Knightsbridge and South Kensington Pubs

[@keithfowler2013]

Great name for a stout. ' The Norwegian Black Stuff !'

[@desiretheright]

The building opposite the Queen’s Arms, which looks abandoned, has a peculiar amount of CCTV outside it. Sometimes seems comings and goings of volumes of materials lifted in and out large cars. Might be the side entrance to one of the embassies on the main road. Just a few yards down the Mews is where the main character in ‘Layer Cake’, played by Daniel Craig, lived. You see a shot of the Queen’s Arms in the film, with an older board. But yes, it is very much gastro-pubish during the day, and filled with academics from the Imperial College of an evening. Glad I’ve found your channel, super video.

[@andrewdolinskiatcarpathian]

In desperation one or more of those pubs would hit the spot in one way or another. Thank you for digging them out. 👏👏👍😀🍺

[@spudspuddy]

I love Farrow & Ball paint, the colours are matched to historic paint chips from old buildings and designed to breath without the nasty plastics that retain damp & moisure.

[@StewartyMac]

I have developed a deep and completely irrational hatred of Farrow & Ball since watching your videos. It never really clicked with me before what I found distasteful about these places, but now I have something to focus my rage onto. Keep up the good work!!

[@TweedyPubs]

My work here is done!

[@spudspuddy]

I love Farrow & Ball paint, the colours are matched to historic paint chips from old buildings and designed to breath without the nasty plastics that retain damp & moisure. 100% recommended by English heritage.

[@garymcguire8529]

The Queen's Arms is my local, and I've had a few drinks in the Bunch of Grapes.

[@malo66]

Thank God for Tweedy. Seriously!

[@robcoles8493]

Mr Tweedy - i enjoyed that review. Ive had the great fortune to drink at many pubs around the City, the West End, Southwark etc but the areas of Knightsbridge and Kensington are a mystery to me. Loved the historical research - it really puts these pubs into a historical and social context. Look forward to the next one.

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Rob! I don't think you're really missing much when it comes to Knightsbridge and Kensington. I had a nice afternoon making this video but if someone asked me to recommend areas of London for great historic pubs this corner of town would be fairly low down the list! I think it's an area where pubs are basically either chain pubs for tourists or heavily gentrified gastropubs for the local residents, and there doesn't seem to be much between. Of the five pubs I visited the Hansom Cab was probably the only one which wasn't clearly in either of those two camps, but still it seemed to be lacking something...

[@robcoles8493]

Im loving you perspectives Tweedy. Its great to see you looking for diamonds in the rough as they say.

[@TweedyPubs]

@@robcoles8493 Ever the optimist! There are apparently something like 3500 pubs in London (depending on how you count them) - I'm guessing I've only been to 1000 of them. I'm sure there are still some undiscovered gems!

[@jimdale6001]

That brought back memories from my time in Earls Court. 👍🇦🇺

[@ArcAudios77]

Excellent, thanks.

[@DavidM2002]

Thanks for another great video. The Bunch of Grapes was one of our favourites when staying in S.Kensington. Our other favourite not too far West is around the corner from the S.K tube station - the Hoop and Toy.

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks David! Ah yes I think I have been to the Hoop and Toy years ago now I think about it, and that would have been a good candidate for this video. It's just a bit of a shame so many of these historic pubs end up being part of a chain/pubco. Sometimes it can still work, especially if they get the right manager in, and they can retain an individual atmosphere. I didn't really get much sense of that on this outing but I also wonder if it's fair to judge pubs based on a Tuesday afternoon visit!

[@DavidM2002]

@@TweedyPubs Well, there's always Follow-up Wednesday and Thursday... just for that second and third opinion of course.

[@johnlocke6506]

Lived in a flat share in South Ken circa 1975 and used the laundrette almost adjacent to the Bunch of Grapes. 2 pints in the pub covered the wash time, put the washing in the dryer, back to the pub for another pint. Collect the washing - job done!

[@TweedyPubs]

​@@johnlocke6506 I love that! Similarly I used to pick up dinner for my family at a Chinese takeaway, choosing it primarily because it was very close to one of my favourite local pubs. Unfortunately they were extremely efficient in preparing the food and I usually only had time for one pint.

