Week Twelve: Twickenham Day - Duke of Cambridge and Alexander Pope

Week Twelve

  This week was all about gearing up for the big one on Saturday. It was the huge old boys get together at Twickenham to watch our former school in the NatWest Schools Rugby Cup Finals. Bit of a mouthful but you get the idea. We had Warwick School representing in both the Under 15 and the Under 18 finals so there was a huge crowd present.  I would say at least 4 thousand people and we were all seated in the shaded West Stand (good to avoid that beaming sun). The Under 15's won but the Under 18's unfortunately did get stuffed by an impressive Dulwich College outfit. Cracking day out though and good to see some old faces.


  Special Guests include: Warwick School past and present. Notable mentions - Josh Beebee, Brynne, Will Matthews, Tom Maynell, Ryan Mccrickerd, Jonnie Kerr, Ed Gillespie, Lucy Tedstone and of course my biggest fan (Chris Hazell).

Summary of The Duke of Cambridge

Name: The Duke of Cambridge

Type: Pub

Location: Kneller Road, Twickenham, Middlesex, TW2 7DT

Website: http://www.thedukeofcambridge.co.uk/

Date Visited: 29/03/14

Price: Not expensive

Rating: 4.1/5

Review

  Another cracking little establishment I have had the pleasure of visiting in recent weeks. Now as I was saying earlier every Old Warwickian had come to watch the school play in the two finals. Between the two finals there was around 2 hours to kill so a watering hole was desperately needed.

  Luckily one kind parent had hired out this whole pub in which only Warwick fans were allowed in. Spot on.

  The atmosphere here was buzzing, the beer garden/car park was overflowing with blue and white shirts and the weather was b-e-a-utiful (Bruce Almighty reference if unsure). Could they nail this set up anymore? Without question.  The establishment had a barbeque outside serving burgers and hot dogs. Fanbloodytastic.

  Without sounding like one of those hippy energy healing therapist types, the vibe was great. Everyone was on great forms and the drinks were going down beautifully (When are they not whey!). Only slight critique if I have to give one is that the bar was a bit small so the wait was fairly horrific but what can you expect if you have around a thousand people (slight exaggeration) cramming into a 100 person capacity pub with only 4 bar staff. You do the math.   I think I just got angry with myself there.

  Back to business, I have given this place a high rating but I do believe the occasion and the company was the main reason for the great experience so I'm going to be cautious to not go too high.  Do any of you care? Probably not.

  Well if you do and if you are looking for a boozer near Twickenham and you are bored of the Cabbage Patch or you’re coming from the other direction, then I would suggest giving this place a try.

Here are the Warwick fans. Told you there was a lot.

Summary of Alexander Pope

Name: Alexander Pope

Type: Gastro Pub

Location: Cross Deep, Twickenham, Middlesex, TW1 4RB

Website: http://www.alexanderpope.co.uk/

Date Visited: 29/03/14

Price: Pricey....too pricey for my liking.

Rating: 1.9/5

 

Review

  What on earth were we and the notable mentions (see start of article) thinking coming to this establishment after all the rugby had finished at Twickenham. Why would we come here? Josh Beebee, the quick to criticise blogs friend, was the answer. He sold it to us as a highly recommended pub called the Pope's Grotto (interesting name). As you can see from the above it has changed names to the Alexander Pope.  First faux pas.

  Second was the fact this place advertises on its website as being ‘just a short walk away from Twickenham Stadium.’  Wrong, wrong, wrong and just downright lies! This place is a good 30 minute walk and is predominantly uphill. What added insult to injury was walking past the Cabbage Patch where the place was over-packed with old school boys.  Surely we should stop here and catch up with old chums (playing up to private school rhetoric).   No was the answer, this determined group continued to trudge on to highly sought after  Pope's Grotto.

  We finally got to the 'promised land' and were greeted by no-one. The place was dead with no atmosphere which did lead to the one positive of having many tables free. We were able to sit round a large round wooden table (who gives a) and were able to have a good old chinwag which was nice as it had been a while since some of us had seen each other.

  However the place charged a lot of money (forget exactly as it had been a long day but I know that I was grumbling about it) for a pint and then to add insult to injury my Iphone predictably ran out of battery.  Iphone’s quite like myself just can’t last on all dayers.  To make matters worse the place had no Iphone 4 charger which I told a confused waitress would cost her a few points.  It was time to leave.

  That said I would actually come here on a different occasion e.g. you were fancying a pub lunch on a Sunday hangover. Do not come here after watching the rugby at Twickenham...few people do and practically no one would ever consider it an option.

The Popes Grotto does have a cool Glass Perspex box on the outside of it for some reason

Poem Advice

At Twickenham for the rugby,
Wanting to drink some beers
Duke of Cambridge is a good shout
Reminiscing with old peers

Once the game has finished
And you’re wondering where to go
Do not hitch hike to Popes Grotto
The journey’s long and slow.


  Not much to sign off with at the end here folks.  Just to say unlucky to the Warwick School Under 18’s in the final and well done to the Under 15’s.  To warn you devoted readers/fans/those who I force to read, that we have hit April which as you all know is the Partyman’s birthday...big things ahead. Happy reading

See you next week fans

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