Blog written by a Spaniard (from Getafe) nostalgic about London who lived for a year very close to it, in Reading, and who decided in May08 to come again to the big city. This is a blog about pubs, about beer, about friends and party, and, mostly, about London. And about that motto I have been tried to master and I haven´t done it yet as they always ask me back when I pronounce it in a pub: 'Pint of Carling, please!!'
So far so good, no club has blown away me in such a way as Shunt did when some weeks ago I went there for a random Saturday night. I had heard about the place before, true, but you know how it works, you don’t believe everything you hear, people tend to go on the exaggeration side, and so on. But they were totally right. This place is amazing.
Shunt is located in London Bridge station. Nope, not besides, either close to. In. Inside the station, in its underbelly, completely hidden. Capisci? So follow the insider tip: as you cross the barriers in order to leave the tube station, if you follow the indications toward the train station you will find a small door with a bouncer besides it, checking IDs. There may be a small queue as well, depending at what time in the evening you get there. And that is it – a tiny door, and a bouncer. And £10 to get in. And a closing time at just 2.30 am, which is not late enough at all for the price. So it doesn’t seem tempting enough, let’s be fair.
But as soon as you get in, everything changes. The place is built up behind the station vaults, which means they have lot of space. Actually, they have a massive space available, and they make use of it all – just imagine Fabric, but with wider spaces and less people, and more corridor like instead of room like. Yes, you are getting it…
There is a very big corridor (about 8 m broad and about 10 m high) with small corridors/rooms on its sides, with several artistic performances on them, each one more different and more surprising. Actually, Shunt is not so much a club but an artists space, as you can easily perceive if you browse their website. All the shows and works change on a weekly basis, so you may be surprised with something new almost everytime you go there if you want.
After all those corridors, there are two massive rooms where the party takes place, and besides them there is an additional space used as a venue room, where gigs take place. It has even several stands with chairs where you may enjoy the gig from if you feel like doing it. The day we were there we didn’t pay a lot of attention to the bands, but I’ve read in several blogs that some good ones have performed there. So maybe it is a good point to check out from time to time who’s playing in order to make the experience completely rounded.
The big room has a pool table, a football table, a couple of pianos, and several tables and chairs scattered around the place. This is so big that you may have chairs and people chatting up or directly kissing and also people dancing, or just drinking. The place fits all. It has even a little terrace where you can show up your dancing skills, if you like that, or check out someone else’s.
A cooler place to pot balls? I don't think so...
And you can also walk through the infinite small corridors coming from this big room and discovering small places with small pieces of art work too.
On the negative side, they don’t have draught beer. They have cans, though, at £3.50, which is alright for a night spot. They also do cocktails, but they seemed a bit pricey for me… anyway, I’ve never been to much into the mojito way of life. They don’t accept debit cards, either, and you may have to queue at some point to go out to smoke a fag, if you are one of them. Finally, the music is quite eclectic, and from time to time I felt lost about what that was about. Trendy and alternative places have this, I’m afraid: they don’t do the Strokes or Bruce Springsteen, or any pop music, at all. Anybody’s perfect.
The main bar
The gigs room
And another negative point: you have to get there early enough. At 11 they close the doors, while you can stay inside, so going fairly earlier than that is compulsory. 9 is a good time to be in the door, but don’t risk to go much later than that unless you are up to a potential b plan.
A really different place, this Shunt. Maybe a bit too artistic, and maybe not the cup of tea for everybody, but always worth a visit. Or two.
Donnington Park is one of the most well-known motorbike racing parks in the world, although the first time I heard about it was also about music. Being myself just 15 years old I was drinking with some friends in Garage, one of my favourite pubs in Getafe, when they played in the TV Donnington’s 1991 Monsters of Rock video. Since then, I’ve thought without the slightest doubt that that one was the best gig ever – ACDC and Metallica leading it, playing one right after the other, and trying to prove who reigned the heavy metal scene at that time. The countless fans watching it also impacted me in the deepest way: 1.6 million people - believe it or not - enjoying the two best bands in the world at that time, and in what still today remains in the case of ACDC as their best recorded performance, at least in the Brian Johnson era.
So when a friend of mine here in London offered me a couple of weeks ago to go to Download Festival, in Donnington, in the VIP area for three days at the ridicule prize of £45 – for the WHOLE bloody weekend, Friday,Saturday and Sunday -, I obviously didn’t think it twice. And I can say it was the best festival I’ve ever been.
