Real Ale, Real Music

As we stumble once again in to the Christmas period here's an end of year review featuring what I consider to be the best pubs I have visited during the past 12 months.... Every year it seems to start earlier. It gets to the end of September, and suddenly the Christmas ephemera starts appearing in the high street and supermarkets, followed not much later by the endless loops of Mariah Carey, Mistletoe and Wine, and Frosty the Snowman ringing in the fresh meat aisle. Meanwhile our pubs and bars are doing their bit. The decs are up, the Christmas music is playing, and the festive jumpers, Santa hats, and false antlers are starting to appear. So far I have seen very few Christmas beers on my travels, with which I have no complaints, but I have no doubt some will appear pretty soon, some probably lingering on the bar to the end of January, long after the end of Christmas, and long after the once a year drinkers have gone back to barracks. And at this time of year, as the year comes to ...

I've been on another trip to that there London, with football to be watched and pubs to be visited. This time we were in the northern reaches of the capital. Here's the story.... It was another early start, with the Grand Central from Halifax and Brighouse to King's Cross, then a 10 minute walk to our Travelodge which allowed us to stretch our legs after the constraints of a three hour train journey with not enough legroom to swing a cat and drop our bags off before walking back to catch our next train. I was with my brother like last time I was in London when we went to Sutton, although this time we were heading in the opposite direction from St Pancras, north on the Thameslink train to see Halifax Town play at Borehamwood, or Boreham Wood, as the club addresses itself. First though, we went to check out some pubs in a part of London I had never been drinking in before. A few minutes after leaving St Pancras on the way north to Borehamwood and St Albans, the first stop is ...