The missing Irish element

The missing Irish element

by | Mar 14, 2025 | Business, Community, Pub, Uncategorized

 

The missing Irish element

..

Well, here we are,  it’s almost St Patrick’s day. Unfortunately, Greenwich is missing two vital establishments essential in celebrating St Paddy’s day: a good, genuine Irish pub.

Greenwich, up until last year, had just two Irish pubs. It now has none.

I’m not suggesting for one minute that St. Paddy’s Day can not be celebrated in anything but an Irish pub, but the atmosphere would just not be the same.

Sticking on a green foam hat and strongly pushing Guinness as the only thing that should be drunk that night doesn’t cut it.

In June last year, the bailiffs took repossession of the Old Gun Pit in  Woolwich, which was touted as Southeast London’s oldest Irish pub and is currently being refurbished and awaiting reopening.

Last month, reconstruction also started on Hardy’s Free House in Trafalgar Road to upgrade the bar to a restaurant and increase the capacity of its hotel section by building upwards.

Both these establishments are the only Irish pubs in the Borough of Greenwich, and both are, at the moment, undergoing major building works.

When they reopen, there is no guarantee that they will still be Irish pubs.

The make-up of any pub is directed in part by its clientele. If the old regular Irish clientele returns, then the pub will be re-established as an Irish pub. If the pubs are trying to push for a rather upmarket clientele, then the old regulars will not return, and they will end up like other touristy places throughout the borough, charging overpriced drinks to people who have more money than sense.

To be fair, neither of these pubs is within a catchment area for tourists, so I’m fairly confident that the Irish influence will still prevail at both pubs but in nicer surroundings, and I hope this time next year they will both be celebrating St Paddy’s Day.

I never got the chance to do a pub review on the Old Gun Pit, but I have done a review on the Hardy, so after they reopen and clientele adjustment has settled, I will do an update review on this pub and review on the Old Gun Pit.

I am assuming that it will still be called the Old Gun Pit. Upon reopening, it may be called something completely different.

 

 

 

Good Choice

by | Jan 10, 2025 | Pub, Uncategorized

The one that slipped through the net.

 Whilst sitting in the River Ale House on Woolwich Road,  I was flicking through the London Drinker magazine which is published bimonthly by the Campaign for real ale (CAMRA), when I noticed that the opening of a new micropub in the borough in late 2024, had occurred and I knew nothing about it.

It’s  called the Good Choice and is located just within the borough boundary at Avery Hill.

With a draughts drinks selection of Stella, Guinness,  Moretti (fake Italian beer), Cruzcampo (fake Spanish beer) and Inch’s cider or Neck Oil IPA. It’s fair to say that unlike many other Micropubs they have not embraced the wonders of real ales. Gathering from photos on their Instagram photos they do fancy cocktails also.

As I said this place slipped my radar since it opened  on 27th September 2024, in what used to be a carpet shop, so I hope to do a review of the place sometime  soon.

Whether they do real ale or not, the opening of a new pub in the borough is always good news, especially  after losing so many pubs lately. 

 

 

 

Why America, Why?

Why America, Why?

by | Nov 7, 2024 | Uncategorized

 

The Clown who isn’t funny

Oh America! What have you done. Electing the first criminal to the Whitehouse.

Four years ago at the start of this website I wrote about Trump with the headline “ The clown has left the building” after his rather reluctant  departure  from the Whitehouse. Well the clown is back and he has now morphed into the sort of clown akin to Pennywise from the horror movie IT franchise.

Trump is back, this time in full fascist mode, demanding unquestioning loyalty from his minions. He is out to punish his enemies threatening them with their careers  or imprisonment.

Read the Project 2025 manifesto. Like a rewrite  of Margaret Atwood’s book the  ‘Hand Maidens Tale’. Being a republican will not get you a job in Trumps world,  you have to be the right type of republican. A Trump toadying loyalist will only be considered.

I went to bed on Tuesday night full of hope, only to be  confused, angry and disappointed the next day. Those Americans with a bit of education and some sense of morality in the US tried to stop it happening but those of you following the conspiracy  theories and the insane divisive rhetoric  of your orange god,  and fanatical evangelical pastors that threw their morals and self respect out with the garbage.  Despite his divisive hate filled message blaming all of Americas problems on the poor and vulnerable within society. Despite him being a blatant racist, misogynist, sexist all of his adult life the majority of American voters turned a blind eye. Despite him being a convicted perpetrator of sexual assault on more than one occasion, Despite being convicted numerous times for fraud and embezzlement you gave him the top job that he is clearly not fit for.

From his first court appearance alongside  his father in 1973 for refusing to rent any of his properties  to black people to allegations  of rape and sexual assault throughout the 80s and 90s, including an alleged rape of a 13 year old girl perpetrated alongside Jeffery Epstein in 1994.