Donnington Park is 1h 30min far away from London by train, besides a very close to a small town called Castle Donnington – no need to say it has a castle on it -, an not too far away from Derby, another town lost in the middle of nowhere in Derbyshire. 85,000 tickets were sold for every day in the festival, which may give a clear insight of what a massive festival we are talking about. And the crude fact is that festivals in the UK have nothing to do with our little Spanish ones…
For instance, the fun fair rides. Russian Mountains, big wheels, bumper cars… well, all you can get in your hometown local fiestas, you get it in a festival like this one as well – I cannot even think about Glastonbury, which is even bigger. Plus a 24 h cinema. Plus a million food take-away shops, ranging from the classic beef burger to the pizza alike, Thai food, Mexican food, etc. Plus ‘the village’, an ad-hoc real village with more shops, t-shirts, tattoos, heavy metal paraphernalia… build up just for the three days festival. Plus the Guests area, where we met Korn’s bass player, and where you could chill out besides the main stage and listening to the show at the earlier hours of the day when you don’t feel bold enough for those crazy goths making annoying noise in the outside :).
Plus pints of beer priced at £3.50, without any queues because yes, those guys know how to organize a festival and they are pretty aware that queuing for an hour is not fun – here in Spain we have to learn so bloody much about that. Plus the brilliant idea consisting in giving you back 20p per glass returned: you didn’t return it, but as some people in the festival short of money would do it for you, picking them up from the grass, the obvious result is that the place remains tidy and clean and healthy enough. Just like an Spanish festival, don’t you think?
Plus a camping area with grass – yes, real grass, that lovely green thing. Plus a gigs arena with grass – yep, the very same green stuff. And clean toilets. And not-too-overcrowded showers.
Plus a Guinness bar :)
And allowance to get as much booze or food from the outside as you want – no glass permitted, though. And… fuck it. Enough is enough. In a word: Plus plus plus. I’ll be back next year, VIP or not.
There were four stages:
The main one
The second one (Lacuna Coil, The Prodigy)
The Tuborg one
And the Redbull one, which, by the way, we couldn't find in the whole weekend!! :)
About the music, the gigs I went to – there were 4 stages, so some painful decisions including missing Opeth, Chris Cornell and Motley Crue had to be taken…
A fairly famous band in the metal-goth circle, I had been willing to watch these Italians for a while: I particularly like some of their melodic tunes. They sound a bit like Evanescence should sound if they weren't a shitty MTV con. They performed alright, although obviously the voice of the female singer - Cristina - didn’t get to the pitch she does in their records. I didn't know all the songs, so I guess my favourites ones are not the favourites of most of their fans... anyway, a fairly good gig. 7.5/10.
Everybody else insisted, and I suffered just half of the gig, after I decided to go to the guest area for a beer . I hate those guys, oh dear, how much I hate them, and they’re live performance is even more rubbish than their albums. 'Chandal metal' of the worst sort. 3/10.
Well, this is excelsior stuff. My first Korn gig, they really know their racket, these guys. Pretty aggressive metal, with machine head and fear factory they created a completely different sound that still today sounds fresh, as opposed to most Nu Metal bands. Jonathan Davis voice was perfect, and the band was just a trashing machine. I particularly loved the bagpipes moment, pretty emmotive too... anyway, pretty aggressive crowd as well in the front rows, but what the fuck, this is Korn! I will survive with a couple of bruises in my legs/head :) 8.5/10
The best gig of the festival, and one of the best I’ve ever been. Mr. Patton comeback was amazing, and even while I’m not a big fan of the band, they won me forever. Almost two hours of an incredible gig, I simply have no words, just say that absolutely everybody I spoke with on Saturday was pretty moved about it. 10/10.
The other big thing in the festival, a personal recommendation from my friend Kennet. These guys are extreme metal on its best, and the circle pit they created with their last song will very likely appear in the Guinness Records. I jumped around for a while in the dancing area, in the circle, under the moshing crew, and after a while I realized I just couldn’t breath anymore. And at that point, they did the circle pit thing. And I joined it, and almost died, and had fun as I didn't have had in a metal concer for a while. Have a look how the circle pit thing was in the video, from the screens in the stage...
An incredible shot of adrenaline, and an experience I effortless recommend to everybody. At 13.30 pm in the morning LOL. 9/10
The Auteurs
A punk rock band formed by four young lads, melodic enough to pass the evening alright. 6.5/10
Famous because of the Guitar Hero impossible to play track, this is classic heavy metal in the Helloween best tradition. As expected, they sounded technically perfect, and a bit soulless for mi taste. It remembered me my teen days, though. 7/10.