[@WC21UKProductionsLtd]

Gosh you covered some ground in this one, Tweedy: geology to Terry Thomas, via Napoleon and Lady Diana. Incredible range of historic asides these pub visits can generate. I did have to double check which part of London you were in when you started talking about the "Norwegian black stuff"! As usual, I am unfamiliar with any of these London pubs, so can only really comment on which ones I liked the look of - and why that would be of interest to anyone, I don't know - but here there was a clear winner for me and that was the Paxton's Head. The Bunch of Grapes had some nice features too. Well done on the rapid success of this channel - it appears you have a race between Tweedy Pubs and Tweedy Outdoors for the magic 1,000 subs!

[@TweedyPubs]

Thank you! Yes I was pleased with the very eclectic set of themes this tour brought up, and wish I'd had you with me there for the Napoleon bit, as I'm sure you'd have found joining in on the debunking of that myth quite satisfying. That segment was a bit long in the end, so I cut some of that out in the final video, including discussion of a letter in 1817 recounting a conversation between Barry O'Meara, Napoleon's doctor during his exile on St. Helena, wherein Napoleon quite candidly said he had indeed intended to invade England, and spells out how he would have done it in some detail... but I think it is generally accepted he had abandoned the notion after Trafalgar. I'm not sure anyone else is particularly interested in identifying which type of Scandinavian granite these pub frontages are comprised of! ...but it is becoming a sort of running theme/joke which I at least am finding quite entertaining. This isn't an area I'm particularly familiar with on the pub front either, although I think I had been to all of them but the Hansom Cab once before. It's a difficult part of London - as I've said elsewhere in the comments the pubs seem to be either chain operated (once again Greene King asserting its dominance here) and largely catering to tourists, or heavily gentrified and gastro-leaning type pubs catering to the well heeled locals. The Hansom Cab was probably the only one of the five which wasn't obviously in either of those camps, but I still found it kind of lacked something. It's hard to imagine anyone ever saying "what this area needs is more offices!", but actually I get the sense in some of the posher parts of London having an after work crowd helps to lift the local pubs out of falling into one of the two aforementioned traps. I think that might be part of the reason why Belgravia has retained some surprisingly "pubby" pubs, despite being the single most expensive area of real estate in the country - some of its pubs are popular with office workers from nearby Victoria.

[@TweedyPubs]

As an act of purest vanity I decided to make an out-takes video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g5DFfZSCqL6GmqM

[@liberty_and_justice67]

Paxtons Head is beautiful!

[@ArcAudios77]

Impressed by your works. Subbed.Thanks. Regards sent from an old Roman Town in Western Scotland.

[@infoscholar5221]

I'm American, I'm constantly amazed at the low ABVs of UK beer. I don't know of a US Light beer that isn't 4.2 abv, But I see these videos of UK nights out where people are getting ridiculously drunk, and passing out in public. In a culture known for restraint, I always found this puzzling, and alarming. I routinely see beers on tap on Tweedy's channel that are 3.2 -3.7 ABV. I could probably have three or four of those, and still drive a car.

[@Triplen01]

People spend hours at the pub here, it's a cultural thing. No one wants to drink 7% lighter fluid for 6 hours straight. Historically english ales were lower in ABV and meant to be 'sessioned' over long periods. Mind you, if you want overly hopped +6% craft beer, there's plenty of that available. On the crazy nights out you mention, people will drink spirits and shots not 4% beer.

[@stuartdennis8506]

Have you done a High Street Kensington one? I remember a lovely pub down a side street that, genuinely, I’ve never been able to find again in the numerous times I’ve been back to the area! That could be a good area to try, also the Holland Park up to Notting Hill bit could be interesting. Love these videos btw 👍🏻

[@frankcoveney6222]

Very enjoyable, as always. I am sure you are aware that poor old Terry-Thomas had a very sad ending with Parkinson's disease.

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Frank! Actually I didn't know poor old TT went that way. That seems particularly cruel for someone once so dashing and witty.

[@frankcoveney6222]

@@TweedyPubs Exactly. That makes it seem far worse. Glad to see the blue plaque for him.

