We are changing our pub venue and day of the week when we will meet. We will give more details nearer the time, but for the moment please note that from March onward we will meet on the second TUESDAY of the month at the Crosse Keys in Gracechurch Street in the City of London. Namely Tuesday March 14th.
Background
As a bit of background, we have found the Royal Oak in Southwark becoming less suitable and the situation in the last couple of months has prompted a rethink.
As those who have been there know, we used to be able to pretty much rely on getting a room for ourselves upstairs. We accepted that the publican could have a paid booking or a large group wanting the room which would mean we would have to meet downstairs. But that rarely happened and it didn’t matter too much if it did as we were generally able to find a large area for ourselves.
What has happened recently is a combination of the pub being busy and uncertainty as to whether we would be able to use the upstairs room.
Thursday is the new Friday – unfortunately
Post Covid and with numbers returning to work it is definitely the case that pubs in or near the centre of London are becoming extremely busy on Thursday evenings. This factor alone necessitated a change of day on which to meet with Tuesday being the obvious alternative. Indeed, for many years we did meet on Tuesdays. One thing that prompted us to change to Thursdays is a clash with London Underground Railway Society’s talk night. These have been few in number post Covid and have not tended to involve major outside speakers so this is less of an issue these days.
Even on a Tuesday we suspect the Royal Oak maybe quite busy. On Tuesdays as it has been said to us that it attracts a lot of custom from a nearby block, which is let out on a room-by-room basis on AirBnB. It was an added reason to change location at the same time. We also have recently have had the problem with the Royal Oak that we have not really known where we stand. We have been told one month the upstairs room was not available when in fact it was – which was just as well as it was very busy downstairs. Then in the following month we were only told at short notice that it wouldn’t be available when we had already announced that we would be meeting upstairs.
Brief details for the moment
We will move to our new location which we will try out for a few months for our next meeting on Tuesday March 14th. It is a very large Wetherspoons pub extremely conveniently located in the City of London. We will not have our own room, but we are convinced that there will be sufficient space for us in the less-used area upstairs without having a formal area designated to us. Failing that, there are also small rooms downstairs at back of the pub which tend not to be as busy as the main area.
One advantage of the new location will be that we can order drinks or food using the Wetherspoons app and have them brought to our table(s). Another is the upstairs area is particularly suited to discussion with comfortable armchairs and good acoustics.
So, if you are regular or want to try us out for the first time, make note of the date and further details will follow nearer the time.
Shame you’re doing this because I don’t drink in Wetherspoons as a matter of principle. I get the issue with the Oak, but it’s a proper pub run by a proper brewery. Oh well, it’s been fun. Good luck.
Dick Whittington,
You have my sympathies and until now I hadn’t been to a Wetherspoons mainly because I don’t like the politics of Mr Wetherspoon. But I try not to impose my views on others and I think that this is the only realistic proposition that has been suggested at present.
We are open to suggestions and if anyone can suggest somewhere better for future meets I am happy to check it out.
Pedantic & D Whittington
Some of the rest of us are not too happy about Tim Martin, either … but…
We had to find somewhere more suitable, preferably with a lot of room & also easy to get to, with at least half-ways decent beer, too.
I would second “Pedantic’s” plea for another venue that meets all the necessary conditions – if you can find one, that is?
@Pedantic, Greg, Dick – have you enquired with the Rose at Snowsfields? They have a downstairs room which is rarely used unless booked. It’s regular dining chairs rather than sofas but it ought to be reasonably quiet.
Ted
Thanks..
Checked their web-site …
No mention of what beers they serve, so we will have to go & look (!)
Update
Yesterday went … not too badly, at all, given the unusual circumstances ( Train strike the next day )
I THINK we will give it another whirl next month & possibly, some of us might be there by 18.00 hrs.
At the same time, checking-out other possible venues will be explored…
Point of information, regarding the suggestion of “the Rose” in Snowsfields.
Having checked it’s web credentials, it seems a very nice pub, but …. it only serves one Real Ale.
Perhaps not?
Another “Note in passing”
According to a survey published yesterday: Thursday is now the busiest day of the week in pubs, restaurants & on the transport services.
So that our move to the second Tuesday might seem a good decision?