Randomness Guide to London

Hello all! I forgot to do my duty this week so apologies for the lateness.


[Picture CW: not vegan, although vegan options are available]

This week's featured article is Quaker Cafe, NW1 2BJ, which is a cafe open to the public in the Quaker Friends' House opposite Euston Station. It has hot food, bright white walls (to compensate for lack of natural light) and is child-friendly.

There's a new sandwich shop addition to our articles with No. 5's in sunny Forest Hill.

We also offer significant updates to the articles for The Misty Moon in Northwood which entirely coincidentally I walked past recently. It still looks like an (ex-)Wetherspoons and it still has handpulls. For the 'real deal' go instead to The William Jolle in nearby Northwood Hills. It's what you expect from a JDW.

Finally we report the impending (permanent) closure of Brew Wharf by Borough Market. It was an early adopter of trendy brewing scene but never really gained the cachet of other SE1 operations. Another reported closure (only possible at this stage; it might be a refurb) is Vegetarian's Paradise on Marchmont St.

Welcome back after a wee break. The next update will be after Easter, so in a couple of weeks.



This week's featured article is Les Delices de Tresor, SE14 6TJ. I know what you're thinking from the photo, you're thinking that's a pub! Well, it is a pub still, down the back, but this front bar is now given over to an Ivorian restaurant. It's a one person operation, so expect some flexibility in the opening hours, but it will serve some if not all of your fufu and stew needs.

New entries for Singer Tavern, a Barworks pub at the bottom of City Road, where it meets Finsbury Square: a big spacious place but with a good drinks range. Plus there's On the Hoof Bistro in sunny Sydenham, a friendly little cafe near the station which does excellent Sunday roasts. Finally, Orchard, a veggie cafe on Sicilian Avenue by Holborn, rocking the 70s wholefoods vibe.

There's an update to the Bloomsbury (or Bloomsbury Tavern, if you will), a Shepherd Neame pub which is located in... well, I'd call it St Giles or Holborn, but knock yourself out.

Finally, we regret to report the impending closure in June of Food for Thought, a classic veggie cafe in Covent Garden, basically the origin of that very 70s wholefoods vibe we detected at Orchard (although they do it much better at FfT), and a proper old timer on the scene.

Hello there, sorry for the delay. Kake tells me what's in the charts this week and it always then gets lost in the depthless mess that is currently my inbox. So this week's featured article is...



... the Ship and Shovell, WC2N 5PH, a charming and slightly hidden little pub, one of the few remaining outposts for Hall & Woodhouse (aka Badger) beers in the capital, as yet unsullied by any word of "craft" or the like. Just a row of handpulls dispensing classic and well-kept English bitters and pales (or "boring brown ales", though I don't mean that as any disrespect: I love the BBB). The pub is rather more interesting for its unusual twin-site arrangement, taking up buildings on both sides of the little alleyway. The north has the main bar, the south has the "Crow's Nest" upstairs.

Our one new article this week is for Garden Community Cafe, a community-focused greasy spoon by Prince Regent DLR out there past Canning Town.

Two reported permanent closures are The Old White Bear in Hampstead (which we felt had gone downhill since it was Ye Olde White Bear and was a proper real ale pub), and The Clifton in St John's Wood, one of very few pubs in the area and a delightful little getaway, so it's particularly sad to see this one go.

Finally, two more impending pub closures. There's The Star, also in St John's Wood because clearly nobody is drinking there anymore, or (more likely) property is worth more as residences. And then there's The Sekforde Arms in Clerkenwell, which your correspondent only visited for the first time a couple of years ago, and what a delightful unpretentious boozer it is, serving tip top Young's beers, and now sadly looking like it'll become a restaurant after only 185 years of sterling service to drinkers.

But at least there's a couple of reopenings, both following refurbishments, and both out in Twickenham: The Prince Blucher and The Eel Pie.