The William Jolle - Northwood Hills

 

Visited 19th September 2010.

A few miles down along a pretty-ish straight road brought us to our last pub of the day. Fortunately it was pretty straight forward to find which was just as well as the charging socket on my phone, which I rely on for SatNav instructions had fallen off earlier in the day and was now running very low on electricity. Mrs S. doesn't like being lost and was starting to worry that we would never find our way home - I was able to amuse myself for a while by not telling her that we were only about 18 miles from our "home location". The pub itself is essentially one large room, panelled with a light coloured wood, a few alcoves and a few bookshelves. Again, it was fairly busy with a few families eating and lots of couples. Everybody seemed very chatty and cheerful. I opted for one of my now favourite tipples, a double buffalo trace and coke Pepsi with my chauffeur sticking with a small Pepsi. Another nice pub. And that was how the day went, all very nice pubs in their own way but nothing to make either of us say "Wow". Comforting in its own way. Despite no SatNav we made it home without any problems but now I have to get a new phone, stay tuned!

© John Sinner. None of the material contained in this post, or this blog as a whole, may be reproduced without the express and written permission of John Sinner. All rights reserved.

The Moon and Sixpence - Hatch End

 

 

Visited 19th September 2010.

We found our third pub of the day without any problems and it very much looks the part, dressed up as a quaint, traditional pub, full of alcoves and dark wood panelling. The staff were efficient and eager and produced our coffees in double quick time. I handed over a full loyalty card to pay for one off the coffees and the bar lady forgot to replace it with a blank one but I was only part way through pointing this out and she was off like a greyhound to fetch a new one. A decent local pub.

© John Sinner. None of the material contained in this post, or this blog as a whole, may be reproduced without the express and written permission of John Sinner. All rights reserved.

The Moon Under Water - Watford

Visited 19th September 2010.

Our second pub of the day turned out to be a few hundred yards up the road, on the same side. Nice and easy to get to. Also narrow and deep but with a dining area half way in on the left. Definitely a quieter more family orientated place but just as busy. We decided to have lunch with myself going for a Sunday roast and Mrs S. going for the BBQ chicken and bacon melt panini. Which was all very nice. Once again Mrs S. had managed to find us a table in the busiest spot in the pub, right outside the kitchen door. All in all, a pleasant visit. We Mrs S. had penciled in a little time to have a look round Watford to check out its shopping potential so it was about another hour before we finally left town in the direction of our next watering hole.

© John Sinner. None of the material contained in this post, or this blog as a whole, may be reproduced without the express and written permission of John Sinner. All rights reserved.

The Colombia Press - Watford

Visited 19th September 2010.

I had always hoped to try and visit on average one Wetherspoon pub a week but now that "Humbug Season" is fast approaching the plan has become to try and visit a slightly more ambitious one hundred 'spoons by the end of the year. With this in mind we decided to spend today visiting Watford and a little of the surrounding area, our goal being to visit four pubs starting with 'The Colombia Press'. I'm sorry to say that the first on our list turned out to be not at all to Mrs. S. liking. The pub was long and narrow and full of fans watching Manchester United and Liverpool running around chasing a football. It took us a while to find a place to sit as it was so busy and disappointingly I was told I was unable to have the beer I wanted as it was cloudy. Still, the cider was fine. Only a small Pepsi for my driver as she really, really doesn't like football and I knew we wouldn't be staying long. She also had one complaint - smelly toilets. But a plus point, as I said it was busy and while I was waiting at the bar to be served along with several other customers a member off staff appeared to help out and asked the serving barman who was next. The barman was obviously keeping track as he was immediately able to say. Now this should happen all the time but in many pubs it just doesn't!

© John Sinner. None of the material contained in this post, or this blog as a whole, may be reproduced without the express and written permission of John Sinner. All rights reserved.

The Ice Wharf - London, Camden

Visited 5th September 2010.

Yesterday some friends of ours in 'the Smoke' invited us to a BBQ - how can we possibly say no to that!. It was a great evening with lots of beer, superb food and entertaining company. Having fed and watered us they then gave us a bed for the night, at a stroke saving us from the vagaries of late night public transport. Which brings us to today. The girls want to go shopping and one of the liveliest places for that is Camden, so we take the bus as much of the underground is not working. As it turns out the journey takes forever as there seem to be road works and detours at almost every junction. Eventually we arrive and that's it - the girls are off and the guys get to stand and wait. After a hurried conference the guys decide to wait in the local 'spoons before we are given bags of shopping to 'look after'. The Ice Wharf turns out to be situated next to the lock so we have a picturesque view and as it is a sunny afternoon we are able to indulge in a little people watching. Eventually the girls arrive and we have a few more drinks before setting off to have a look round the Stables Market. If you have never visited Camden markets they are well worth a look as is The Ice Wharf which has a character the fits in well with the vibe of the whole area. Far to soon we had to leave our London friends and head for home which amazingly turns out to be completely uneventful, despite many lines and stations being closed or partially closed. Everything went our way and we didn't have to wait more than a couple of minutes for any of our tubes or train. On the whole well worth a visit.

© John Sinner. None of the material contained in this post, or this blog as a whole, may be reproduced without the express and written permission of John Sinner. All rights reserved.