Another very good surprise, this weird band is right between the goth vibe and the drum&bass one. They are not rock, either dance… but they are good. Sometimes they remember the early prodigy, but more than that I cannot describe them, just listen a couple of tracks and decide by yourself. I'd be suprised if you don't like them. 8.5/10
The biggest deception ever. I’ve seen this guy three times before, and he was incredible every single time, so I don’t know what has happened since then, but guy, you were rubbish. Just three classics, and all the other songs from his last shitty album. No respect for his fans, sniffing over the stage and just pocketing the money and going somewhere else, like the Starfucker he is. Beautiful people and Dope show give him the 4/10, but really should be even less than that. 4/10
They were pretty good in their comeback. With less pre-recorded stuff than I thought, their live gig is really a live thing, almost completely performed with guitars and other rock instruments. I was quite far away from the stage, but the partying vibe was so good, and the atmosphere so high, that I really didn’t care. 8.5/10
I don’t get how they got to be the head of the main gigs day, but they didn’t deceive. I’m not a very big fan of this totally unmelodic band, but I reckon they have energy. Again, too far away from the stage, as 85K people were there at that time. Particularly memorable when they got everybody ducked first and jumping at the same time at the shout of ‘stand the fuck up’. A bit kiddy, but cool nevertheless. 7.5/10
A hard rock band I didn’t know at all and didn’t pay a lot of attention either. They didn’t sound too bad, though. 6/10
Skin
A classic British hard rock band, coming back after 10 years ago they decided to call it a day. They sounded very very well, as if they had never stopped it. 7/10
The other big discovery of the festival. This American guys make a rare mixture of metal, grunge and blues. They were very well accepted by everybody in Donnington, and they did a particularly touching show at some points, specially in the slower tunes. I recommend them, and hopefully I’ll have the chance to see them again when they come back to London on tour in October. 9/10.
What can I say about this classic of the classics? They invented concepts as glam rock, power ballads and so many others, that even today you feel something special when you listen to one of their ballads. They were the classic formation but the singer, which by the way was fairly good. 8/10.
With Marilyn Manson, the other big deception. The singer voice sounded like shit and their virtuoso way of playing, with long tracks and long solos, didn’t get on well with the mood in the festival at that point. And it is a pity, as I really like the music they do.
And that was all, as I had to go back… I missed three classics after Dream Theatre: ZZ Top, WhiteSnake and Def Leppard. But you can’t get everything in live… so better take what you get!
As quite a lot of you very likely remember, early 2008 Camden Town experienced a massive fire that ruined the east side of the market and seriously compromised the future of the whole charismatic London premises. Last weekend I realized that this side of the market has recently being opened again, even in a bigger shape than it ever had, as a real Phoenix emerging from its ashes.
One of the casualties of the terrific fire was Hawley Arms, one of the best pubs in the area. It reopened 9 months after the fire, with more strength and even a better vibe than it had before its closure. The owners even campaigned in Glastonbury (today, Festival of Festivals) in order to solve some bureaucratic issues related with the situation of the ladder that allows the access to the first floor of the pub, and the publicity they got was really worth it, as they were permitted to reconstruct the pub just as they wanted. I’ve been there several times since and, I can promise, this is a neat pub.
Pretty famous for having as local patrons the likes of Amy Whinehouse or Kate Moss, the atmosphere is really Camden-like in this place. One very good point, though, is that the tourists presence is less substantial than in other similar places in the main street. The fact that is not located on the main street itself, but just 20 m around the corner as you cover the Camden Lock bridge, really helps on it.
The distribution, as introduced before, consists basically in two different storeys. The ground floor is the main one, and includes a long bar and several tables and sofas to chill out, as well as a jukebox with fairly good tracks on it. The first floor is smaller, and is where the party takes place on the weekends: I’ve been there a couple of times for early beers and there is a fairly good mood there. Also there is a nice terrace on this first floor, which invariably was completely packed every chance I tried to have a drink in it. A real pity, particularly now that summer is starting to finally take off.
So, yes, this is a pub in Camden, and as so, it has some of the classic flaws that define them:
- Bartenders more worried to look like pop stars than in serving timely pints to their clients.
