I imagine benson's local looks like that sub sub spoons on falcon rd in clapham just on the left after the rail bridge. It has a sign saying VFM Value for money
HEH! Now m99 do you mean The Asparagus, or do you mean the one that used to be on the other side of Falcon Road as you head towards Clapham Junction?
I used to live right by there in The Falcons, which is a concerted council estate. It’s walled in, a gated community, but just over the wall was Scholey House, a huge barrier block still in nominal local authority control, which while I lived there was the scene of britain’s biggest ever drugs bust. Apache gunship helicopters hollering PREPARE TO DIE through megaphones and everything - fully GTA V after you’ve shot loads of beat cops.
Funnily enough I have been to the Asparagus in the not amazingly distant past, There’s a visa agency based nearby and I went for a pint after collecting my visa for, IIRC, Cuba.
Gone now. New block of flats. The pubs in that part of town are amazingly variable tbf. You’ve got the Asparagus and whatever TF the one you’re talking about was called, and then within a few hundred yards up toward the river you’ve got the Candlemakers and the Woodman, which are two of the most gastro yuppie places you could possibly imagine, the kind of place Heffalump would go hide and read the guardian if he managed to escape at Sunday lunchtime. Then further east into the Queenstown Road sort of area, next to the railway tracks you have the Flag, which is property one of London’s scariest pubs (look it up on google maps and click on the photos - as ever with this kind of pub they are a treasure trove).
When I lived in east london (near canning town) there was a pub called The British Flag just over the dock near the excel. I did not go in. There was also a pub called.the peacock nearby named for the entirely normal family that owned the famous boxing gym.
I once, briefly, came to live in North Woolwich. The circumstances in which I came to live there are obscure even to me. I do not recommend it. The place is a shithole now, and this was in 2003. That said, it did have a few pubs then whereas now it only has the Henley Arms, which looks a lot like the Beckton.
Best of the old pubs in NW was the Hotel California, which was London’s worst table dancing bar.
I did go in the Hotel California a few times, Despite the name, you were allowed to leave, and would probably want to do so quite quickly. The overall feel was similar to somewhere like The Griffin or one of those strip pubs on shoreditch high street. There were several girls dancing tables when I went in, and tbf a number of other customers, and the ladies were all Peruvian. They weren’t having a theme night or anything, I think it’s just that all the girls they could find were Peruvian. I’d like to say I made my excuses and left, but tbh I wasn’t that polite, I just legged it.
Heh, Pumpers, small world. When were you there? 2001 for me. I have to say I never ventured over that side. The blocks on Este look quite neat and tidy these days.
Do you know what BC, I have no recollection of the Meyrick whatsoever even though I must have walked past it every single day. Every day. It is now a "bar/grill" called Suburb, which looks vaguely nice, in the sense that you'd probably like it if it was the only smart pub in your small town; I am not sure why anyone would patronise it in CLapham however and the "yuppie" (if I may still use the term) population on that side of the tracks is pretty small anyway.
I am pretty sure wang and I are both actually talking about the former Prince's Head, which was further north on the same side of Falcon Rd at the junction with Coppock Close. It was a modern brick faced building probably the same age as the small low-rise council estate behind it. I remember it being open in the early noughties and it was knocked down around 2016. "Value for Money" was actually part of the branding of the pub. I'm not sure that works as a brand even in a low-rent area, and in any event there's a 'spoons across the road (The Asparagus) which could presumably blow them out water on price *and* be a nicer place to hang out.
I hardly ever walked past the Meyrick Arms although I do remember it - I used to cut through from the station through that pedestrian bit by the ugly church and the charity shop and the youth club and the Jamaican takeaway.
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8 Ace?
I imagine benson's local looks like that sub sub spoons on falcon rd in clapham just on the left after the rail bridge. It has a sign saying VFM Value for money
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HEH! Now m99 do you mean The Asparagus, or do you mean the one that used to be on the other side of Falcon Road as you head towards Clapham Junction?
I used to live right by there in The Falcons, which is a concerted council estate. It’s walled in, a gated community, but just over the wall was Scholey House, a huge barrier block still in nominal local authority control, which while I lived there was the scene of britain’s biggest ever drugs bust. Apache gunship helicopters hollering PREPARE TO DIE through megaphones and everything - fully GTA V after you’ve shot loads of beat cops.
