Chubby and the Gang recommend the best spots for Guinness in London
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(Credits: Far Out / Katherine Garcia)
On October 4th, Chubby and the Gang released their album, And Then There Was. The record is an excellent next chapter in their story following the success of 2021’s The Mutt’s Nutts. On it, Charlie ‘Chubby Charles’ Manning-Walker and his band continue to expand their reach out of punk and show their strengths in other areas, from baggy to ballads with a potent sense of stout in the air.
I met up with Manning-Walker at The Boot in King’s Cross. As a Londoner whose music is deeply intertwined with his native city, it felt like the perfect setting to discuss the new album and all things Chubby and the Gang. It was a Thursday night, and although it wasn’t our original meeting point—or even our second, for that matter—we ended up there after a mix of location issues and an ill-suited clientele at another spot. This bustling pub turned out to be an ideal place for an interview—and an even better one for a swift pint.
Manning-Walker arrived first, thanks to The Boot’s proximity to the backup pub we’d abandoned—its menagerie of city ghouls and tourists proving too much to bear. I found him hunched at the bar and slid onto the stool next to him. A Guinness was ordered, its luscious pour practically breaking the ice for us. Just two guys bonding over a perfect thumb of foam. As the drinks flowed, so did the conversation, leading to an enlightening evening that touched on Manning-Walker himself, Chubby and the Gang, punk, and a host of far-flung topics.
While the inextricable tissue joining Manning-Walker and London has always been apparent, the snapshots of life in the city he’s so keenly adept at are taken up a notch on And Then There Was… Accordingly, in addition to our setting, it was the prime opportunity for him to recommend his five favourite pubs in the capital. The crisps were split down the middle, and an odyssey of the big smoke’s finest watering holes ensued.
Going one step further, these are his choices for the best Guinness in the capital. I was advised that these establishments are “in no particular order”. After all, “Each Guinness is unique… I don’t discriminate on Guinnesses,” the stout-sipping punk opined. These picks offer insight into the mind behind Chubby and the Gang and the idiosyncratic essence of the sprawling urban environment that gives their music its lifeblood.
Chubby and the Gang’s five favourite London pubs:
The Rochester Castle – Stoke Newington, N16 0NY
Despite being a Wetherspoons, Manning-Walker is a big fan of The Rochester Castle in Stoke Newington, East London. Not only does it do a great pint of the black stuff, but in its earlier iteration, it was a hotspot for punk, with some of his formative influences, such as Cock Sparrer, playing there.
He said: “Alright, so my first pub is The Rochester Castle. They used to do punk shows there, back in the day, Cock Sparrer played there, a bunch of bands played there. I’m always there. The lighting in there is so bright, it’s like being in an office, but it’s quality. It’s amazing.”
“Good pint of Guinness? Yeah, but I’ll preface this and keep it in the interview. I went to the Guinness factory and thought the Guinness there was shit. So, that’s where I’m coming from,” he continues. “But The Rochester Castle, we’re always there. It’s quality. The atmosphere is great. It used to be a fucking punk venue. If you Google it, you can see where they played in the fucking pub. I think it might be getting sold. I haven’t seen any bands there, but it was a venue in the 1970s, so classic bands played there. It’s old school there. Does a good Guinness.”
The Leather Saddle – West Ealing, W13 0TL
Manning-Walker’s next recommendation is situated a bit closer to home for him. The Leather Saddle serves a stand-out pint of Ireland’s number one pint and has enough of those typically English idiosyncrasies that see a pub etch itself into the memory forever. He’s also been receiving some classic hijinks from the wily locals.
“That does a fucking fantastic Guinness, and actually a fantastic Guinness, and sticky floor. The windows are painted to look like people are in the pub when there’s no one in there. They’re, like, painted on. So if you walk past it, you’re like, ‘Oh, that pub looks full.’ There’s no one in there. But, it’s quality. They do Irish music on a Tuesday or something,” he says. “Me and Jonah, when we walked in there, we got sat in. They were like, ‘Oh, yeah, come over here, lads, we got seats for you just over here.’ Sat down in a place, was drinking, realised there was a big sign above our heads that said, ‘Muppet’s Corner’. I love that pub.”
