Upcoming Events
FEB
25
Dinner Dance - Leitrim Assocation London
25-02-2012
Crown Moran Hotel, Cricklewood Broadway, London.
MAR
02
Music - Echoes of Erin
02-03-2012
Tyneside Irish Cultural Society
Reader Poll
Dinner Dance - Leitrim Assocation London
25-02-2012
Crown Moran Hotel, Cricklewood Broadway, London.
Music - Echoes of Erin
02-03-2012
Tyneside Irish Cultural Society
The White Horse Inn, Thornton, Bradford.
Stout had to think a bit about this edition of the column. Wondering if he could make this entry work and wondering if he should try.
It is not a regular Stout and About. But then it wasn’t a regular day.
Stout journeyed to Bradford, way up in Yorkshire. He had a great Granny who thrived up there until she bade farewell a few weeks ago.
That’s great as in brilliant, rather than the mother of your grandmother!
Granny Stout was an artist with a lust for life. She had the spirit of adventure and once toured Ireland and Scotland in her camper van when well into her 70s.
She would stop randomly along the way to paint scenic vistas, some of which hang in the Stout family home and the homes of many others too. There was hippie-spirit to Granny Sto...
The Richmond Arms, 55 Shepherd's Bush Road, London W6 7LU
Stout has to retreat a few weeks for this entry. The Richmond Arms was a pre-Christmas visit that dulled the senses in the run up to even more festivity. Stout didn’t travel alone. He was one from a gang of three on this particular night, though the third member only joined once the shoes had come off. We didn’t really take them off in the Richmond. The term is simply an analogy to explain how settled we became having been warmed by the welcome of the staff.
“You are from Ireland yes?” Asked and then answered the barmaid once two pints were shouted.
“Yeah,” we replied in unison.
“I have been there once,” she continued after declaring her nationality as Polish. “To County Wexford and county Roscommon, yes? She answered again...
O’Neill’s, 40 Great Queen Street, London WC2B 5AA
STOUT had been saving up his credits from Christmas. There was a week or two when he stayed in on Friday and Saturday watching reruns of The Morning Line and enjoying that time of the day too. It couldn’t last. It didn’t have to either. Stout has that Sky+ thing at home now so he can watch The Morning Line in the afternoon before the horse racing begins.
It was a late start this week — The Morning Line, not the racing. But then it was a late night. Stout is blaming Niall Quinn. Yes, the former Ireland and Arsenal striker turned Sunderland goal-poacher, turned chairman, turned extender of opening hours in central London on a Friday night.
The gang had retired after work to O’Neill’s in Holborn to watch the rugby. Ulster were playing Lei...
This year marked the third anniversary of the annual Stout and About awards. The anonymous columnist trawled pubs in Britain and Ireland in an effort to find the perfect pint and also to check if the world famous pouring process was being upheld in Ireland and overseas. It was a turbulent year with the closure and later the reopening of The Irish Post but Stout is delighted to unveil this year’s winners who all performed admirably under keen scrutiny. Congratulations and happy pouring in the future.
...
The Grapes,
Wandsworth,
London SW18 1DX
Tel: 020 8874 3414
STOUT was on a crawl about rather than a pub crawl. The crawl started on a Saturday afternoon and finished on a Sunday and Stout is thankful there won’t be another one until next year. He got lost twice, done all his dough, dithered over a large bag of chips and drank his way around the borough in between.
They call it the Billy Collins Jnr memorial tour - a toast to the memory of the late Irish-American boxer who was destined to be great and fittingly there was more than 12 rounds to the journey.
Stout’s not sure if he saw the twelfth. Yes, he knows it brings a whole new meaning to the term punch drunk, but he remembers speaking Irish shortly before bedtime and he only does that in very emotional circumstances. It was probab...
McGoverns,
147 Cricklewood Broadway,
London NW2
Tel: 020 8450 7817
STOUT likes to think that he’s a bit of a man about town, that his reputation precedes the city’s Irish landscape, but who is he kidding? He’s not old school Irish in London. He pales in comparison with some of the greats of the city - GAA figures like the late Paddy Ryan from Drom and Inch or Martin Connolly from Brian Boru; musical geniuses like Shane McGowan or legendary publicans like Peter McGovern.
Stout heard of the latter the same way he heard about all the rest, by way of deed and affectionate stories.
In the case of Peter McGovern that means the distribution of millions of pints of Guinness and the cashing of as many cheques.So when McGoverns landed upon his path last week, calling in for a pint was the be...
The Coat and Badge,
8 Lacy Road,
Putney,
London SW15
Tel: 020 8788 4900
STOUT has seen a few patterns emerge during the years he’s been knocking about London.
He could say he’s seen it all - bad pints, short pours, fast ones, free ones and last Saturday, the genre that annoys him most – fun ones.
Now Stout is all for fun. Oh yes. But only when it occurs naturally! Fun should never be an effort and it should never be made to look so. Now this isn’t an ode to bar staff pretending they’re having a better time than the customer, but Stout just can’t figure…are you guys working or shaping? If it’s the former, then here’s some friendly advice – stop.
Stout isn’t talking pleasant smile and friendly banter here. He’s talking dancing behind the jump, which is on the gyrating end of a foo...
The Nellie Dean of Soho
89 Dean Street,
London W1D 3SU
Tel: 020 7734 2572
STOUT knew the Nellie Dean of Soho was going to cause problems. He knew walking down the street from Tottenham Court Road Tube station that his trip to Soho Square was going to be the subject of interrupt and dare he say – subterfuge.
Yes, strong stuff and we’re not even talking pints. Not yet.
The problem was that Stout had been accosted for an evening radio interview. He had agreed earlier in the day to complete a live broadcast and could see afterwards that it was going to lead to collision – as well as being grey around the chops at the prospect.
How did it happen, he thought, why did he say yes, when no one would have afforded him a quiet pint - the appetizer to Frozen Plant with David Attenborough – sp...
The Union Jack Club
Sandell Street
City of London SE1 8UJ
Tel: 020 7902 6000
YES, you read the name right. Stout was in the Union Jack Club down Waterloo way. He holds both hands up, and that’s not some play on the fact he was an ex-army services’ club, just a declaration of honesty. Yes sir, no joke, Stout enjoyed a sup of black stuff in the Jack.
So how does a self-respecting Guinness drinker end up behind ‘enemy’ lines? Well, a meeting with a sound engineer is an equally obscure and unlikely explanation, but that is what it was.
Stout was learning about the workings of radio, instead of listening to it, part of his journalistic beat on a Wednesday down Waterloo way.
To get into the Union Jack wasn’t as difficult as it sounds. There was no Sentry on duty, only an aging Asian man...