An alleged  2005 sexual assault of a journalist being shown around Mar a Largo.

The 1996 rape of E Jean Carroll in a department store, that was dropped down to sexual assault and he has to pay out $88 million. She initially  struggled to get justice  first time around due to Trumps presidential immunity while he was sitting president.

His convictions for falsifying  business records to secretly pay hush money to keep pornstar Stormy Daniels quiet. Once again slippery Don did not go to jail but his lawyer Michael Cohen did.

The Trump organisation  of which he was in charge is found guilty of tax fraud and fined $1.6 million. Once again Trump doesn’t  go to prison but two other scapegoats do.

He has been impeached twice and has many cases pending, but now the stupid, and morally bankrupt Trump voters have handed the world to him on a plate, he can technically pardon himself from any crime committed up to the end of his new Whitehouse tenure.

He rose to power in part by attaching himself  to the right wing Evangelical Christians. Now that he’s got the position he has once again got the job he has always coveted, and he cannot be elected again to the office as he has served two terms. Let’s see if the mask is dropped and the religious fanatics finally see what everyone else sees. He has no time for religion and has just been using them for their votes.

He is a lying, narcissistic conman who uses people to get what he wants at all cost. He has always been that way and always will be.

Not only did the American voter give him the top job, but you also  filled the senate and house of representatives with his corrupt cronies so he now has free reign to do as he pleases without any checks and balances in place, as according  to the MAGA politicians their orange gods word is final and he is  ordained by god.

Will he do as Putin did? and get the senate and house of representatives and try to extend the two-term rule that was specifically installed to stop a dictatorial rule. Now he has both houses in his pocket, he may try it.

How a man who has, his whole life denigrated the poor and oppressed in American society manages to convince the very same people that he is their saviour is breath taking beyond words.

He has conned and swindled people with a whole host of ridiculous products and scam services over the years. He has defrauded contractors that worked for him on his properties by refusing to pay contractors for their work. The scams just keep going on and on, but that is all OK with the American voter.

If there is one person that cannot be blamed for this madness it is Kamala Harris , who had travelled the length of the country and fought as hard as she could warning the States what would happen if they elected this moron. She had plans and policies, while he had no policies apart from other countries would pay for everything through fixing 20% tariffs on all imports. Good luck with that as the same countries  you attack with tariffs  can do the same with your exports. His other go to plan is to deport some 20 million people back to their own countries, especially  the Mexicans.

People prepare  for the world to change and not for the better.

NATO which has kept the peace in Europe and the world over, for the last 80 years is in jeopardy. The democrat sovereignty of Ukraine  will be hanging by a thread.

Trump who basically  can not get his tongue  up Putin’s arse far enough has a plan to end the conflict,  but that plan is as predictable  has he is. Simply to give 20% of Ukraine to Putin. In other words give Putin everything  that he wants.

It was no surprise that one of the first world leaders to congratulate  him on his win was none other than fellow Putin arse licker, Victor Orban, the president  of Hungary.

What the fuck happened to America. They once stood for decency, morality and democracy. All of which they now seem to despise.

There is a video of Trump stating “ the poorly educated, I love the poorly educated “. Yes, of course  he does.  It’s how the powerful have controlled the masses since time immemorial.  Educated  the masses just enough to be useful  to do their jobs,  but not enough to realise  they are being used.

You could sit back and say, in four years’ time we can rectify the mess that he caused, but in four years he will have filled every high-ranking post with his obnoxious cronies.  Called project 2025, it’s  a right  wing blue print to infiltrate every nook and cranny of government with conservative right wing administrators  so the republicans can hold power  well after any republican  president  has left office.

He has already said the corrupt judge Aileen Cannon, that presided over his trial over his refusal to give back state secrets to the government will probably be his new General Attorney or be given a position on the Supreme Court, when the even more corrupt supreme court judge Clarence Thomas resigns.

Another failed republican senate nominee and blatant Trump groveller, Hershel Walker an American NFL football player who apart from being not very smart after too many bangs to his head, during his American football playing days, likes to portray his past and family life in a compelling different light from reality, had been given the job of protecting U S missile defences. A big job  he is clearly  unqualified  for.

Another implied appointment is that of Elon Musk, the world’s richest man. Who will be put in charge of the American  economy.

Let’s get one thing out of the way.  Like Trump  Musk is not a self made billionaire.

Like Trump his wealth started with a multi million dollar hand out from his multi millionaire  father.

