Let’s start in the mid-seventies while the proto-whisperer was still at university in Edinburgh, but returned to the South every summer and ventured up The Smoke in search of real ale every other week, basically those weeks when I was not heading down to the seaside or walking to the country pubs in the villages around Strood.

During the winter and spring holidays, I also got up to London once a fortnight but restricted my range to the area around Woolwich (South and North), Plaistow and Upton Park, because I was there to watch West Ham play at home; even then, I had a couple of good real ale pubs out by the Boleyn Ground that I usually ended up in before the game.

Coming into London by train from the south/east, there were two famous real ale outlets located close by the south bank stations that I used to enter the metropolis, and any trip into central London began with those venues:

Becky’s Dive Bar (Address lost to time)

Closed long ago, probably on public health orders, this was a pioneering outlet for real ales from all over the country even before CAMRA came into existence.

I “discovered” it towards the end of its long life, and made sure that it was my first stop on all visits to the heart of London, partly to see what they had on the bar top (usually Ruddles County or Theakston’s Old Peculier) and what state it was in (usually dodgy), but also because it was very conveniently located right next to London Bridge mainline station, in a damp dangerous basement under the Hop Exchange building.

It was always followed by a short walk to Waterloo Station in search of the antidote, which was to be found at the marvelous if not glamorous:

The Hole in the Wall (5 Mepham St, London SE1 8SQ)

Hidden in the arches between, and practically underneath both Waterloo East and West stations, it was also a dingy noisy place (you know, trains overhead), but it was a mecca for fine London ales (mostly from Youngs) and some exotics from out of the area (Brakspears and others), always kept in impeccable condition.

After Becky retired and Becky’s was no more, this became my entry point on all London crawls until I started working in the city in 1977, and was obliged to bypass the intermediate stations and head straight to Charing Cross, at least on the way to the office.

This one is still there folks and appears to serve the same purpose that it always did, with a narrow standing room only “tunnel” alongside the bar up front for those with a train to catch, and a larger wider cavern with some seats further back, for those with a little more time on their hands.

After university, I signed up to work at a large software house with headquarters in the Bloomsbury and Holborn area, which gave me an entirely new, yet pretty close, area to explore.

I initially commuted in from home, which also gave me an opportunity to explore the area around Charing Cross and Covent Garden on my afternoon walk back to the station.

I found these beauties during those walks:

The Harp (47 Chandos Pl, London WC2N 4HS)

The Marquis (51-52 Chandos Pl, London WC2N 4HS)

Which I remember as the Marquess of Granby.

Marquess of Anglesea (39 Bow St, London WC2E 7AU)

The other Marquess; one of them was a Courage pub with a fine pint of Directors, but I cannot remember which was which.

Lamb & Flag (33 Rose St, London WC2E 9EB)

This was always difficult to find as it was sort of down a blind alleyway, but always worth the effort.

It was known to the “locals” as the Bucket of Blood (something to do with prizefighting) and was a reported regular haunt of Charles Dickens.

Whenever I had time to kill before my train I would also venture into:

The Ship & Shovell (2 Craven Passage, London WC2N 5NF)

I don’t remember real ale at the time, but it was close and convenient, and it was also strange; two pubs in one, staring at each other across the common alleyway.

I hear it is now a rare outpost of Badger brewery from the west country.

And then there were all of the afterwork (and lunchtime) pubs closer to the several offices that the company operated:

The Lamb (94 Lamb’s Conduit Street, London, WC1N 3LZ)

Probably my favorite pub in London.

Check out the snob screens around the bar.

They made a wicked sausage sandwich, heavy with Coleman’s mustard, back in the day.

The Perseverance (63 Lambs Conduit Street, London, WC1N 3NB)

Used to be called The Sun and was the best real ale pub in the area, or at least the one with most pumps and variety of ales offered.

Cittie of Yorke (22 High Holborn, London WC1V 6BN)

1920s wooden cavern with a very long bar, individual enclosed booths, and a medieval barnlike ceiling.

I would often nip in on my way to our regular hangout at the:

Yorkshire Grey (2 Theobalds Rd, London WC1X 8PN)

It had Eldridge Pope Royal Oak on the beer engines; it doesn’t appear to have much these days, and looks more like a hotel bar than a pub.

This where we went when we were celebrating something as a group.

This is where we went to see me off to the States.

This is where most of my train misadventures began; they usually ended up with a nap on a bench at Gillingham station in the wee hours of the morning, waiting for the paper train or milk train to get me home.

Princess Louise (208 High Holborn, London WC1V 7EP)

Known (unfairly) to one and all as the Princess Lousy.

A stunning Victorian gin palace; in my day they had torn out all of the partitions around the bar (since returned) but it still looked absolutely fabulous even then.

And then there were the four afterwork “darts” pubs:

The Queens Head (64 Theobalds Road, London, WC1X 8SF)

Known to all as The Queens Legs.

The Enterprise (38 Red Lion St, London, WC1R 4PN)

The Old Red Lion (72 High Holborn, London WC1V 6LS)

Rugby Tavern (19 Great James St, London WC1N 3ES)

We chose randomly depending on the group mood, but the Queens Legs was usually the default.

Venturing further afield, there were a couple of places in Clerkenwell for a change of pace and scenery:

Exmouth Arms (23 Exmouth Market, London EC1R 4QL)

Crown Tavern (43 Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R 0EG)

And over by the British Museum:

Museum Tavern (49 Great Russell St, London WC1B 3BA)

I once managed to down eight pints of Burton there during an extended lunchtime break (waiting for a long-running job to complete) and still functioned when I got back into the office to write up the results.

