[Closed] London Guinness drinkers - Smithys Kings X

+1 watching with interest

(My mum's in the neck of the woods next week on a rare-for-her trip outside Wales. She likes the occasional Guinness, so it would be good to point her somewhere where she can sip half a pint and enjoy her day out.)

No idea re the Guinness but SMITHYS is a great little drinking spot.

Cheap (relative) too.

GK IPA was bogof last week.

thanks for the post, I'll deffo make my way over there as I am staying close by. I better go to Condor first as a bogof beer may cloud my judgement.

Ourmaninthenorth - for a safe bet ask yr mother to go to the Coalhole on the Strand. I've never been let down but fancy a change.

cheers poolman. I'll point her there.

At the risk of sounding like a beer snob, there are MUCH better stouts out there than Guinness.
I think im right in saying all UK Guinness is now brewed in Dublin, although it was brewed at Park Royal in London, I think that stopped brewing about 15 odd years ago.
*EDIT* Park Royal stopped brewing in 2005.

Coach and horses in Wellington STreet near the Opera house has always had good Guinness...and great roast sandwiches at lunchtimes!

Not sure if big Richard is still the landlord, but if he is then the Marquis of Granby, Cambridge circus in between soho and cov garden has got to be a good shout.
When he had the Lyric it was the best guinness I've ever had served, as in bringing it over to you a few minutes after ordering, once settled properly.
Might check it out next time I'm in the area, proper landlord pubs are dying out but he certainly took no messing if someone did something he didnt like (such as standing in front of the door to the bogs).

cheers cb - is the coach & horses the pub almost opposite the main entrance (ie, not the plaza entrance) to the ROH, are the sandwiches really good? I usually go to Food for thought on Neal st so may give that a go.

Bigyinn - what stouts are better? I think Guinness in the Coalhole is abou 5 gbp a pint, it's an expensive hobby.

poolman - on the other side of the road and to the right a little bit i.e. not directly opposite. I've had the sausage ciabatta and the roast gammon on bloomer and both were fantastic.

Off the top of my head....

Youngs Double Choc Stout
Meantime Stout
Fullers Black Cab Stout
Sheperd Neame Double Stout

Guinness is very standardised and if kept properly should be the same pretty much everywhere.

[quote=bigyinn ]
Guinness is very standardised and if kept properly should be the same pretty much everywhere.
+1 I'm failing to see how any pub could claim to have "the best" Guinness.

Guinness is very standardised and if kept properly should be the same pretty much everywhere.

Yup it's all shit.

Guinness is very standardised and if kept properly should be the same pretty much everywhere.

You gentlemen haven't carried out enough research. The further Guinness travels the worse it gets. The way the pint is poured is also key to a good pint. It should be filled half to 2/3rds and set on the bar to settle. Then filled up and left again to settle. Enjoy.

The chop house near work, Simpsons, definitely had a nicer pint of guiness that anywhere else local when I was there last.

The myth behind the Guinness two pour cobblers.
The way people eulogise over a pasteurised keg beer always suprises me.

http://www.bogrolls.net/GuinnesTheMythII.html

Then again what do I know, I drink lager.

Find somewhere that sells a lot and cleans its lines and it will taste the same as everywhere else that does the same.

Coach and Horses used to be one of the places to go in London to get Guinness from Dublin before they moved all production back there, saw Richard Harris propping up the bar in there once.

...and now I feel *really* old having googled to find all Guinness has come from Dublin for nearly 10 years, and RH has been dead for 12

The myth behind the Guinness two pour cobblers.

I have conducted 20 years research into this and can assure you that the 2 stage pour is superior. Unless you are talking about that vile extra cold stuff. You can pull that any way you like, I'll not be touching it.....hic

bigyinn - Member
Off the top of my head....
Meantime Stout

Ewe, bit sweet, even that poured from the Meantime Brewery in Greenwich 😕

When I lived in London Guinness was my main tipple so I researched this subject extensively. I realise Guinness should be the same everywhere but it possibly reflects badly on London's publicans that the quality of what you got served up was so variable. I think they brought out the ice cold stuff so that you couldn't taste how bad crap Guinness actually was.

The Coach and Horses in Covent Garden was the place I was going to suggest. Their Guinness, which used to get shipped in from Dublin, when most places were supplied by Park Royal, was always beautifully kept and served, and went down a treat with their salt beef sandwiches.

There was also a Porterhouse(?) which was a kind of brewpub/microbrewery that sold its own stouts in one of the streets between Covent Garden market and the Strand. No idea if it's still there. There was also one of them in Dublin.

The best pint of Guinness I can remember having in London was in an Irish pub down Wandsworth/Earlsfield way called Tir Na nOg. Bit of a schlep from Kings Cross though.

The best stout full stop I can remember having was a seasonal offering from the Ringwood Brewery in a pub in Lymington in Hampshire. Utterly delicious.

The best stout full stop I can remember having was a seasonal offering from the Ringwood Brewery in a pub in Lymington in Hampshire. Utterly delicious.

Anything from Hampshire is "Utterly delicious" 😀

Anything from Hampshire is "Utterly delicious"

It must have been good to have torn me away from my staple diet, while I was there, of Horndean Special Bitter. What a luvverly pint that is.

Hmmm, HSB, always found that a bit sweet, although its a while since it actually came from Horndean. Went past there about a month ago and only the brewery tower remains, the rest was a building site for flats. Boo!