mart166

If anyone moors in Islington I can give you a recommendation, it's called the lucky chip and is in walking distance of canal, it's in a rather noisy pub which I have not been in, they started out in a van in a market close to my house, got voted as best burgers in UK and they deserved it. They have expanded and now have 4 outlets, our nearest and there biggest nowhere near a canal. But the burgers are supreme none of this pile it high just good food and not silly on prices, as long as you don't mind polystyrene cartons for burgers and chips in plastic bowls, sounds gross but i love it there (and I would not touch a mc donalds with a barge pole) Mart

We collected the boat from Napton, found out at end of holiday a lovely canal-side pub, such is life. As for London, we can get pie and mash and a glass of squash for under a fiver, but that is very rare, our local so called cafe gives you a bill in excess of £20 just for breakfast and a wake up drink. It's getting stupid here, I used to eat out regular, but the prices are getting ridiculous, and you find the quality of food goes downhill once they are open a while. such is life Mart

As for gastropubs, when we picked up our rental narrowboat we were too early, so asked where we could grab a bit of lunch, directed to a pub at end of lane, on arrival was obvious just been converted into a gastropub, two rolls and two glasses of wine cost £27, thats more than we pay in London. Cannot see that lasting long when there are still some lovely traditional pubs in the country. Also why should I pay for there conversion ?? Mart

Also thanks to everyone for the sensible awnsers, and the funny ones. Do not feel like a victim of crime I never commited Mart Could have been, but still tasted nice Mart

Ok thanks for the above, maybe we picked the wrong night, and not knowing a town the wrong places. As for non english speakers that accounts for about %90 of my customers so no problems there, also must add I live in East London, so I either speak bengali or use a posh accent. Proper cider will not go into a battery, the lumps of apple and god knows whatelse will not fit through the holes, we were at a cider farm in Dorset and the added ingrediant was a lump of pork during brewing, but the cider was good. Mart

Thanks folks, from what seemed an assult on me, now we have serious discusion on beer, tells a lot about us boaters lol, keep the forum going, any information about good cider be appreciated (not the fizzy stuff) Mart

I agree, where we live have to walk quite a way to what we call our local, lucky it's split resturant on one side (which is great), then bar on the other, offers brilliant ales and Belgium beer, other than that we have nothing in so called trendy east london

Sounds like my old local, if you asked for food you were looked on as if you were something the cat dragged in, but when it hit it's low point just before being sold (now a hated gastropub), the landlord happily sold crisps to parents, the kids would pour them on the floor and jump up and down on them making a real mess, the parents and landlord never passed comment. The only good thing about the place was I met my now fiancee and one night stopping for an early drink found it completly empty, shouted up to the accomodation above no reply, so pulled myself a drink and left money on counter, 15 minutes later landlady turned up, was horrified I was in bar in a pub that was unocupied, she had gone out and forgot to lock the door, lucky i'm honest, could have had a field day otherwise lol.

Sorry not been able to reply for several weeks due to medical problem stopping me using PC. In reply to above comments, after so many years on the Thames everybody I know uses an anchor chain in Windsor, I suffered a not so serious incident, but a group of lads peeing onto your boat not so nice. Reading the east side where tescos is is not so bad if you can tolerate the university students (no problems), it's the west side to look out for, I know the town well and would never moor there, worse is the Oxford road, sounds nice but you can get any substance you like there, I never moor the boat or park the car near there. This is advice and does not need replies

Your right, but when only resturants we could find were indian, and we was not in mood for a curry, we wanted a good brew and some nice food. Mart

Sorry cannot comment as that night I was teatotal, but they run the beer halll at the Crick inland waterways show and can say the cider was gorgeous. Mart

Whilst on subject of pubs, can I reccomend one, the wheatsheaf in Crick Leics, we had an excellent meal, very cheap prices and the locals were really nice. Mart

I do not disagree with that, hate gasropubs where you are paying for the conversion, but a bit of hot food not too much to ask for, pie and chips or sausage and mash, not the end of the world and not so hard to produce lol. Mart

Well I am from East London same as Alf

Thank you for that, and you are right. We had 13 great nights and one bad one, but it seems putting a warning of the bad night on here causes outrage, heyho some people ! Mart

Next time i'll act like Alf Garnet and say "bloody foriegners that don't speak our lingo" that'll set the forum on fire and I will not care as will not be here to read it.

I speak with a great deal of experiance about the Thames, know a lot of boaters there, Windsor the worse side for problems is on the northern bank just by Eton school, Reading I have moored at Tescos with no problem but would not dream of overnight (I have house 5 miles away and know area well). The Coopers Tavern we tried as well as another pub around the corner, they both looked good but unfortunatly the only food on offer was cheese and pork pies, needed more than that after 8 hours of boating, shame because I would have loved to go in them. It's difficult when you arrive in a new town and do not know where to go, we relied on trip advisor, and nicholsons canal book. Mart

Thanks for that Unfortunately the world is full of idiots that are brave behind keyboards but not in real life, you see it on the news, but I was very offended about being called a racist, when my whole living relies on our ethnic friends, you should look into these people as they are obviously not nice people. As for everyone else great and I got a lot of help from here during my journey around the Leicester ring. Thanks Mart

As still a member at moment I'd just like to reply, yes my user name was a typo. I'm not an inexperienced boater having brought a boat from Germany to Oxfordshire and have been boating on the Thames for the last 30 years. I know as a fact places to avoid, Reading a no no, Windsor you have to use anchor as mooring lines get cut, Pangbourne our boat was used as a bathing platform board by teenagers (nobody bothered other than telling me next day). I merely was sharing my experience of what happened to us but was jumped on by obvious apologists. Many thanks for the supporting comments they were appreciated. I found life on the canal system very enjoyable, friendly helpful people, and I'm considering retiring and buying a boat, I just hope I do not meet some of the people on here !!! Mart

To the moderators of this account, I placed observations, and i value the supporting comments of many of your members in this forum and throughout during my trip, but it seems some have very deep problems, therefore please delete my account, I do not need offense off people, lifes hard enough without idiots. Mart164

They did but no food and we were hungry !! Off now you can argue over my observations all night, bye

As someone whose customer base is 90% ethnic I find your comments very offensive, if you do not like what I write do not read or reply

Thanks Water off a ducks back, and we certainly plenty of that on our trip (as well as snow in Leciester lol)

Because of the five people we asked how to get to town centre the only awnser we got was from a very nice lady, who I expect by accent was not from UK, polish I would imagine, I am giving my observations of the place, and mine were bad

Very true, I do not disagree, trouble is when you on holiday you want places with nice pubs and Burton I knew had reputation for good brewing and was hoping to get some good cider, could not have been more wrong, but you live and learn ! Thanks for replying and happy boating. Mart