[@elvis197797]

Fabulous stuff one u missed was the fox and hounds but that’s more belgravia. It’s a gem. Loved ur info about the Paxtons head 👍

[@jtaylors]

That’s 100% Belgravia. One mentioned Nags Head on Kinnerton Street closest by and name checked.

[@urbanpulsewalks]

I buleve the worn out writing above the fireplace says, 'Merry Christmas'.

[@DEFIPI]

keep going - cant wait for the snow shots in a few weeks!!!

[@TweedyPubs]

I have been surprised in recent videos by how Christmassy many of the pubs already look - naively I thought that didn't start until December 1st!

[@DEFIPI]

The lights are already up on Regent street, no doubt Easter eggs will be available in time for Boxing Day

[@lawrencelewis2592]

It would be good if you mentioned the pub's addresses so I and probably others could make notes for a pub crawl.

[@StewartyMac]

Google Maps is your friend.

[@lawrencelewis2592]

@@StewartyMac I don't have a smart phone so that lets me out. I do have a "Fancy a Pint" guidebook that is very usable.

[@dma5574]

Thank you for your video, I thought Piers Morgan owned the Hansom cab, I may be incorrect.

[@TweedyPubs]

I had no Idea! I Googled it and it seems he was indeed the owner at one time.

[@darrenhudson5503]

I am hooked on thus channel Which is ironic as I am.unabke to drink thanks to the effects Of covid 4years ago..basically alcohol smells like vinegar to me

[@awatt]

The Handsome Cab used to be an Australian pub in my day. Always fun watching some idiot trying to get into the cab. The Scarsdale was always up itself. There was an illegal card school that operated in an upstairs room. I obviously kept away from it. Page three models used to turn up from time to time. An advert for something or other was shot there featuring Paul Hogan. I agree that the pubs there are not that interesting.

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks for that additional colour! I still had a nice afternoon out and I wouldn't say the pubs in the area were a complete dead loss but it seemed they were mostly either tourist focused pubco pubs or borderline gastropubs and there wasn't much in between. I didn't quite get that sense of "pub magic" in any of them... But sometimes that's more about the mood I'm in or other external factors (like the weather) and not really the pub's fault.

[@Chasworth]

Do Catford pls😀

[@TweedyPubs]

Any particular recommendations in Catford? A quick search on CAMRA's Pub Heritage site suggests the only place they listed in Catford proper was the Fellowship Inn, but it seems like that is temporarily closed. Of course that's not to say they haven't missed something! There were a couple more in nearby Forest Hill, and I've been to at least one of those before, but I don't really know that broader area well. I have a friend in Deptford who said Catford was best avoided altogether! ...but not sure whether that's just one of those local rivalries...

[@Chasworth]

@@TweedyPubs haha I was half joking as it is a little rough there. I used to drink at the Goose, which was pretty good, its now called the ninth life. Used to drink at the Rising Sun too until it was closed down. I have heard the Blyth hill tavern is quite nice.

[@Thefisherman27]

Happy Christmas??

[@TweedyPubs]

Yes it did seem a bit early to me to have the Christmas decorations up! I don't want to even think about it until December 1st.

[@Thefisherman27]

@@TweedyPubs the writing below the mirror.

[@TweedyPubs]

@@Thefisherman27 Ahhhhhh... sorry I misunderstood. Now you mention it that does seem to fit! That's a bit of a shock! I had assumed it was some ancient brewery branding or something but maybe it is just a remnant of last year's Christmas decorations!

[@SlurpyDave254]

Ah Terry Thomas, a proper cad...he actually died stoney broke but had a good life. Maybe not the most interesting area of London but a couple of good boozers...cheers John🍺😊

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Dave, yes a sad end for a very talented man! I agree this isn't the most interesting part of London for pubs but thought I should cover it for the sake of completeness - sometimes you find yourself stuck in a corner of town where you wouldn't really choose to be, and need a pub refuge...

[@RighteousReverendDynamite]

He had Parkinson's Disease for the last several years of his life and tried all sorts of available treatments but there was not a lot of medications aside from Sinemet at that time. Only the nicest people get Parkinson's it seems. His wife did an admirable job trying to taking care of him as he got more bedridden.

[@SlurpyDave254]

@RighteousReverendDynamite thanks for the update on Terry Thomas. I agree the nicest people seem to get Parkinson's. Cheers👍