Locked down

Down at the lock. As the sun starts to threaten over the Camden sky, an obvious spot to chill at is by the lock, but with a multitude of venues to choose from, what is one to do? Well the good news is that most spots are good, obviously different venues for different purposes. Starting on the Camden side of the lock, we have Lloyds, a cheap drink haven that feels like you are drinking in any regional city centre; Peterborough, Watford, Leeds. Now, this is not necessarily a 100% bad thing, there is a time and place for being chavtastic, but it is not on a Friday night as I recently discovered by going there in error…,But with beers at a pound, it’s a reasonable afternoon drinking and sports watching spot.

Crossing the fairy bridge (although unfortunately the fairy lights have been removed from the tree...) we first come to the Lockside Lounge. A long bar, the atmosphere does not suffer from the shape and it also has a decent outside area where you can sit and overlook the going-ons of the food market. I ate here for the first time the other day and was very happy – solid pub grub done well. Across from here we have Lock 17, an old time favourite. The beers on tap are not to my preference, and it is sometimes difficult to get served, but this place has great DJs – formerly liquid D&B on a Thursday and this awesome old(er) chap on a Friday. With three floors an outside space, there’s plenty of nooks and crannies to explore in here, and the drinks are reasonably priced.

Crossing the road, you could come to In Spiral Lounge, a kind of hippee-festival vibed place that only sells vegetarian, organic food and organic drinks to match – try their special beers. The music in here is wicked and you can sit down by the canal, so it makes a great end-of-evening spot, in my opinion.

Going back in to the Stables area, we come to the Proud Gallery – a trendy spot for trendy kids, but also worth checking out. The building is divided in to three areas – a photo gallery, a large, open-plan live music space and then an actual stables area – where you and your chums can sit inside a stable like a horse and admire the cobbled streets. Drinks are not cheap here and beer is only in bottles, which is a no-no in my book. But if you are looking for a bit of fun and a change to the typical Camden watering holes, pop in.

So there’s some comments on a few of the venues immediately by the lock. Obviously a short walk away are other venues such as the Hawley Arms, the Lock Tavern and the Bar that Flies, all of these shall be discussed in later instalments. I’d also like to talk about Dingwalls and Jongleurs, both within the same building as Lock 17, so eyes will be peeled for a suitable gig and a suitable comedy night.

And let’s just hope the sun comes out.

Crawl was the result rather than the action

The pondman inaugural camden pub crawl took place last weekend and was a marvellous event indeed. Although we only completed a third of the course and didn't progress from the green zone, much fun was had by all.

A punctual arrival by the Scot guaranteed an early start, but seeing as the rest of the crew were not yet in Camden, the start was defined by a spot of breakfast in the Camden Kitchen. Very well cooked bacon and eggs were devaoured but at the cost of 10 quid per person, I felt somewhat done.

The crawl assembly point was the Edinboro Castle on Delancey st, where we were greeted by friendly staff proactively looking for feedback on the venue. I told them that the main issue was the slowness of service, otherwise it's an awesome pub. They reassured me that measures were in place to address this, including the addition of a self service beer pump in the garden. You heard it here first....

Having exceeded the allocated time in this venue by 300 per cent, we progressed to the Dublin Castle, full of teenagers, this is a camden trendy spot with matching grit and stinky toilets. A big floor allowed the Scot to bounce around like the madman that he is.

Thoughts turned to the football and eating so we progressed to the Spread Eagle where the attornery-pix had burgers that looked delicious. The availability of Red Stripe on tap was a welcome relief from the standard five per-centers, and the quiz machine provided a reason to re-engage the brain.

Crossing the road to the Earl of Camden, a table was miraculously secured to watch the football, which was a result considering there were about ten of us. The arrival of the Cynic initated the consumption of spirits, and the inevitable descent in to crawling. A sterling effort on jagger-bombs was put in by all, which saw the first leavers depart at about nine.

A hardcore crew of five people remainded to the end and then progressed to a house party, where a cab was very quickly required for my goodself.

A good first run, the pondman pub crawl saw a top group of people reunited and having a booze-filled Saturday afternoon of fun. Hard on the wallet and even harder on the liver, this may well become a bi-annual event - pencil in Saturday 1st of August for the next one.

The route will remain the same until it is completed and no man or woman is left standing. crawling is the new walking, don't you know.

Not a wack job.

On Friday night, my good self and side kicks, the monster, the pixie and the attorney, went to Sushiwacka, the most excellent Japanese restaurant, located on Parkway in Camden.

I can not praise this marvellous establishment enough. By far and away the best sushi I have had in London, this place is small, cosy, super-friendly and authentic. The fish was amazingly fresh, the tempura was light yet crunchy and the udon soup tasted just like it did in Japan.

A small family run operation, this place is focused on delivering quality, at a fair price. By far and away my favourite restaurant in north London.