Knowles, West Norwood

If comfortably upholstered, throaty bellower Adele fancies furnishing her swanky Surrey mansion at This, That And The Other, the ‘sarf’ London discount megastore she previously lodged above, she’s in for a shock. Quirky pub operators Antic have nabbed the old place for their latest venue, tricking it out in rag and bone man chic, Edwardian hardware store gubbins, vintage wallpapers, workbenches and banquette. A grateful West Norwood’s punters have been rolling in, 21 deep at its bar, for pints from the London likes of Gipsy Hill, Brixton Brewery and Sambrook’s. In the spirit of the old place, wines start at a bargain £15 a bottle while a taste of the global megastar lifestyle is yours for £42 (for Haton champagne). Pending the opening of its kitchens - whose mainstays will be seasonal modern British pub grub, trad homemade bar snacks and Sunday roasts - there are franks and hot dogs to be had. Rumour Has It, Adele’s (one-time) Hometown Glory is presently to add a conservatory dining room and a landscaped family-friendly garden. West Norwood has arrived, clearly.
294 - 296 Norwood Road SE27 9AF 8670 0436 knowlesofnorwood.com

Review also appears online at www.squaremeal.co.uk

Harlesden Picture Palace, Harlesden

Opened in 1912 when the year's silent movies included The Conquest Of The Pole; The Musketeers Of Pig Alley; and The Water Nymph, by the 1980s, The Harlesden Picture Palace was reduced to screening blue movies - Musketeer Pigs' Poles' Conquest Of The Water Nympho's Alley among them, no doubt. Latterly, the old flea pit's fate was to host a Wetherspoon's pub. Fortunately, the curtain has fallen on that turkey and The Picture Palace can once again expect a full house in its new incarnation as funky bar, a feature attraction in up-and-coming (I'm told) Harlesden. Owners Antic - whose stable of quirky suburban socials include Deptford Job Centre, Balham Bowls and Farr’s School of Dancing in Dalston - have restored the place to something like its Edwardian prime, with a liberal sprinkle of 50s styling and fascinating film memorabilia. Set under the original balcony, lit by art nouveau crystal chandeliers, a long rosewood bar’s hand-pulls dispense Ladbroke Grove microbrewer Moncada’s Notting Hill Amber, great stuff from from Redemption and the owners’ own craft beer, The Full Monty Volden. Democratically priced wine includes the ubiquitous Picpoul de Pinet at just shy of £20. DJs play until 1.30 am at weekends when funk, jazz, ska, soul and popcorn (obscure, cult 1960s pop as played in Belgian dance-halls) are in the mix. Burgers and sandwiches will be served whilst a full kitchen is installed, planned for autumn 2015. Another silver screen star idolised by the flea pits original customers was Mary Pickford who starred in over 30 films in 1912 alone. No sign here of the classic rum and pineapple cocktail created for her when she visited the Hotel Nacional in Havana with Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, sadly
26 Manor Park Road NW10 4JJ 8965 4410. www.harlesdenpicturepalace.com

adapted from my review for www.squaremeal.co.uk

Farr's School Of Dancing, Dalston

(Drinking From The Bottle? Tinie Tempah scrubs up nicely for an Esquire photo-shoot - Farr's Facebook page)

The latest addition to pub chain Antic’s burgeoning pan-London portfolio that includes Balham Bowls Club, Deptford Job Centre, and the one-time Catford Conservative Club, is another quirkily reinvented space given over to boozing. High-ceilinged Farr’s was Dalston’s académie de danse in the late 1930s; the depressive decade echoed in the venue’s recycled retro decor. The room stylists also plunder the 1960s in the shape of leatherette chairs with hood dryers salvaged, presumably, from an am-dram production of Hairspray.   Beats for dancing feet include 60s Northern soul and rock'n'roll nights and, at under £14 for serviceable rosé, prices verge on the retro too. I'm no fan of industrially-produced Euro-lagers: local craft beers, Adnams Single Shells, Californian Anchor Steam and Hogan’s Warwickshire cider (all on tap), London gins and mint julep or old fashioned at £7 are what to drink here. There’s talk of a basement speakeasy and an upstairs dining area and kitchen serving comfort food - a work in progress when I sashay in. Farr's is far better than many Dalston watering holes but, like Sophie Ellis Bextor and Brendan Cole's Strictly Come Dancing efforts, I score it an 8 rather than a 10. 

17 - 19 Dalston Lane E8 3DF 7923 4553 http://www.farrsschoolofdancing.com 

Gremio de Brixton, Brixton

The first time I visited the Basque Country, I travelled there by ship. Alas, what  should have been a 36-hour pleasure cruise from Southampton turned into a re-run of The Wreck of the Hesperus. A dodgy hot dog gobbled down en route to the port had gone rogue on me. This, coupled with the tornado-swept Bay of Biscay Michael Fish's mob had somehow failed to alert me to, meant the traumatic trip took almost three fraught, sleepless, storm-tossed days. My boat (as a native of Bethnal Green or Bow might say) turned the same shade as my bought-brand-new-for-the-holiday and now-covered-in-puke, pea green Brooks Brothers button-down Chambray shirt.  When we eventually docked at Bilbao - Basque for 'bilious' I assumed - the rubber-legged, swimmy headed, churny-wurny motion sickness was such that it was still with me by the time our pre-booked itinerary demanded we advance to Barcelona, two days later. All of this to say, having managed to keep down nothing but one piece of dry toast, I would not discoverthe delights of pintxos, the Basque equivalent of tapas, until several years after my gastrodisastro maiden voyage to the land of berets, ETA terrorist bombs and exploding guts. For a taste of Bilbao in Blighty, head to new Brixton spot, Gremio. Run in conjunction with South London pub group Antic (Dogstar, Tooting Tram, Balham Bowls et al), it's the domain of proveedores de pukka pintxos, Gremio - señores normally to be found at the chain’s Graveney and Meadow pub in SW17. Cryptically located underneath a landmark church, the candle-lit Almodóvar-esque underworld - all Catholic iconography and matador imagery - is a devil’s playground for its early doors, cool, young, urban congregation. As well as boquerones, piquillo peppers with salmon roe, foie gras and oxtail meatballs and the likes, you'll find quality Spanish wines, sherries, cocktails, Iberian gins, cerveza and sangria set to a suitably sexy San Sebastian/ San Antonio de Ibiza soundtrack - with a bit of flamenco behaviour chucked in for good measure. If you fancy joining the union (as 'gremio' translates into in English) let's just say the Victoria Line is usually a marginally less rough ride than a P and O Line ship in a hurricane. 
The Crypt, St Matthew's Church, Effra Road SW2 http://gremiodebrixton.com/