Randomness Guide to London

Welcome to another week in the company of your randomness guides.



Chances are you may have come across the Leicester Square basement wine bar original, but now there's a former pub in Hampstead renamed as Cork and Bottle, NW3 2QX and it's our featured article. Expect a range of furniture, a larger range of wines (and even some beer), and also some food, though that's likely to be the weakest element of the ambience.

No new pages, but significant updates to Mestizo, a longstanding Mexican on Hampstead Road alongside Euston which doesn't just do quesadillas but also caters to vegans et al., and The Windsor Castle in Carshalton, where all the cars live. They used to prohibit the use of mobile phones, but I wonder if they still do...

One possible closure is The Coach and Horses in Soho, which may even be closed right now. One definite closure is The Wallington Arms in Wallington, another failed experiment by Antic.

In positive news, The Cartoon Museum has reopened on Wells Street in Fitzrovia. We haven't been yet, but expect... cartoons?

Hello friends! Welcome to a new edition of RGL updates.



The featured article this week is the Imperial War Museum, more than just a collection of militaristic trinkets of imperialist conquest, though you know, there's that. Actually it's a very engaging museum that surveys all of the worst of humanity but in an interesting way.

There's a new article in the form of unspectacular high street pub The Duke of York, just off Oxford Street and Bond Street in Mayfair. And a second for Scnitzel Chicken and More, an Israeli restaurant in West Hampstead, which you would visit if you felt like schnitzel, or chicken, or chicken schnitzel.

Finally some lingering GBG 2015 pub updates: The Hare and Billet in Blackheath featuring mislabelled stew and Belgian bottled beers; The Earl Haig, which is in Bexleyheath; The Door Hinge, a tiny Welling micropub, friendly and with ales on stillage by brewers you probably don't know; and The New Cross Turnpike, which is not in New Cross but also in Welling, a skylit Wetherspoons.

Hello! This month's featured article is The George, NW3 2AE, which has been done up by Spirit Pub Co to be the first in a new premium brand. It sure is pretty posh, with blonde wood panelling and light from big open windows at the front and rear. That said, the food is overpriced and my burger was a bit disappointing. Still, there you go.

Lots of new additions, the first two in the Kilburn area. From there we have Barraco, a Brazilian restaurant, and The Carlton Tavern, an old man pub on the Maida Vale end. From Greenwich, there's Vietnam Oriental Cuisine, which despite the name is mainly Chinese. Finally, Rose Vegetarian in Kingsbury, which perhaps won't get you rushing out to visit Kingsbury, but if you're in the area, seems as good a bet as any.

Significant update to the entry for The Moon Under Water in Hounslow, which despite having been in many Good Beer Guides had remained a mere stub entry in RGL. Possibly because there's not much you can really say about yet another outpost of a Wetherspoons pub of this name.

Temporary closure for The Ladywell Tavern to do refurbishments.

Reported permanent closures are Elephant Walk, which was a fantastic Sri Lankan place in West Hampstead, and The Red Lion, a pub in Amersham (which by very few relevant criteria can actually be considered to be in London).

Finally, the Imperial War Museum has (mostly) reopened.

This week's featured article is Pollock's Toy Museum, a museum of toys set in a couple of adjoining terraced houses in Fitzrovia, just off Tottenham Court Road.

We have one new addition: Browns of Brockley, a cafe and coffee bar in an area of London you can probably guess.

The entry for Loving Hut, a vegan Chinese restaurant in Edgware, has been updated.

The reported permanent closures are two pubs and two bars: The Brewery Tap in Wimbledon and The Glassy Junction in Southall; Jrink in Soho, and 1802 in Docklands.