- Overpriced drinks, even if the situation wasn’t particularly bad here. I got the feeling that I was being charged more for the sake of not being a trendy Northlondoner, but maybe I’m wrong in that.
- Overcrowded, even as like I said before the situation is worse in some other places in the area.
They have several beers on the tap, including some guest ales. I cannot talk about the quality of those, as I went for lager, but I’ve read in some other blogs that the keeping of the beer is not as good as it should be. Shame on them if this is the case.
About the decoration, well, you cannot expect ancient stuff in a pub that was burned one year ago, can you? There are several signed vinyls, band posters and general pop music memorabilia, which is always a good thing to cover brand new walls J.
In a word, if you time your visit right you may get a pic of Kate Moss in the place, while if you don’t you’ll just be in a not too bad pub very likely quite squashed with high prices but vey good music and vibe. Saturday nights are good there. And at the end, it is completely up to you if that is enough or not…
As I wrote once in this blog before, one of the issues I had no clue before coming to London is electronic music. Extending my trainee period in this matter a bit more, last lesson was a little piece of taste of what is according to quite a lot of people one of the best electronic music festivals in the world: Sonar in Barcelona. Before that big event some of the bands/DJs performing there did an appetizer show in London, in the Roundhouse, Camden.
The roundhouse is a former engine shed reopened three years ago as an arts hub. This is a New Labour project –even while the theatre existed quite a lot of years before - owned by the local council and this means that you will not be ripped off for gigs that otherwise might be terribly expensive, as it could be the case of the gig I’m writing about now. A fairly big space for about 3,000 people, the building is a little piece of art with all its columns, its iron work and its vibe. In three words: A Fantastaic Venue.
That specific day, I have to say that decoration was very good, with quite a lot of psychedelic stuff, lights and all the business as usual Ibiza paraphernalia. The only flaw I could spot was that the music came from the stage only, as they didn’t set any speakers in the back side of the venue. That wasn’t a real problem, and can be even considered a positive point as the place wasn’t too packed: you could go to the stage border line if you wanted to, or you could step back in order to have a chat with someone while enjoying a drink.
Talking about drinks, 3.50 for a pint of Becks is a fair price given the bands playing and the quality of the venue. No complains about that, at least from my side.
The first guy to perform was Angel Molina, a DJ from Barcelona fairly famous for experimenting with different sounds and trends. He developed a fairly progressive session, starting very chilled out and ending a bit more energetic. The problem of his show was pretty obvious, though: it started at 20:00, so no more than 20 people were attending from the very beginning – I was one of them – and no more than 100 at the end. Obviously, you can do whatever it is in your hands, but in such an empty place it is very difficult to generate the party mood that this type of music requires. So I’ll spare this one as his failure, as it really was the audience’s – or lack of- one.
Second one was Jeff Mills – more about here in this post-, and obviously, that is a completely different story. The place got completely packed for his session, and he didn’t deceive at all. He started the session with fairly innovative sounds and images on the big screen – yes, there was a massive screen – that lasted about 15-20 minutes, and after that he just played what he knows how to do better: pure Detroit techno. You could see the faces of everybody on the front line enjoying the experience really a lot, and it was real and healthy enjoyment at that point, as it was still 22.00 and not enough time to get hammered had passed yet. The vibe was incredible at that point. Obviously the classic queues in the toilets you get in these gigs were present, but I don’t think people were more fucked up that in any club any weekend.
Anyway, Mr. Mills session ended with a flash experience – we were literally flashed from two big flashes that appeared in two gaps in the middle of the screen – and everybody dancing and enjoying good techno. My lack of expertise in the matter does not allow me to give a more precise description of the music, but that is not what this post is about, you can always go to somewhere else if you want to check that.
After Mills it was time for Plaid DJ. A guy that comes up to the stage just with a Mac is not very promising- how are you mixing music then: pushing ctrl+F2? Fuck off!!!. Anyway, sort of cheese drum and bass that I didn’t particularly liked at all. A good chance to have some drinks and chat up a bit, though.
After that, my personal discovery of the night: Moderat. Those German guys know what their racket is, and they know it well. They covered the stage with DJ sets, screens, visual effects and all sort of junk you may imagine, but, at the end of the day, their music was just great. The three guys altogether mixing sounds at the same time, they generated an experience that at some point remembered me Holy Fuck, but in a harder way – stronger beats and more revolutions.
