I've been alerted to this 'review' of my favourite local, the Dog & Bell in last week's Saturday Times.
Unfortunately the headline is rather misleading, since most of the article is about what great pubs you get in Europe.
All over the country you can find pubs that augment their world-beating warmth with everything from the whitest of witbiers to the darkest brews from the deepest cellars of the monasteries.
Prime among such pubs in London is the Dog and Bell, a delightful little local in an unassuming part of Deptford, which offers not only a great range of British beers but also as many as 20 Belgian bottled creations. There’s no better place to settle back, crack a Poperings Hommelbier and rejoice in the fact that we are not alone.
While the review is positive, the inclusion of the Dog & Bell in this article does lean rather heavily on the fact that it sells European beers, rather than highlighting what I consider its main strength and the main attraction for me - its continued support of brewers in the UK. It's the place to go if you want to sample a continuously-changing range of guest beers from around the UK - usually a choice of three alongside the finest pint of London Pride you can get, or Fullers ESB if you prefer a stronger brew.
3 comments:
Last night in the Dog and Bell I had a pint of 'Side Pocket' from the Tring Brewery
http://www.tringbrewery.co.uk/PermanentandSeasonal.html
followed by two bottles of Brooklyn Lager
http://www.onlyfinebeer.co.uk/beer/738/
The Dog has something for everyone and the article did refer to ''a great range of British beers''.
People go there for a variety of reasons, not least that with no jukebox or fruit machines, customers talk to each other.
It's journalism at it's very worst. What do we learn in this so-called review? That the D&B serves local ale and Belgian beers. The rest is mindless padding. I agree with the dame's assertion that no visit was made.
"It's journalism at it's very worst."
A bit like water at its wettest. The majority of press articles about Deptford are written by people who have never been here.
As to whether or not The Times actually visited the Dog and Bell, the giveaway is the final line:
"There’s no better place to settle back, crack a Poperings Hommelbier and rejoice in the fact that we are not alone."
The D and B has not stocked it recently but does have a Poperings Hommelbier sign attached to the fascia as can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bagrec/138417934/sizes/l
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