London: October Beers

Fysh

Update:

October Beers are happening Friday 15th, starting from around 7:30-8:00, at the Betsy Smith (77, Kilburn High Road) in Kilburn. Afterwards, we will either wander up the High Road towards the Wasted Youth indie night at the Good Ship, or we'll head towards Camden.

Transport links:
The Betsy Smith is within about 5 minutes from Kilburn High Road Overground station and Kilburn Park Underground station (Bakerloo line). In terms of buses, the 16, 31, 32, 98, 189, 316, 328, 332 will all get you reasonably close, but your best bet is to search here.

As ever, if you're interested in coming along and haven't been before, drop me a PM.

Original post:
Well, the last Beers were great fun, even if most of us had fuzzy heads the next morning. We had a great turnout and a grand night out and around in Kilburn. So I figure we should strike while the iron's hot and get the ball rolling with the next session.

The usual poll is here, vote for whatever night you prefer. I'm open to suggestions for where to go as well, although I think we've established that we can probably use a default option of Kilburn quite happily

Also, I've created a thread to request a new London forum - please take a minute to go here and show your support.

LadyMayBelle

Great idea Fysh! There seems to be a good few folks in the north west London area so I think Kilburn is an option..but def want to keep those southerners in the loop!

Head fuzziness still there...:(

Will pop over and 'plus one' for the London forum

Jack B. Badd

Saturday 16th

The 29th & 30th are a no-go for myself and Fysh sadly - happily we will be back in Cork getting squiffy for my birthday Mid-month seems like the best option.

Fysh

Saturday 16th

Ack, I'm also not about for the 9th or 10th as I'll be in Dublin nerding it up at 24 hour comics day (probably best not to ask...).

On another note, RED is out at the cinema on the 22nd of October. Anyone up for going to see it as a group?

D-Generate

Saturday 16th

The 15th gets my vote for my expedition up north.

Fysh

Saturday 16th

D-Generate wrote: »

The 15th gets my vote for my expedition up north.

Heh, expedition makes it sound like you're going to need supplies and possibly a couple of sherpa guides...surely it's not gotten that complicated to get to Kilburn from Balham?

Sinall

Saturday 30th

I'm back in Waterford (not Mayo!) on 15 - 18 October, but would definitely be on for going to see Red!

silvervixen84

Saturday 30th

We might have visitors over during October so I'll play it by ear for now and see if I can make it closer to the time

Cheetara

Saturday 9th

Am quite jealous that I missed last Friday's drinks so i'll really really try and make these drinks.

Would probably go for the earlier part of the month as I'm (allegedly) going on holidays near the end of it!

Fysh

Saturday 16th

Tangentially related to the beers - I've created a County Kilburn group for all of us living in London, to hopefully show that there's demand for a London forum.

I'll use this to organise things like cinema meetups (first up - RED) and it would be really helpful if any of ye wanting to organise other gatherings or group events would use it that way too.

Dr.Giggles

Saturday 16th

I must collect 25 posts before I can join but count me in

bluedolphin

Saturday 16th

Defo up for ACTUALLY making it to a beers this time (it's only been 12 months that I'm in London now!). At the moment, the weekend of the 22/23 is a no-no but other than that I think I'm ok. Like D-Generate, I'll be packing a rucksack, a compass and some spam to make the journey northwards.

D-Generate

Saturday 16th

bluedolphin wrote: »

Defo up for ACTUALLY making it to a beers this time (it's only been 12 months that I'm in London now!). At the moment, the weekend of the 22/23 is a no-no but other than that I think I'm ok. Like D-Generate, I'll be packing a rucksack, a compass and some spam to make the journey northwards.

I have GPS, we just might make it in one piece. Still though, Kilburn is a nice spot so its worth the travel, nay journey!

Dr.Giggles

Saturday 16th

Good good, fellow south westerners It will be like a quest

bluedolphin

Saturday 16th

I'm a south-easterner, I'll have you know, Dr. Giggles! I am really coming in from the jungle for this. Will defo need that GPS. And a map. And some intuition.

I've voted for the 15th because that's proving to be popular and it suits me also, but the 8th or 9th are equally ok with me also.

Playboy

Friday 29th

I cant at the beginning or end of the month so either weekend in between would suit.

Do you guys always meet up in North London? How about meeting somewhere more central for us southerners!!? Kilburn is a trek and a half across London when the tube is open and I cant imagine trying to night-bus it back from there. Or else depending on how many we have from North/South we could do it on a rotating basis e.g Kilburn then Clapham etc.