Everybody went crazy at some point of the gig, and the guys were really friendly with the crowd, more like rock stars than the classic cliché about a DJ with his earphones and ‘this is my business’ pose. Greatly enjoyable, those guys, and a personal recommendation if for some reason they come around to your town.
Finally, Erol Alkan, a fellow Londoner DJ that became famous in The End playing electro, did a good electro session. At that point everybody was quite drunk – the Moderat experience pushed us to do it -, so my opinions about it may not be very precise. I enjoyed it, that’s all I can say.
And finally, at 3.00, curfew. A great band they were… :). This is just a joke between Vlad and myself, as I asked what curfew played, and, well, if you check in your dictionary what curfew means as I did, you’ll get the meaning to the joke – and by the way, you’ll feel as depressed as I did about how many fucking different words are in this in the other hand lovely language.
Some times there are gigs you go just for the sake of doing something that day, instead of staying in your place, or maybe to keep someone company. Typically on those you have no real interest in the band playing, and the real motivation is the night out and the beers that come with it. And also typically those are great nights, even the best ones.
Dogs D’Amour last Saturday was one of them, and , I can say, one of the best gigs I’ve been in London. The one to praise for the chance was Cesar, who loves Hard Rock, no matter how out of fashion it may be.
The band has more than 25 years history on the stages. To be accurate, the singer and frontman, Tyla, has been on the stages for that time, as he is the only remaining member of the original band. He always was the core of it, though, and he proved why well enough that night. Their music is pure hard rock with some glamm dosis, something between Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones, if you want. Just a video to show what I’m talking about…
The gig had basically three parts. Within the first one they rocked some of their more famous hits, and they showed off as a pretty compact and solid band, with a particularly outstanding bass player and a drummer and guitarist that did their work alright. After several hits, the drummer and the bass went to have some drugs to the dressing room and Tyla and the guitarist stayed for performing some unplugged staff, with acoustic guitars both. Here they mixed some of their classics with Tylas more recent solo songs, and even they performed a new single that apparently is going to be released in his new solo album. The concert at this point became certainly touching, as you can see someone who used to fill big venues -3,000 to 5,000 people – playing for a band of guys no bigger than 200 or 300, and at that point you realize that even while that music is not trendy any more, it is still great music that has its public and fans. The songs remembered me some of the acoustic albums of Bruce Springsteen, but with a classic British ironic wink .
The last part of the gig came when one of the acoustic guitars proved to be out of tune, reason that Tyla cashed in on to get the band together again and play another handful of classic themes. They didn’t do any encores, but at that point, having paid just ten quid, everybody was more than satisfied.
The band playing before was not too remarkable: more hard rock, but lacking the quality that the main band naturally has. They did something completely unexpected, though: on their last 10 minutes melodic song an artistic dancer came with them and, dancing on her tiptoes a complex-to-define modern artistic dance, did at the same time a strip tease. As the song was good, the girl was awesome, her dancing was pretty suggestive and elegant at the same time, and her tits were just perfect, that was one of the highlights, if not THE highlight, of the night. Again, for 10 quid you usually don’t get a stripper working in London.
And about the venue, the Bull and Gate, the place is worth a post on the blog on its own. Located in one of my favourite areas in London, Kentish Town, the place is split in two main buildings: a venue room with space for about 200-250 people, and the main pub. The venue is ok, a square room with a fairly good acoustic that in this occasion was decorated with Tyla paintings – yes, he is a painter, and a poet with a couple of books published too. About the pub, I really like it. It is one of those old looking pubs with plenty of decoration, a central bar with an even distribution around it, including some sofas, tables and chairs, and most importantly, fairly prized beers starting at 3,10 the Carling. The atmosphere before gigs obviously depends of the band playing that night, but as the range they cover is always rock-related, you may expect the classic leather-attired chaps completely covered by tattoos in every single skin gap. Good mood everywhere. My friend Vlad says that those days that no band’s playing it is much quieter, and he is a guy to be trusted. Even being quiet I reckon it is a very good option, though.
“When I die I want to decompose in a barrel of porter and have it served in all the pubs in Dublin.” JP Donleavy
I was in Dublin more than a month ago visiting T., a friend who is currently working over there. It was just a weekend visit, hence time went by really quickly and even as we visited a lot of different places, it really seems to me know that it was really a very short time.
BTW, sorry for not posting in a while. I've had a fairly interesting social life that got me in a temporary retirement on the blogging scene :). Hopefully I'll come back a bit more regularly now...
