I had a pleasant shock today. I thought that The Harrow pub in Whitefriars Street had been long-demolished until I stumbled upon its continuing existence through its internet site. I remember it from 30 odd years ago, when it was serving ye olde English fare at lunchtimes, in accordance with its ca. three hundred year tradition, and long before 'gastro-pubs' started. Anyway, renovated but not, apparently, totally obliterated, it is still there and I am sure that it is worth a visit by an FNB pub-inspector, such as the Bishop or Kingstonian:
http://harrowlondon.co.uk/
True, it looks as though it smells of fresh paint and the surfaces are more even than they have any right to be; nevertheless, it made my day to see that it is still there and recognizable - especially, the dining room and the snug.
It was one of my after-work haunts when I worked around St Paul's/Ludgate. Let's hope that Fullers do not let the renovators near the Red Lion on Duke of York Street.
^ More likely to be guys from Hackett.
I worked in Temple Avenue at the end of Bouverie Street when The Sun was still printed there. You would pass lorries loaded with newsprint as you walked in to work.
I never used The Harrow. The Witness Box in The Temple was the closest pub. A lot changed. The Old King Lud at Ludgate Circus was relaunched with lots of ales but is now no longer a pub. The Punch Tavern was split in two. A new Fullers pub called the Bank of England opened by The Royal Courts of Justice. Fullers do seem to have increased the number of pubs they have. The Harrow was not Fullers when I worked around the corner.
I believe that several Fleet Street pubs have fairly recently gone - the Poppinjay; The King and Keys; The Cartoonist & The Globe (Shoe lane); The George and The Rumboe (Old Bailey); Serjeants (Old Mitre Court); The White Swan and the White Horse and The Printer's Devil (Fetter Lane); White Swan (Tudor Street). All chaps want at lunchtime these days seems to be a Pret a Manger sandwich with 'lite' mayo, and a cappuccino made with skimmed milk. Gone are the days of 'lunch in a bottle'.
The Red Lion in Duke of York Street is a listed building, which gives it some (not copper-bottomed) protection.
The Cartoonist has gone, as has The City Retreat. The building on top of them are being gutted. Printers Devil is long gone. There are lots on Fleet Street I did not use and went unnoticed by me.
Lunchtime drinking is widely frowned upon.
Yes it is a major reason. That and the fact that beer in pubs is so dear compared to supermarket alcohol. And you cannot smoke in pubs, so the smokers are all out in the cold.
I gather fast food is aspirational in Brazil. Big Mac burgers cost a lot and the middle class eat them. Fat is an issue because of imported Western eating patterns( source:- BBC programme on fat)
That said I went to The Dog and Bell in Deptford on Friday* to meet some South East London friends. It is a fine pub. However most of the pubs in Deptford High Street have closed. The shops cater to the majority African and Vietnamese residents. They are not big beer drinkers. However if you like fish there are more wet fish shops than any other part of London outside Billingsgate.
* The bar billiards table was out of order - but at least Andrew Gilligan was not in the pub
http://www.greenwich.co.uk/andrew-gilligan/deptford/
Pubs are being 'tinned up' or demolished everywhere.
I drove through, what would now be called a 'deprived area' near to where I was brought up, it was an early summer morning and I was shocked to see every pub and most shops either tinned up, boarded up, demolished or derelict and /or burned out.
It then hit me...the reckoning is almost upon us.
My home town just lost its last independent newsagent\sweet shop\tobacconist and most of the small traders have folded up their tents. Their old shops are given over to banks, building societies, charity shop, mobile phone shops, sportswear-tat shops and estate agents and the supermarkets ring the town like the robber barons that they are.
^ Tinternet also kills a lot of bricks and mortar stores.
You have something of a double edged sword with regards supermarkets.
Whilst its certainly true that they are the main reason for the demise of the corner shop/greengrocer, they have, on the other hand brought prices down and have introduced a much wider range of food/drinks to the general public.
You are a funny old lot.
Make Rumpole look like a happy go lucky chav.
Entertaining but.
Coffee shops too. As Belloc said:
"When you have lost your inns, drown your empty selves,
for you will have lost the last of England."
And I am very pleased and proud to be a part of 'a funny old lot'!