Smithfield Pubs

Wonderful that so many of these traditional boozers stay the same. For a constantly changing city, it is great that some things do not change. These videos are some of the best on KZbin.

[@TweedyPubs]

Thank you for the very kind words! ...and I agree, despite what has been lost, we are fortunate in how much still remains.

[@LynaGalliara]

Something else interesting about The Fox and Anchor is that it has a license to serve alcohol from the early morning due to a history of serving those working in the market in the mornings. I have heard that some other Smithfield pubs also have a similar special license due to this history, but The Fox and Anchor is the only one where I am sure this is the case, where it is still possible to get a pint with breakfast 🙂

[@antonybrown4231]

Only the Fox still opens early, unless you count the John Oldcastle which opens at 9am. There used to be about 5-6 pubs with the 6am licence but most have given up on it.

[@apuldram]

Try many a Wetherspoons for a cheap quality breakfast and a pint… available countrywide.

[@WC21UKProductionsLtd]

I loved the Betjeman story. He was a fascinating character and I just know he would have embraced KZbin if he’d still been around! I’ve got some DVDs of his old TV programmes which I must dig out and watch. Thanks for another fascinating video.

[@TweedyPubs]

In one of my earlier midlife crises I was inspired by Betjeman's pewter tankard Champagne fuelled literary salons to start something like that myself. It only ran for one iteration, and as two of the attendees were actual genuine artists I felt completely out of my depth but it was fun. I somehow doubt KZbin's "Creator Lounge" in London (admission requires 10k subscribers apparently) has anything like the atmosphere of one of those Betjeman salons!

[@WC21UKProductionsLtd]

@@TweedyPubs only 9,640 subscribers to go and I’ll be in that lounge!

[@TweedyPubs]

@@WC21UKProductionsLtd Do you know Dr Seuss's "Oh, The Places You'll Go!"? I'm fairly sure the meaning is that it's all about the journey, which is reward enough in itself. And that the KZbin Creator Lounge is sh!t.

[@WC21UKProductionsLtd]

@@TweedyPubs Lord, can you imagine what a KZbin Lounge would be like?!

[@markjones327]

More great content and another very enjoyable vid ! Thank you kind sir 💥

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Mark, glad you enjoyed it!

[@johnrob6132]

Another interesting and enjoyable episode with lots of fascinating detail. Thanks very much.

[@SteveDonaldson-r5k]

Hi Tweedy, I love watching these videos albeit from a slightly different angle; I am a retired surveyor and your references to various architectural features are a delight.

[@TweedyPubs]

Wow thank you Steve! I hope I'm not embarrassing myself given your profession! My interest in architecture is purely amateur, and so I'm sure I make lots of mistakes or occasionally overlook important details... but I do find it fascinating. It's like learning to read a foreign language. Sometimes the style of a pub building tells you something about the atmosphere they were trying to create, or the clientele they were trying to attract.

[@SteveDonaldson-r5k]

@@TweedyPubs You're doing a great job; I am impressed that you can differentiate between a bay and an oriole window, even some professionals can't! I'm waiting until you come across a pub with a barley twist chimney stack and catslide capping to the dormer windows at which point I've promised myself a trip to the Amstel brewery in Amsterdam. No pressure!

[@TweedyPubs]

@@SteveDonaldson-r5k Ah yes even in Historic England listings sometimes I've seen mentions of a "bay window on the first floor" - well it's not a bay window then!

[@raymondmalone9721]

Just binge watching your videos 👍 little suggestion maybe put a screenshot of map showing roughly were pubs are and for London closest tube stations…..

[@paulturner487]

Top work again!!👍 I’ve noticed Draught Bass on the bar in a couple of your videos. Are you not a fan? I would have thought it was right up your street. Thanks for the tour, great stuff as always! Paul

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Paul! Well spotted - and I definitely considered it, especially given that it's something that for many years I hardly ever saw on hand pumps in pubs. I think it is perhaps having a bit of a resurgence? On this occasion there was also Timothy Taylor's Landlord in the line-up and that's pretty much always my first choice whenever I see it... but I think next time I see Bass on the bar I'll go for that.

[@allennicklin1]

Have taken two groups to this area which they both enjoyed. Try the Castle pub, that has an interesting history concerning George IV

[@practicaliching2311]

Odd, have heard before the term "on the wagon" was from the salvation army going around picking up bums on a wagon and taking them to be sobered up and churched up at the salvation army building. Have no idea if that is true or not.

[@johnsharp8632]

I attended University in St John Street in the late 1960s and have always been drawn back to the historic Clerkenwell and Finsbury areas. I remember that in the early morning, the pubs close to Smithfield were always doing a roaring trade as the market traders and porters finished their shift. The tradition was for them to drink a dark 'porter' style beer to wash down a bacon sarnie. In the 60's the area still had a lot of industry, Clerkenwell was the centre of the watch and clock industry and there were electro-platers, a lift manufacturer and a compressor manufacturer to name but a few. I suspect that's why there are so many pubs. I was always disappointed with the condition of the beer served by the pubs in the area until The Jerusalem Tavern opened and I used to visit it often. I very much enjoy St Peter's beers and their brewery near Bungay in Suffolk is worth a visit.