Just a tip for any Dublin visitor – the only thing to do in that city is visiting pubs and drinking Guinness. It may sound a bit harsh, but apart of the Guinness Storehouse aty St James Gate, which is a must for the lovers of the black stuff, any other attraction – say Dublin Castle, say Jameson distillery, say St Patricks Cathedral, say whatever you want – is quite worthless, at least under my point of view. So don’t panic, don’t stress yourself, relax and enjoy a perfect and creamy white top on your pint, ideally with a clover draw on it if you get a barman skilful enough.
This is a nice nite out pub, with live music, a club upstairs - it has 4 different floors, all of them listed-, and plenty of space and hidden corners to get your own place. Although it is not a pure traditional old fashioned Irish pub, it is not a crappy chain-owned one. Indeed, it is the sort of club you may find in London quite easily with a couple of big contrasting differences: In one hand, Guinness tastes better – much better indeed – but not THAT better to justify a 6 euro charge per pint. In the other, life music is covers of classics, which, to be honest, is a great thing if it is party and not music what you look for. I am one of those weirdos who love to listen a good band play their own themes but equally understands that covers at some point in a Friday night can change the party mood in a big way. That was the case, under my point of view, and I congratulate these guys for that.
On the top of that, the classic stuff you may find in the perfidious Islands: impossible heels, drunkards everywhere, good music and better beer. Not a surprise at all.
I already wrote a post about the London representative of this Irish chain of brewery-pubs. All I said in that one applies to the PorterHouse in Dublin as well, with a couple of hints to remark. First, the guy playing live music in this place – again covers – was really, really funny. I don’t think you can find this kind of freak playing in London, and that is a shame as everybody enjoyed it a lot. Second, the mere fact of not serving Guinness in a pub in Dublin should be forbidden. End of the conversation :).
Now, this is a traditional Irish pubs, with its pros and its pros. No cons at all, if you want my opinion. A massive place with quite a lot of different rooms, TVs, smooth music creating atmosphere, and the best pint I tried in the whole weekend. The pub has a couple of floors, and even while several tourists groups where around you could easily spot the differences between a classic English pub and a classic Irish one. To remark some of them, in an English they don’t play any music, while in an Irish one they do, and while the good mood is always present in both of them, the atmosphere is slightly more friendly also in the Irish one. Now that I think about it, there are a couple of cons in the red-haired one: the prices and the prices. Also, beer variety is much bigger in any average London pub than in a big Dubliner, and they have Heineken instead of Carling or Becks, and I prefer the latter ones. Altogether, the quality of the Guinness makes a big difference.
About the decoration, O’Neills was really a very nice place to give a slow look at. Old clocks, Guinness memorabilia, comfy coaches, horse races pictures and a thick layer of dust altogether generate an extraordinary feeling to a pub lover as I am.
As lovely as bizarre, this place is a unique experience, even if it is not an Irish one at all. The places tries to resemble a French café, and it is quite clear the owners have decided to table as much cash as needed to get the effect right. The decoration is ubiquitous, expensive, and some times surrealistic. Greek statues, palms, golden carving, and so on, I’m quite sure you easily get the picture.
I confused the place with Zanzibar, a gay club I was in – by mistake – the previous time I went to Dublin. T. told me they both belong to the same chain, and it seems there are some more scattered around Dublin. So finding out where they are looks like a pretty interesting task to write down in my travel book for the next Dublin trip.
Again, prices are crazy, and the Carlsberg we had was a bit warm. So not a great value for money unless you take loads of pictures of the place, which, by the way, I didn’t – I’m becoming a lazy bastard when taking pictures is what you talk about.
Very likely my favourite one, even while paradoxically we barely went in as we drunk everything – and this everything is sort of literal, as I cannot remember how many we took in this place. The place has a lovely indoor terrace with gas heaters, and the service attends you in your table/barrel, so no real need for having a fight on the bar all the time. Good thing, as the English traditional respect for your turn –fading nowadays, to be honest – has no equivalent on its little sister island.
Anyway, the pub inside was conformed by several narrow corridors with tables on it, and everybody in seemed to be having a great time. Outside wasn’t worse, and a nice mixture of locals, students and tourists blended in a very sweet recipe. So this is a place to be recommended to everybody to start a night with only a little flaw: you feel so good there that you may end up spoiling a night under a gas heater. Which is not a big flaw, if you think about it.
