'amely' (video above) in a club, I realize why I came to live to London. Good enough for me.

Welcome to my place

Home... sweet home. Quite close to Cricklewood train station, Brondesbury overground station and Kilburn tube station (Jubilee line, zone 2), this is our little shack. Of course, I first thougth about tidying up everything for the pics show but... that's quite more real stuff :D.

First of all, it is pintofcarlingplease's place, ain't it? 3x18x440ml= 23.76 litres of pleasure ;)

Here comes the little kitchen...

The living room, which is actually now also an sleeping room.



The corridor (yeah, I know this is exciting)

...toilet... (cleaner than usual)

The larder, you definitely don't want to have a look inside
And the main sleeping room. If you are asking yourself who's the stupid one who's sleeping in the leaving room... well, we actually are quite stupid both. We just swap.


And our lost shopping time result

Back in Reading at the Beer Festival

Kings Meadow, Napier Road, Reading, RG1 8BN

This is actually a post I wrote something as a month ago... but as I have no Internet connection at home, I couldn't post it. Here it goes...

Well well well... it looks like it has rained quite a lot since this post, when I was complaining about how expensive the flight fares might be to get a go on Reading's Beer Festival. Luckily, a train ticket from Paddington is not that expensive ('just' 14.10 fucking quid per a 30 minutes-long single one), so there were no chances at all I wouldn't enjoy it. And I actually did.

This year it were 450 beers of varying strengths and styles from all over England, Wales and Scotland. The Festival works on the following way: you get inside for 7 pounds, including an engraved glass where you have your drinks from (unfortunately I have lost the 10th festival one, I hope not losing this 14th as well) and a brochure with a brief description of every beer, arranged by breweries. And inside, there are three huge tents with all the breweries, sorted by name and region, with a load of piled beer barrels waiting for you to taste its content.

I was up there on the 2nd and 3rd of May, Friday and Saturday. On Friday I went with Carlos, Adam, Ana and Reinard, and Luke joined us on Saturday as well. I had the chance to meet back Tom and Brendan, which was really very cool, as I haven't met them, at least Tom, since almost three years ago. I wasn't as brave as Reinard, who tried every single stout in the Festival every day... but I had quite a lot. As I think I wrote in the other post, is the Spanish fashion to ask the barman about some different beers, try all of them and decide fo one, but just at the end... that means you try three or four for the price of one... not a bad deal at all!!

Problems up there? Well, queuing something as 3 hours it´s not a funny thing... so, if you wanna avoid that, just do as we did: arrive there early (earlier than 2 pm). And Saturday evening queues for going to the loo are quite long as well... and you have no chance to get the spaniard way there (ie. piss wherever u want). So take it easy, and buy a pint before going to the toilet :D.

There were also some local folk bands, playing after 9 pm... not too good stuff, I have to say. Anyone who enjoys good music (say jazz, for instance) will have a great chance to enjoy the beer&music thing on Greenwich, on the beer and jazz festival. It will last for five day, 16th -20th July, and I'll be there for sure... so, if you are planning to drop around, just have that event in mind, because it might be great fun!!!

And after the beer festival... yeah, you got it: AfterDark. And you know what does it mean... don't you?

Reinard the First of Germany

Such a good wather...

...but the thing fun is inside!!!

Why the makeup? Why they had a pineaple? Bro, Adam, Reinard, George, Luke and someone... we couldn't answer that one

Carling an a real Stout player: Reinard

Luke and... can't remember, sorry

Pink means sold out... yeah, it's Saturday evening

Brazilian and Australian power, altogether

AfterDark

The chemical brothers

At least, that time I got something the following morning... hungover apart