Dodgy Pubs

benjybars

benjybars

village elder.
inspired by Martin's off-the-radar clubs thread i thought it would be good to get a dodgy pub discussion going... Although hundreds of pubs close every year or become wetherspooned there must still be a fair few grim ones knocking around??

I'll kick off with the Queen's Head on the corner of turnpike lane by duckett's common (North London).. this place is nuts.. walk past on a friday or saturday night and see various african,cypriot,turkish,eastern european guys (and girls) hanging around moodily (often spilling out into the used car yard next door) and smoking massive amounts of weed whilst really loud dancehall is blasted out of the pub.. definitely an international petty criminal convention feel about the place. My mate got pushed off his bike while cycling past it a few months ago and ambulanes are pretty standard at the weekend. A freind of a friend's brother works in there and is apprantly good frinds with the albanian pimp that works the area:slanted: It used to be just a fairly crappy pub but it's dodgy factor has definitely rocketed in the last couple of years
 
mos dan

mos dan

fact music
i live in balham/tooting, which in the last ten years has been swept by a full-on tide of gentrification (it's moving slowly down the northern line).

consequently, a dodgy pub in my area is one that hasn't had its revealed brickwork hand-polished lately.
 
STN

STN

sou'wester
martin said:
Is the Assembly Rooms in Kentish Town still going? I was hanging round with a mate by the door one night, when suddenly everyone (the entire rest of the pub) shut up, and were all staring at us, and then filed out of the other set of doors. We were standing there thinking 'What the fuck's going on?', and then turned around and saw a line of cops behind us. There used to be a psychopathic black bloke with no legs called Mudhopper who drank in there, a right vicious little bastard.

QUOTE]


Is that the one directly north of the station?
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G

gabriel

The Heatwave
STN said:
Is that the one directly north of the station?
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yeah, on the way to the forum on the right

i used to go there a lot when i was at sixth form, it never occurred to me that it was at all dodgy, but recently i drove past it with someone and they were like 'god they've done that up, it used to be a proper shithole'. maybe that was before my time. there's certainly far worse pubs in kentish town than the assembly rooms

father ted's in stoke newington is quite weird, it feels like a niteclub (sic) in a provincial town
 
STN

STN

sou'wester
Yeah the Assembly Rooms used to be bloody horrible, awful beer as well. Now it's the usual smoked glass chandelier/Satropramen (cliches of complaint, I know) nonsense.

Two from the home counties:

The Albany, Twickenham: Wonky pool table with different-sized balls on it, holes in seats and walls that had been made in about 1997 and never repaired. Dire rockabilly nights, naked kids everywhere. Looked onto a massive carpark (which the owners lived in), done up in around 2005 and made the usual rubbish.

Sir Robert Peel, Norbiton: skinheads in blood-spattered t-shirts with bulldogs, loads of fights. First pub in UK to have strippers, Rockbitch played their last ever UK gig there. Still going strong.
 
M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
martin said:
The Kingdom in Kilburn might be different now, but if you didn't stand up when they played the Irish national anthem you could expect a kicking.
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lol that's my regular, it's a lovely place! But yeah, you gotta stand up! It also helps if you know the words to Aon Focal Eile :



Lol I also used to really like the Queens Head, so you get the idea...the most dodgy pub used to be the Elephant and Castle in Vauxhall, a tiny spit and sawdust drag bar in which I saw some of the most vicious glassings ever. And that was just by the girls.
 
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sodiumnightlife

sodiumnightlife

Sweet Virginia
has anyone seen that awful program on sky three late at night about the worst pubs in britain? they had a feature on a pub in ipswich: it was a total skin head, 10 pints of carling type of place. There was a regular house band that played there and they were interviewing them about how tough it was and they were like "yeh, gotta play the stuff the crowd wants or you'll get glassed" etc.

So they had footage of them playing the gig and all these guys were going mad for it, but this band was a UB40 covers band! I was like, "eh?." I never could connect skin heads and "Red, red wine."
 
M

Martin Dust

Techno Zen Master
Hen and Chickens in Sheffield is about as low as you can go, open drug deals and orders for things you want shoplifting. The Tap and Barrel is pretty rough and has the worst smelling bogs in Sheffield. When they knock that place down they'll still be saying can you smell piss 50yrs on.
 
D

don_quixote

Trent End
smoking ban will do it wonders then.

went to this pub which is described on the internet as "Saturated by sixth-formers with a dribbling of dodgy old men trying to pull them thrown in for good measure" on friday night, but thought it was AWESOME. they had a fish in a phonebox.
 
D

don_quixote

Trent End
it was sarcastic, my friends in scotland moan that now the smoking ban has come in, instead of the pubs smelling of smoke they smell of the toilets.
 
M

Martin Dust

Techno Zen Master
don_quixote said:
it was sarcastic, my friends in scotland moan that now the smoking ban has come in, instead of the pubs smelling of smoke they smell of the toilets.
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Been up a few times, it's kinda odd and makes you want to smoke more. 100's of people out on the pavement, must be a doorman's nightmare.
 
W

wonk_vitesse

radio eros
There was a thread like this a few years ago on another well known bulletin board. It was so good that you learnt more about London in those few pages than any guide book would tell you ;)

dodgy pubs ? I always find it amusing that pubs take years to throw off their bad image after a couple of dodgy incidents. The populace moves with it's feet and never returns. Our local the 'Hobgoblin' (old George Canning) Brixton remains 'edgy' forever seemingly, it's big beer terrace allowing everyone to get along whatever, great on a summer afternoon.
 
M

mms

sometimes
Martin Dust said:
Been up a few times, it's kinda odd and makes you want to smoke more. 100's of people out on the pavement, must be a doorman's nightmare.
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haha when i went to new york i had some very interesting chats with the doormen when i was having a ciggy.
 
sodiumnightlife

sodiumnightlife

Sweet Virginia
the smoking ban has worked pretty well and has changed the whole dynamic of clubbing...i don't smoke but sometimes its kinda nice to get a break and go sit outside. specially if the club is shit.
 
M

Martin Dust

Techno Zen Master
mms said:
haha when i went to new york i had some very interesting chats with the doormen when i was having a ciggy.
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When we played the Sub-Club the guys on the door said it had worked out OK, not as much hassle as they thought. Not sure what the figures are but I'm sure loads of people stay home but I guess it will work out in the long run, just a shame we'll lose some good places in the process.
 
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