A club in Camden area– yeah, this is the name of the main street over there. Not a very remarkable one in my opinion, but with a very good bottled beer collection. It closed quite early, as almost everything in London, which is a shame, and at least, compared with the clubs around, looked like the best one and the one with an age average above 24. So good enough to end a good nite as well as a good weekend.
This is a lovely bar in the docklands area of Dublin. Not a pub, but a quiet place to chill out, enjoy a drink or two and watch the sunset as it goes by smoothly as the whole weekend went.
St John’s Wood is one of those posh areas in North London you cannot really understand what its purpose is. Not too far away from Central London but not close enough either, and surrounded by several other posh areas like Maida Vale, there is absolutely nothing special about it. Quiet, everybody’s a wasp – more likely a banker than a plumber – and it seems nothing ever happens.
The reason I was over there was I have a friend who works in a school in the area. Add to that the fact that it is on the way to Central London on the Jubilee line from my place, and you get the point about trying a pub close to the station as the Ordnance Arms is. And from the time being, it is by far the best place in St John’s I’ve found until now.
First of all, the place is unpretentious, which is a brilliant point if compared with almost everywhere else in the area. No marbles, no stupidly pricey drinks, no design food. Just a pub that has been taken care about, at least lastly as it seems previous owner was a twat. Now the atmosphere is friendly, and the decoration, if simple, is very effective. I particularly liked a custom tree with lights on its branches that loomed all the place around in a nice way. The design is cute too - the pub has a very pleasant layout, and the furniture is just right for the kind of place it is. The chimney is always an extra point, and the room is big enough to feel pretty comfortable, at least on a weekday when it’s not too stuffed. Maybe on weekends it’s a different matter, but… who cares about St Johns Wood in a weekend, I ask?
On the top of this, they have Sam Smith. Yes, the same Sam Smith they have in Cheshire or Chandos, and I already said what I have to say about it on those posts. Just as a reminder, it is very good, particularly the stout type. And yes, I know, they don’t serve any proper bitter pint, but as I’m not that much for bitter beer lastly, at this point it doesn’t seem to be such a big problem to be honest.
The best point of the place, though, is not the beer but the food. I have not tried it, true, but it looked really good, and at amazingly cheap prizes for that area in London. As soon as they get an outdoor terrace on summer I’m planning to get a proper lunch over there. I know, this is not an impressive post.
Shunt is located in London Bridge station. Nope, not besides, either close to. In. Inside the station, in its underbelly, completely hidden. Capisci? So follow the insider tip: as you cross the barriers in order to leave the tube station, if you follow the indications toward the train station you will find a small door with a bouncer besides it, checking IDs. There may be a small queue as well, depending at what time in the evening you get there. And that is it – a tiny door, and a bouncer. And £10 to get in. And a closing time at just 2.30 am, which is not late enough at all for the price. So it doesn’t seem tempting enough, let’s be fair.
massive space available, and they make use of it all – just imagine Fabric, but with wider spaces and less people, and more corridor like instead of room like. Yes, you are getting it…
space, as you can easily perceive if you browse their website. All the shows and works change on a weekly basis, so you may be surprised with something new almost everytime you go there if you want.
A cooler place to pot balls? I don't think so...
The main bar
The gigs room
And another negative point: you have to get there early enough. At 11 they close the doors, while you can stay inside, so going fairly earlier than that is compulsory. 9 is a good time to be in the door, but don’t risk to go much later than that unless you are up to a potential b plan.
The main one
The second one (Lacuna Coil, The Prodigy)
The Tuborg one
A fairly famous band in the metal-goth circle, I had been willing to watch these Italians for a while: I particularly like some of their melodic tunes. They sound a bit like Evanescence should sound if they weren't a shitty MTV con. They performed alright, although obviously the voice of the female singer - Cristina - didn’t get to the pitch she does in their records. I didn't know all the songs, so I guess my favourites ones are not the favourites of most of their fans... anyway, a fairly good gig. 7.5/10.
Play attention at the mike in the picture LOL
Dragonforce
Marylin Manson
We are back!!!
You can count me in for the next one, guys
Journey
As quite a lot of you very likely remember, early 2008 Camden Town experienced a massive fire that ruined the east side of the market and seriously compromised the future of the whole charismatic London premises. Last weekend I realized that this side of the market has recently being opened again, even in a bigger shape than it ever had, as a real Phoenix emerging from its ashes.
