Aldgate

Hoop & Grapes

47 Aldgate High Street, London, EC3N 1AL

Date of Visit : 25th July 2005
Approx. Time of Visit: 6.00 pm

Route Used: Jubilee, Northern & Metropolitan from Canary Wharf
Distance Traveled : 3.50 miles

Guests: None
Clientele: After work suits
Pub Number : 061

Characteristics	Rating	Comments
Ambience		OK music playing, but very sparsely populated
Facilities		Pool (£1), darts board, 3x SKY TV, 1 fruit, golf and ItBox quizzer
Ladies		Two barmaids - one with pot belly, two friends

OVERALL

Architecturally very interesting, but a bad day to visit

I was at home busily packing up for my house move in front of the telly when I received a text from Tim. Our Zone 1 challenge was not yet at an end as Aldgate station has re-opened this morning after the terrorist attacks. It felt right for so many reasons that I should "pop" into London to complete Aldgate before our move to - shudder - the midlands. And, of course, we wanted to make our own personal stand against the terrorists by doing this station as soon as possible. So an hour and a half commute later and after a roundabout tube trip for Tim, we met up and headed for the nicely named Hoop & Grapes, which is visible from the station exit. The pub itself is bricky+beamy inside and is quite long. With some research, I have since found out that this is the only remaining timber structured building in the City that escaped the Great Fire of 1666. Wow! Now modernised, TV's booted out SKY Sports news (Vassell to Man City?) along the length of the pub and we were pleased to find a pool table at the end of the pub. After getting our very reasonably priced pints, we went straight for the pool and JJ managed to pull off a 2-0 win, bringing the running total to a nicely balanced 5-5. Whilst impressed by the amount of "cue room", the headroom in the downstairs toilets was somewhat of a challenge to two 6 footers! It was obvious that people were slightly subdued on this day and the general area wasn't as busy as you might expect and the pub atmosphere suffered accordingly, but you can imagine this place being very popular on a Friday lunchtime/evening. So, a slightly damp squiby "end" to JJ's time as a full time London worker. Zone 2 and beyond will be trickier with only 2 days a week available, but with careful planning (and copious binge drinking), we will win through... But first, a trip to Russell Square.

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