30 March 2009

The Wheatsheaf, Borough


In January, London lost the famed Astoria venue to make way for the Crossrail project to much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Fewer people noticed that, in the same month, the Wheatsheaf pub at Borough Market (probably the second best in that area, after the mighty Royal Oak) also shut its doors, to make way for the expansion of the Thameslink network. Pretty soon London's rail connections will be the envy of Europe, but there won't actually be anywhere to go when you get here.


5 February 2009

Peveril of the Peak, Manchester

To Manchester, where the fate of one of the city centre's best pubs, the Peveril of the Peak on Great Bridgewater Street, hangs in the balance.

The mighty Peveril shut its doors some time last year and is currently up for sale (despite the confusing 'sold' sign seen in this picture).

According to the MEN, the pub is currently going for a very reasonable £212,500. We trust and hope that, "current climate" notwithstanding, some far-sighted entrepreneur will leap at the opportunity to restore this august institution to its former glory.

30 November 2008

Kings Arms, Wapping

Not often, but occasionally, I grow weary of south-east London's apparently inexhaustible supply of boarded-up boozers and seek refuge North Of The River. The East London line currently being shut, I recently decided to cross the divide on foot, via the Rotherhithe Tunnel. This is not something I would recommend to fellow pedestrians. Hours later, I emerged blinking and coughing onto Cable Street, and was immediately confronted by the Kings Arms in all its graffiti'd glory. Beady-eyed enterpreneurs may have noticed that it is currently up for sale.


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25 October 2008

Little Crown, Rotherhithe

While many Pubs That Are Shut look -- to be brutally frank -- like they deserve to be shut, if not imploded, the closure of the Little Crown, with its traditional pub sign and promise of Brown Ale, looks like a sad loss to the community. Of course, this is conjecture, but looking at it one can imagine Last Orders-style scenes of boozy Cockney comraderie.

Just down the street is a Sky Sports-type establishment, which seems to be doing a roaring trade.



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There's better pictures of the Little Crown here and here.