192. That Local

16th August 2014, The Curtain's Up, West Kensington, London

I love visiting other people's local pubs. The grubby ones, the posh ones, the hipster ones and the dirty ones - I love them all.

The Camel's local is no exception, I've heard plenty of good thing about the place. However, it may have been preferable to attend said pub under different circumstances.

Planning to go to the bride's house mid hen do to get ready for the night seems like a safe bet right? It's not weather dependant, not down to unreliable opening hours and there's definitely going to be curling tongs there. Unless someone forgets the keys.

Upon our discovery of the non key-having situation, we did not give into disappointment. We did what any reasonable grown ups would do and arranged an impromptu party on this West Kensington doorstep. I even used a trash can as a table for the champagne. That's called being resourceful.

The party came to an end though once we realised that it would take the hubby-to-be an hour to come let us in and people were starting to look at us funny. Some people were bothered by that. I just thought we could invite them along to our party on the stoop.

So we went onto the much talked about Curtain's Up around the corner, with all our champagne bottles and snacks in tow, only to find we attracted just as many strange looks there. It's OK, at least I'm used to it.

As far as locals go, this turned out to be a truly great one. Super cute and quirky with fashionably tattered armchairs, striped walls, bunting, big beautiful Victorian windows and everything else that makes a classic and brilliant English pub that was once upon a time how I fell in love with my new home town.

On top of the prettiness of the place it had an excellent wine selection and if I knew anything about beer, I'd say that selection wasn't too shabby either. As it stands, I know nothing about beer and therefore I wouldn't take my word for it, but the bottle labels sure looked cute.

After a few drinks, the hubby to be - who probably scored some serious boyfriend points - shows up with keys for all of us and kisses for the bride, which was the end of my very brief visit to the Curtain's Up.

I have a strong feeling I'll be back however.