[@andrewdolinskiatcarpathian]

Oh my, The Fox and Anchor looks spectacular. I adore Art Nouveau, especially in its British incarnation. Definitely jumped up to the top of my must visit list. Despite being Green King, the beer offering looks good too. 👏👏👍🍺😀

[@jamierobinson3349]

Currently sipping on a Bavarian style Lager from the Fort George brewery here in Astoria Oregon while watching another educational pub trip from Tweedy! I really enjoy the historical research you put in to these as well as your Tweedy Outdoors channel. In fact I'm currently working out the time frame of when I can take my next trip across the pond for some English adventure time rain or shine. Cheers Tweedy! 🎩🍻🍺

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Jamie! With these pub videos I spend a few hours the day before doing research and making notes, but it's not a chore I actually quite enjoy it. The Tweedy Outdoors videos are mostly a bit more off-the-cuff although I sometimes check Wikipedia on my phone just before shooting a bit of footage if I need to insert a factoid or two... 😁

[@SteveDonaldson-r5k]

I'm watching this while sipping a bloody Mary (which name has an interesting derivation). Cheers!

[@Oscartherescuedog]

What a beautiful looking area Smithfield is - those boozers looked stunning too! The only one I didn’t really like the look of was ye olde red cow.

[@TweedyPubs]

I agree! I hadn't been to the Red Cow for at least a decade, maybe longer. It used to have a bit more charm than that!

[@antonybrown4231]

We used to visit the Cock Tavern after a night shift and it used to be rough as a badgers bum! Oddly very low grade beer and breakfasts but notable for arguing drunk butchers covered in blood! The Fox & Anchor was a posher option with the odd serious alcoholic city worker calling in for a morning top up for those early drinks. The Hope was somewhere between the two extremes in those days, with a very good breakfast upstairs but a lively bar atmosphere downstairs. This was around 1987-1995. The Fox still has early opening.

[@jackzone6]

Back in 2004 I had my first, legal pint in The Cock Tavern at about 8 or 9 in the morning. I had a Guinness with a fantastic cooked breakfast, with kidneys! Which you certainly don’t see very often, early houses or kidneys for breakfast!

[@PeterWelch-o9y]

Not sure how I have managed to miss the Fox and Anchor! I will add that to my "to visit" list for when next in that neck of the woods. Thanks @TweedyPubs !

[@razzle1964]

During the 80s & 90s (less so, after the millennium) the Fox and Anchor would be our ‘go to’ pub for many celebratory occasions (usually a leaving ‘do’ or significant birthday). It involved a 6am start, full English brekkie, 4 or 5pts of Guinness & a game of pool. Then, off to the office. For the ‘hard core’ among us the day ended with a meal at Le Café du Marche, just off the square. Halcyon days.

[@Thefisherman27]

Glad you mentioned poirot.

[@chriswhite1417]

Enjoy your tours. Might I suggest a SE London tour of Blackheath and Greenwich. Particularly the latter such as The Plume of Feathers, Trafalgar, Gypsy Moth, Admiral Hardy, Cutty Sark, Pelton Arms and the oddity that is The Pilot (on Greenwich Peninsula)

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Chris! Yes I agree I should head down that way some time soon.

[@nigelcass8972]

Back end of Fox and A is charming and very cosy. Good grub too

[@michaelhall2138]

You are a gem, sir.

[@TweedyPubs]

Thank you Michael!

[@infoscholar5221]

By the time my dear wife and I retire, it seems, there won't be a damned bit of character, out in the world, that tourists haven't paved over, drained of history, or made ridiculous. Glad this man is at least out there, with an acute knowledge, documenting what is rapidly going away.

[@wayinfront1]

Fascinating. Some gorgeous pubs there. Loved the anecdote about Barry Humphries and John Betjeman. Nice, lively light opera music at the start of this vid. Seems appropriate for all Victorian and Edwardian pubs, but might have had a specific, though unstated, relevance here. You're evidently a dab hand at editing, getting it all done so quickly and then posting your vid within a day or two. Very enjoyable watch, as ever.

[@steveboyd8994]

Had no idea the Cock Tavern had closed in 2013 - i visited back in 2005 (at just after 6am) for a few pints of Youngs and a veritable zoo on a plate fried breakfast!

[@JEFFERYSJOHNSON]

Thanks for the area tour. I have walked through part of that area but for some reason wasn’t on a pub hunt. Must have been sick or something that day. :-)

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Jeff! I've pretty much only ever been to this area for the pubs!

[@AndrewJFredricks]

What about the Bishops Finger?

[@bregawn]

Red cows are common

[@askl23]

0:38 the Midtown Uniform has made its way across the pond I see

[@TweedyPubs]

Are you referring to the gilets? I'm guessing there is a different name for them in the US? (Given, for example, we say waistcoats, but over there they say vests)...?

[@SlurpyDave254]

Had to google where Smithfield was, defo going there on my next london venture, lots of history n some cracking boozers, nice one John👍🍺

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Dave! Yes I think it's a really good area for pubs, also close to there is Ye Old Mitre which I almost considered including in this video but I eventually decided to make a video solely about that pub, as there's so much to say.

[@SlurpyDave254]

@TweedyPubs the Mitre deserves a vid just on its own👏

[@antonybrown4231]

the area of Smithfield is interesting for visitors not just for pubs and architecture but for restaurants too. Given the compact nature of the centre of town its not a bad idea to stay off the west end and stay in a place with good pubs and eating places as that makes for an easy stroll back to the hotel at the end of the night.

[@SimonStamenkovic]

Really enjoying the tours, thanks.

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Simon, that's great to hear!

[@camberbanbury3691]

Classical music is associated with silly snobbery and begging the government for funds to keep the orchestra going; instead you need to focus on more innovative music that can stand on its own two feet such as heavy metal Somalian music or serbo croat jazz or the greatest digeroo hits of yesteryear and even the current year from Papua New Guinea.