It’s the eternal question on the lips of locals and backpackers in London alike - where can we get a cheap pint in this pricey city? With most pubs in the center of town now charging around (cue collective horrified gasp) £3.50 a beer, we felt it was our duty to sniff out some affordable pubs around Soho.
And lo and behold, the £2 pint is not just a myth - thanks to the (frankly marvelous) chain of pubs owned by the Samuel Smith’s brewery.
And they’re not just cheap and cheerful. Housed in a collection of attractive historic buildings, they offer a slice of traditional British pub life as well as bargain prices.
We started out in Holborn one fateful Friday night and staggered between the best of the Sammy Smith’s in the area. All in the name of research, of course!
1. The Cittie Of Yorke, 22 High Holborn. 5.30pm. This lovely little pub is a bit of a hotspot after work and typically crowded with lawyer types from nearby offices. The medieval wood interior is pleasantly gloomy and there’s a surprising amount of space when the large cellar is open downstairs. Intimate booths line the edge of the main bar and so many cases are discussed in there at lunchtimes that it’s rumored they’re soundproof…
2. The Princess Louise, 208 High Holborn. 6.30pm. Further along the same road lies the next on our list, the beautifully restored Princess Louise. Although relatively unremarkable from the outside, the interior is a sumptuous feast of Victorian design, with carved wood detail and smoky mirrors. The main floor is split into tiny private bars accessed by doors the approximate size of a hobbit which become something of a challenge after a couple of pints.
3. The Crown, 51 New Oxford Street. 7.45pm. Situated right in the middle of Bloomsbury, The Crown is just as traditional and attractive but has the added benefit of a large, shady outdoor seating area. It shares the lively space with neighboring cafes, creating continental-style al fresco drinking during the summer months. Well, sort of. Yes, it was raining when we were there. And yes, we still sat outside…
4. The Angel, 61 St Giles High Street. 8.30pm. By this point things had begun to get a little bit messy… But even our blurry eyes could appreciate The Angel’s simple charm with its little coal fire for the winter and an old-fashioned feel. The crowd are mostly dedicated regulars, making this the quietest pub on our list and perfect for a peaceful pint or two in this bustling part of London.
5. The John Snow, 39 Broadwick Street. 9.15pm. Progressing past a handful of sex shops and through increasingly kitsch, sleazy streets into the heart of Soho (and past a policeman or two) brought us to The John Snow. Named for the renowned Victorian doctor and public health pioneer of the same name, it stands on the site of a water pump which the good Doctor once identified as the source of a cholera outbreak in London. Nowadays, it’s rather less of a health hazard and, due to its great central location, is often packed with patrons spilling out onto the surrounding streets during the summer.
6. The Glasshouse Stores, 55 Brewer Street. 10.30pm. We made it to the final stop fairly successfully (although one of our number had to make a quick dash back to The John Snow to rescue his bag). The Glasshouse Stores is at the other end of Soho, near Piccadilly Circus. It may look tiny from the street but inside there are actually three floors and a billiards table… With buckets of ‘olde worlde’ charm and a handful of ale-drinking regulars, it’s the perfect antidote to the busy (and expensive) tourist bars that surround it.
So there you have it - a bar crawl that’ll get you quite a bit of change from a £20 note! If that sounds appealing (and really, it should!), then here’s an interactive map of the route we took.
And this is only scratching the surface, for there are actually a total of 32 Sam Smith’s pubs in central London. All of them are good old-fashioned English pubs with no unnecessary gimmicks, and, far more importantly, all of them serve cheap and tasty beer!
In many ways, Indonesia’s celebration of independence (held every year on the 17th of August) is much like other festivals worldwide: people take a day off work, dress up, eat good food, and partake in cultural performances. Oh, and they also slather grease onto huge palm trees, stick prizes at the top, and then compete to see who can climb up and claim the goodies!
The game is called Panjat Pinang, and it’s actually practiced year round in Indonesia. And, since visitors are welcome to take part, if you happen upon a group of youngsters trying to climb a slippery trunk during your travels around Indo, ask to give it a bash. Be warned though, it’s just as hard as it looks!
Recently, we posted about the EXIT Festival in Serbia. Now, with the dust having barely settled in Novi Sad, it’s time to turn our (loving) attention to another awesome music festival in Central/Eastern Europe: Budapest’s Sziget Festival.
In many ways EXIT’s slightly older sibling, the two events occur within a month of one another (Sziget ‘08 ran from the 12th - 17th of August), which means festival-happy backpackers can get a double dose of musical mayhem. HostelBloggers have been a few times before, and though we found ourselves a bit too out of pocket to go this year, that’s not going to stop us waxing lyrical about it!
