For Pete's Sake*

A little filler on page 8 of today's Guardian newspaper - accredited to "Agency" - informs us that the New Cross pub which was used in the filming of Shaun of the Dead, The Duke of Albany, is now closed and is to be redeveloped and turned into flats.

Well, not quite sure which "Agency" the Guardian takes its stories from, but I have to tell them that this pub, just round the corner from me, has been boarded up since I first moved into this place last May. In fact, a little bit of research and I wouldn't be surprised if it tells me that it has been closed since before they used it for the location of the Winchester in the film. I'll check that out! Hey, just done it and found this, which shows that the Guardian's Agency is at least 21 months out of date!

And it was fucking obvious for ages that it was destined for flats. Much the same as The Royal Archer, which is a five-minute walk away and has also been boarded up for a couple of years. While I had never been in the Duke of Albany, I can definitely say that the closure of the Royal Archer is no fucking loss whatsoever. Walked in there with the ex once and it was a stereotype (from American Werewolf in London?) in which the darts did seem to freeze in mid-air and in which the punters did actually stare at the two of us the whole time we were there - which, it has to be said, wasn't fucking long at all as we got out of there pretty damn quick.

Back street pubs - avoid like the plague. Unless, of course, they are like Skehan's up Telegraph Hill!

This post is not supportive of property developers - they are all cunts - but more of a wonder at just why this little piece was in a newspaper today!

* The Monkees