Enderby House

Enderby House

by | Jun 2, 2021 | Eating Out, Pub, Restaurant, Reviews

Enderby House

It’s great to be able to go into a restaurant to sit down and drink again, even if the Covid restrictions still limit group numbers to 6 people, and you have to book in advance and are usually limited to one and a half hours, but normality is slowly being restored, despite the Indian variant possibly delaying total freedom even further.
Taking full advantage of the sunshine this Bank holiday Monday we booked a table at the fairly new Enderby House pub along the river by the Greenwich peninsular.
Check out my review of the Enderby House on the pub review section.

 

Lockdown Easing

Lockdown Easing

by | May 16, 2021 | Lockdown, Pub

Pub BarI do not know about you but personally I’m still finding this easing of lockdown still a bit hard to take.

I have tried a few times to sit down outside of a pub and have a drink as according to Boris Johnson we are all allowed to do now.
The trouble is its in the middle of May and to be frank the weather is absolutely appalling almost every day that I am not working and sitting in the pouring rain drinking a beer that is slowly being diluted with rainwater is not my idea of fun. On a lovely sunny day, it would be a different kettle of fish.

Also have you tried booking a table with a restricted number of tables outside at the few places that actually have an outside area or beer garden, to have any chance you have to book at least four to five days in advance, and even then, you are restricted to one and a half hours in which to order your beer drink up and leave. When I am in a large crowd of six or more, we could be there for at least three hours.

Tomorrow is May 17th and we should all be allowed back inside the pubs, but even this comes with problems. Still the obligatory table service must be adhered to, whereby you either give your order to a waiter or waitress and they bring your order to the table, or you order and pay with an app.

Either way an extra 12.5% is added to the bill to pay for the table service. Now I do not have a problem with this in the current climate as the pubs are being forced to work this way and so Someone has to pay for the waitering staff. This is a cost that the pubs can not afford to absorb as they have lost so much trade over the last year, that many are struggling to stay afloat at the moment, and I dare say that many will go under in the next month or two.

12.5% may not sound much but when you are already paying the extortionate London prices, the 12.5% can certainly be felt in the pocket on a good night out.

Lockdown Easing

Green Goddess pop-up pub at Charlton House.

by | Apr 1, 2021 | Business, Pub

Pub Bar

If you want to have a beer outside when we are allowed on the 12th April, but cannot find a local that is either fully booked, or only has a tiny garden why not book up a drink up with a few friends at Charlton House gardens.
The pop-up Green Goddess pub is visiting Charlton House for a week commencing on the 12th April. The Green Goddess pop up pub is part of the Common Rioter brewery which is based in Plumstead. The opening times are Monday to Sunday 14:00 till 20:00 with last drinks ordered at 19:30 and last table bookings at 19:00.
The opening times may be a bit inconvenient if you want an evening drink but it is better than nothing at the moment. (see events calendar for more details}
They are also planning to open (subject to planning permission) a Beer Café- Nano Brewery Community Hub in the recently closed Barclays bank site opposite the Royal Standard pub at Blackheath Standard.

Good news for street food fans.

Good news for street food fans.

by | Apr 1, 2021 | Lockdown, Street Food

Good news for street food fans.

Good news! As of today, 1st April the Food stalls at Greenwich market are back trading again. Unfortunately, we will have to wait till 12th April at least till the stalls selling non-essential items are back in the main market area.

Gradually life is getting back to normal. Although it may not be a requirement when using the market, it may be a good idea to wear a mask in order to help make sure the advances we have made against this pandemic are not all undone by complacency. It will be inevitable that when the market is back open it will be impossible to adhere to the social distancing rules due to the popularity of this market.

£10 Million Greenwich Park restoration

£10 Million Greenwich Park restoration

by | Mar 16, 2021 | Greenwich Park

£10 Million Greenwich Park restoration. 

Greenwich Park is to be transformed with a £10 million overhaul partially help with £4.5 million national lottery funding.

The plans include the restoration of the landscape to its 17t century glory and the building of a new state of the art learning centre.

The four year planned project which was announced last year by the royal parks charity has had to be changed slightly due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the use of existing buildings repurposed for learning and building a smaller classroom than planned, using sustainable materials.

According to the charity, Greenwich council has 69 tall building projects in the pipeline around Greenwich so the park will be “an even crucial asset in the heart of the city” and the park will be future-proofed for generations to come.

One part of the plan is to give greater disability access to the park, although one part of the plan that I can see going against this plan is the reintroduction of its 17th century landscape with giant steps leading up to the observatory. Now tell me if I am wrong but giant steps and disability access usually are opposing ideas. I dare say on the 17th-century planning committee, disability access was not high on anyone’s agenda. I am sure there will be an alternative route for the less abled among us.

At the top end of the park on the Blackheath side, the underused contractor’s yard will be transformed into the new ‘Vanbrugh Yard’ with a cafe, community kitchen garden, wild orchard and volunteer mess room and also public toilets and changing facilities for disabled visitors.