He did not invent or start PayPal, Space X or Tesla, other people started up and made a success  of these companies. He simply invested, and bought into these companies, often bullying or forcing  out the company originator if they do not submit or curtail to his business practices, which is him always taking the glory.  These practices  often force his workforce  to work long hours for no extra pay and not recognising  any unions and firing people at a whim sometimes for no reason. Trump loves him for this. Elon is his sort of guy.

His buying of Twitter now called X under the guise of the protector of free speech, whereby he stifled free speech from the left, but actively promoted conspiracy  theories from the far right and helped brain wash the masses against Kamala Harris.

So what does Musk get from this deal.  Well apart from getting  a seat at the table next to the orange god and a constant advisory roll on the presidents ear. Well, he gets a president  who is going to put a 100% tariff on imported EVs from China, thus protecting his  Tesla car manufacturing  investment.  He also gets a lucrative government contract with his Starlink satellite system via his Space X company.

Elon will also benefit  from massive  tax cuts promised by  Trump to the most wealthiest in society, of which Trump happens to be one.

If ever there was a prime candidate  for the Dunning- Kruger effect it is Donald J Trump. A man so sure of his abilities  and his self proclaimed genius that he actually  believes  his own bullshit. He surrounds himself with advisors and yes men, but takes no notice of their advice,  even when it makes sound sense.

Let’s be honest, anyone, and I mean anyone that has to go around constantly telling everyone that they are a stable genius are not by any definition of the word, a genius.

Well, America, you chose him and will have to live with the consequences of that decision for the next four years. Unfortunately, there are millions of people throughout the world who are also affected by your choice, especially people suffering in Ukraine and the Middle East. The people of Ukraine are fighting off another megalomaniac in the Kremlin, who like Trump also hates democracy and the will of the people.

Hopefully we will survive the next four years with this psychotic clown in the most powerful position in the world. Good luck world!

 

 

 

Charlton Sinkhole

Charlton Sinkhole

by | Jul 23, 2024 | Community, Street Food, Travel, Uncategorized

 

 Charlton Sinkhole

A small sinkhole suddenly appeared at the junction of Delafield Road and Swallowfield Road in Charlton. You can just about with difficulty turn the corner if you have a small car but you can forget it if you have aA lorry or van.

To make things worse, there are no warning signs at the entry to either of these roads to say the road is blocked at the junction.

Some bollards are laid down by the side of the sink hole which I presume is for the equipment to be used to repair the hole and allow some traffic flow along Delafield Road..

As I said with a struggle you can get around the corner in a small car from a certain direction but surely with a sinkhole the hole could open up even further if the area around the hole is disturbed such as driving around the edge of the hole.

Greenwich is no stranger to sinkhole and in the past it has taken months to fix them.

Last year in Dunvegan Road, Eltham a sinkhole the size of a car appeared.

In 2016 a large hole appeared outside  Benefice of Charlton St Thomas’ Church, in Charlton which swallowed a parked people carrier.

In December last year a burst water mains in St Marys Street in Woolwich caused a sinkhole seven meters deep and resulted in the evacuation of a number of properties  nearby.

Who could forget the big one on Blackheath Hill that appeared in April 2002 and took 8 months to repair.

It looks like this latest small sinkhole has been caught in time and is being sorted out alright, but I would still criticise the road management layout.

At the end of my working day, I walked past the hole. The hole has been filled in but there is a square patch with no top surface of tar mac covering it. Hopefully this will be rectified tomorrow. Personally, I am impressed with the speed in which the council is rectifying this small sink hole problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Old Gun Pit closure.

The Old Gun Pit closure.

by | Jun 23, 2024 | Community, Pub, Uncategorized

 

 

The Bull Tavern closed to a large new housing development coming soon.

The Old Gun Pit closed by enforcement officers or bailiffs on 20th June 2024.

The Old Gun Pit closure.

Earlier this year they closed the Equitable pub in General Gordon Place, Woolwich due to financial difficulties caused by the Covid pandemic, then we lost the Bull Tavern in Vincent Road, Woolwich and not to  mention the Queens arms in Burrage Road, and now we have lost the Old Gun Pit.

The Bull Tavern I believe was closed due to a planned new housing development next to the new Woolwich leisure centre that is being built at the moment.

The closure of the Old Gun Pit was a bit of a surprise not only to its customers and patrons, but it would seem also to some of its staff.

When checking on its Facebook page just four days ago it was advertising for customers to come and watch all the Euro matches at the pub, and the very next day it is announcing its closure.

There is a notice of repossession from an enforcement company acting on behalf of the landlords stuck to the pub door. So, it looks like they were not paying the rent to the landlords, so the bailiffs have come a knocking. If they were fighting a repossession for some other reason, then the management must have realised this would have happened at some time, so it couldn’t have been such a surprise after all.

They advertised themselves as the oldest Irish pub in South East London.

