The Grapes
It’s in every way a classic that is cherishable in that inimitable English way—Victorian wooden bar with stools, red carpeting, groaning plank floors, a blissful lack of clanging “fruit machines.” That tiny back porch with a smashing riverfront panorama of a bend in the Thames and those stacks of board games waiting to be played all but waves a magic wand over it. If you find it all preposterously winsome, you wouldn’t be alone—it’s ridiculously narrow and jams at peak hours, but come at noon and it’s a dream. Charles Dickens, who partied here, wrote about it in Our Mutual Friend, and the great actor Ian McKellen loved it so much (he lives nearby, so it’s been his local for decades) that when it came up for sale, he and his ex-boyfriend teamed up to buy it and preserve it—look for the discreet sculpture of a wizard. Sir Ian is known to pull pints and host Monday’s quiz night when he’s not performing somewhere. In the toilets hang historic photos of long-gone people enjoying the same pub—you’re now part of a long tradition
It’s in every way a classic that is cherishable in that inimitable English way—Victorian wooden bar with stools, red carpeting, groaning plank floors, a blissful lack of clanging “fruit machines.” That tiny back porch with a smashing riverfront panorama of a bend in the Thames and those stacks of board games waiting to be played all but waves a magic wand over it. If you find it all preposterously winsome, you wouldn’t be alone—it’s ridiculously narrow and jams at peak hours, but come at noon and it’s a dream. Charles Dickens, who partied here, wrote about it in Our Mutual Friend, and the great actor Ian McKellen loved it so much (he lives nearby, so it’s been his local for decades) that when it came up for sale, he and his ex-boyfriend teamed up to buy it and preserve it—look for the discreet sculpture of a wizard. Sir Ian is known to pull pints and host Monday’s quiz night when he’s not performing somewhere. In the toilets hang historic photos of long-gone people enjoying the same pub—you’re now part of a long tradition
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