As with EXIT, part of Sziget’s schtick is in its setting. The word ’sziget’ means ‘island’ in Hungarian, and, set on a lump of land in the middle of the Danube, this is very definitely the Island Festival. There’s only one way to (and from) the music, and that’s via a bridge that connects Budapest with the island in its midst.
On first sight, this bridge can seem, frankly, pretty terrifying, given the mass of people waiting to landslide through its gates. But never fear! This is where the festival spirit starts, and within five minutes of waiting, you’ll probably already be drunk on all the pumping music and prevalent camaraderie (not to mention the beer that people freely pass around!)
Once on the island, it becomes instantly clear that Sziget is huge. And it’s welcomingly huge too. With a couple of hundred thousand people milling, mushing and moshing about, it’s wonderfully easy to get lost and meet people. Sziget surfs high on a wave of friendliness, and many a happy day can be spent teetering around and chatting to randomers.
Musically, Sziget is known for its wide-spanning coverage of just about every genre imaginable. Wander around the 24 stages, themed villages and camping sites, and you’re more than likely to encounter everything from mainstream rock to operatic thrash metal!
Particular highlights (well, for HostelBloggers, at least) include the ever-lively World Music Stage (pictured above), and the Ambient tent, where you can sip warm cups of chai during the day, and sleep to relaxing beats during the night.
Tickets for ‘08 cost €120 for the week (or €150 to camp on the island), while one day passes set you back €32. If you’re thinking about it for 2009 and don’t fancy the camping scrum, hostels in Budapest do tend to fill up pretty quickly, so try to arrange your stay well in advance.
Sziget in a Nutshell:
Food: Good. Expect to spend about €6 a day. There’s a good selection of stall vendors, and a couple of well-stocked grocery stores as well.
Drink: Excellent. About €1 per pint. Check out the bar next to the World Stage for five in the morning ad hoc table dancing.
Organization: As it should be - no one gets in without paying; tickets are exchanged for wristbands promptly; on-island security presence visible, but not in your face.
Services: Plenty of toilets, which are kept as clean as humanly possible, and showers which occasionally run lukewarm.
Best Moment: Crowd-surfing in a dingy.
Worst Moment: First sight of the bridge.
Most Frequently Broken Law: Swimming in the Danube.
Most Inadvisable Action: Swimming in the Danube (it’s disgusting!)
Survival Tip: If all the music gets too much, head to the Northern or Eastern edges of the island. You’ll find sand, trees, and perfect calm.
About a week ago, HostelBloggers went along to the London leg of the Red Bull Air Race. Not really knowing what to expect, we took our seats in one of the temporary grandstands, and filmed a bit of the action…
There’s something basically illogical about flying planes four meters off the ground whilst racing against the clock. And that’s pretty much what makes this series such a hit.
We were delighted to find the action surprisingly tense, and not without its drama, either - the favorite to win ‘crashed out’ in the first round, while multiple other pilots also managed to fly straight into the huge inflatable bollards that mark the course.
The Red Bull Air Race travels around the world, with legs in Rotterdam, Porto, London, Perth, San Diego, Abu Dhabi, Detroit and Budapest.
The Red Bull Air Race in a Nutshell:
Food: A few overpriced food stalls - about £4 a burger. You’re allowed to take your own food in, though, as long as it’s not kept in a hard-sided box (i.e. coolbox)
Drink: Similarly overpriced. £3.50 for a bottle of beer.
Best Moment: Watching the planes! It’s mental, really…
Worst Moment: Getting rained on.
Survival Tip: We were unusually lucky in that we had grandstand seats, but, at £45 a pop, they’re pretty pricey. Ordinarily we’d have been slumming it down in the cheap seats, where tickets for the standing areas went for a much more reasonable £15. Try to stand where you can see the big screens, as these help explain the action and provide decent fodder between races to keep you interested.
Always willing to put ourselves in the line of fire, HostelBloggers went along to report on the Great British Beer Festival held at Earls Court last weekend. Here’s some footage of what we found…
The festival is held every year, and really is a great day out. While some may baulk at the idea of going to a heaving convention centre to quaff some ale (after all, it’s a drink to be savored in a nice country pub, right?), we found the atmosphere both friendly and enjoyable.
The emphasis is on the testing and relaxed enjoyment of each individual ale - as opposed to the obliteration of its existence through committed consumption.
Admittedly some do get a little worse for wear. It goes without saying, though, that HostelBloggers weren’t amongst them, given that we were there on official duty.
Following this story that surfaced on the BBC a couple of days ago about an adventurous garden gnome, HostelBloggers have come across more tales of traveling toys.
