Crobar, Soho

The only and best R&R place in central London. This is the kind of pub people came to visit England for in the 60s and 70s, to experience the wild and fresh night life of famous London.
Now as hipsters, banksters and yuppies govern the town, and tourists are lured into ridiculously overpriced and boring établissements, this is the only dive bar for the young and wild at heart. If hard rock and metal is your diet, you have come to the right place.
A pretty good selection of bottled beers (I missed Aventinus though but that one is rare anywhere in London), a huge selection of great whiskeys, and a lot of people of street credibility. The crew does a good job even under stress. Wonderful loud and hard rock music, occasionally played live by a band in the back part of the pub, and unless you think starting trouble is a good idea, the Crobar is the safest and funnest place for practically everyone in that part of town. If I ever live in London, this will be my watering hole.
I had no problems (contrary to what some of the commenters on here obviously had) with the toilets as my dick has no eyes and I did not come there to eat out of the toilet bowl.
I'll be back for sure.

31 Mar 2015 20:09

The Wentworth Arms, Mile End

Being in London in early February of this year, I went to East London for an afternoon, got thirsty from walking, and stumbled upon the Wentworth Arms.
Big luck - jackpot. Authentic as can be, a real London pub which I would have to search for for quite a while in central London.
Friendly and entertaining guests and barkeeper; treat them nicely and they will treat you even nicer, they are honest and down-to-earth folks.
This is a genuine piece of the old working class culture in a neighborhood where you would not expect it to have survived.
No beer on tap but bottled beer is something I can well live with, and also one simple kind of pub grub as solid basis for more beer would make this place above perfect, but I am far from complaining.
If my travel money would not have been limited due to the strong GBP rate I would have stayed there until closing time.
Thanks to the great people there for a great stay with great chats and treating me as part of the family. I will return gladly to this friendly island of genuine Englishness where I already felt at home from the first swig of beer on.

31 Mar 2015 18:56