I never got around to reviewing this  place and now I never will.  To be honest it was not one of these places that I would have frequented myself, its clientele always looked a bit rough and ready, and the pub looked like the type of place a fight could break out at any moment, but looking at the reviews I could have been wrong about the place.  The locals seem to love it and at the end of the day it was the type of pub that relied on its locals rather than footfall or tourist clientele. It is Woolwich after all not touristy Greenwich.

Woolwich is losing too many pubs lately. I hope the landlords will lease the Old Gun Pit site out as a pub again soon to new management or a brewery chain.

We are still waiting for an update about the Volunteer pub in Powis Street that is supposed to open some time in 2024, but the managers or owners have still not given an opening date.

 

Bar Etiquette

Bar Etiquette

by | Jun 6, 2024 | Pub, Uncategorized

,

 PUB PET HATES

There seem to be two new fads that seem to be creeping into the pub lifestyle that I find abhorrent.

The first is one that I have seen a number of times now, in the Silver Cross in Whitehall and the Dial Arch in Woolwich, and one or two other touristy pubs. This is the totally non-British way of getting served at the bar by standing in a queue waiting for the person in front to leave the bar before the next customer goes up to be served.

It seems to be done mainly by tourists than locals, but it has to stop. I have to call out this kind of thing before it starts getting normalised.

The British will queue for almost everything, from waiting for a bus (while the foreigners jump the queue and push in) to waiting in line at the post office, or waiting in line for just about any service you can think of. It shows a sign of respect and fairness.

There is one exception to this British rule and that is when we are waiting to get served at the bar of a pub. Up until this new fad crept in there were no single lines in a pub perpendicular to the bar.

The rules and etiquette of getting served at the bar in Britain have been the same for hundreds of years and served us well.

First you find a space at the bar. Yes there may be a few arrogant arseholes who like to sit at the bar and hog the bar space the whole night. You simply ask them  if you can get to the bar and usually that will do.

When you have access to the bar either hold up a tenner or twenty pound note to indicate you want serving or make eye contact or gesture to the barman to indicate service is wanted.

If the person next to you has been waiting longer than you, it is the polite and correct thing to do and ask the barman to serve them first. It shows you have manners.

It should be noted that some bar staff are a bit peeved off with this new queueing lark as well, and some have resorted to putting up signs asking people to not queue but simply step up to the bar instead.

Really good and  experienced bar staff you will find can multitask and will ask you what you want while still pulling the pints for the people that they have just served before you. This can be problematic when people are queuing up as it slows down the serving flow.

The other irritating fad that seems to be creeping in from America is the bar staff of certain pub chains expecting a tip every time I buy a drink or round at the bar with my card or phone.

If the staff, like in many continental countries came to our table asked us what we would like to drink and brought the drinks in a friendly and efficient manner to our table, then yes I would gladly give the staff a tip.

But George or Fred behind the bar pulling a pint as he is expected to do in his job description then no , he will not be getting a tip from me.

I even had a barman at a fancy high end Piccadilly hotel automatically add his tip onto a bill that I was given even though I had ordered all the drinks at the bar and was standing at the bar. I made him remove the tip from the bill.

In the States a Barman’s tip is expected as the wages due to employer exploitation and next to no labour protection laws. Their basic wages are shit and the pathetic $7.25 minimum wage that has not changed in decades, so without their tips they would not be able to survive.

In Britain we have a decent minimum wage and other benefits that their American counterparts cannot claim. There is no need to start bringing in a tipping culture into Britain.

If your old dad or granddad was asked for a tip by the barman to pull a pint years ago  he would have been telling the barman in no uncertain terms where to go, or be up before the magistrates for punching out a barman.

The price of a pint at present  is astronomical compared to just a decade ago, so the publican or landlord is getting generously reimbursed for the pint he is serving. There is no need or justification for tipping at the bar, unless you are being waited upon. The Landlord should be paying his staff accordingly unless he is of the greedy and exploitative type but that is a thing the employee should be sorting out with the employer, not expecting me to top up his wages.

Under no circumstance should we allow our pubs to be Americanised in this way. American employers have got away with treating their workers like shit, with exploitative labour laws that always benefit the employers, and slave wage rates that are as low as the employer can get away with. Thanks to EU workers rights and labour laws tipping for everything must not become the norm here.

I have also seen a separate card reader in some establishments at the end of the bar, or a jar of tips for the barman or barmaid. I have no problem giving a few quid in this way to the bar staff, if they give exceptional service or engage you in pleasant conversation or in some way makes your visit a nice experience. That saying, don’t expect a tip if you are a miserable barman making me feel like I’m putting you out or making me wait ages to get served at the bar.

What do you think? Give a comment in the comment box below.