"Food Wars" hosts Harry Kersh and Joe Avella travel across London to find the best pub in the city. They'll be visiting five different locations in just one day to see what the city has to offer. This is "Food Tours."
Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00Okay, Joe, we're here at the George George by London Bridge
00:03Yeah, it's one of the more historic pubs in London in a crowded field, but this place has been here since
00:091676 sold and a pub previously existed on this site possibly even as far back as like the
00:151300s what else has happened in the 1600s ever learned about the Great Fire of London or is that more like a UK history thing?
00:20Sounds familiar. Yeah in
00:221666 London burned to sticks was the rhyme that I was always taught enormous fire in 1666
00:28But thankfully they rebuilt and this came out of the ashes I'm into it. I like I like old stuff
00:33Yeah, I think it's actually like the layout is kind of true to how it would have been back in the day
00:37Okay, it's like a gallery din
00:39So what the idea was basically you would like roll in here with your horse and cart and stop off for a pint and some
00:44Food so all the kind of like courtyard space outside initially would have just been full of yeah
00:48Yeah, there's plenty of horse parking still. Mm-hmm
00:53No, they couldn't be like horse valets back then, right I
00:57Would I think I'd be totally confused on which horse is mine
01:00Just check your keys in time to go and they walk out especially a hammer being like grab your horse like
01:06So what do you recommend we get today?
01:07So they're actually a Green King pub, which is like a chain of pubs, but they have a few unique things on the menu here
01:14They do actually do their own beer specific to this location. Oh, no, they have a George ale and also a golden George ale
01:18So maybe a couple of those. All right, I'm ready to go man. Let's do it
01:27These are freshly pulled pints from the cask, so you have the George I have the golden George they brew this here
01:34Not here, but over it somewhere nearby and is there you can I get this here? Yes specific to this location
01:41Cheers, mate. Oh
01:43That's nice
01:49Also got some traditional bar snacks, oh nice we have peanuts which I'm sure you've had before sure and also pork scratchings
01:56Scratchings these are fantastic on these packets. They actually say pork crackling, but pork scratchings is the more common terminology
02:02Yeah, I think we call these pork rinds. Mm-hmm
02:04These have been around for centuries
02:16How can you come to a pub like this as far as like these older ones is more classic ones pretty often
02:21I actually I wouldn't say people choose their pub based purely on age
02:25I think a lot of the time it's more like convenience. So this pub is really close to London Bridge station
02:29Yeah, there's a lot of offices around here and also people commute from London Bridge
02:33So it's more I think like if it's on the way to somewhere that you need to be
02:37Or if it's near where you live
02:38That's probably more gonna be the clientele
02:40There might be some people who are like I refuse to drink at a new pub or like a sports bar
02:44But I think for the most part it's more a question of you know
02:47I will find
02:48One of the nicer pubs in the area that is the most convenient for me
02:52Is there a concern that you move to a new neighborhood or you move to a new spa and the pub nearby sucks?
02:56Yeah, definitely. So you're thinking of that when you're looking at a place
02:59You're like you want to make sure the flat is nice. It gets nice sunlight
03:02Newer building and what's the nearest pub like? What's the local?
03:05There's a lot of things that we can be judging the pubs on today that we go to
03:07There's a few like quantifiable things
03:09I guess the types of beer that you have an offer the prices the location the kind of history there
03:14But there is also just like kind of like a vibe aspect
03:17That's really hard to quantify as well when you're kind of picking your favorite pub
03:20Sure, because there might be a pub like you say where it has quite like a local energy
03:24Yeah, and as an outsider you have like an initial kind of like am I supposed to be in here type of feeling?
03:28But then after a while, maybe you like really warm up to it. That's nice
03:31Let me say a question if you're in your local pub and a strangers walked in and even like who's this guy?
03:35No, personally
03:38You don't care like you're paying attention. I haven't noticed this walking. I couldn't care less
03:41No
03:41So what we've tried to do really is just select a few pubs that give you a nice overview of the pubs in London
03:47We've definitely picked what I think is some of the best
03:49But we'll have to see at the end of the day if you make a decision as to like which one you preferred out of the
03:53Ones we've seen today and also maybe more of like the style of pub that suits you best this video
03:58We should just preface that like this is all the places that said yes. Yeah
04:03A lot of pubs actively do not want publicity
04:06They don't need it like every pub in London a peak drinking hours is gonna be busy
04:11People flooding out into the streets because an odd room in there. It's like you're selling water in a desert
04:15That's funny selling water in a desert and selling beer in London or seem like two of the same thing. That's really funny
04:21We got one really funny email from a landlady who will remain nameless
04:25Which ended by saying that I don't need your promotion. I'm running a pub not Disneyland
04:31Which I think speaks just to how strongly landlords want to kind of like preserve the feeling and the vibe in their pubs fine
04:38Mm-hmm. I do think that American drinking culture
04:41For the most part not everywhere, but for the most part is
04:46Get hammered on the weekends sure and on weekdays you could yes people go out for drinks
04:53They don't really start till later and usually go out with friends
04:56I feel very self-conscious when I go to a bar by myself in America. Does that make sense?
