A Slight Disappointment

After flicking through the most recent edition of the 'London Drinker' magazine if you can call it a magazine, it's a bi-monthly little booklet. I had seen this one page advert for a pub in Euston, London called 'The Bree Louise' it looked great, sounded fantastic with a selection of up to 20 real ales and ciders and best of all was famed for its pies. It had won Camra's North London pub of the year 2009/10, I thought how could I possibly go wrong.

I managed to secure 2 days off in a row so planned to go up on the Tuesday so if I did get a little too drunk I'd have the whole of Wednesday away from my pub to recover before having to work again. I got so excited about having some lovingly made meat pies with so many delightful ales to chose from, some say it was almost my idea of pub heaven.

The pub was only around the corner from my Uncle's flat so wouldn't take long to walk there. He is fortunate enough to live in Kings Cross literally a block across the road from St Pancras station. Such a prime location within walking distance to an infinite list of amazing attractions.

From what I'd heard and read about the pub left me bouncy around in excitement, I could barely contain it. An unknowing observer would have thought that there was something seriously wrong with me. After reading about it in the magazine I checked out the website and ended up thinking about it for most of the previous day, a pie and a pint in a warming and welcoming atmosphere with my uncle for company.

From outside the pub looked as though I'd imagined it, from seeing it in photographs anyway. But stepping through the doors was something completely different and disheartening. On first sight the only problem was that the place was packed, there wasn't even room to stand around anywhere. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but when all you want to do is chill out and eat a pie and drink beer then it kind of becomes a problem. My dream of the pies had quickly turned crusty and stale. Things only got worse when I looked around at the assortment of beer, they didn't have as many things on as I thought, I'd already tried most of the selection and nothing was that good. Any enjoyment of the place vanished before I even had a chance to take my first sip.

It almost brought me to tears. All I'd thought and dreamt about this place had been replaced by bright lights, way too many pump clips on the walls that it looked over the top and tacky and a section of the bar with disused and partially dismantled beer pumps. Nothing could console me on this crushing mental defeat, not even the delicious half pint of Dark Stars 'Hop Head'. Out of all the beers on it was one I knew would not disappoint. The others were either not up to scratch or not worse the risk.

Don't get me wrong, I will most certainly try the pub again. Just not in the near future.

A link to a saviour of a beer that almost made the whole thing worth it. Dark Star Breweries website.

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