Tilly, Tom and Tina are three lucky rag dolls about to embark on an adhoc tour of the world. Each has a polite notice attached to it asking the ‘owner’ (i.e. whoever picks it up at any one time) to take the doll with them on one leg of their travels, and send in a few pics of the results.
You can follow their progress here. Good luck to the three of them, we say. And remember, if you happen to see a slightly haggard looking doll flagging a ride during your travels, be sure to stop and give it a lift!
With all eyes currently turned to the Olympics in Beijing, it’s easy to see how much China loves its sport. And when you consider the activities available at the famous Macau Sky Tower, it seems that they’re also fans of the extreme stuff.
The Macau tower is the 10th tallest in the world and, along with its conference center and cafe with great views over the city (for more sedate visitors only of course), it offers high adrenalin adventures incluing the new craze - ‘Skywalk X.’
This involves strolling (!) around the edge of a narrow rim near the top of the 1,109 ft tall tower… Without a handrail.
If that doesn’t sound quite hardcore enough, you could always do a quick sky jump off the tower. Or have a bash at the world’s tallest bungee…
Taking our cue from Chris, who’s just posted a list of the Top 5 Travel Movies to Give you Goose Bumps over at Nomad4ever, HostelBloggers have been banging our heads together over a similar subject - the 5 funniest travel movies ever made.
We’ve made a start below but it’s a work in progress - all suggestions are welcome!
1) Airplane! - This wild parody of an everything-that-can-go-wrong-will-go-wrong blockbuster was probably the first of its kind. With every second of every shot packed with gags, Airplane! paved the way for such comedy greats as Naked Gun, Police Squad and Hot Shots.
What’s the plot? Well, it’s got something to do with a bunch of crazed and (at times) depraved passengers who become stricken by a mystery illness while in the air. But it’s not really the plot that matters; it’s more the visual puns, the quick-fire wordplay, and the lead character’s drinking problem that ensure the movie’s place in our top 5.
Standout Quote: (Air Stewardess, over the loudspeaker): There’s no reason to become alarmed, and we hope you’ll enjoy the rest of your flight. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?
2) Eurotrip - Eurotrip has got itself a bit of a cult following, bless its sweaty preppy socks. Ok, so it didn’t get a great reception on release, but (just between us) there’s actually quite a few people out there who think it’s rather good.
The laughs come from watching four all-American high-school friends bluff and blag their way round mainland Europe. With sexual encounters in Amsterdam, British football hooligans in Paris, and a meeting with the Pope in the Vatican, what’s not to like?
Standout Moment: The entire Amsterdam segment. Perfectly predictable!
3) Sullivan’s Travels - Mixing slapstick humor with quick-witted banter, Sullivan’s Travels has its protagonist cartwheel through America on the back of a railroad car, searching for the meaning of life and finding the importance of humor.
Of course, there’s a great tradition of American road movies (from Thelma and Louise to Badlands), and some of them have also been amusing (Roadtrip springs to mind) but Sullivan’s Travels was one of the originals, and they just don’t make ‘em like this any more.
Standout Tagline: Veronica Lake’s on the Take!
4) Planes, Trains and Automobiles - Like Sullivan’s Travels, this 80’s comedy is basically an American road movie - but with all the fun and disaster of Steve Martin at his best thrown into the mix.
Neal Page (Martin) is trying to get home in time for Thanksgiving but when bad weather grounds his flight the adventure begins… What follows is a good old family movie with more travel related catastrophes than you can dream of, with even more added comedy by John Candy’s irritating ‘Curtain Ring Salesman’.
Standout Moment: Getting charged for speeding after the speedometer is melted in a ‘minor’ car fire…
5) Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure - Well, it’s travel of sorts! We just couldn’t ignore the film that made every adolescent, young adult, and (lets be honest) aging statesman cry with laughter.
Bill S. Preston (Esq.) and Ted Theodore Logan run riot through the annals of history, traveling (we emphasize the word to persuade ourselves as much as anything else) from one famous historical moment to the next in order to complete a school project. The result: Carnage, hilarity, and a lot of dodgy guitar playing.
Once upon a time (aka the middle of July) not so far away, the sun was shining and Hostelbloggers skipped their way down to Brighton for a spot of sun, sea and sand (well, pebbles).
With its lively, arty atmosphere and proximity to the capital (London to Brighton is just an hour on the train), the town has long been a popular seaside resort with both Brits and travelers alike. Having suffered somewhat recently thanks to cheap flights jetting holidaymakers off to hotter climes, it’s now making a bit of a comeback.
