Ah the nostalgia, I spent many happy hours missing trains in the Hole in the Wall back bar as the trains rumbled overhead, the bogs weren't as bad as you might have thought given the clientele of "Burke's" in the late 1970s.
The Sun and the Barley Mow were excellent pubs and would be on most people's lists now if they were still around. I missed the others you mention back then, another must visit pub at the time was the Goose & Firkin in Borough Market, one of David Bruce's brewpubs, possibly the first.
"At that moment I would have given a kingdom, not for champagne or hock and soda, or hot coffee but for a glass of beer" Marquess Curzon of Kedlestone, Viceroy of India.
I can't think of any that are outrageously bad, but the urinals at The Duck & Drake are guaranteed to clear the sinuses, or a thick head, better than any smelling salts.
Last edited by aleandhearty; 15-10-2012 at 11:19.
'And where he supped the past lived still. And where he sipped the glass brimmed full' John Barleycorn, Carol Ann Duffy.
I'm fairly sure that it was the first Firkin pub and it was actually in Borough Road rather than the Market. It's a Sheps pub now called the Duke of York. I have a vague recollection of it not being CAMRA approved as it was blanket pressure, or maybe something else.
I've also forgotten the name of that strong dark beer they used to make, I can remember drinking it in the Pheasant and Firkin in EC1, maybe if I hadn't consumed so much of it I would be able to remember the name!
"At that moment I would have given a kingdom, not for champagne or hock and soda, or hot coffee but for a glass of beer" Marquess Curzon of Kedlestone, Viceroy of India.
I've had the privilege recently of being in Vodka Revolution in Manchester and seeing two people projectile vomit in the toilets before they could even get to a cubicle. However I must not have a great sense of smell, or at least am not easily offended, as to me the worst toilets are those you have to go on a five minute trek to find. In my head I generally give a pub a +1 for having the toilets a few seconds' walk from the bar.