cod'ead wrote::lol:
Do you seriously expect us to believe you loitered around Old Compton Street, just to look at booze through a shop window? Some defence that would be
Please yerself, water off a duck's back to me.
But I have been fond of Old Compton St for a looooong time, largely for Gerry's, which (last time I looked) hadn't changed in many a year.
They didn't take cheques or credit cards, strictly cash only, and it was more like an old fashioned ironmongers inside with an old lino-topped wooden counter and shelves stretching away behind.
Now they are online, I guess they maybe take credit cards in the shop now.
Gerry's had and still has the largest range of Rums I have seen anywhere in the UK.
Being a long-standing fan of the cane-based sip, I found it difficult to walk past the area without one or two bottles from Gerry's finding their way into my collection.
They have brached out a little and now have a small shop in Upper Briggate, Leeds, which is (compared to the Old C St one) very swish.
The Algerian Coffee Stores used to be a favourite of mine on that street as well.
There used to be (might still be there) a very good Malt Whisky shop along there too.
Plus, if one is in the area, there's a branch of Cadenhead's Whisky shops not far away, just off Covent Garden.
One could get stocked up on decent spirits and good coffee and then flop into Norman Balen's pub (Coach & Horses?) for a pint and listen to him slagging-off people (usually tourists) who had the temerity to ask if he sold crisps.
Long gone is Norman, he had the reputation as the rudest pub landlord in the UK.
Jeffrey Bernard used to be in there very frequently, until he became unwell.
The Private Eye crowd used to meet upstairs there too.
Must pop in there sometime and see what it's like now.
Aaaaah ... memories.