The White Horse – Shepherd’s Bush, W12 8LH
The White Horse was actually the place we were originally meant to meet before the time constraints of a rush hour trek up to West London and the ghoulish clientele at another pub in the middle – that I’ll leave unnamed – left us to settle on another of Manning-Walker’s favourite spots, The Boot. He maintains that The White Horse is a supreme establishment and another with that peculiar, quintessentially British spirit due to the combination of excellent refreshments, comical locals, and a generally dingy vibe.
He says: “The White Horse in Shepherd’s Bush. Old school, dingy little place, quality, Guinness there is fucking unbelievable, proper local’s bar, you know what I mean? There’s a geezer at the door who checks your ID, who doesn’t even fucking work there. It’s that kind of gaff – like, allowed your shirt off at the bar type beat, but the Guinness there is absolutely phenomenal. Good stuff. Good for West London as well, right?”
The Boot – King’s Cross, WC1H 8BS
As we know, The Boot was where Manning-Walker and I settled on to discuss And Then There Was… and all things Chubby and the Gang over a few Guinness and whiskey and cokes. I immediately understood why he chose it, with the atmosphere buzzing, the drinks reasonably priced, and the staff lovely.
“Right, my next Guinness spot is The Boot near King’s Cross, north London. Quality, quality boozer. Cheap, good vibes, good atmosphere, the Guinness tastes good, what more do you want?” he says, mentioning that the nearest stations are Russell Square or King’s Cross. “It’s in that Holborny area, sort of in the middle of everything.”
Unlike other places, he “can’t complain” about the fantastic clientele at The Boot, and there’s one booze-soaked memory that stands out for him there. “I had a good memory here at The Boot where we were playing darts, but someone had to put their hand on the darts board. We were playing one-on-ones, and whoever wasn’t throwing the darts had to put their hand on the dartboards, in case you missed, and then you caught their hand. So that’s my experience here…”
The Pride of Spitalfields – Shoreditch, E1 5LJ
If you’ve lived in the capital and frequented East London, the chances are you’ve been to The Pride of Spitalfields at least once. It’s an iconic boozer with everything you could possibly want, which the Chubby and the Gang leader is right about. He’s also spot-on with another piece of information. Pick your times to visit wisely; otherwise, you’ll be suffocated by the hellish self-importance of the Salomon-wearing hipsters and normie PR types who inhabit the area.
“There’s this pub just off Brick Lane called The Pride of Spitalfields. Fucking fantastic. Cheap, good, does ‘Knees Up Mother Brown’ on a Monday or Tuesday, pub cat, everything you can ask for. It’s quality. Just don’t go there in peak hours because it’s full of cunts. But, the pub itself is fucking unbelievable,” he says.
And the pint of Guinness? “It’s fantastic. Can’t be knocked, cannot be knocked. That is a good one.”
Gone but not forgotten: The Happy Man – Manor House, N4
Given that Manning-Walker is native to the sprawling capital, he’s been to watering holes that those not from here haven’t. Of course, this has taken him to a wide variety of establishments, and there is one strange place that has since been knocked down that sticks out in his memory due to its utterly bizarre disposition. This is The Happy Man in Manor House, that transient district of north London wedged between Finsbury Park, Stamford Hill and Haringey.
He recalls: “So I went for a Guinness in this place called The Happy Man, which was in Manor House. I took someone on a date there, and there was a guy in a suit of armour? It’s winter, freezing fucking cold. They had a fucking bin, and they were burning shit inside the pub – this place has gone now.”
Continuing: “They were burning shit inside, so there’s fucking smoke everywhere. You bought the same drink five times, it cost five different prices. He was just pulling numbers out of the air. Two pound Guinness, six pound Guinness, four pound. It was right in the middle of Manor House, right in the middle, where all the new developments are. That was, especially for a first date, that was a special night, that one.”
The worst pub? The Elephant’s Head – Camden, NW1 8QR
Manning-Walker’s choice for the worst pub is The Elephant’s Head in Camden. It’s not necessarily about the pub itself, though, but rather the politics of some patrons, a topic intrinsic to the punk genre. As Camden is a hotbed of punk, metal, and other music, it doesn’t just attract left-wing folk attuned to the original motivation of the former genre.
“It’s this place called The Elephant’s Head in Camden. Every fucking time I go there, I get into some sort of like, you know, issues. A lot of weird political shit going on in there,” he explains. “It’s more about the clientele than it is necessarily the pub because the pub is not actually that bad in itself.” Cue a wild story about giving some Nazis a well-deserved hiding.
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