Randomness Guide to London

Our first featured article of February is the Devereux pub, just off the Strand. It's had a recent change of ownership so those looking for the usual Taylor Walker menu will be met instead by a variety of toasties. According to the website, they also sell Curly Wurlys!

There's a new article for Harry Morgan, a restaurant and deli in St John's Wood. Expect salmon bagels, salt beef sandwiches and, if it takes your fancy, a bowl of cold borscht.

It's the dawning of a classic sitcom plot in South Norwood as cafe Nico moves premises over the road. Will the old carpet shop be able to squeeze itself into Nico's previous home with hilarious results? We'll let you know if we see them sending passive-aggressive paper airplane notes across the street to each other on our next visit.

Finally, some pub news to report:
- the Fuller's Brewery Tap in Brentford has reopened after a refurb;
- the Royal Exchange in Paddington is temporarily closed after some sad news;
- Walthamstow Antic pub Mirth, Marvel and Maud is undergoing redevelopment;
- the landlords of the Ealing Park Tavern have decided not to renew their lease;
- the Change of Horses in Farnborough has had a Change of Management; the effect on the weekly Orpington Folk Club meetings is as yet unclear;
- the Load of Hay near Brunel University in Uxbridge has also recently had a refurb. Whether this will stop locals referring to it by a slightly different name remains to be seen.

Hello RGL crew! It's that time of year again where we explore the new entries in the Good Beer Guide. Which means a whole bunch of new pub articles for you to peruse at your leisure:

- The Albion (plenty of real cider in Kingston)
- The Angel (the Wetherspoons close to Angel tube station)
- The Antwerp Arms (a community-owned pub in Tottenham)
- The Black Horse (dog-friendly pub on the Kingston/Norbiton borders)
- The Brewhouse and Kitchen (microbrewery in Highbury)
- The Cricketers (Stonegate pub beside Epsom Common)
- Cronx (bar in the Croydon Boxpark, run by the Cronx brewery)
- Draft House Old Street (fashionable outpost of the ever-growing chain)
- The Dundee Arms (gloomily lit, narrow pub in Bethnal Green)
- The Flag (large pub by Watford Junction station)
- The Greenwood Hotel (huge Wetherspoons in Northolt)
- The Greystoke (Greene King pub on the Ealing/West Acton border, but with a better beer selection than that would immediately suggest)
- The Hope (sounds like a pleasant place to watch the cricket in Richmond)
- Jono's (oddly-decorated pub in Ilford)
- The Midland Hotel (stained glass and hexagons in Hendon)
- Mirth, Marvel and Maud (see picture above - an Antic pub and performance space, in a converted cinema in Walthamstow)
- The Mitre (more stained glass, this time in North Sheen)
- The Mossy Well (Wetherspoons in Muswell Hill featuring a large model cow)
- The North Star (bare lightbulbs in Ealing)
- The Northcote (above average pizza in Leytonstone)
- The Shelverdine Goathouse (Antic pub in South Norwood)
- The Taproom (deep fried courgettes in Woolwich)

Next week there'll be some non-pub updates! Stay tuned...

Hello all! Apologies for the slight delay this week - leaves on the line, and such*.

Our featured article is for the PlumTree Cafe in Greenwich, a child-friendly spot with plenty of veggie options and most importantly, an all-day breakfast menu.

A bunch of new pages have sprung up this week! Fresh Fields Market in Croydon has a good beer selection as well as fruit and veg; the Duke's Head in Highgate is a very pleasant pub with lots of nice beer and gin cocktails, and the Wild Card Brewery Tap Bar in Walthamstow is also pretty great for beer fans, though it's a bit out of the way. I've been to the latter two establishments and I would firmly recommend both! My verdict is a bit less certain regarding the Waterloo Bar and Kitchen though - reasonable bistro food but quite pricey. Better value in Waterloo is Po Cha, a Korean restaurant recently moved from near the Centrepoint building, and the Waterloo branch of Wahaca.

There are three pub updates following visits: the Express Tavern in Brentford, the Wellington by Waterloo station, and the Albion in East Molesey. The Express looks like the pick of the bunch to me.

Elsewhere, Da Vinci's bar in Waterloo has closed, as has the Fountain Restaurant inside Fortnum & Mason's.

Finally we can give a big RGL welcome to Dartford Station, which has joined TfL Zone 8 and thus has become 12.5% more excellent!

*Okay, fine. I was buying woodland-animal-shaped biscuit cutters in Ikea.

Evening all!

This week's featured article is for the Essex Roti Hut in Rainham, serving Caribbean food for both locals and hungry travellers to sunny Rainham. (The average July rainfall in Rainham is just 40.7mm, well below the UK average of around 78mm, so I can legitimately call it sunny.) Be warned: the veggie ackee isn't veggie!

There are two new articles this week. The first is for the Blue Tree Kitchen, just off the South Bank near the Oxo Tower. I got my lunch there today - a sort of shredded courgette, roasted sweet potato and feta bake thing. It was ok, if a bit salty, but had enough veg in it to convince me I was eating something healthy. I can confirm this is par for the course. Secondly we have Xhauri, an Albanian restaurant in Walthamstow with an informal atmosphere and traditional dishes I would seek advice on how to pronounce.

There's an update to the article for the Great Northern Railway Tavern in Hornsey following a visit. The beer selection sounds great and there's free wifi. And the average July rainfall is a tiny 34.8mm! Let's all go to Hornsey for our summer hols!