Randomness Guide to London

Welcome back! I was off on Monday traipsing around the many fine licensed establishments of Bromley (the one in South London), and then I completely forgot about this update. Here it is, in time for the weekend.



Your featured article this week is The Brookmill, SE8 4EJ. It's a long, narrow pub in an awkward corner site, with jazz on the sound system and five handpulls for ale. There is even a very interesting sounding vegan burger on the menu. Sounds like a nice place.

Lots of new additions this week, mostly pubs! I can but speculate as to this seasonal flurry of additions, but eagle-eyed readers will know this happens around this time every year:
* The Prince, a fine pub and microbrewery in leafy Wood Green, which I very much like, but watch out for the, er, ice;
* The Arnos Arms, in Arnos Grove, a big pub formerly a Harvester, but now it's not a Harvester, so that's already an improvement;
* The King's Arms in Fulham, another big pub, with ornate decor;
* The Foresters Arms, also a boutique hotel and a posh restaurant, in Hampton Wick, where you can expect a black pleather bar and some ales;
* The Henry Addington just by Canary Wharf station -- it's a Nicholson's pub in an early-90s building but it's going for an old fashioned vibe;
* The Wellington Arms (also a hotel) in not-technically-London Watford, but it doesn't sound like somewhere you'd necessarily make a special trip north for;
* The Windsor Castle in Kensington/Notting Hill, a well-divided and partitioned bar with lots of area and character, and frankly it's a surprise it hasn't been on RGL until now. Can't really go wrong, it's a classic pub, just watch out for posh locals I guess?

There's also a new entry for the distinctly not-a-pub Trullo, an Italian restaurant by Highbury Corner. It's very popular, and that makes sense given the quality of the food. Definitely one for pasta exploration.

There are also updates to The Temperance pub in Fulham (cavernous!), Dalchini in Wimbledon (Indo-Chinese food! though be careful), and The Lion in Teddington/Hampton Wick (partly a French restaurant now!).

Finally, reported permanent closure for Kenya Coffee House in Romford, which may yet find a new location.

Hello! This week's featured article is The Dartmouth Arms, SE23 3HN, a gastropub in Forest Hill with good food and very expensive lime and soda.

We have one addition, the Two Brewers in Chigwell, added by my colleague and countryside walker Kat. The beer is well-kept and it's all very in keeping with the general area (upmarket Essex), it sounds like.

Closures are the Crooked Billet in Barking, as well as various branches of Nicolas wine merchants (branches in Kingston, Putney, Southfields, Fulham, Hampton Hill, Bloomsbury and Norbiton).

A number of the remaining Nicolas branches (but not all of them) have been taken over by Spirited Wines and renamed as such. Therefore, there's now a Spirited Wines category.