Smithfield Pubs

A tour of pubs around London's Smithfield market, an area which might also be referred to as Farringdon or Clerkenwell.
As always some history thrown in between the pubs, including Holborn Viaduct, the gatehouse at St Bartholomew the Great, an anecdote from Barry Humphries about drinking Champagne from pewter tankards with John Betjeman, Bartholomew Fair and where the tradition of cutting ribbons to open supermarkets comes from, musings on why a pub would be called the "Old Red Cow", the handiwork of Sir Horace Jones, the British Art Nouveau style and how it related to William Morris, Charterhouse, Agatha Christie's Poirot, the Knights Hospitaller and St. John's Ambulance.
Pubs visited:
Viaduct Tavern: whatpub.com/pubs/ELC/14630/vi...
Rising Sun: whatpub.com/pubs/ELC/14633/ri...
Hand and Shears: whatpub.com/pubs/ELC/14632/ha...
Old Red Cow: whatpub.com/pubs/ELC/14637/ol...
Fox and Anchor: whatpub.com/pubs/ELC/14657/fo...
Holy Tavern: whatpub.com/pubs/ELC/14656/ho...
Music:
Can-Can by Offenbach (KZread Audio Library)
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:34 Viaduct Tavern
2:14 (St Bartholomew the Great)
3:12 Rising Sun
5:35 Hand and Shears
8:32 Old Red Cow
10:30 (Smithfield Market)
11:29 Fox and Anchor
13:52 (Charterhouse Square / Florin Court)
14:53 (St John's Gate)
15:36 Holy Tavern
17:14 Outro

Пікірлер: 52

  • @raymondmalone9721
    @raymondmalone97216 ай бұрын

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

  • @markjones327
    @markjones3279 ай бұрын

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

  • @TweedyPubs

    @TweedyPubs

    9 ай бұрын

    Thanks Mark, glad you enjoyed it!

  • @andrewdolinskiatcarpathian
    @andrewdolinskiatcarpathian6 ай бұрын

    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. 👏👏👍🍺😀

  • @WC21UKProductionsLtd
    @WC21UKProductionsLtd9 ай бұрын

    I loved the Betjeman story. He was a fascinating character and I just know he would have embraced KZread 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

    @TweedyPubs

    9 ай бұрын

    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 KZread's "Creator Lounge" in London (admission requires 10k subscribers apparently) has anything like the atmosphere of one of those Betjeman salons!

  • @WC21UKProductionsLtd

    @WC21UKProductionsLtd

    9 ай бұрын

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

  • @TweedyPubs

    @TweedyPubs

    9 ай бұрын

    @@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 KZread Creator Lounge is sh!t.

  • @WC21UKProductionsLtd

    @WC21UKProductionsLtd

    9 ай бұрын

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

  • @jamierobinson3349
    @jamierobinson33499 ай бұрын

    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

    @TweedyPubs

    9 ай бұрын

    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... 😁

  • @user-se7es6uc8v

    @user-se7es6uc8v

    6 ай бұрын

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

  • @johnsharp8632
    @johnsharp86329 ай бұрын

    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.

  • @antonybrown4231
    @antonybrown42315 ай бұрын

    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.

  • @johnrob6132
    @johnrob61329 ай бұрын

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

  • @michaelhall2138
    @michaelhall21389 ай бұрын

    You are a gem, sir.

  • @TweedyPubs

    @TweedyPubs

    9 ай бұрын

    Thank you Michael!

  • @nigelcass8972
    @nigelcass89725 ай бұрын

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

  • @Thefisherman27
    @Thefisherman279 ай бұрын

    Glad you mentioned poirot.

  • @user-yw1oo3ee5o
    @user-yw1oo3ee5o9 ай бұрын

    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

    @razzle1964

    9 ай бұрын

    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.

  • @LynaGalliara
    @LynaGalliara6 ай бұрын

    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

    @antonybrown4231

    5 ай бұрын

    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

    @apuldram

    4 ай бұрын

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

  • @user-se7es6uc8v
    @user-se7es6uc8v6 ай бұрын

    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

    @TweedyPubs

    6 ай бұрын

    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.

  • @user-se7es6uc8v

    @user-se7es6uc8v

    6 ай бұрын

    @@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

    @TweedyPubs

    6 ай бұрын

    @@user-se7es6uc8v 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!

  • @jackzone6
    @jackzone63 ай бұрын

    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!

  • @wayinfront1
    @wayinfront14 ай бұрын

    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.

  • @chriswhite1417
    @chriswhite14179 ай бұрын

    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

    @TweedyPubs

    9 ай бұрын

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

  • @SimonStamenkovic
    @SimonStamenkovic9 ай бұрын

    Really enjoying the tours, thanks.

  • @TweedyPubs

    @TweedyPubs

    9 ай бұрын

    Thanks Simon, that's great to hear!

  • @allennicklin1
    @allennicklin1Ай бұрын

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

  • @SlurpyDave254
    @SlurpyDave2549 ай бұрын

    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

    @TweedyPubs

    9 ай бұрын

    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

    @SlurpyDave254

    9 ай бұрын

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

  • @antonybrown4231

    @antonybrown4231

    5 ай бұрын

    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.

  • @Oscartherescuedog
    @Oscartherescuedog9 ай бұрын

    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

    @TweedyPubs

    9 ай бұрын

    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!

  • @paulturner487
    @paulturner4879 ай бұрын

    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

    @TweedyPubs

    9 ай бұрын

    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.

  • @steveboyd8994
    @steveboyd89942 ай бұрын

    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
    @JEFFERYSJOHNSON9 ай бұрын

    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

    @TweedyPubs

    9 ай бұрын

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

  • @askl23
    @askl239 ай бұрын

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

  • @TweedyPubs

    @TweedyPubs

    9 ай бұрын

    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)...?

  • @AndrewJFredricks
    @AndrewJFredricks7 ай бұрын

    What about the Bishops Finger?

  • @bregawn
    @bregawn5 ай бұрын

    Red cows are common

  • @camberbanbury3691
    @camberbanbury36919 ай бұрын

    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.