A-Z BarLondon

The sad news reached us last night that Jeremy Beadle has passed away after fighting a series of illness over the past few years. All the big news outlets in the UK carry obits today so we won’t rehash that. Just to say The Hackney Hook was a big hero here at Keepingitfake HQ. I think he featured in our first ever podcast way back in 2004. He’ll be missed by all.

The photo above sums up what the Beade meant to so many, I think we’ll be doing a special tribute tomorrow night for him. How apt that we’re at the letter B. So if you’re up at Boogaloo for the show, watch out, we’ll B about. And we’ll be Framing you.

beadle, JeremyBeadle

Boogaloo. A lot of you thought we wouldn’t have the cheek to keep up this epic pub trawl after our first episode. You were wrong. And this Friday we’re going for the bridesmaid letter of the alphabet.

A is the eternal lead-off hitter, but it’s our feeling here at azbarlondon.com that it’s B where the party really starts. And there may not be a better party pub in London than the Boogaloo on the Archway Road.

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We left it a little late in the evening to hit the A10, but that only added some extra flavour. And a very special tribute to Bobby Fischer.

And of course thanks to Sikipedia.org for helping out with our Cracks in the Jacks.

The perhaps ridiculous project that is azbarlondon.com gets rolling tonight. The Amersham Arms came second and the Australian was in the mix too, but for sheer convenience on a cold rainy night in London we’re getting started with the the A10 (Russian Bar).

If you’re London come along, and check back here for our footage.

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If there’s one thing we like as much as beer in a pub, it’s animals. Preferably the barking kind. The Mucky Pup in Angel is in the running for a visit half way through the year. Unless we can think of something better.

Thanks to Londonist for the heads-up. Keep the hound hints coming.

It’s nearly time to get the A-Z party started. We were going to use YouTube to publish our videos for each pub we hit over the coming months but perhaps Seesmic is a better fit. It’ll speed up publishing and mean we can do everything live and on the hoof, or barmat. Let’s see if we can get an alpha account…

Ricky Casanova and myself will be drawing up a list for the first few letters of the alphabet tonight. Suggestions are more than welcome though, we don’t claim to have an all encompassing knowledge of London drinking holes. We’re more than willing students of those with greater experience in this area. Let’s keep them inside zone 2 though, 3 at a real push.

Finally, get ready for  “Cracks in the Jacks”. More info on that one later.

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Maybe we should be setting out on an A-Z tour of New York’s most extreme beers rather than London’s best pubs. That’ll be a tripple IPA for the men from keepingitfake please Mr. Sommelier sir.

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Donovan Smoke and Ricky Casanova return to the keepingitfake fold for a special limited run treading the boards in London Town. However, these boards lead to only one destination: the local bartender.

Throughout the ‘08 Smoke and Casanova will be ticking off their very favourite letters and hopefully finding some new favourite bars and clubs from the veritable alphabet-soup of London drinking holes. There will be the strictest disipline adhered to as the fearless duo start with the a-list and end no-doubt with some hard earned zzz’s. So stay tuned for a bumpy ride.