British Pubs in America

Well that is what I was thinking many have authentic decor and all that kitsch type stuff. I seen many an Irish pub nearly the same include a whole Irish family working there and many locals from Ireland. But in the end it was a Beach bar...

The beer being fresh and in a cask would go a long way. and I am sure there a 1000 other places many will say are Close to and very like an English pub, except to have a real English pub, you need to be in England and have the people and the lack of tips, English tv or the lack of one etc. its just Not the same. and I fear never could be, nor would you want it to.

most English pubs have limited beers and all that jazz. also 1 cannot say all English pubs are the same.

Of course if you just want 90% of the Subjective feel to it, well then there you go. Not saying your examples are not close to them, but if the crowd is American its just NOT the same feel.....again I am sure there is at least 1 place here in America somewhere where there are 100 transplanted english folks would prove me incorrect in a sec. This is 1 huge country, England on the other hand is fairly small..

any pubs I been to that attempted that are all long closed now. the craft era has destroyed that here in Florida.

 

The great Man of Kent in Hoosick, New York. The Ship Inn in Milford, NJ, but haven't been there for a while. Both have some authentic beer and food, and expats at the bar.

 

If you were to walk into it when empty (of anyone, including staff), I'd say that in my experience, the Spotted Pig in NYC would most closely resemble a UK pub. I think they did a great job of capturing the essence/feel.

Problem is that when it's actually up and running and full of clientele, bartenders, waitstaff....... hosts, then you realise it's anything but....


Would love to check out Victoria Freehouse. I remember you rec'ing it in an earlier thread. I actually went to Philly for the first time a few weeks ago, but it completely slipped my mind to check it out.

 

In Houston, a place called Hunky Dory Tavern is almost complete (it is being built from the ground up). It will be a duel concept nose to tail high end restaurant on one end and a traditional Pub on the other (actually it is a triple concept, even another side will be for Gulf seafood, but completely different than the Hunky Dory side). I am familiar with the group that is building the restaurants, and the food will be legit not sure about the rest...but I am looking forward to its completion.

http://houston.culturemap.com/news/...s-with-new-tavern-from-restaurant-dream-team/

Houston has a handful of pseudo British Pubs. The Red Lion which the frosted haired nitwit Guy Fieri featured on his show. Also, places like Richmond Arms that will have cask Saint Arnold. Along with any number of other pseudo places that have somewhat of the "feel" down, but like @azorie said, they just aren't authentic. Not to say I don't enjoy them on occasion. I will say any place I find that carries well conditioned cask Chiswick, will all but immediately be my favorite spot to go. Unfortunately that is not happening.

On a side note: The Hay Merchant in Houston always has five casks on, and there are few that does better on cask conditioning and quality then they do (that I have been to of coarse). Which I adore, but they are a far cry from a British Pub, and don't try to be in any shape.

Edit: that link doesn't get into the British Pub aspect of Hunky Dory, it is an old story and not all the facts were known then, if I find another more recent article that talks about that I will post it.

 

My birth town. thanks for new places to try, next time I go back.

that is IF the traffic there does not kill me

 

Yes many in Philly and Boston that are close in some ways. Until the crowds hit....I forget half the places we been too over the last 45 years....some places in Portland are damn fine also. Be darned if I remember the names.

 

Definitely agree with the OP's Philly choice, but I think the best I've been to is the Jones Wood Foundry on the UES of Manhattan (1st ave. and 76th st.). They've got the UK standards like Old Speckled Hen, Fuller's, Samuel Smith's (bottles), and Guinness on tap, but you can also get great UK and US craft brews poured as well. I've had stuff from Siren and Beaverton there, and I know they have BCBS on tap right now.

One major plus is that they have their own Jones Wood Session IPA that is extremely crushable.

The food and interior are also excellent, maybe even more so than the beer. Fish and chips on the back patio is an excellent way to spend a Saturday afternoon. It's a bit more refined than the standard pub, but it's a damn good spot.

 

I only popped in there once. If a real UK pub ever served a cask bitter that looked like what I got at the Spotted Pig, I'd imagine they would be ashamed of themselves.

 

Haha yeah I wasn't referring to cask quality for sure (other than physically having a couple of pumps). I used to live in the hood for a few years so tried it multiple times. There were times were it was decent, but others where it was almost like vinegar. And lots in between.

 

I'm fond of The Old Toad in Rochester NY - they are staffed with foreign students from the British Isles
http://theoldtoad.com/index.html

I'll also stretch this to southern Ontario and put in a good word for The Olde Angel Inn in Niagara-on-the-Lake, ONT. We live in Buffalo and head up there every other month or so
http://www.angel-inn.com/home.php

 

I always assumed the NE be full of "yee old tavern"
like Brit pubs. esp in small college towns...
we had a bar called that here once btw....

 

Haha. "I'll have a pint of your cask ale." "Oh, this old thing, not many folks ordering it these days, pretty sure there's some left."

 

Harsh words for my former boss! LOL. But I agree.

 

Brit's Pub in the warehouse district of Minneapolis, run by an old Eastender.

 

Exactly as @rollom has expressed, Brooklyn's Spotted Pig Bitter is probably the most inconsistent beer I've ever experienced on draught... be it the brewer's or bar's fault. The one time I had it at the Spotted Pig it looked like muddy swamp water, but it didn't taste bad. The bartender looked at the beer he pulled and asked himself, "is this beer OK?" He took a sample, decided it tasted fine, and served it to me with an apology for it's gross appearance.

 

There's a place between Greensboro and Burlington on US 70 (Wendover Ave) that does not intend to be like an English pub, but it's been there so long, with the same people working, with basically lousy beer choices, but it's an old road house from another era that lingers on. The Brightwood Inn. Without pretension or artifice, this is a real local spot that makes really good burgers, has folks ready to speak and communicate, and it has real history. These days it doesn't look like much, but damn, when you walk in and look around the place seems to have never changed. It is the type of place that I loved most in the UK.

 

There may be no plausible reason for this besides luck, but I found that there was a higher likelihood of it being passable when I ordered it downstairs vs upstairs. I don't know if both pumps were connected to the same cask or not. If not, then perhaps upstairs had an even worse turnover.

 

Exactly!!! The places in the states that are most "pubby" feel that way because of their natural vibe, not because they named it "Ye Olde Red Lion of the Princess of Wales' Sheeps Head" and did a crap job replicating the look.