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 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, and for this week's update your featured article is the wonderfully named Bongo East, IG11 8RW. It's an unflashy Ghanaian bar and restaurant in Barking, with a nice line in spicy fufu and a tempting kelewele. Seems like it might need a few more customers, so why not pop in next time you visit Barking?

My colleague Kat has added an article about Back on Track Coffee in Marylebone which is a coffee shop with a model train twist and a punning name to match. We also have a Chinese restaurant in Bloomsbury, China City, but you might be better off avoiding it for dimsum.

I've also added a bunch of pubs: The Hack and Hop, near Blackfriars; The Draft House on Goodge Street (or "Draft House Charlotte" as the website calls it); and Mother Kelly's "tap room and bottle shop" in Bethnal Green. All three do great beers, in slightly different ways.

There's an update to Hampstead Heath Station (it's accessible!), and a temporary closure at The Half Moon in Herne Hill. Closed more permanently is The Prince of Wales in Battersea, which I certainly have memories of. Finally, a possible closure is Manus Palm Grove in Stratford, pending further information, but it hasn't been open for a while it seems.