The Legendary Castle Pubs of Camden

Starting in June, until September, I will be doing a pub crawl around the legendary castle pubs of Camden...the Dublin Castle, the Edinboro Castle and the Pembroke Castle...also included in the tour is the Hawley Arms which is near where the Caenarvon Castle was located near Regent's Canal.

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Don't Panic! A Geek's Guide to London!

I'm probably the most excited about this private tour! I am a geek and I am a Londonphile, so combining the two of these into one tour only makes sense.

London is chock full of geeky things...from Sherlock Holmes to Doctor Who, from Shaun of the Dead to 28 Days Later, from An American Werewolf in London to the Highgate Vampire, from Harry Potter to The Rivers of London, from Clockwork Orange to Misfits.
Some of the locations we can visit are...

• Several Doctor Who locations including Earl's Court, the London Eye & London Bridge.
• Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter.
• The house in the TV show Spaced.
• Trafalgar Square - the location of several films & TV shows including Doctor Who and Day of the Trifids.
• The house from Hellraiser.
• Piccadilly Circus -  film location for bo
• The actual location of 221b from the TV show Sherlock.
• th 28 Days Later and An American Werewolf in London.
• The river side locations for Clockwork Orange & Misfits.
  
  

Most of these things are in and around central London but some of these sights are a little out of the way...so this is an all day tour. The minimum length will be 6 hours.

Because of this, we will obviously be stopping for refreshments, this may or may not include a pub or two, it's up to you.


Here's some places we can stop off at along the way:
The Four Quarters - London's only arcade bar. Craft beer, arcade games & fun times, what could be better!

The Grapes - The pub owned by Sir Ian McKellen, aka: Gandalf, Magento, etc.

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese - One of the oldest pubs in London. Dickens drank here.

Ye Olde Mitre - Another historic pub...if you can find it. It's almost like it's on a real life trap street.

Ping - Ping Pong bar in Earl's Court

We can even plan to do the tour on a day that Geeks Inc. have one of their quizzes!

The price for this tour is £150 per person. I can customise this tour to fit your fandom or we can do a mixed bag of geekdom.

Contact me at: djalicat@gmail.com

London A-Z: C is for Camden Town

Now I'm gonna be honest...I am completely biased when it comes to Camden. I do a walking tour of Camden, Rock n Roll Camden Walking Tour, because I love Camden so much. The first time I went to Camden on vacation back in the 90's I knew I was home. Camden is full of freaks, geeks and weirdos...goths, punks, mods, cybergoths/punks, trustafarians, rockers, hippies, crusties, b-boys, drag queens, rock-a-billys, death metallers and emos.

I can show you where this was taken.

Camden is the home of Britpop, Madness and Amy Winehouse. The Clash had their rehearsal space in Camden. Prince has played several 'secret' shows in Camden. Amy played pool at one of the pubs...I don't want to give too much away because I want you to come on my tour!
As a Camden local, I stay away from Camden Market on the weekends...Camden is the fourth biggest tourist attraction in London...millions of people come to Camden, usually on the weekends. If you're going to visit, do it during the week, the stall holders will probably appreciate it more. The best way to see the market is to take the Northern Line and get off at Chalk Farm, not Camden Town, it's just a short walk from Chalk Farm Station to the Stables Market. Easy, peasy.

Camden Lock Street Food Market

The street food market in Camden Lock Market is amazing. There is food from every country on the planet...if you can't find something to eat, you're not hungry!

Legendary music venue KOKO

Down on the other end of Camden is Mornington Crescent and KOKO. KOKO started life as The Camden Theatre in 1900 and then was renamed The Camden Hippodrome in 1909. Charlie Chaplin regularly performed there. After a couple other name changes it became the Music Box and the home to several legendary punk shows including a four day residency by The Clash in 1978.
In 1982 it became Camden Palace and Madonna played her first UK show there.
Camden Palace closed in 2004 and reopened as KOKO in 2005. If you have the chance to go to a gig there, you should definitely take it!

Rock n Roll Camden Walking Tour recommends:
The Dublin Castle pub on the Parkway is my favorite pub in Camden. It's the official Madness pub after they did a year long residency there back in the 70's. There are pictures of Madness all over the

Nelson the pub cat at Tapping the Admiral

pub and it has the best jukebox in Camden.

Tapping the Admiral pub is probably on eof the best pubs in North London. It has won 'Pub of the Year' from CAMRA several times. It has an amazing selection of real ale and craft beer. And it has a pub cat named Nelson.
It's kinda hard to find though, it's on the borders of Camden and Kentish Town but actually just a quick walk from Kentish Town West Station.