Pretty famous for having as local patrons the likes of Amy Whinehouse or Kate Moss, the atmosphere is really Camden-like in this place. One very good point, though, is that the tourists presence is less substantial than in other similar places in the main street. The fact that is not located on the main street itself, but just 20 m around the corner as you cover the Camden Lock bridge, really helps on it.
- Bartenders more worried to look like pop stars than in serving timely pints to their clients.
The roundhouse is a former engine shed reopened three years ago as an arts hub. This is a New Labour project –even while the theatre existed quite a lot of years before - owned by the local council and this means that you will not be ripped off for gigs that otherwise might be terribly expensive, as it could be the case of the gig I’m writing about now. A fairly big space for about 3,000 people, the building is a little piece of art with all its columns, its iron work and its vibe. In three words: A Fantastaic Venue.
Second one was Jeff Mills – more about here in this post-, and obviously, that is a completely different story. The place got completely packed for his session, and he didn’t deceive at all. He started the session with fairly innovative sounds and images on the big screen – yes, there was a massive screen – that lasted about 15-20 minutes, and after that he just played what he knows how to do better: pure Detroit techno. You could see the faces of everybody on the front line enjoying the experience really a lot, and it was real and healthy enjoyment at that point, as it was still 22.00 and not enough time to get hammered had passed yet. The vibe was incredible at that point. Obviously the classic queues in the toilets you get in these gigs were present, but I don’t think people were more fucked up that in any club any weekend.
389 kentish town, NW5 london
Just a tip for any Dublin visitor – the only thing to do in that city is visiting pubs and drinking Guinness. It may sound a bit harsh, but apart of the Guinness Storehouse aty St James Gate, which is a must for the lovers of the black stuff, any other attraction – say Dublin Castle, say Jameson distillery, say St Patricks Cathedral, say whatever you want – is quite worthless, at least under my point of view. So don’t panic, don’t stress yourself, relax and enjoy a perfect and creamy white top on your pint, ideally with a clover draw on it if you get a barman skilful enough.
This is a nice nite out pub, with live music, a club upstairs - it has 4 different floors, all of them listed-, and plenty of space and hidden corners to get your own place. Although it is not a pure traditional old fashioned Irish pub, it is not a crappy chain-owned one. Indeed, it is the sort of club you may find in London quite easily with a couple of big contrasting differences: In one hand, Guinness tastes better – much better indeed – but not THAT better to justify a 6 euro charge per pint. In the other, life music is covers of classics, which, to be honest, is a great thing if it is party and not music what you look for. I am one of those weirdos who love to listen a good band play their own themes but equally understands that covers at some point in a Friday night can change the party mood in a big way. That was the case, under my point of view, and I congratulate these guys for that.
I already wrote a post about the London representative of this Irish chain of brewery-pubs. All I said in that one applies to the PorterHouse in Dublin as well, with a couple of hints to remark. First, the guy playing live music in this place – again covers – was really, really funny. I don’t think you can find this kind of freak playing in London, and that is a shame as everybody enjoyed it a lot. Second, the mere fact of not serving Guinness in a pub in Dublin should be forbidden. End of the conversation :).
Now, this is a traditional Irish pubs, with its pros and its pros. No cons at all, if you want my opinion. A massive place with quite a lot of different rooms, TVs, smooth music creating atmosphere, and the best pint I tried in the whole weekend. The pub has a couple of floors, and even while several tourists groups where around you could easily spot the differences between a classic English pub and a classic Irish one. To remark some of them, in an English they don’t play any music, while in an Irish one they do, and while the good mood is always present in both of them, the atmosphere is slightly more friendly also in the Irish one. Now that I think about it, there are a couple of cons in the red-haired one: the prices and the prices. Also, beer variety is much bigger in any average London pub than in a big Dubliner, and they have Heineken instead of Carling or Becks, and I prefer the latter ones. Altogether, the quality of the Guinness makes a big difference.
As lovely as bizarre, this place is a unique experience, even if it is not an Irish one at all. The places tries to resemble a French café, and it is quite clear the owners have decided to table as much cash as needed to get the effect right. The decoration is ubiquitous, expensive, and some times surrealistic. Greek statues, palms, golden carving, and so on, I’m quite sure you easily get the picture.
15 Merrion Row, Dublin
St John’s Wood is one of those posh areas in North London you cannot really understand what its purpose is. Not too far away from Central London but not close enough either, and surrounded by several other posh areas like Maida Vale, there is absolutely nothing special about it. Quiet, everybody’s a wasp – more likely a banker than a plumber – and it seems nothing ever happens.