05:00Yeah, definitely maybe less of that over here. I obviously you still get drunkenness. Don't get me wrong
05:04But I think maybe I haven't seen rowdy lads yet. I will say that you guys though you smoke a lot out here
05:11a lot so I do see in front of
05:14The pubs. Mm-hmm a bunch of dudes just housing cigarettes and talking super loud about God knows what?
05:21Probably not Love Island
05:25The chat was all right, what was he thinking?
05:33Mate
05:34Yeah, none of that although that'd be really funny are there any pubs that play Love Island no
05:40I don't know. Oh my god, please. I would
05:47Guys like chucking pipes is like tonight on Love Island to new boys
05:53I
06:01Would I would definitely be down to go to a Love Island pub, yeah, but I can't be like people who are like
06:08It's got to be blokes gonna be rowdy going hard
06:11Yeah, and if not, we should try and put that together
06:15How you enjoying your your George ale? It does go smoothly cuz lots carbonated so I could drink it faster
06:20What you're gonna realize is like how much of British culture has been engineered to just enable more drinking and faster drinking fantastic
06:27You're saying this one is haunted. This one is also laid out me. So a landlady from the 19th century
06:31I'm gonna be Liam Murray 19th century landlady
06:34Emily Murray, she bites the dust everyone's like thank God free rent. Yep, and then now some
06:41Jerk breaks out the Ouija board. Let's just see how she's doing. Whoops open the portal now. She's here forever
06:47Do you want to guess the way that she apparently manifests herself, do you know what the landlord special is in America?
06:52No, I never heard that term. No, it's what happens when you move into a new place and they've painted literally everything white
06:58Including over the light switches and the electrical outlets. I've seen
07:02I'm gonna assume you leave you come back. Everything's just covered in thick white paint. No, sadly not
07:07The way actually goes apparently is that Amelia will drain your phone battery?
07:11How much she know? I don't know. I don't know if I checked my phone battery when I came in
07:16But I'm still like doing okay. So maybe she's having a day off. There's no cell reception here
07:19That's why phones and pubs has kind of killed off like some of this pub chat
07:23There's a lot of pub chat was predicated on just being able to say something and being like, yeah
07:28Yeah, no, you know actually that that happened or like oh my mates my mates dad told me that this happened
07:32Yeah, that's totally true because now that we have phones everyone's super smart. I'm googling that right now. What are you talking about?
07:37Yeah, you try to social media. We got stupider because of this
07:40I like being able to just like say things and not having them challenged. Basically. Oh fantastic
07:46Video, we're making it publicly. Yeah, let's just talk. Let's see what happens. I just want to be like a cult leader
07:51That's kind of my
07:53Challenge anything I say I
07:56Didn't know this because you know the Guinness Book of World Records. Mm-hmm. That book was started to settle pub arguments, really?
08:01Yeah, it was Guinness beer
08:03Yeah, just started printing a book to book a fax because back then probably when this pub was started arguments were like deadly
08:10Because you needed some release. So Guinness is like, all right. Here's how tall a giraffe is calm down
08:17I see Joe. I don't know if that's true, but I'm gonna choose not to Google it
08:20I'm gonna choose to believe you because I think that's how pub chat should go. Okay, we're turning the comments off on this video
08:29Okay, man second place of the day here we are taking you to a weather spoons this is the pomelos rest
08:34It's a weather swings pub right by Tower Bridge
08:37Okay
08:37So I don't know a lot about spoons except last year when I came in for the first time and you and I met for
08:42The first time IRL we met up at a spoons and when I share that on social media my comment section
08:47Exploded because people couldn't believe that you took me to a spoons. So spoons seems to have some sort of infamous reputation
08:54They have food here too, right? They do have food. They have a lot of food. I'm starving
08:58It's surprisingly enormous menu. Have you seen the size of this thing? Get the hell out of here. That's all here
09:02They offer all of these things as food. So this place is like a Denny's with a bar
09:07I've never been to a Denny's in America, so I can't comment but it's pretty close and that's not a diss
09:11I mean, I gotta say I don't know how the food is here
09:14I've never eaten one, but this stuff is priced to move. I think value is like crucial to the spoons experience
09:19There's a lot of things they do to like save certain costs and hopefully pass those savings on to consumers
09:24You'll notice like they're not playing any music in here because they need a license to play the music which they don't do
09:29I always thought there's no music in pubs here because you guys just serious drinking and the music might lead to some sort of joy
09:36And that will get in the way of the drinking distract from the show, right?
