2011-03-19 Sat. Quirky pubs ride / The Oakdale's Last Stand

cheers for the PMs people, look forward to meeting you on saturday. I would be up for meeting earlier and having more than a half at the Oakdale, but happy to go with the majority, or if I'm feeling particularly keen I guess I can head up there earlier and wait for you. I'll let you know if I do that though.

Just occurred to me that the Palm Tree in Mile End should be on this ride. Maybe it got mentioned and discounted on the planning thread?

i will be at the tarck but will come meet you guys for sure on route somewhere

The Palm Tree was the second pub mentioned on the planning thread, so guess it got discounted.
To be honest I'm loathed to make any more changes to this one, it's changed so much.

Are you coming BQ?

The palm tree can go on the next quirky pubs* ride, with other discounted choices.

*I shall have no hand in this one.

facepalmsmash

what?! you're not coming?

1. spybot
   
2. rhowe
   
3. Fox
   
4. hoefla
   
5. laner
   
6. TheoryDrunk
   
7. Photo Jim
   
8. Rowan42
   
9. BlueNun
   

Sadly im out :-(

you were never in, douchebag...

Littlebot... shhhhhh....

punches branscrapper in ankles

I shall be lunching at LMNF beforehand at 1pm, if anyone fancies some stomach lining beforehand.

Sounds good - you can watch me drink a coffee :)

will come along after track also.

1. spybot
   
2. rhowe
   
3. Fox
   
4. hoefla
   
5. laner
   
6. TheoryDrunk
   
7. Photo Jim
   
8. Rowan42
   
9. 
   
   
   

Sadly I think I may be out again. I've done something painful to my back in pursuit of "bicycle tag of bike" glory and I'm laying off the bike until it stops hurting.

Good morning, i wonder why there is such little take up for this ride, i couldn't imagine anything i'd rather do on such an awesome day.
Apart from theoryswine i'm not shore if know anyone / know what you look like, so i don't know who to look out for at LMNH, hope you can give me some clues.

Don't worry rowan, the fixie skidders are normally visible from a good couple of hundred yards. We'll be lurking around outside just before we leave so you won't miss us. See you later.

Nice, see you in a bit then.

Sorry I can't make it--have a wonderful day!

I think this ride might be a little too chaotic with 50 people anyway.

Time to tweak my brakes so that they actually do what they're supposed to. See you at LMNH - I should be there around half 12 or so.

The weather looks lovely out

My plans have changed so I don't think I'll be there until 2 now, but don't let my absence stop you going to LMNH anyway.

Don't worry - it won't :)

If anyone arrives early and wonders who to look for, I'll be in black 3/4 shorts and a blue t-shirt with a ninja on the front. Oh, and I look like the guy on the left, albeit hopefully with less blood.

I've got a load of work to do, so no early start for me, BUT I will be there at 2.

Sorry, these are all from the other thread, here there are to keep things together ;)

Maybe we should keep the other thread for discussions and planning, even though I've dirtied this one further up too.

how did it go? Good to see you lot at lmnh.

Good to bump into everyone, hope the ride went well

pretty well I think. Turnout was small, but they were mostly alright people :)
gladstone was impressive although 3 quid entry cos of bands playing.
Most annoyingly, i got home to find that my internet (yes, my very own personal internet!) is down and my mad IT skillz just aren't enough to fix it.
Weather was lovely, if a bit nippy in the shade/night

hang on is this rhowe admitting its cold! i dont believe it!
Fun ride guys, sorry i bailed early, had a date

that was the Montague! we didn't go to the gladstone. montague definitely won in the quirky stakes...

Damn my back. I want to do this ride. organise it again :-)

ah man, wish i had continued on to the montague. felt too tired at the time, fail.

@rhowe: I owe you a couple of drinks...

the halves rule was good for momentum and balance. definitely felt a little more tipsy on the way home after that last bottle, did the rest of you stop off at the George or just go home?

we made it to the george. very nice pub!

Pictures or it didn't happen. :)

Oliver Schick has the last word I see, despite not making it...

I thought yesterday was quite fun actually. Maybe we could have started a bit earlier (1ish) but at least you got to the montague when it was open.

Great weather for it too, it was great in the sunshine. I still think the Grenadier is my favourite of the pubs I stayed for. I like that place; it's hidden away, small and cosy, with lots of bric-a-brac and a bit of history. Plus cobbles...

The half pint rule is a good one I reckon, as it stops us from lingering and getting too comfortable. I don't think I drank anything particularly special ale wise...but ho hum. I did get a couple of pints of Sussex best bitter at the White Horse in Parsons Green that evening though! yum.

But a great day and great company. Even though I am biased I like some parts of that route quite a lot...especially the bit just south of the madness on the way to the Grenadier and the bit just before Vauxhall bridge, which is otherwise a bit shit. Here's my pub by pub review:

Pub stop 1: The Oakdale, N4
I was a bit disappointed by how few people were there when we got there, and surprised by how much furniture had been removed since our last visit! A little depressing all in all. I have a couple of 'souvenirs' - some old bar mats and drinks cards that decorated the walls (I think Fox lost his). But we had a decent first half pint with jcgarcia in tow and Hoefla's friend Michael in tow, the latter of whom hadn't planned on coming at all, and did so with a massive saddle/backpack...chapeau!

Pub stop 2: Island Queen, N1
A last minute addition which we laboured to through Pentonville road traffic. Like a couple of the other pubs we visited it would have benefited from the Rugby not being on yesterday if only for our convenience - it was packed with hipsters. A nice pub though, great interior (even if we had to drink outside) and we had a good swift half where we were joined by xander and laner who'd come up from the track. xander swiftly demolished a pint proving that track is thirsty work. Or something like that...

Pub stop 3: The Toucan, W1
Also crowded with a rowdy rugby contingent who were obviously having a great time. I like that this pub is devoted to Guiness but I am still not convinced of it's quirkiness. And the TV is always on. Whingeing aside, we necked a good half of Guinness in what was otherwise good spirit, the atmosphere was quite lively in the pub and by this point I think people were having quite a nice time in the last of the sunshine.

Pub stop 4: The Grenadier, SW1
As I said, I really like this place, and the route through St James sq is fun. Dark and dingy, it's always cosy, warm, and quirky!. A pity the barman insisted on IDing all of us, but relented eventually. We had a bite to eat too - hot chips were very welcome by this stage. We probably got a bit too comfortable and left just as the sun had gone down. Medik also joined us here which was great, as we had a good little crowd for the next stop.

Pub stop 5: The Old Red Lion, SE11
Another 'filler stop' I liked the refurb of this pub. I've passed it many times and not given it much thought, but I'm glad we went in. I think it just about qualifies as quirky: it has the dolls houses at the back, a great partitioned bar with a tiny but ancient wooden door (separating us drinking heathens from what looked like the restaurant) and other bits and bobs which I thought were pretty charming. It was also cosy and had a nice, if a little gentrified atmosphere. This was when I left as I had plans to meet someone that evening. I'm also bored of typing.

Pub stop 6: The Montague, SE14
Pub stop 7: The George, SE1

/mammothschickstylepost

Whew! After some furious editing here is the actual route, with the correct pubs on it. If you let me know what route you took to the next pubs, I'll update it, for posterity, like.

[ame]http://ridewithgps.com/routes/323805[/ame
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