The mighty Purple Turtle

9 Gun Street,Reading RG1 2JR

I just realized there is no entry on my blog about what it is, altogether with Pavlov’s Dog and the Afterdark, the pub/club that better memories brings me every single time I think about these old good times in Reading… and also about these not-that-old good times as well, with my brother several times (his famous cheeky countdown pulling a friend with a dinner at stake) or even more recently – last Sunday, for instance, in one of the most silly but at the same times delightful binges I’ve enjoyed lastly. Yes, I’m obviously talking about the Purple Turtle. Or just the Turtle. Or the Purple.

Some say that before God said ‘Let there be the Oracle’, only the Purple existed on Reading. It may well be an exaggeration, but the true fact is that everybody I know who lived there ages ago, they don’t remember too much but this pub. And very likely if it wasn’t for the fact that I go back quite frequently over there, that could be very likely my case as well – there I met very good friends for the first time, there I pulled (or there I was pulled, I have to say) by my Welsh ex-girlfriend, and there I went for tequilas with Cherra for at least a million and one times. A memorable place indeed, at least on my little drunkard memorabilia.

So, what is all this about? What makes this place so special, so fucking special? Well, call me a creep, but, you know what? This places closes at 4 am. At 3 am, on Sundays. If you’ve ever gone out in Reading, you may well know that this is late, big time. Full stop. There are alternatives, obviously, but the time I used to live there these were constrained to Mango, a dodgy and moody club demanding a 10 quid cover for the sake of listening bad electronic music and be surrounded by sweating loser. Fair enough, I’ve been there several times (I’m a creep, or a loser then?), but you really cannot compare. Music in the Purple is on the Metal side, with Metallica being a big local favourite, but you may enjoy more relaxing tunes and even cheesy electronic rhythms some times. This all refers to the main floor, where you can also find a juke box so everybody can have his pick of the day, buy a bunch of roses and seduce that little princess dress as a Lolita Goth over there. Whatever.

Second big hit – the terrace, with its gas heaters on winter. Always squashed, I’m not a big fan of it, I have to say – as when you go there, there is no stop: you just stay there. Given there’s no music in the outside, this tends to evolve into a initially interesting conversation that easily decays into drunkards grunting. Which is fine, but improvable with some music and dancing. Still, the terrace is pretty cool, gotta say.

Third one – the people. Trendiest ones in Reading, really it is one of the few places where you feel you are in Camden, Shoreditch or Kentish Town in London. Big gay community (apparently, not that I’m good spotting that sort of connotation), sometimes easygoing punks, everything is very modern but with a good attitude and friendliness that you may miss in the big city. Another point for the Turtle, there.

Fourth? If you are a crazy drum&bass chum, you may enjoy the rave sessions they have on the basement sometimes. Gigs, metal, but mainly electronic craziness is what you smell over there… quite filthy, not my cup of tea, but still another option to enjoy the place differently.

Flaws? Well, drinks are far more expensive than Reading’s average – this is, pint over 3 quid, double spirit over 5, shots over 3. Not a big issue if you benchmark the place with London clubs, but also, if you perform this comparison opening until 4, playing hard rock or getting cool people inside don’t score that well. So let’s say it is expensive.

And finally, the fact that you can’t get in after 2. Given the AfterDark – my favourite club in Reading by far- closes at 2.30, and they are not just one beside each other, really it becomes more and more complicated to have a perfect night, as you would never leave the After before you are forced to by the big bouncers. This is quite likely the reason I re-discovered the place last Sunday, after a while without enjoying it. And that is also the reason I’m going to Reading today Friday instead of tomorrow Saturday, for instance he he he.

PS: there is another Purple in Camden I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy as well (a further one in Oxford, I didn’t taste that one). Material for another post, I guess…

Discovering Hackney: The Royal Oak

73 Columbia Road, London, E2 7RG

I have to be greatful to @wildebees for a certain range of stuff, but introducing me to this pub is definitely not the lesser of them – at all. A really nice eastern London pub deprived of most of the trendiness that brings my opinion down some times in that hood, but also keeping some character on it. I’ve just came from it and believe my friend, after a knackering weekend in Reading including a crazy tequila Sunday night at the Purple (remember that pub crawl? It seems like ages ago...) and an early return to London on early Monday morning straightaway to the office, it is just what I needed.

Columbia Road is located in Tower Hamlets borough and it is quite famous in London because of it Sunday’s Flower Market. There are also plenty of shops on the high street that at some point may make you think you are in Central London, surrounding Carnaby Street or any other big shopping spot. Not at all, and you will discover so as soon as you pay a careful look to the stuff they sell: overprized, maybe, but good quality and rare sometimes. A nice road to explore if looking for a different present to give away to someone you care about.

Sunday's flower market

Obviously, East London, as a friend told me once, is now the real Central London. Meaning this that the are may not be particularly nice, but it is full of people with good money on their pockets and, even more importantly, willing to spoil themselves. As a result, do not expect to pay less than 3.50 for a drink in The Royal Oak – being this its main and only flaw. But the pub is worth it, trust me. For a stack of reasons, including…

First, it looks like one of these old pubs which has been kept and preserved nicely for a long time. Apparently it's in a between-the-wars style, but it really fits perfectly well with the Victorian surroundings... that is in the outside. In the inside, it is not that it looks (or smells) old – it is that you may spot this or that little pieces of furniture or decoration that indicate you that attention to detail is something the owner reckons his patrons value the most. You may spot old pictures and paintings altogether with new adds in like origami birds hung all around the place.

