Randomness Guide to London

Welcome back to another week of RGL!



Ah here is a Croydon pub, and it's your featured article for this week: The Cricketers, CR0 6SG. I've been there, though before it went through its troubled smoked meat phase. I mean, we all do, don't we? Luckily, they have a sandwich good enough that Kake would travel all the way there to eat it. You may demur and say, well, Kake doesn't live all that far from it, but I think it's still enough of a recommendation. Why not read the entry to find out about this wonderful sandwich? (If you like fish.)

We have an update to the Cafe Oto entry. The Persian-inspired food is perhaps a little overpriced, but I'm visiting later this year to see some kind of avant-garde cacophony no doubt, so perhaps shall get to judge it myself.

A reported temporary closure for The Compton Arms near Highbury, but I was told a few weeks ago that it was fully open once again, so perhaps just tread carefully. Perhaps it is, perhaps it's not.

Many other pubs, though, have definitely closed, and closed more or less permanently. There's The Fox in Dalston, there's South London Pacific in Kennington, there's The Fountain in New Malden, and there's the Adnam's pub The Bridge House on Tower Bridge. Times do change, but I can't imagine some of these locations will be closed forever.

One final note about the Earl Haig in sunny Hounslow, not closed but instead renamed to Keg & Cask. Well I for one will be unlikely to visit, but mostly because I rarely make it quite so far out of the centre.

This week's featured article is vegetarian Indian restaurant Jai Shri Krishna, N8 0PT up by Turnpike Lane at the edge of Hornsey. It's cheap, it's friendly, it's BYO (and they didn't even charge corkage): I can recommend it.

Two new articles are The Crown and Shuttle, a nicely refurbished former strip bar which has got some nice beers and a big garden, albeit at a price, and Palace, a Korean restaurant in New Malden. Look out for some lovely crab and some surprise non-vegetarianness.

We have an update to report to previous news of the closure of Topolski Century Gallery, one of the odder little galleries in London. It's now a bar, apparently. This reminds me that I heard one of the other spaces near there was to become a Waterloo Tap (like the one at Euston), so I'm quite looking forward to that.

Reported closures are: The Union Tavern in Camberwell, which split some years ago into a bar and restaurant; and The Duke of Edinburgh in Wanstead, rather more recently.

Sorry for the gap in service, as kake has been rather busy. However, I'm helping out and will run through the weekly updates.



The featured article this week is The Railway Bell, TW12 2AP, a Good Beer Guide pub in Hampton.

Since the last update the following pages have been added: The Railway Tavern Ale House, a reopened pub just near Dalston Kingsland with six ales and Thai food; The Breadroom, a cafe in Brixton Market; The White Swan, a Wetherspoon's at Highbury Corner; The Kentish Canteen, a cafe in Kentish Town; Ye Olde Swan, a Greene King pub, and The Red Lion, a slightly better pub, both in Thames Ditton (technically in Surrey); Pizza Napolitana, a takeaway in Croydon; Restaurante Santafereno, a Colombian restaurant in Brixton Village; Moyo-Ma, a Nigerian restaurant in Walworth; Tap East, a microbrewery and bar in Westfield Stratford City (E20); Cook Il Kwan, a Korean restaurant in New Malden; and The Anthologist, a bar in the City. Phew!

Reported closures are: Positively 4th Street, a New York-style bar near Euston; The Queen Dowager, a Young's pub in Teddington; Somers Town Coffee House, a gastropub between the British Library and Euston; and Avella's Cafe, a sandwich shop just off the top of Regent Street.

Future updates should be a little shorter, as we'll try to keep them regular.