This south coast town has all the ingredients for a great budget weekend - a decent stretch of (albeit pebbly) beach, vibrant nightlife and a handful of cheap Brighton hostels near the coast.
As soon as the sun comes out, the main beach near the center of town fills up quick but we lucked on to a quiet sunbathing spot in the rather eerie shadow of the old pier. We admit we only managed a quick dip in the water, though - it may have been refreshing but the temperature left a lot to be desired for mid-July…
Food and drink is pretty good value (especially when compared with London) and there are plenty of great eateries to fill up in after a long day lazing by the sea. Pints average at £2.80 and a pub meal will set you back about £6.
Along Western Road (and all the side streets leading down to the beach from here), there’s an excellent range of international restaurants, from Mexican to Lebanese.
They’re all mostly affordable, although our takeway picnic on the beach came in even cheaper - we plumped for the obligatory British seaside meal of fish and chips which was surprisingly tasty considering the town’s large tourist trade.
Brighton is also renowned for its lively nightlife and in summer the town buzzes with an eclectic crowd drinking al fresco along New Street and around the Pavilion.
There’s a host of clubs and late night bars in the center of Brighton but the best atmosphere is arguably along the seafront, where venues line the edge of the beach and music and revelers spill out for a quick breath of sea air.
If the sun comes out to play again this year, we thoroughly recommend the town for a great cheap break from the hubbub of London.
HostelBloggers recently recommended the East End Thrift Store down in Stepney Green, but it’s really just one in a series of exciting retail possibilities. When it comes to cheap shopping in London, East is very much where it’s at!
Every Sunday between 8am and 2pm, Columbia Road (an otherwise unremarkable street in Hackney) is transformed into the colorful, bustling sight of market traders and flowers.
Back in the day (from 1869 to be precise), all kinds of traditional East End goods were sold here, from food (pie and mash, naturally, with perhaps a jellied eel or two…) to clothes, but now it’s just seasonal plants, herbs, bulbs and fresh-cut flowers.
It’s a narrow street so it fills up quickly with the crowds, creating an enjoyable buzz. Even if your fingers aren’t particularly green, it’s a fun spot just to roam about.
There’s a good bit of people watching, too - especially the traders. We always have a (slightly immature) giggle at the sight of these big guys loudly extolling the virtues of their choice blooms in broad cockney…
Situated in the heart of Shoreditch, the nearest tube (Old Street or Bethnal Green) is a bit of a walk away but the streets surrounding the market are also good for a stroll. Nearby Ezra Street and Ravenscroft Street have some more random stalls to browse, along with a sprinkling of cafes and shops.
Lining Columbia Road itself are a number of trendy galleries, design stores and boutiques (we are in Shoreditch after all…) which all add to the eclectic crowd and atmosphere at the market.
The community’s Jewish roots are also evident, with filled bagels nestling in the window of Cafe Columbia that make a tasty, inexpensive brunch.
All in all, in HostelBloggers’ humble opinion, a pretty cool way to pass a Sunday in the big city!
1. The Cittie Of Yorke, 22 High Holborn. 5.30pm. This lovely little pub is a bit of a hotspot after work and typically crowded with lawyer types from nearby offices. The medieval wood interior is pleasantly gloomy and there’s a surprising amount of space when the large cellar is open downstairs. Intimate booths line the edge of the main bar and so many cases are discussed in there at lunchtimes that it’s rumored they’re soundproof…
3. The Crown, 51 New Oxford Street. 7.45pm. Situated right in the middle of Bloomsbury, The Crown is just as traditional and attractive but has the added benefit of a large, shady outdoor seating area. It shares the lively space with neighboring cafes, creating continental-style al fresco drinking during the summer months. Well, sort of. Yes, it was raining when we were there. And yes, we still sat outside…
5. The John Snow, 39 Broadwick Street. 9.15pm. Progressing past a handful of sex shops and through increasingly kitsch, sleazy streets into the heart of Soho (and past a policeman or two) brought us to The John Snow. Named for the renowned Victorian doctor and public health pioneer of the same name, it stands on the site of a water pump which the good Doctor once identified as the source of a cholera outbreak in London. Nowadays, it’s rather less of a health hazard and, due to its great central location, is often packed with patrons spilling out onto the surrounding streets during the summer.
1) Airplane! - 
2) Eurotrip - Eurotrip has got itself a bit of a cult following, b
3) Sullivan’s Travels - Mixing slapstick humor with quick-witted banter, Sullivan’s Travels has its protagonist cartwheel through America on the back of a railroad car, searching for the meaning of life and finding the importance of humor.
4) Planes, Trains and Automobiles - 
5) Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure - 