09:40It's just it's just like no music. No TVs
09:43Carpets, there's not that loud
09:44Just everything about every pub I've been to in London is like sit and drink and be quiet
09:48Yes until you get really drunk and then crack off with your mates
09:53Crack off with your mates. What does that mean?
09:55What does that mean? I don't think it means anything. Really? I mean if you want to do that with your mates in spoons then yeah
10:00Okay, how about a
10:01Chin wag. Yeah, that's more like it. There you go. See behold the social chameleon has arrived
10:07It's like I've looked at my whole life
10:10Seamlessly blending in with the background. Yeah, I think we should probably line our stomachs with yeah, the famous full English from spoons. Let's do it
10:17Here's a sentence that I've never thought I'd say what's a good beer to go with breakfast? That's a good question
10:22I might do a lager. I'd say there's certain locations where in my mind. It's fine to drink before like 10 a.m
10:27I think airports just like the rules. Yeah the window probably in a spoons on like a Sunday morning if you're a bit hungover
10:33Cheers mate. Cheers, man
10:35Everything I mean, I don't think in most states you can serve alcohol that early in America. I'm sure there's some states you can but
10:42Thank you very much
10:45This looks fantastic, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I think all of this comes to like just over five pounds. It's like
10:54Fantastic for the open in America. So why do you think a place like spoons or the spoons establishment has kind of like that?
11:00I roll a yeah feel to it. I mean because I think this is perfectly fine. I'm having a time
11:04Yeah, I mean a British friend of yours was visiting the u.s. Would you take them to Denny's?
11:09It's like kind of that sort of our TGI Friday's. Yeah
11:13How many pubs do you know have their own?
11:17Magazine, this is not many. Can I get can I get this?
11:21I did flip through it and it is it's amazing. It's this is
11:25Unintentionally the funniest thing I've seen in a pub so the owner makes this pretty much
11:30I just thought at first I felt like that makes perfect sense. You have your own
11:34periodical about things related to maybe like the city or just things going in general like the same way that a
11:40Airline has an in-flight magazine, but in closer inspection everything's about spoons. Mm-hmm Tim's viewpoint
11:45Who's Tim? So Tim is the owner of weather spoons? Okay, I will say
11:50Somewhat divisive figure. I don't think he would mind me saying that
11:54Very strong opinions on some political matters. He was a big proponent of brexit
12:00He kept some of his pubs open during kovats Wow
12:04So a lot of the magazine is actually him
12:06I guess I gotta say the end the energy of this is not what I was expecting. No
12:11There's a thing in front that says read all about it of another version of this magazine
12:15But the title just says does truth matter
12:19Take it easy. Do I just want to get a pint?
12:21The biggest spoons is in Kent where I'm from in Ramsgate. They call it the super spoons enormous
12:28It's got like a thousand person capacity or something. Is that where you and the lads would go drink when you started?
12:32I wasn't quite near enough Ramsgate for that to happen. We had a local spoons though
12:36I was the muggleton in in Maidstone aka mugs. I mean you could be making all these words up
12:41I don't know what you just said. There's like what like is this you'll be reciting Harry Potter to me right now
12:46But yeah, the mug sounds good. It kind of feels like the spoons have been to don't look the same
12:51I feel that a visitor could just wander in here thinking it's a standalone pub
12:55Yeah until they really get like a closer look at the radical right newsletter
13:02But at first glance outside I like I'm like, yeah, let's go to the pub
13:05Yeah
13:05I mean in many ways they are just a regular pub as well like
13:08It's cheaper and they'll have a few like I say recurring themes in the same way that like they won't be playing the music
13:13They'll probably have a few of the same beers on tap. Oh nice in America
13:17Maybe you notice this every drinking establishment for some reason. They're like the music has to be as loud as possible
13:22Yeah, I can't stand it
13:23I'll just sit in there like
13:24because then you're shouting and I'm the king of like when the music's really loud and I'm telling some stupid story because I think I'm
13:30really funny and I gotta yell and I cuz that's like and then I my pants and then the music was my guy and
13:37Old man yells a cloud moment, but I kind of like the fact there's no music
13:40Yeah, I will say we're in here at like 1030 a.m. Which is very much not it would be weird if it was packed
13:45Yeah, be kind of concerning if it was packed at 1030 a.m
13:47I will say like as much as I am pro spoons. I will say I doubt this will be the best pub
13:52I'll take you to today. I don't think a spoons is the best pub in London. You're just you're just laying down the groundwork
13:56Yeah, it's like a cultural landmark that we needed to hit but in terms of like the best pub
14:01There's probably other things that we'll be looking for to judge that on look Harry if I got a drink at several pubs today
14:07With you on camera if that's what has to be done, then I shall do it
14:12You're so so if you want to take me to your favorite ones, let's go to some ones you don't like
14:16The hell let's hit a few on the way to the next one
14:22Well, I personally am dying for a glass of a Jamaican wine some shows why you took me here
14:27That's exactly why we took you here. No, not quite. The name actually has some really interesting origins
14:31This actually was arguably London's first coffee house. Really? We're talking back in like the 1650s here
14:37Wow, it's like the first Starbucks. It's like what is this thing? You call coffee pretty much
14:41Yeah, the original Starbucks if you will sure they would import coffee from Turkey back when it really like hadn't taken off in popularity
14:48It's all here and brew it here serve it really caught on
14:51I think when it opened it was the first one of its kind and then a couple years later
14:55There were like hundreds popping up across London. It also it really hit that sweet spot of like Puritanism in the UK
15:01Not to bore you with too much history, but we had this guy called Oliver Cromwell who's kind of represents the Puritan movement here
15:07He did not like the monarchy kind of took over put a lot of extreme Christian rules in place
15:13Basically, nothing fun was allowed. You weren't allowed to drink. You couldn't do things like go to the theater. You couldn't swear
15:20Oh, I know but so for a while it was a bad time to be a pub
15:23So places like this might have, you know pivoted to serve other things like coffee. How long was he in charge for?
