I can't wait to see all you Chicago Bears fans hopping across the pond this week to come to London! Gameday currently projects as a mild 57 degrees so bring your layers! Here is my officially unofficial pub guide to London for this week!
The official Bears pub is the Greenwood Pub. It's located directly opposite the Victoria Underground Station (Victoria Line, light blue line on the map). There are loads of things going on this week. More info here.
There are 2 UK Supporters Group meet ups on Saturday and Sunday.
Beardown UK have a meetup on Saturday October 12 at 7pm in the Famous Three Kings pub. It's located by West Kensington Underground station (District Line, Green line on the map).
The Chicago Bears UK Supporters Club have a pre game meetup on gameday Sunday from 10am at the Antwerp Arms. It's located a stone's throw from the stadium near White Hart Lane train station. While the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium doesn't have what you guys consider a proper tailgate, the pub will have food, cornhole and all the beer and atmosphere you might want pregame.
If you've got this far through my wall of text, good on you. If you've been to London before, and you've done all the usual sights what else is there?
Why not try the Bermondsey Beer Mile? From London Bridge (near The Shard) you can walk through Bermondsey where there are multiple brewery taps located in arches under the Jubilee line.
The Mayflower Pub in Rotherhithe (Overground line, Orange on the tube map) is worth a visit for any American. From the website "You can spot the original 1620 mooring point of the Pilgrim Father’s Mayflower ship, warm yourself by the open fire and imagine who may have been sitting in your seat 400 years ago!" If you can prove you are directly related to the pilgrims, you can also sign the guest book!
Or why not try a pub that has appeared in a movie? The Old Mitre and The Jolly Gardeners both appeared in the movie Snatch. The Black Prince was featured in Kingsman (manners maketh man!). Turner's Old Star is the pub from the Tom Hardy fight scene in Legend.
Finally failing all that, you can always drink to Caleb in The Williams Ale & Cider House! Painted nails optional.
Whatever you do this week, raise your pint glass up and BEAR DOWN!
6 comments
~~FWIW: White Hart Lane doesn’t allow drinking in the stands (only in the concourse/food areas). Not sure if it holds true for NFL games.~~
Edot: Happy to be wrong – see y’all there!
Biggest piece of feedback id give from previous games is be warned the walk to Tottenham stadium is further than you think. But also definitely walk it, the traffic will be awful and it’s not worth the cost in a taxi.
Also if you want to experience our football there is no premier league this weekend. But the lower leagues will be playing and are a lot of fun. Wimbledon are a great club to go and check out. England are also playing at Wembley on Thursday if you want to watch the national team play.
Just my personal view the greenwood is an awful pub and I’d recommend checking out a host of other options but that’s just my view.
So damn jealous of all of you making the trip. My wife and I spent a week in London last spring and it was absolutely wonderful.
For more touristy recommendations, I highly suggest the Churchill War Rooms and the main branch of the Imperial War Museum. Tower of London is definitely worth a visit as well, although that is almost an entire day all by itself.
Before you get there, download the Tfl Go app and it will navigate the tube for you. Super fun and easy to use. And as long as you have a tap-capable card, you don’t need to buy Oyster cards or any other pre-paid cards for the tube. You’ll be billed for your journey once you “tap out” at your destination, and there are daily caps for how much you can be charged. We never hit the cap, just fyi.
I recommend downloading the city mapper app to help navigate London and it’s many ways of transportation. As a local I use it daily!
Say hi to mayor Johnson while you’re there. Bears question starts 1:28:30
https://www.youtube.com/live/S6LOfIKl-38?t=5315&si=ZBTy8-ShGUbbsbRi
Some more bits about London for those coming over:
pubs:
* [Old Bank of England](https://www.oldbankofengland.com/) – literally the old bank of England from the late 1800s to the late 1900s
* [Prospect of Whitby](https://www.greeneking.co.uk/pubs/greater-london/prospect-of-whitby) – Wapping is a bit tough to get to but they are one of the oldest pubs on the bankside (a lot of pubs say this) – there is also an old hangmans noose outside on the riverbank where they used to carry out public executions
* [Commercial Tavern](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Tavern) is a favourite of mine if you’re in / around the East End. If you are in the East End, go to UpMarket at Brick Lane on Saturday or all of the Brick Lane markets Sunday morning before hopping on the train to the stadium from Liverpool Street
* If you’re around London Bridge area and can’t get into Vinegar Yard, there is an old boozer tucked away behind it called the Horseshoe Inn. Also in that area is [The George Inn](https://www.greeneking.co.uk/pubs/greater-london/george-southwark) which was an old inn from the 1600s but will be rammed.
Additional info I tell people coming to visit
* If you want to see a lot of touristy things, the [London pass](https://londonpass.com/en) is a great idea if you plan it correctly. If you stack a few tours into a day, make sure they’re all in the same area (IE don’t schedule numerous tours in the East AND West Ends on the same day)
* Eat food at markets – this is one of the best things about London. Brick Lane (Sat / Sun), Borough Market (closed Sundays), Maltby St Market, Camden Market are a few of the popular ones but they’re all over.
* On Escalators – walk on the left, stand on the right
* If you want to see a lot more of the town but don’t have time, look into taking busses and the Uber boat. You can take the Uber Boat from 1 end of the city to the other in about 40 minutes for under £15 and will pass through Westminster, St Pauls, Millennium Bridge, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, etc.