Despite choosing to avoid going out in order to ensure my Ukraine trip went ahead I couldn’t avoid having to to and get some last minute bits and pieces, so I figured it would be rude not to pop in to a couple of local bars too.
I began in Richmond, starting at Richmond Tap Tavern. Despite it’s central location in the town it is easy to overlook it, tucked away as it is an area off the main street. If you are coming from the station it is best to look out for the alleyway on your left which heads past a row of cottages to the pub. There is always an interesting choice of beers here, both cask and keg, and they offer the option of a four beer flight. Which I accepted!
From here it is a short walk to the Richmond Vault, a cellar bar that has many incarnations in all of the time that I have known of it. It is currently a restaurant with a very good bar at the front. The seating area at the very front is particularly cosy. You are always guaranteed to find an interesting beer on the taps here and it is a place I will always pop in to when passing to see what they have.
I caught the bus in to Twickenham with the intention of visiting the relatively new Guide entry CTZN but when I arrived it was all closed up, with no indication as to why. Instead I headed around the corner to Brewery Market. Whilst there we talked about CTZN and the feeling was that they were having problems. Subsequent investigations have discovered that it has indeed closed for good.
As usual I ended up having a large number of beers in here scuppering any plans of visiting the other places in Twickenham. I just caught the bus home and looked forward to my impending holiday…