15:28Not super long. I can imagine everyone's like I really need a beer. This guy's gotta go
15:32Yeah, kind of been much of a fun time to live in the UK. It's a rich history. Yes
15:37Uh, you know what? I think I'm gonna do something very British and I'm gonna get a cider. Okay
15:42I might join you on that just in solidarity
15:44It's not my normal drink of choice
15:46But I kind of want to hear more about like how American cider stacks up because I know you guys have a bit of a different
15:51Idea of what cider is. Yeah, I hate it. Cool. So I'm getting it pretty much to confirm that it's bad
15:55But I'm here in London. So my soul do as the Londoners do we've got more drinks to drink
16:01Some variation will probably help us out some apples. You just really hit the spot right about now
16:05What am I five a day just cut that down?
16:14It's like a pint of white wine
16:17Do cider in America besides Magnus like the homegrown cider brewers in America. They got angry orchard
16:25And we got another one Reds hard apples with two D's I think sure
16:30The ad campaign is just like yeah manly cider for us men
16:35Yes, we this is a from the wicked orchard or whatever. Just they're just trying to get ahead of men like cider
16:42All right. Yeah, okay fine. Yeah, I guess it's drinking. I feel like I'm drinking Mountain Dew
16:48Which you love doing just yeah, I'll have like one a month
16:52I've never drank eight Mountain Dews
16:54So what we need is like a Baja blast cider and then you'll be all over it to get here
16:59We had to walk down several like of these weird little side alleys. It's really tucked away
17:04I think it's very London to a degree in the we don't have to like the grid layout that maybe New York has
17:10Yeah, although a lot of American cities might have yeah, I don't know
17:13I think it's kind of cool that you can just be walking around London
17:15Divert down a random side street find like a beautiful church or a pub or something like that
17:20This is a really nice pub for how seemingly off the beaten path. Yeah, didn't I did Dickens knock about here?
17:26He did so apparently Dickens used to drink here. Yeah, he apparently based Ebenezer Scrooge's office on this pub
17:33No, yeah. Yeah, that's really funny. What else did he write besides Christmas Carol because it's constantly redone
17:39Yeah, and the name is on difference. I don't know what okay, so he took it from the Muppets
17:44Yeah, it was the Muppets Christmas Carol, and he just made it a Christmas Carol
17:47Thanks for that. Yeah, I don't go to the bars regularly by myself
17:52And the times I do I feel very much like I feel like I'm at a party where I don't know anyone
17:56I really don't like that feeling versus pubs
17:59Here it feels a little more common to kind of just kick it on your own and have a drink and chill out
18:04Yeah, you know, it's a real just catch-all. Honestly, it's like I'm bored. I'm hungry. I'm thirsty
18:09I always want to go somewhere warm. You want to get out the rain? Oh, there's a pub there
18:13I'm just going to like like apartments and living spaces here is a lot smaller too, right?
18:17Particularly in London, you know expected like beat in all the time. No, probably more similar to New York in that regard
18:23I guess one of the things I
18:26Love about pop culture and again, yes, what about the say exists in America?
18:31But it's more prevalent here
18:32Is that the person who kind of runs the pub or the pub or the person behind the bar is pretty much running the show
18:38Yeah, I love when you go into public an old lady old guy back there. Just be like fellas
18:42Yeah, so just like hit the road
18:44Okay, right like it's almost like the mom or the dad of the place, you know
18:48I mean like it's kind of like have someone because it's their place, you know
18:51It's their place and they treat it like their home and they're like, you know
18:54Like you can wait cuz you're rude. I'm hung on this person. Like yeah
18:56I do think in general there is still a lot of respect for the pub landlord or landlady
19:01It's still like a very like deferential area of British society. I think idiot sports bar in America
19:07Teenager behind the bar didn't a poor pipe properly. Oh, come on, bro
19:10I noticed that they have these like walls these partitioned walls, but they kind of get a snake around
19:17Is that just some sort of like?
