Face Of Cheam

So our annual pub crawl took place on Saturday, back to the last Saturday in June where the Brighton one a few years ago took place.
The idea was to pick twenty or so people who have a blue plaque commemorating them, find the plaque and then a nearby pub. Unfortunately the weather was pants and the travelling was a little too much so some people were axed. Still we managed to get fifteen venues done and see 17 planned and more unplanned blue plaques and hopefully learned something about the various historic individuals.
After meeting at Victoria we shortly came across the first plaque of the day, James Bond creator Ian Fleming. Alas the pub right near him was closed. Not sure why but some pubs in Belgravia don’t open at weekends. We cracked on however and saw Vivienne Leighs’s plaque and saw our first pub of the day. However as we were heading towards it, a lady heard that we were on a crawl and quickly dissed the pub stating that the one round the corner was much nicer. As Barry White used to say ‘anything for a lady’ we abruptly turned round and went to Duke Of Wellington. A small horseshoe shaped pub that was run by Shepherd Neame brewery hence a few pints (as we had seen two plaques – half for each) of Oranjeboom and Spitfire were the orders. I liked this pub, which had two attractive foreign barmaids and a suited bloke at the bar smoking like it was his last day he could do so in the pub. (Indeed it was). Onto Aubrey Beardsley after and this sparked some debate as to whether he was famous enough for the crawl with half the crew not having heard of him. He is famous enough to be mentioned in a Rod Stewart song though! The Clarendon was the pub, very gastro and airy. Another barmaid was in here but the drinks were the bog standard lagers although ale was served in the form of IPA.
The Chelsea Potter was next on the Kings Road. This was Bran Stokers local. No barmaids and nothing to shout about. However, Sky Sports News were reporting that Fulham had signed the Baggies striker, Kamera. After a bit of a walk to find Mark Twain and Oscar Wilde (Oscar and Bram shared a girlfriend apparently – unsurprising in that they lived quite local – this was obviously before Big Butch Oscar went to being a whoopsie) we find a nice Youngs pub called the Coopers Arms. Some attractive women at the bar and one niceish barmaid. Isambard Kingdom Brunels place was next, with his plaque well hidden with us having to jump to look over a fence to see it. The Worlds End pub was then visited and it was rubbish. Not many people in there and two blokes serving.
A bus ride took us to Gandhis place next where his local was the Famous Three Kings. This is a great sports pub, numerous tellys and a couple of pool tables. Bombardier was the ale and there were two barmaids one of which kept giving me numerous smiles which were returned with glee.
A tube then took us to High St Kensington where we walked towards Notting Hill for Agatha Christie and James Joyce. Ye Olde Swan was picked for food which was spot on. Fairly average pub though pleasant enough but no barmaids.
Tubing to Marble Arch we get to Edward Lear (Owl & The Pussycat fame). The Bricklayers Arms was quite a locals pub with a group of blokes next to us asking whether Kate Beckinsale was fit or not. No brainer that one. After PG Wodehouse we find the Marlborough Head. A ‘spooky’ pub this was quite lively although the barmaid was tattooed and scary and not scary in the way the pub would like. After Jimi Hendirx we go to the Running Horse. I can’t remember too much about this pub so can have been great. It was teaming down now as we walked to Robert Peel to meet a certain latecomer. The Aubrey was the pub – ‘a touch of Mayfair class bit a bit dull’. Florence Nightingale was next and a walk to The Rose And Crown opposite the Hard Rock Café. I quite liked this although it was a bit small. With time cracking on we tubed it to Great Portland Street and a walk down found us at James Boswells. The Horse And Groom was next door, a typical Samuel Smiths pub but under £2 a pint. Some people made use of the dartboard here but I am unable to comment on the standard of play. Our group disintegrated at this stage as it was approaching 10.30 and obviously not all people fancied a late one. However the few remained went onto George Bernard Shaw and as a bonus also Virginis Woolf!. We went to the Grafton Arms after an attempt to get into another place was greeted with ‘we’re closed’. The Grafton was quiet but very nice with Amstel and a good range of real ale I recall. That concluded the crawl although the survivors then managed to go to Kings and found that Collide-a-scope was closing. However the club that remained showed a welcome return to good music with many a Britpop tune being played intersperced with some modern indie. All in all a good night.
Im running out of ideas for next years crawl, hopefully one where there’s not too much travelling between pubs. Any suggestions please make them to me.