Pubs

Two new drinking establishments have opened up near my workplace in central London. Here is the review of one of them from the 'Is You London?' freesheet:

"Just round the corner is a new place called De Lancy's. It's classy from the outside - glass frontage, neon sign, 5 bouncers. And it has décor inside to match. Black faux leather seats along the walls, dark wooden tables, a chrome bar where they give you your change on a silver platter like the antithesis of a communion wafer.

You pay only £8 to get it in, and they have a happy hour from 5pm - 5.20pm when cocktails are only £15 each. The bar has one beer on tap (Stella), but they also have bottles, so fans of WKD or 'Sirrus' won’t be disappointed. And after a couple of drinks, you might pop into the exquisitely clean toilets, where there are 4 Nigerian students in every cubicle waiting to hand you toilet paper when you finish your business. Or you can do what I did and refuse to wipe so that you don’t have to give them a pound each on the way out.

The music policy is varied. Thursdays is funky house, Fridays is 70s disco and house, Saturdays is house, tech-house and house house, and Sundays you can wind down with some house.
This place is quickly becoming popular with some people who don't know any better. Check it out some time."

The other is a different sort of establishment:

"Next door to the tobacconists is one of my favourite pubs, the Dog and Jesuit. It's in a 17th building with a chequered history: having started as a dairy, it has had incarnations as a brothel, a jail, a super-villain's secret underground lair and a catfood factory before being taking over by the Badger's Arse brewery in 1878.

Inside, pub is gloomily wood-panelled, with knick-knacks and junk stapled to the walls randomly. Behind the scruffy wooden bar, the oversized landlord and two tiny east European barmaids keep the place shipshape. Music policy varies, from Rolling stones, to old blues records, to silence, depending entirely what mood John the landlord is in. Sometimes you won't be able to hear over the noise of conversations about war, music and history; other times it's so quiet you'll be able to hear the old man who sleeps on his stool at the end of the bar dribbling onto his News of the World.

The beers are varied; favourites include Bishop's Nipple, Old Bumhole and Sneaky Gyppo, along with guest beers like St Winifred's Nightmare Stout; and one lager - I forget which. It also does wine for ladies and gays."