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Funnily enough I have been to the Asparagus in the not amazingly distant past, There’s a visa agency based nearby and I went for a pint after collecting my visa for, IIRC, Cuba.
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Not the asparagus the latter. I think it was still there last time I street viewed it.
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Gone now. New block of flats. The pubs in that part of town are amazingly variable tbf. You’ve got the Asparagus and whatever TF the one you’re talking about was called, and then within a few hundred yards up toward the river you’ve got the Candlemakers and the Woodman, which are two of the most gastro yuppie places you could possibly imagine, the kind of place Heffalump would go hide and read the guardian if he managed to escape at Sunday lunchtime. Then further east into the Queenstown Road sort of area, next to the railway tracks you have the Flag, which is property one of London’s scariest pubs (look it up on google maps and click on the photos - as ever with this kind of pub they are a treasure trove).
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When I lived in east london (near canning town) there was a pub called The British Flag just over the dock near the excel. I did not go in. There was also a pub called.the peacock nearby named for the entirely normal family that owned the famous boxing gym.
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Canning Town used to have a charismatic derelict pub that was just a front wall, nothing behind it, you could see sky through the windows.
Thats what Bentines’ local used to be like. It’s gone to the dogs now.
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The Beckton Arms just off Barking Road in Canning Town is fooking terrifying
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How the hell did you get in there?
I once, briefly, came to live in North Woolwich. The circumstances in which I came to live there are obscure even to me. I do not recommend it. The place is a shithole now, and this was in 2003. That said, it did have a few pubs then whereas now it only has the Henley Arms, which looks a lot like the Beckton.
Best of the old pubs in NW was the Hotel California, which was London’s worst table dancing bar.
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I did go in the Hotel California a few times, Despite the name, you were allowed to leave, and would probably want to do so quite quickly. The overall feel was similar to somewhere like The Griffin or one of those strip pubs on shoreditch high street. There were several girls dancing tables when I went in, and tbf a number of other customers, and the ladies were all Peruvian. They weren’t having a theme night or anything, I think it’s just that all the girls they could find were Peruvian. I’d like to say I made my excuses and left, but tbh I wasn’t that polite, I just legged it.
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I should say time(s) I went in plural. I definitely visited twice or thrice. It would open on sunday afternoons and showed football on sky.
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How did I miss this?
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Benters lives in Goole, as any fule kno
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Heh!
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Bentines is actually from an upper middle class background in Harrog8.
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Hey Laz - we used to be (practically) neighbours. We lived on Este Road in one of the blocks there.
I used to leave my car on your side of Falcon Road because it seemed less likely to get broken into.
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Loving some of the pub chat on several threads.
Wang/Laz - is it the Meyrick Arms you were thinking of early on above? Now unfortunately closed down and probably lost forever.
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Heh@Beckton Arms.
Traveller central.
I have a great story about it to be told at drinks.
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Heh, Pumpers, small world. When were you there? 2001 for me. I have to say I never ventured over that side. The blocks on Este look quite neat and tidy these days.
Do you know what BC, I have no recollection of the Meyrick whatsoever even though I must have walked past it every single day. Every day. It is now a "bar/grill" called Suburb, which looks vaguely nice, in the sense that you'd probably like it if it was the only smart pub in your small town; I am not sure why anyone would patronise it in CLapham however and the "yuppie" (if I may still use the term) population on that side of the tracks is pretty small anyway.
I am pretty sure wang and I are both actually talking about the former Prince's Head, which was further north on the same side of Falcon Rd at the junction with Coppock Close. It was a modern brick faced building probably the same age as the small low-rise council estate behind it. I remember it being open in the early noughties and it was knocked down around 2016. "Value for Money" was actually part of the branding of the pub. I'm not sure that works as a brand even in a low-rent area, and in any event there's a 'spoons across the road (The Asparagus) which could presumably blow them out water on price *and* be a nicer place to hang out.
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2000-2002 for me.
I hardly ever walked past the Meyrick Arms although I do remember it - I used to cut through from the station through that pedestrian bit by the ugly church and the charity shop and the youth club and the Jamaican takeaway.
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yeah that’s the place!
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