19:20Manufactured privacy that this feels like this is this row and then listen and that's that row
19:24But as opposed to having a big open space, I think so. Yeah very much
19:28I think it's pretty smart in this feels echoey. It feels a little more even with this wall right here
19:32If there's a little cozier
19:33And you have like lots of little things where you can, you know, lean or rest your drinks that sort of thing
19:38Like not tables not tables sitting there all night
19:41Nursing a drink. They're still kind of like a pint
19:45Most Americans I don't think are aware of what a half pint is or the culture or the stigma of a half pint in the
19:52UK so we'll go to the next pub. We'll get full pints, but I want to get a half pint and talk about it cuz I'm
19:56Very fascinated. I mean even your energy right now is like yeah, you seem really annoyed. My god is up right? Yeah
20:03Yeah, yeah
20:04So I want to get one and I want you to explain to me and the audience what a half pints all about if it's
20:09Just for science. We can order a half pipe. That's fine. All right, should we hit the road? Yeah, let's go
20:14Yeah, look at this drinking in jail, okay, look at that Wow
20:21This is fantastic, this is a yeah the beer the beer dungeon. Yeah
20:26Type no
20:30All right new spot we're underground it feels like yeah, it's some sort of bunker
20:36Possibly where Churchill was knocking about during the Second World War. What the heck's going on that? Where are we Churchill like to drink?
20:41I don't know if he came here during the Second World War, but this place is old
20:44Yeah, like even in context of the other places that we've been today, which are all sure
20:48This building is probably been here from sort of the 14th century when it started as like an Abbey
20:53So like monks would be kind of kicking about in here. It's been a pub since
20:581538 do you realize this has been a pub so long ago?
21:02It is quite possible at this very spot two blokes having a pint and someone's like
21:09Hey, yo new country just dropped
21:12They're calling it the Americas like, huh?
21:1413 colonies are going rogue what right here?
21:18Like everything that's happened in the world ever someone was sitting at possibly this table being like whoa for real
21:24So this was a pub
21:26200 plus years before America was even founded as we know it today. That's just wild
21:31But upstairs itself was a nice old pub, too. Yeah, so there's kind of layers to this
21:35It's actually spaced over four stories. So we're in like you say the basement right now, which has been here since yeah
21:401400s so the upstairs again a recurring theme was destroyed in the Great Fire of London
21:451666 and then rebuilt we have the ground floor. There's like fireplaces upstairs rooms, which apparently we use as brothels in the 1800s
21:53So this building is historical. There's a lot of history here
21:56Yeah, the like the doorways and the hall everything's very tiny. This is built for tinier people. It was yeah
22:02It's back before the government convinced us to drink milk all day every day
22:06I mean, I like grew as a species that kind of was the average height was like four seven. Yeah
22:11Well, man if you if you're pushing five feet whenever basketball was invented they were like, yo, this is the guy
22:20Another thing I want to ask you about this half pint of beer insisted that we got a half pint
22:24We're having regular pints. So don't worry. Your lads aren't gonna go after you. Sure
22:28There's very few things that set off an Englishman, but the second start talking about half pints. You guys are just like
22:34It's like one of the few things you guys
22:36Can you really uptight about what is it about the half pint that you have such an aversion to personally?
22:40I just think it's like kind of pointless. It's a tiny beer. It's a tiny tiny bit
22:44Yeah
22:44It's not enough to you know
22:46Intoxicate you right the number of girls who I've spoken to who've said it's an ick if a guy orders a half pint
22:52Yeah is absurd. That's funny. You know, it's are you having?
22:56What it was it wasn't X for you
22:59Having an opinion on a half pint
23:01What if you were like, but two of them equal one of these?
23:03So what if I came back to table two of my own half pints?
23:06And then I just feel like why haven't you got a pint?
23:09So, I think we should order some food, yeah gonna order a couple of like British pub classics
23:14Okay, have you had a scotch egg before? No, but I know the reference in
23:18Garth meringue ease dark place and also in the office. Okay
23:21No, it's a it's a hustle you need a hard-boiled egg wrapped in bacon and deep-fried
23:26Sausage meat and deep-fried. I'm sorry hard-boiled egg
23:30Sausage meat breadcrumbs deep-fry. Yeah, you people are the worst
23:34Of all of the like British pub foods we've introduced you to I think actually this is one that I will defend to the death
23:42We should also try a steak and kidney pudding steak and kidney kidney meats. Mm-hmm
23:48So this became like a torture dungeon
23:52I guess you're wondering why we brought you here. All right
23:55Bring it on. All right, man. So it's thinking you'd be putting it's a suet pudding. Do you want to sue it is?