Sinall

Saturday 30th

Playboy wrote: »

I cant at the beginning or end of the month so either weekend in between would suit.

Do you guys always meet up in North London? How about meeting somewhere more central for us southerners!!? Kilburn is a trek and a half across London when the tube is open and I cant imagine trying to night-bus it back from there. Or else depending on how many we have from North/South we could do it on a rotating basis e.g Kilburn then Clapham etc.

That was the first North London meet-up afaik! But there was a very good turn out.

Fysh

Saturday 16th

It's not always Kilburn - we've had a few in Charing Cross and a couple of other places, but it's not been as easy as I'd hoped to find suitable places, particularly in terms of transport.

I know there are a few folks down south, and it'd be good to have the November beers somewhere different. Any suggestions for places we could try?

Dr.Giggles

Saturday 16th

There is a problem for us southerners because the last night bus from Kilburn to Trafalgar is at 12:30 or something, which means we have to crash at someones house or rough it It might be good to start at kilburn to gather everyone and then maybe move towards camden or somewhere like that? ...but then I guess that will end up with Northerners not being able to get home. Tis a muddle

Fysh

Saturday 16th

Hopefully over time, we'll be able to establish enough people as Reliably Not A Nutter so that we can have some sort of Crashspace Exchange Program. In the meantime transport is definitely something we have to bear in mind.

Kilburn to Camden isn't a bad idea actually. We can walk, bus or overground it depending on how the evening turns out, and I'm reasonably sure that bus connections from Camden to Kilburn run all night (the 31 normally suits me, but there are also other routes depending where you're going).

Any preferences on places to hit in Camden? I'm probably going to be accused of being an old man for saying this, but some of the places I've been there have been a bit too trendy (and packed) for my liking...

Jack B. Badd

Saturday 16th

The Edinboro Castle is quite nice afair. Does food too.

The funny thing about the older meet-ups in Central London is that the max turn-out we had was about 4 people

Playboy

Friday 29th

Dr.Giggles wrote: »

There is a problem for us southerners because the last night bus from Kilburn to Trafalgar is at 12:30 or something, which means we have to crash at someones house or rough it It might be good to start at kilburn to gather everyone and then maybe move towards camden or somewhere like that? ...but then I guess that will end up with Northerners not being able to get home. Tis a muddle

Isnt Camden still North London though!? It will be easier for the Northerners to get home from Camden than us Southerners! Or did you mean Clapham instead of Camden?

I agree with Fysh re Camden though... its not really my scene. Like Shoreditch its all a bit too trendy for my liking.. I have had some great nights out in both places but have had better nights elsewhere!

I usually stick to Clapham/Wandsworth these days and sometimes head up to Angel/Old Street. I still find my way into Soho/The West End every now and again but it can be expensive. You will find me mostly out in the City on a Thursday/Friday though with Work. Some great spots but it is full of people in suits and it again can be quite expensive.

If we were to meet centrally then the west end would be fair for everybody and there are some good spots that you can find which can be quite cheap. Otherwise I think if we are meeting north or south of the river then the more central the better as night buses are easier to get. For instance it will be easier to get home from Camden rather than Kilburn if you are south and if you are north then it will be easier to get home from Clapham rather than Wimbledon.

To be honest this is the biggest challenge people face when trying to maintain friendships in London. London is just so vast that its like trying to have a social life with people who are based all over Ireland. Kilburn from my flat would take over 2 hours at night... thats as long as it takes to go between Galway and Dublin now. People just dont have the energy after commuting in and out to work all week to spend the weekend commuting as well. Usually people and friends will form around localities. A lot of my friends are based in Balham, Streatham, Clapham, Brixton, London Bridge with most of the socialising happening in homes or in clapham where everybody can easily get a cab or a nightbus home. Its taken me years to build up a network of people that live close by and Ive have only done that by moving and influencing other friends of mine to move.

Dr.Giggles

Saturday 16th

Well I suggested Camden because its near the northerners but we southerners can easily get home. Ya it will still take an hour or whatever to get home but no point bring people to Clapham Junction when the majority of people are from the north....

anyway I guess my point was, lets all meet in Kilburn (as I have been told this results in better turn outs) and then move more centrally later on I guess.