And then there were the places that I would visit by myself when I wanted to soak up a bit of London pub history, or grab a pint of Marston’s Pedigree or Shepherd Neame mild and bitter.

Ye Olde Mitre (1 Ely Ct, Ely Pl, London EC1N 6SJ)

Hidden down an alley. I challenge you to find it.

You may recognize it from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese (145 Fleet St, London EC4A 2BP)

Actually hidden away in Wine Office Court.

Another Dickens hangout.

It was the only outpost of Marston brewery in London at the time, changing over to Sam Smiths later.

Bishops Finger (9-10 W Smithfield, London EC1A 9JR)

It was the only outpost of Shepherd Neame in central London at the time, and used to open extended hours (i.e. very early in the morning) for the Smithfield Market workers.

Still a Sheps boozer it would seem.

The Blackfriar (174 Queen Victoria St, London EC4V 4EG)

The original monk-ey (not monkey) theme pub.

Sometime meeting place with my friends who worked in the City of London, before making our way back to Kent on the train, from Cannon Street or preferably London Bridge station.

There were others scattered around the City area:

Samuel Pepys (Stew Ln, London EC4V 3PT)

A newer place, located high up in a warehouse overlooking the Thames and the South Bank. Very good river views.

Dirty Dicks (202 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 4NR)

Over by Liverpool Street station.

It was truly dirty in my day, with dust and cobwebs (and mummified cats) and all manner of bric-a-brac.

They cleaned it up.

They should probably call it Clean Dicks now.

Lamb Tavern (10-12 Leadenhall Market, London EC3V 1LR)

Inside and under the glass covered atrium roof of Leadenhall Market itself.

Standing room only, often spilling out into the market space outside.

Packed with city gents and assorted heehaws.

Cool place though.

The Dickens Inn (50 St Katharine’s Way, London E1W 1LA)

Mock galleried coaching inn at St. Katherines Dock.

It looks impressive.

George (75 Borough High St, London SE1 1NH)

Real galleried coaching inn just off of Borough High Street south of the river.

Last of the Old Kent Road coaching inns.

Yet another Dickens hangout.

It is impressive.

Anchor Bankside (34 Park St, London SE1 9EF)

On the South Bank not far from the Globe Theatre.

Shakespeare’s hangout?

Probably not, but is old and looks the part.

And that is it for central London.

Next, we stay by the river but head out east to Wapping and Rotherhithe and out west to Richmond; both day trips that I used to take when I moved into London proper.

The eastern excursion I sometimes did on foot, even enduring the dangerous gas-filled Rotherhithe Tunnel once, but usually, sensibly, by the old Rotherhithe extension to the tube.

The Mayflower (117 Rotherhithe St, London SE16 4NF)

Pilgrim Fathers’ hangout they claim.

Always populated with Americans.

Town of Ramsgate (62 Wapping High St, London E1W 2PN)

Judge Jeffreys hangout.

Being a Ramsgate lad myself, I always had a soft spot for this place.

Prospect of Whitby (57 Wapping Wall, London E1W 3SH)

Captain Kidd’s hangout – quite literally.

The Grapes (76 Narrow St, London E14 8BP)

And another Dickens hangout, now owned by Ian McKellen.

Further to the east we have those two pre-(and post) football pubs out by Upton Park:

The Black Lion (59-61 High St, London E13 0AD)

In the back streets of Plaistow.

A Courage pub with excellent Directors.

We found a shortcut to Upton Park when coming from the south by train; instead of going all the way into central London and getting the Metropolitan/District Line back out to the east, we discovered that we could alight at Woolwich Arsenal and take the Woolwich Ferry (or walk the pedestrian tunnel) across (or under) the Thames, and then get a bus directly from North Woolwich to Plaistow, walking the final mile or so to the stadium.

The Boleyn Tavern (1 Barking Rd, London E6 1PW)

The place to go as a West Ham fan, and the place to avoid as any other club supporter.

I spent many an hour celebrating (but mostly drowning my sorrows) there after a match just up Green Street.

A big beautiful, rambling, Victorian palace.

Diagonally across the Barking Road/Green Street from the World Cup Champions sculpture.

Westward to Richmond.

I always went in the summer months, and always by river, taking a cruise boat from Charing Cross Embankment; sometimes returning by the tube.

Even back in the seventies, Richmond had many real ale pubs, with a good selection of London and regional beers on tap; these were my favorites:

The Tudor Close (Petersham Rd, Richmond TW10 6UY)

Now known as the Rose of York.

It was a short walk away from the village center, just south along the river.

The Cricketers (The Green, Richmond TW9 1LX)

Right on Richmond Green.

You could watch the cricket from the Cricketers.

There is another place around the corner that may be more familiar to the Americans amongst us:

The Prince’s Head (28 The Green, Richmond TW9 1LX)

I don’t think that I have ever been in there, but I have to mention it anyway, being as it is practically next door to the Cricketers.

White Cross (Surrey, Riverside House, Water Ln, Richmond TW9 1NR)

Right down by the river.

Get there when it is not flooded.

And that is about it folks.

Phew!

As part of this little project, I have also created an annotated Google Map, which I will continue to update as time permits.

You will notice that it already includes a cluster of pubs in the Stoke Newington and Hackney Marshes area of north London, those were locals when I briefly lived in the area.

There are also some pubs at the very boundaries of Greater London.

Some of those were expeditions taken to the ends of the tube lines, and others were pubs occasionally visited to meet up with friends from work or university.

And for those that need to eat, I have included a few traditional Pie & Mash shops; the correct order is “Two pie, two mash, stewed eels and liquor”.

I am sure that I will eventually be adding more pubs to the map.

When I actually get to return to London myself.