London A-Z: B is for Borough Market

When I'm not doing walking tours, I work for a bakery, Bread Ahead. Bread Ahead's main bakery is in Borough Market next to London Bridge station. I've lived in London for fifteen years and until I started working at Bread Ahead I never really went there...I know, crazy! But it is south of the river and I'm a die hard north London girl. Borough Market has been around London Bridge, in some form, for almost 1,000 years!
Borough Market has dozens of stalls selling artisan foods like cheese, bread and meat. There are also fruit and veg stalls. There's a street food market next to Southwark Cathedral. I could go on and on about the amazing variety of stalls underneath the railways arches...but you really have to go there and see for yourself.
There are a range of pubs around the market, some of them hundreds of years old, where you can have a pintor two after a day shopping in the market.
I recommend:
Bread Ahead -for sour dough bread and donuts
Turnips - for fruit and veg
Fish! - for fish n chips

Pubs:
Boot & Flogger
Gladstone Arms
The Royal Oak

Related articles

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• The beautiful stations of rail's golden age
• Bompas and Parr to serve up museum of food to follow Willy Wonka-style creations

London A to Z: My favorite things in London in Alphabetical order

A is for Angel
I used to work in Angel, or The Angel, or Angel Islington (even though there's no other area of London called Angel). I worked at Borders bookstore for 18 months before it went bankrupt and closed on Christmas Eve. So, I've spent a lot of time in the area. There are a lot of good bars and pubs around Angel:

The Lexington - American style food, beer and whiskey. A pub quiz every Monday, but make sure you go when my friends aren't playing cuz they win...a lot. Gigs and club nights upstairs.

The Mucky Pub - A cozy little pub on a back street. Great jukebox. Weekly pub quizzes and DJs. A pool table out the back. Great selection of real ale.

The King's Head - Theatre pub on Upper Street. It has a small theatre up stairs that puts on plays. There's live music downstairs sometimes. Great place for one last drink is you're out and about in Angel.

Slim Jim's - American style bar with a great selection of cocktails, music and bras hanging from the
ceiling. Right next to the King's Head.

There's also an amzing amout of restaurants in Angel, basically from Angel station all the way along Upper Street to Highbury/Islington station there are restaurants of every type; from greasy cafes to fancy French bistros.

London Calling w/ Music Heritage UK & Rock n Roll Camden Walking Tour

Besides Londonphilia, I do a popular tour about Camden Town's music history, Rock n Roll Camden Walking Tour...a lot of which is about Britpop.
Several months ago, I was approached by Music Heritage UK to be interviewed about the Britpop scene in Camden. I took them around to some of the local venues and pubs...and basically did what I always do at the pub, I talked about Britpop.
Here's the finished product, which I'm very proud of and quite excited about.

London Calling Ep 2.3 - Camden Town: Birthplace of Britpop by Music Heritage Uk on Mixcloud

Londonphilia Events Calendar

Historic Samuel Smith Pub Crawl

There are over thirty Sam Smith's pubs in London.
This tour will take you to six of them...including:

*one of the oldest pubs in London

*one of the most beautiful Victorian pubs in London

*one of the most bohemian pubs in London, a pub that Charles Dickens drank at and mentions in The Tale of Two Cities.

Obviously, this tour is 18 and over only!

Price: Only £10, so you have more money to spend on beer, though Sam Smith's are quite cheap for London.

Days & Time: The fourth Saturday of each month at 5pm, starting on July 25th, and running until November 28th, 2015.

The meeting spot is outside Goodge Street Tube Station on the Northern Line.

We will be going to a total of six pubs.
We recommend only having a half pint at each pub, eating something before the pub crawl and remember to pace yourself. Don't ruin everyone's good time by getting too drunk and acting in a disgraceful manner.

We are your guides not your babysitters.

If you are interested in coming on this fun and informative pub crawl please contact me at djalicat@gmail.com.

Disappearing Soho

Soho in London is one of the most interesting, creative, bohemian parts of the city. It started off as a
hunting ground and then became the Red Light District and is now the home of the UK film industry.
Everyone from Oscar Wilde to Dylan Thomas to David Bowie to Elton John have lived, worked and played here.
Sadly, some of the venues that these influential people used have been lost to regeneration.
This tour will take you around Soho pointing out and telling the history of these lost venues...including:
Madame Jojo's
The Intrepid Fox
The Marquee (all three located in Soho)
The Astoria
Central Saint Martins
The 12 Bar and soon to be lost Denmark Street.
Also included is a brief history of Soho.

This tour will be on the third Saturday of each month starting on July 18th until November 21st, 2015.
Please meet me in Soho Square at the Tudor style building in the center of the square.
The price is £10 per person. £1 from the ticket price will be donated to Save Soho.

If you are interested in coming on this tour please email me, Alison, at djalicat@gmail.com.

http://savesoho.com