24:00Yeah, so you kind of get this like blended mixture of kind of like pastry with the meat kind of mixed up in it
24:06I think we should just dive straight in as you pour your half pint into your regular pipe
24:10I think this is a kidney. Mm-hmm
24:13Oh, no
24:18No, oh no
24:21You did get like a whole kidney in there. Oh, yeah, I did get a whole kidney in there
24:24Yeah, I did get a whole kidney in there. Yeah, I did get a whole kidney in there
24:29You did get like a whole kidney there and i'm drunk
24:33Now i'm beginning to see why uh, the pilgrims are like we're out of here
24:38Pudding is almost as traditional as it gets in the uk
24:41These guys have been renowned for their puddings for like 100 years or something
24:44Like at least they used to make enormous ones like a 23 kilogram pudding and then just kind of like divvy it up afterwards
24:50Uh, you know, so scotch eggs have arrived. Mm-hmm
24:53A hard-boiled egg encased in sausage. Yeah, I can get down on this. Also. Have you had this before? This is piccadilly
24:59No, is anything a piccadilly circus? Not quite. No, it's like a mustard based relish type of condiment
25:09Okay
25:10better
25:11Mm-hmm. I could see this in the spot as much as i'm drinking
25:15The pickled lily. Mm-hmm. This makes it good, right? Yeah a condiment that's kind of like fallen out of favor recently
25:22It was more like something that my granddad used to eat a lot of for example eating and now i'm thinking yeah
25:27I totally get this but I again I cannot foresee if I lived here. I cannot foresee myself being like
25:32Oh, it's scotch egg with the spot right about now
25:34I will say I haven't ordered these dishes because I think these were the ones you would like the most
25:38These are more just things that I wanted to experience because they are kind of core to british culture
25:42I will say the food here is actually pretty good
25:44They have like an upstairs restaurant area
25:46Which does fresh food like really good fish and chips other pub classics like that
25:49So and I want to point out that I just discovered right now that I do not like the taste of kidney
25:53So I don't want to so if you're if you're a kidney head
25:56This is probably a fantastic dish another fun fact about this place
25:59Which is kind of becoming a weird recurring theme also featured in charles dickens novels. Dickens loved to drink
26:05He loved the pubs. That guy loved hitting the pubs. He loved a pint for dickens. Was he ready to have kids?
26:11I don't really know probably too busy writing and drinking
26:13and also i'm thinking like you're like all the men after the work that come to the pub when they're here all night like
26:18Nobody's like hey go home
26:21Right. So this is actually a brewery owned pub as are most of the pubs in london now
26:26It's honestly it's kind of rare to find like an independent free house in london
26:30This one is actually owned by a brewery called sam smiths
26:32So all of the beers on tap are kind of produced by this brewery and that's pretty common
26:36Like you'll find a lot of pubs where all the beers are kind of made by the brewery
26:40I have noticed that except except they all got guinness. Yes
26:43Most of them have guinness guinness is just like widely demanded everywhere for the most part
26:47It's like yo, we only got the smith joints or whatever on tap
26:50Yeah
26:51It really depends on like which pub you're at and which brewer its own buyers to what you can get at the pub
26:55Some of them are really disciplined as we say you can only get our products there the pubs that we've been through so far
26:59I mean, they've all been kind of like within walking distance of each other
27:02This is very much kind of the old like city of london, which would have been a very small area
27:06What we're going to do now is maybe go slightly outside of that
27:09I think we're gonna head slightly further north to a pub which might not be quite as historic, but it's still doing things excellently
27:15Yeah, whatever
27:19All right, this looks like a nice place, oh
27:21Got swords in the sign. Yeah. All right. And the cannons some cannons. Okay aggressive. I'm into it, man
27:27I kind of wait to use the toilet
27:30Compton arms special to me because this is in my neighborhood one of my regulars. This is in islington
27:36We're right near hybrid islington station lovely area full of great pubs and this is one of the best
27:40She just took me here because it's the pub near your flat. Yeah, then I can just go home really easily afterwards
27:45It was a stagger back to mine
27:50This is like a slightly more modern pub, but when I say modern pub in london terms, that's still like 1800s
27:56Really nice. I like it. Yeah, what can I get you?
27:58I'll go get some beers. Yeah a couple of uh, camden camden hell's lagers local beer. What is a hell's lager?
