This Saturday will see us finally complete our Thames beery journey from the source of the Thames in Glos to the Thames barrier. We’ve been visiting all of the pubs that my friend Bruno has in an old out of print book from the mid nineties (I think) called Pubs on (or is it of?) the River Thames, and to be fair I think that it has probably taken in pretty much all of the pubs alongside and nearby the river, as it’s not been a sniffy or discerning book. We started this over ten years ago back in June 2006 down near Kemble, Glos where the Thames is but a stream and then a minibus full of us from Charlton on Otmoor, Merton, Kidlington, Upper Heyford and Oddington continued to travel by this mode of transport until we got deeper into London and public transport became the preferred choice (though me and Loz have done it by camper in London)
Its feels quite strange for me that this is the last one, as I’ve been able to look back at many of the beers and when I started taking more of an interest in rating places some of the pubs also, and this journey has pretty much mirrored the time that I have been on this site. Also it has also been undertaken during a period when both the UK breweries have exploded in numbers, and beer has seemingly turned into the new ’Rock and Roll’. On the flipside however, one thing that has also been quite evident from our mighty beer crawl is the many, many pubs closures or change of use to become a restaurant.
Sadly me Loz have blotted our copy book and have missed one leg (I think that there have been something like 15-16 trips in total) but we missed one as my dad got married and only gave me a few weeks notice, so I missed one of the early outer West London legs.
Anyway The Gun Tavern will see us at journeys end on Saturday, we’ve only got five pubs left to do which is nothing as some of our earlier trips might see us hit up to 13-15 pubs. I would always be asked to pick a random ’Brucie Bonus’ for on the way home, The White Horse at Hedgerley just a short drive off of the M40 was quite a popular pub. Anyway I will be just a little bit sad that the journey is about to end as I have visited a lot of pubs that I probably wouldn’t normally have ventured into, some have been absolute gems and a few have been shockers and as a group we’ve had some great times.
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Thanks for sharing this Fin. Good read and a very fascinating feat, indeed.
When visiting the pubs, would you always order a pint in each one? That would make for some boozy crawls if you hit 13-15 in a single trip. |
Originally posted by teorn88
Thanks for sharing this Fin. Good read and a very fascinating feat, indeed.
When visiting the pubs, would you always order a pint in each one? That would make for some boozy crawls if you hit 13-15 in a single trip.
No we would tend to have a half but there are three or four amongst our group who have an amazing capacity for putting it back and will always have a pint. |
I know you’ve mentioned this a few times Fin but I always thought it was a random pub crawl to venues along the Thames, didn’t realise it was a continual journey !
Enjoy the last one ... then start again !
Tell your friends that if you chose the right Ratebeerians you could split a pint between 16 folks and you could have rattled the whole thing off 5 years early ;)
When you coming down to Wycombe? |
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Great dedication of you and Loz, maybe do the River Severn next 220 miles long there must be a few pubs |
Originally posted by Theydon_Bois
I know you’ve mentioned this a few times Fin but I always thought it was a random pub crawl to venues along the Thames, didn’t realise it was a continual journey !
Enjoy the last one ... then start again !
Tell your friends that if you chose the right Ratebeerians you could split a pint between 16 folks and you could have rattled the whole thing off 5 years early ;)
When you coming down to Wycombe?
Yes I should get down to Wycombe someday soon, particularly as there seem to be a few new places getting added now.
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Just been sent the list of final pubs
The Pilot Inn (Fullers) - Greenwich SE10 0BE
Anchor & Hope - Charlton SE7 7SS
The Ferry House - Isle of Dogs/Millwall - E14 3DT
The Watermans Arms in the book but now called The Great Eastern – Isle of Dogs/Milwall - E14 3BW
The Gun (Fullers) – Coldharbour - E14 9NS
It looks like the Gun is on here but none of the others so we’ll see what they’re like. Also looks like the Gun isn’t as close to the Thames Barrier as I thought from looking at Google Maps. I cannot see any other Brucie Bonus pubs or bottle shops, think that I may have to head elsewhere after the crawl had finished.
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I’m hoping to follow in your footsteps before long. Have a great final leg. |
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Congratulations Fin on the completion of your Thames Tipple Odyssey and the pubs along the way. Did you celebrate when you crossed the Meridian? |
Originally posted by imdownthepub
Congratulations Fin on the completion of your Thames Tipple Odyssey and the pubs along the way. Did you celebrate when you crossed the Meridian?
They will actually already have crossed a meridian, if not the prime meridian - something I came across during a bit of Thames walking. George III established an observatory and meridian in Old Deer Park, Richmond in the 1760s and the obelisks marking it are still in place. The Greenwich one came into existence a little earlier but wasn’t accepted worldwide (except by the French) as the prime meridian until 1851. |
Originally posted by chriso
Originally posted by imdownthepub
Congratulations Fin on the completion of your Thames Tipple Odyssey and the pubs along the way. Did you celebrate when you crossed the Meridian?
They will actually already have crossed a meridian, if not the prime meridian - something I came across during a bit of Thames walking. George III established an observatory and meridian in Old Deer Park, Richmond in the 1760s and the obelisks marking it are still in place. The Greenwich one came into existence a little earlier but wasn’t accepted worldwide (except by the French) as the prime meridian until 1851.
From what I remember, the French accepted the Meridian being placed in Greenwich if they could have the Metric system as the standard unit of measurement. I may have heard this somewhere, but it did take us a long time to partly conform, still not there yet and we will never lose our pint. |
