It is hard to contemplate, but only a little over 200 years ago Greenwich was a fishing village, and, in season, one of the catches yielded up by the River Thames was whitebait. Nowadays the River Thames is not quite so prolific, but the Trafalgar Tavern is still the place in London to go and east a whitebait dinner. In the 19th century senior Liberals and Tories would annually board rival barges and sail down the Thames for such a dinner. [click to continue…]
As the sole London outlet of Sussex brewers Harvey’s of Lewes, The Royal Oak is very much a magnet for beer lovers as well as representing a sympathetic rescue of a fine and unusual Victorian interior. Harvey’s occupies an unusual place in the pantheon of UK brewers in that — along with Timothy Taylor’s of Yorkshire — it is the most widely admired and respected with the brewing trade. When, in 1999, the River Ouse burst its banks and inundated the brewery, other rival brewers rallied round, offering casks, assistance with saving the yeast strain and — significantly — not poaching accounts when the brewery was down. As a result Harvey’s found in 1790, was back in production in remarkably short time, and its ardent band of followers could breathe a sign of relief. The Jenner family who run the firm have had their share of adversity in recent years. The brewery was ravaged by fire only a few years before the flood. A plague of frogs is expected at any time. [click to continue…]