The vibe over there is really friendly – all professionals on their thirties looking for a nice conversation after work, but with the eastern flavour. Do not expect ties and suits here, but neither the sort of annoying arts student on his early twenties with such a big hunger for reaping the word apart. Just young common people looking for a little corner of enjoyment.

The drinks are quite standard: Guinness, Becks, John Smiths, Peroni… the usual suspects. The also serve a warm wine called ‘mulled wine’ – I had tried something similar in Germany, but not here in the UK. I quite liked it, although it is strong and expensive too… and not completely sure if they serve it through the year or just on the winter period. Food is apparently good enough - although I have to say I haven't tried it so far.

Music is nice, but at a fairly low volume. Again, this is a place for nice conversations, not for big clubbing nights or binge drinking. Still, I’ve read somewhere that clubbing nights on the weekends are big here – I cannot say, as I have just visited it twice, and both times were Tuesdays.

The structure of the pub is a square-shaped bar, with several tables surrounding it (quite busy all of them all the time) and most of the people taking advantage of the large bar to drink some good stuff. Not very big, and because of that and because it is quite popular it is better to avoid it on Thursdays, as it gets packed.

Definitely, a brilliant pub I will hopefully become a frequent patron of.

Welcome to Shoreditch: Cargo

83 Rivington St, London, EC2A 3A

Trying to be compliant with my personal 2010 purposes, let’s try to resurrect pintofcarlingplease.blogspot.com and make out of it that lovely little shelter for all these pubs in London you’d like to know about but you don’t because you are unsocial or a weirdo or because you are scared of big beer measures. Whatever.

So here we go. I went to the gym twice this week, I had salad for dinner also twice and I only had beer with my dinner once. I bought tickets for the theatre and for Opera, and also a flight for going back to Madrid in March. Writing in this blog is really the only pending issue in my ‘feel good’ list for the new year… it wasn’t that hard, really.

Next posts will be ideally cover Shoreditch based pubs. As you may or not know, I’ve recently moved to this trendy London area. No more Cricklewood / Kilburn dives, good bye crappy Jubilee line and welcome to a new life of flat sharing, student-like life comeback and overprized boozers. Welcome to Shoreditch, darling.

And first one to be reviewed, for no specific reason, is Cargo. Although a bit pretentious, I quite like this place, half-way a pub and club, in the hurt of Shoreditch… I discovered it for the first time last summer, while we repeatedly enjoyed its lovely terrace on those after work binges we used to have… true enough, Cesar Tomate was still around, and London was a sparking city where every day was a good option for sipping some lager nectar until late nite.

Its terrace is indeed one of its biggest attractions. Gas heaters on winter, wide wooden benches and tables for enjoying a quiet conversation (I remember Jason helped me out to schedule my Japan trip over there), chill out tunes as background and a consistently trendy young audience, everybody in love and in pink, it looked some times more like what you would expect at Ibiza than like a hidden dive in the dirtiest area of London. Bansky-like graffiti in the walls helped to overcome that easily committed mistake, and also makes you give it a final and conclusive thought as a refreshing beer goes through your throat: yes, London is a nice place to live in.

Later on, winter came and all that crap didn’t make any sense anymore. But still the pub is quite cool inside, based under a bridge and with a Fabric look like on it - the classic brick vaults and arches with neon lights all around the place. The music tends to be electronic, and for my taste might be slightly aloud most of the time, pounding your ears a little too much and making conversation sometimes a bit difficult. Nice place then for a handover between the early pubs and the night club, but not for some quiet drinks in a mid week binge anymore.

People hanging around there? Well – the classic arty trendy Shoreditch crew, with sporadic visits of city boys. Everybody is wearing clothes worth more than 200 pounds, which obviously mirrors how much to be ‘alternative’ is synonym of mainstream and posh nowadays. I include myself on the sort of stupid people to be blamed for it – I cannot help it.

Nice as well is the live bands playing there. I saw The Drones last November, and it was one of the best examples of how a sold out gig should be: full, but comfortable. The organization maybe thought that not overpacking the place would be a good idea not only from a safety stand point, but also taking in consideration the enjoy of everybody paying about 10 quid for watching the band. So I can only recommend the venue, as the organization was good, the sound quality was flawless and the vibe they got was quite impressive, although I didn’t like the band itself too much – not my cup of tea, really.


Anyway, the area where gigs take place is also used for clubbing nights - which I think may be cool... I never went, I was put off by the massive queues I see when I go back home.


On the top of all that, drinks are a bit overpriced (that is a constant flaw of every single Shoreditch venue) at 3.50 the pint. Lager is Amstel, and you also have a couple of other draught beers plus a wide variety of bottled ones – being Budvar the best option hands down. They also serve food – advertised as Latin, but with burguers as main topic… WTF!” -, which might be an option on summer on the terrace – again, slightly more expensive than you would pay for somewhere else, but apparently the quality is good enough, which is saying more than you rally could about some other places in the area.


Recommended place, then, particularly on summer. The fact that is located at a 4 minute walk from my place obviously helps…