The Cask (Pub and Kitchen) at Pimlico, DO NOT GO!

The last Monday in May: The Bank Holiday

Lord Clive organised a splendid travel ticket that would cover the train from Crawley to London, and all forms of transport in the City and our return to Gatwick. This was for a price which makes one wonder why people pay the rip-off return fares from the airport. The rip-off we could not avoid was the left-luggage at Victoria. At £8 per bag, per day, the service could at least be efficient. One chap was decidedly officious.

At Victoria, Marg and Hector said a temporary farewell to The Chaps who were heading off to some famous London pubs. The Cask at Pimlico was to be the focal point of the day.




We did the walk to Buckingham Palace, Her Majesty did not invite us in for a Bier, or even a cuppa’. We then walked through Belgrave Square past many embassies before arriving at Wellington Arch. Somehow instead of Piccadilly, we ended up walking towards its continuation, Knightsbridge. This meant a visit to Harrods.










Afternoon tea at Harrods, how many brownie points can one man earn on one trip?
Traversing back along Piccadilly we revisited the workplace of Lord Clive, and after a mosey along Carnaby St ended up at Oxford Circus.
It had taken us two and a half hours to get there, it took ten minutes on The Tube back to Victoria.



Pimlico here we come : Passports at the ready


It is only a stop beyond Victoria to Pimlico. We found the Cask using Google. It was closed. The chaps did say 16.00. So did the sign on the door. Why would a pub not be open all day?

We went for a long coffee. Back at 15.55 another couple were waiting. They had phoned to verify opening. They had been assured that not only would The Cask be open, it would be open all day.

Misinformation


The Chaps had been there earlier and of course were disappointed to see the opening times.
We were there at 16.00.
A phone call had been made to verify opening.
Not one person involved in the running of The Cask had considered doing the decent thing and put a sign on the door to state that the place would not open, at all.
It was a bank holiday, in a basically residential area. This is simply ridiculous, and exceptional bad manners.

There was a fallback


The Priory Arms (83 Lansdowne Way, SW8 2PB) had been recommended. It was ‘near Vauxhall Station’. Well that was not true. Mr Google took us in the right direction and we achieved what few seldom do in The Big Smoke: we met someone we knew, by chance! Johnny, an ex A Level student.
It was a fifteen minute walk to The Priory. The range of Bier was not as extensive as one had been led to believe. Summer Lightning, again. We left with the intention of making a rendezvous at Victoria; we did not know how long it would take to collect our luggage.

Curry-Heute

The rendezvous was never made; we ended up having Curry-Heute at a restaurant called the Victoria.
On the train to Gatwick we did meet up with Craig and Yvonne. Craig was very emotional about the fact that our afternoon had been ruined by those… at The Cask.
easyJet delayed us by 40 minutes on the flight back to Glasgow. Craig has resolved that he will never fly again internally in the UK.