28:04It comes from the german helles, which is like light
28:08I never knew that. Really? Yeah
28:11Didn't even have that one on the script. I just knew that straight off the dome
28:15All right. Yeah. Well, this is a really nice place. I think it's a really nice clean
28:18minimal
28:20we're like
28:21When I say across the street, it's more like across a driveway. Yeah our apartments
28:26Yeah, I mean you could live there and I could take three long steps and be in this pub. Yes, right
28:33Yeah, I'm gonna get my mail delivered here. I mean for me, that's a great thing
28:36Although I will take this opportunity now that you've said that to quickly go off on one about nimbys
28:41Have you heard that term before? Of course. Nimbys, man. Let's do it. They almost shut this pub down
28:46Because people bought flats like these right next to it. Yeah, and then complained about the noise. It's a pub. It's a pub
28:54Not even that late like london licensing is a little bit strict in terms of like pubs don't stay open that late
28:59So we're talking like last calls probably like 11 half 11, I feel that's a selling point though
29:04I know it'd be kind of tough to me that is to most people that is but yeah
29:07Yeah, you get these like rich people who want to live in a bustling neighborhood, but with none of the bustle. Yeah
29:12Turn the bustle down
29:13Terrible. So obviously it's still here. Thankfully. There was a campaign to save it which was successful
29:18They fought back they won still here still preserving all of this history and serving some great beers
29:24Of the famous clientele that have visited this pub george orwell might be number one
29:28Not only has he visited this pub dickens. Dickens never uh was banging here
29:31I think dickens might have actually missed this one sadly unlike all of the other ones
29:37Not only did orwell like this pub
29:39He liked it so much that it's believed to have inspired an essay he wrote and in this essay
29:44He had like 10 commandments for the perfect pub. All right, let's go. Should I run through something? Yeah, let's hit it. Yeah
29:49I pulled the paper, you know, you don't remember I didn't memorize. I'm sorry. Let's go
29:54Okay, number one the architecture and fittings must be uncompromisingly victorian
29:59what
30:01Victorian in style games such as darts are only played in the public bar
30:05So that the other bars you can walk around without the worry of flying darts. Yeah, I'll agree with that
30:09No dartboard, but we can play scrabble. This thing is like really wet
30:15All right, so okay two yes, uh, the pub is quiet enough to talk with the house possessing neither a radio nor a piano
30:22I will say when we came in they were playing music
30:25That's funny. No music is always saying. Yeah, they might have abandoned that one
30:28The barmaids know the customers by name and take an interest in everyone
30:32Get the fuck out of here
30:34How hard is it you have to work here today? It's greg or whatever like rude
30:39Honestly to expect that it sells tobacco and cigarettes aspirins and stamps and is obliging and letting you use the telephone
30:47I don't think they sell cigs anymore
30:49They definitely have a public telephone we used to be a proper country aspirin's a funny that's a good one. Yeah
30:54Yeah, okay, you know to edville kind of the spot right about now
30:57There is a snack counter where you can get liver sausage sandwiches
31:01Mussels cheese pickles and large biscuits with caraway seeds. All right upstairs six days a week
31:07You can get a good solid lunch
31:08For example a cut off the joint two vegetables and a boiled jam roll for about three shillings. What's a shilling?
31:16What's a shilling it's some old currency
31:18It's old british currency. This this is a list for someone who's gonna be like i'm gonna be there 12 hours a day
31:23So never for example make the mistake of serving a pint of beer in a handleless glass apart from glass
31:31Supposedly so which unfortunately they've uh, I haven't seen I haven't seen a handled glass i've gotten here
31:36We haven't had one all day. No sad
31:38Number 10 you go through a narrow passage leading out of the saloon and find yourself in a fairly large garden
31:44Apparently the benefit of the garden is that whole families can go rather than mums having to stay at home and mind the kids
31:50Hey, what are you what are we doing today? Oh, this is gonna be so much fun kids
31:54We're gonna go to the pub where i'll be drinking with my friends and you and mom will be
31:58a block over in the garden
32:01Don't come back in here
32:02I will say of those 10 commandments orwell said that he only ever saw a pub do maybe like eight of them
32:08It's a tall order. It's a lot to ask because he's never found a pub that does it. No, he was pretty particular
32:13He always tried. Well, you could even do it now. No, no dista orwell or anything going. Why is he the authority?
32:19He made this list like okay, and who are you?
32:22It's true
32:22We have you know a lot of rules as to like what we all think are our best
32:26Imagine if stephen king was like here are my 10 rules for a steakhouse
32:31Okay
32:34Just I mean if you read them you're like who's this guy I want to hear I want to hear john grisham describing his perfect
32:39barbershop
32:44If you opened a pub, what would you call it I call my pub
32:48I don't I can't think I don't know. I need more time to think about what would you what would you call yours?
32:52the owl and the city
32:55He's such a clown
32:58He's such
32:59a clown
33:01Speaking of uh, strange pub names. Can I run a few of the most bizarre ones by you from the uk?
33:06Let's do it. Hit me the bucket of blood. That's a great one. That's a great. Where is that one?
33:11I don't know but you drink you drink that. Oh my god. It's a fantastic name for a book the drunken duck
33:18Goose is better, but okay. Okay bunch of carrots. That sucks. What's a bunch of carrots thumbs down on that one?
33:25my father's mustache
33:28That that's great. I feel like you're making this up the legend of oily johnny's
33:32Is
33:36Now is he naturally oily or he like worked in the oil rig do you even have oil rigs here?
