OK, as we have gone totally Omni- I will proceed.

PUB GUIDES

Egon Ronay [very well known British foot critic] produces a number of guides every year Hotels/Pubs etc etc.

The last ones published were the 1997 editions (ISBN 1-89871893-8), however these are generally regarding as being of inferior quality.

Mr Ronay has nothing to do with them. The rights to use his name (for 10 years ending 1998) were sold to "Leading Guides Limited". My advice to anyone wanting to purchase one of these guides is to wait until Egon publishes his own guide again this year.


LONDON PUBS

The best way to impress is to look down your nose at anything own by Tom Cobleigh or similar (plastic pubs).

Avoid any pub with Firkin in the name ie. Rat & Firkin; Flying Firkin; Ball & Firkin (horrible pubs, horrible people, horrible beer).

Don't drink lager.

Of the mass produced bitters "Directors'" and "Old Speckled Hen" are well respected.

Avoid pubs with "Family Rooms".

Avoid pubs with "Restaurants".
If a good pub does food it will consist of Chill-Con-Carne; Chichken Curry; Lasagne; Sacmpi-and-chips; Chicken in the basket etc.


I would recommend the following sites for further reading on this interesting topic:

www.camra.org.uk
Campaign for Real Ale Homepage

www.brannigans.co.uk/goodpubguide
Brannigans 3-D Good Pub Guide

www.beerhunter.com
Michael Jackson's Beer Hunter Online

www.u-net.com/~thepub/beers.html
The British Real Ale Database

www.blra.co.uk
Beer and Pubs UK - Updated every month

www.breworld.com
breWorld - Beer and Brewing on the Internet

Nick


NB: The contents of this post represents the views of the author only, and is not intended to be definitive.