The Duke of Sussex, Bayliss Road, Waterloo

This pub was home to possibly the best birthday I've ever had (though due to extraordinarily cheap drinks - some of it is a bit hazy).

Brilliantly friendly staff, non-flashy crisps, proper carpet - and random karaoke! Highlights: Lionel Ritchie's All Night Long (thanks Carole for actually doing the singing bit while I tried to be some kind of Smooth Radio soul Bez by your side) and Salt n Pepa's Let's Talk About Sex, sung by two brilliant giggling teenage (but not underage, of course) girls. What a nice, ahem, family atmosphere... 

The Birdcage, Columbia Road

What a gem - nestled between Columbia Road's chi chi shops and never-open bars and restaurants (unless you're with the weekend hordes) - lies the Birdcage. 

A proper East End boozer with everything that isn't supposed to be cool in place: big screens, carpet,  flashing quiz machines, a pool table and, if you're lucky, a bit of a hard stare from another customer and his dog as you walk in for the first time.

Hopefully that'll have put you all off going - wouldn't want everyone rushing down there, that'd spoil it.

How good is this?

STB just got a lovely email from Gabrielle, a woman after our own heart... We think this might be her, here, in the rather fetching t-shirt, which, cunningly, you can buy on her brilliant website Drink Beer and Carry On where it is quite rightly pointed out that: "In these rather trying times, we can't allow the backbone of Britain, its pubs, to wither away and die..." Show your support for the cause in appropriate attire. Thanks Gabrielle!

Thanks to Alison Keith for nominating two lovely London boozers - the Mason's Arms and the White Horse, both in the centre of town - and both nominated for their own, unique and lovable qualities...

BOOZER OF THE YEAR:

Which pub are you nominating for overall Boozer of the Year – and why?
The Masons Arms - Parker Street, London WC2 - it is literally full of Masons - the bar staff all wear ties and the carpet is all swirly... It has truly classic decor and also serves classic pub fayre!   

BOOZER BOGS OF THE YEAR: 

Basic, bizarre or beautifully perfumed - what gives them that 'boozer' edge?

The White Horse - Rupert Street, Soho, London - despite the dodgy location - the loos are always really clean!

International fame for the Elm Park Tavern and Wenlock Arms

Here's a link to a heartwarming news film about the fate of the British Boozer which I helped American TV company, NBC, to make a couple of months back. I took them to London N1's marvellous Wenlock Arms and also to Brixton's Elm Park Tavern. It's only just aired. 

Enjoy!

Editor of the Good Beer Guide is optimistic about the future of pubs...

Cockle-warming words from Roger Protz, editor of the Good Beer Guide: "The British pub is alive and well," he writes in his feature in the Independent, "a claim that should cause the men in white coats to cart me off for a period of quiet contemplation in a padded cell." 

"I'm aware of the statistics," he admits "[that] 36 pubs close every week. And yet it's not all gloom in the pub trade. The evidence from the new Good Beer Guide is that publicans who do the basics well and avoid gimmicks are attracting custom." 

"When Camra and the Good Beer Guide were launched in the early 1970s," he continues, "pubs were utilitarian places, shorn of comforts and appealing mainly to men. Food, at best, was a cheese sandwich, at worst a packet of pork scratchings. Today, they offer real service, welcome women and families and, increasingly, serve good food at sensible prices." 

Mmm. But some of us like "utilitarian" decor...

Thanks, for this bit of boozer power news, to Jeremy (and thanks to South London Press for image)...

If you want a desperately unhip old man pub, try the White Hart in New Cross recently in the news because the landlord applied for a pole dancing and strip joint licence which was refused on Thursday by Lewisham Council.

More about it here 

What the locals think...

Application for pole dancing licence at White Hart

Poll results!

Thanks to everyone who voted for the ultimate pub jukebox tune. The winner, hands-down, was the one and only Ms Dolly Parton - with that sticky carpet stalwart, 9-5. Close behind - and almost tying in second and third places, were (my personal favourites) Kayleigh's Marillion (where else do you ever hear that one but wafting from a proper old school boozer jukebox - usually when no one's put any money in for a while and it's on automatic play everything mode) and I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight, by Foreigner. Who said the 80s had no style?

A poor show for the St Paddy's day favourite - Danny Boy (clearly not enough Irish pub fans logging on - I'll have to hunt you down) - which lost miserably, with just 10% of your votes beaten, with just three per cent, by ELO's Xanadu.

Surprisingly, no one suggested Queen's We Are the Champions, nor 99 Red Balloons, by Germanic 80s chart tickler, Nena... any others we missed? Send them to me here

Hurrah for the winners and the losers...

Kayleigh, Marillion	23%
Xanadu, ELO	13%
I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight, Foreigner	21%
9-5, Dolly Parton	31%
Danny Boy, Foster & Allen	10%