33:42There's no oil here, right? Like north sea oil drilling. Is it really? Yeah. Yeah, that's a thing
33:47Bucket of blood is perfect bucket of blood and legend of oily johnny's good
33:51oily johnny
33:54Yeah, yeah, there's some guy there's a head like someone has to be working there like just dripping with oil
34:00Yeah, it's like yeah some oil johnny who's gonna be oily johnny tonight
34:03So straight up there's no all the pubs we've been to today
34:07We get nothing like this in america sure because if we wanted something like this in america, we have to recreate it
34:12Here's what i've noticed about a lot of places
34:14Here because they're so old, you know, you just like open the door and you're in yes in america
34:19Most places because it built so recently there's like two doors or like an entrance. No for real
34:24Yeah, you guys just have this like i'm in but I like about all these pubs that they're so cozy. I feel like
34:30I do feel like yeah, I can come here every day after work and hang out and see my friends and feel like i'm
34:35Not at home
34:36But in a more welcoming environment than say an american bar that's like yeah, hurry up go waste it and go
34:43Unless it's like super super busy
34:45You're not really gonna see anyone getting that frustrated about the weight
34:47I feel like like you say certain things like car scales, for example
34:51A guinness like part of the process of making a guinness is leaving it to sit
34:54For some time so they can kind of settle dude
34:57Most places they pour a guinness in the u.s. Like you pour regular pint. Really? It's a nightmare
35:02You saw someone order guinness on the rocks in new york when we were there
35:06I was so confused. That's so embarrassing. There was a second where I thought this was something that all americans did no
35:12Damn, is that person on the rocks? No, is that person specifically?
35:15That is not normal. I realized that because then the barman looked to his mate and was like
35:20Like what do I do? And he was like, yeah, just I guess put some ice in a glass
35:24Now here if I was like a guinness in a glass of ice would they do it or they'd like
35:27Oh, I don't know if they would they might give you ice on the side if you ask nicely
35:32That's what's missing from america. We need more people just to step up and be like no it's not happening
35:36No, i'm not doing it. The customer isn't always right. Honestly, if all the pubs we went to today
35:41Were all near each other decide a choice of which one I could hang at this would be
35:46in the top half
35:48Yeah, I do
35:49Feel like some of the other ones I was like, yeah, I get it. Let's get out of here
35:53I think in general today what we've tried to do is give you a tour of what I would say are like central london
35:59Quite historic pubs which are maybe the type of pubs that you would find in like a typical tourist guide
36:04But at the higher end of those, okay
36:07I will say there are somewhere in the region of three and a half thousand pubs in london
36:12So for us to truly find the best one, we'd probably have to visit more than we've hit today
36:17So many pubs but the ones we've hit I do think give a pretty good overview of that, you know historic london pub culture
36:23Absolutely. Yeah. Well i'm happy these places let us in i've had a fantastic time
36:28Uh, but yeah, this is this has been really great. Do we want to pick our favorite even though?
36:32It's a bit moot. Yeah, I think I would be interested in hearing just your like general thoughts on the pubs
36:37We've hit today
36:38If you want to pick a favorite that's fine my favorite the one all things considered if I can go back regularly
36:43I think the uh, the old jamaica wine house was my favorite
36:47I thought that all of them were great
36:48But that was the one that really got that dark victorian wood feeling
36:53I felt that it had it was welcoming they all were but on top of being welcoming it also was very comfortable
36:59I felt with the walls the partitions that they had up there. It didn't feel like so open
37:03I felt like we kind of have our own little spot
37:05I mean, I know we had that cider which is kind of gross but i'm assuming they have other better beers on tap
37:09They do I just like the vibe of that one the best so nice broadly speaking
37:13Yeah, I think it was probably between the compton arms and the old jamaica wine house. Yeah
37:18But that doesn't count because you come here all the time. Anyway, it's true. I'm biased
37:21If you live by the old jamaica, would that be your spot? Possibly?
37:24Yeah, i'd have to earn a lot more money to live in that part of town because it's very central
37:27But I really loved the whole like you're walking down these little alleyways. Yeah, it feels like you're kind of like back in old
37:33London, you know, yeah
37:34And you've stumbled upon this little hidden gem
37:37I thought that was really cool. Yeah. Yeah, like you say, uh, very cozy friendly warm
37:42Yeah secluded joint that I would happily see myself there
37:45I didn't I didn't just like any places they're all had great elements that I like
37:49But that was the one that overall I was like, yeah, this is a good spot. That's fair enough
37:52I respect that. Thank you again
37:53I feel like we're probably gonna get a lot of people commenting saying why don't you go to this pub?
37:57This is the best pub. This is my favorite pub my local
38:01Comments off on this one comments comments off on this one or we let comments on and we do a part two
38:05Yeah, that's even better. Yeah, someone get a poll going or we should have gone and i'll come back any year and do that
38:12All right, i'm ready for another beer. How about you? Yeah, I think I can do another one too. Let's do it