The Hope and Anchor, Camden

I worked here in 1990-91. One of the best(90%)/worst(10%) years of my life.

The good stuff;

1. The locals like Tommy from across the way and down a few, "Liz Taylor" the sherry lady, the bunch from the "Judge Dredd" comics, the squatters from the house behind the alley behind the pub who stole the arm off the sailor on the roof.

2. The old-timer with the big, white sideboards who came in one day, looked around the place and exclaimed "By God, I haven't been in here since before the war!" (WW2 presumably)

3. The very old (90+) old-timer who came in most days with his young minder, drank a small glass of lager, and only ever said "Ta". (Once when he came in, once when I brought him his beer and once when he left.)

4. When the Camden Palace had a big show, the queue would often come down the side of the Pally, in the west door and out the east (corner) door. (Good and Bad) Good for sales. Sometimes the bands came in (Radiohead...Madness). Bad behavior (gulping 3 lager and limes in 10 minutes and puking just before getting out the door).

5. The lock-ins with Tommy and his lovely wife (name ?), Billy (the karaoke king) and not his CUNextTuesday girlfriend, Pat the cop from across the street, Pete and Claire's other landlord friends, etc.

The bit that sucked;

1. Going through 6 landlords in 6 months. In particular , the Geordie gangster wanna-be family who claimed to be personal friends with the Cray's and who's bovine 'eyes 5 inches apart', fat slag twin daughters kept stealing my blue jeans.

2. Rob, the former landlord of the Caernarvon Castle, a dishonest fellow, creep and all around firkin bustard.

Overall, this was a great time. Nothing's perfect, no? Pete and Claire (from Crewe) eventually became the landlords, and they were fun. I moved in with a nice girl in Belsize Park and spent a lot of time up around Hampstead. I met a lot of wonderful people and few truly horrible douche nozzles.

If any of my old regulars recognize yourself or me from this post, please drop me a line.

18 Jul 2013 12:21