As far as pubs go, sorry I don't know, I have been out in Camden and Leicester square. I get the trendy thing about Camden alright. Ill just be looking for drink though so Im not bothered what pub we go to

D-Generate

Saturday 16th

Although it is quite the voyage from SW12, I am still down (or up) for meeting in Kilburn next time. Maybe another time when we can guarantee good numbers and turn out we will start moving more centrally.

Fysh

Saturday 16th

For the time being I say that we stick with Kilburn for the October Beers, with a proviso that we try another central london outing in November, maybe around Charing Cross.

The highest turnout we've ever had was the recent outing in Kilburn, with ten people (most of whom hadn't come along to a beers before). The previous highest turnout was 6 people, in Charing Cross, with 4 people having travelled in from north west london to get there. The usual turnout was 4 people, of whom 2 were usually myself and Jack B. Badd.

In terms of building up a regular crowd, the past events haven't been very succesful. I think part of this was down to the low visibility of the Boards UK forum, through which most of them were co-ordinated. That being said, I'm also very aware of what I call London Syndrome, that social phenomenon whereby some people will swear blind that they'll turn up to whatever it is you're organising only to then bail out at the last minute because they've also planned to go to five other things on the same day and something else seems more interesting. I'm pretty sure that this has also played a part.

I'm open to trying out new locations, but I'm wary of organising something in a location I don't know, unless there's a reasonable guarantee that it's going to have a positive effect on turnout. When it comes to picking venues, I don't want to pick somewhere that I haven't checked out myself, so I need to be able to pop down there ahead of time to have a look around and find out what the transport links are like.

Going forward, I would also like to see smaller groups arising based on location, so that as well as the monthly beers we can have cinema outings and gig outings and local drinks and whatever else people are interested in doing. But we don't have enough London boardsies getting involved in these sorts of conversations yet to be trying to form those sorts of splinter groups, so we need to give it time.

Coming back to Camden, the Edinboro Castle is nice but tends to be pretty busy of a weekend (though you can say this about a lot of the pubs in Camden). The World's End is big enough that crowding isn't quite such a problem, though getting a table/seating space might be a bit of a challenge. There's also a nice little Spanish place called Bar Gansa on Inverness St that tends not to be absolutely jointed.

Jack B. Badd

Saturday 16th

Ah...good old Bar Gansai

LadyMayBelle

Great stuff. Im well u for helping organise smaller meet up, cinema trips etc. Just back form a meet up myself in Hammersmith (non boardsie, sorry!) but worth making the effort for.

Def up for going to Kilburn and moving onwards but will suit others as well.

bluedolphin

Saturday 16th

I'm a southie, but I'm down with making the trek to Kilburn for October. There's no where in London really that you can go that *someone* doesn't have to make the journey for, and I agree with the argument that given the last outing generated the biggest turn-out with NWers, then stick with that until such a time when a group has solidified and then we can diversify location a bit when there's a guarantee that there'll be X-amount of people. I mean, it would be a tad disappointing for 3 NWers to travel to Clapham to find they were the only people there. Besides, I'm really not one to shout out my opinions given that I haven't even shown face at one of these yet, so until I do I'll just follow the crowd

Fysh

Saturday 16th

Reposting from another thread:

D-Generate wrote: »

I suggest an SW12, SW4, SW17 meetup soon enough. We should at least meet up before venturing up to NW since so many are up there already. I will put this out there whilst I am still tipsy,
Friday 15th, Belleveu 7 p.m. Lets meet up there, grab one (no more!) and head up north to Kilburn.

We should probably aim to move towards Camden between 9:30 and 10 in that case - easiest thing is probably to hop on the Overground from Brondesbury to Camden Road.

Fysh

Saturday 16th

So at LadyMayBelle's indirect suggestion I wandered into the Betsy Smith last night, and was very impressed. It's a nice-looking place, a decent selection of beers and a great selection of cocktails (including one that comes with a jaffa cake and another that comes with chocolate buttons!). Plus it's really handy for the 31 bus towards Camden.

LadyMayBelle

Fysh wrote: »

So at LadyMayBelle's indirect suggestion I wandered into the Betsy Smith last night, and was very impressed. It's a nice-looking place, a decent selection of beers and a great selection of cocktails (including one that comes with a jaffa cake and another that comes with chocolate buttons!). Plus it's really handy for the 31 bus towards Camden.

Sweet! I want a cocktail next time! You do get a sugar stick and choc chip cookie when you get a cappuccino or hot choc, which is a small but sweet touch..

How was it music wise? During the day I found it to be a good mix of Roxy Music, YYY's, Rolling Stones etc....