Date: November 2017
For a time I lived in Bow E3, which is just up the road from Bethnal Green. I was the classic example of a young, middle class professional moving into an area formerly considered more than a bit rough but now burgeoning with new developments, new shops and new people. It’s called gentrification, and it’s quite controversial. I moved there because it was cheap enough and, moreover, I found somewhere to live. The part of Bow I lived in was quite quiet and mainly residential. It was close to Victoria Park, which is great, and has some nice pubs. It's also just a short walk or bus ride along the Roman Road to Bethnal Green with all of its life and activity. It was there I often went to meet friends in the various pubs and bars.
The Old George is one of these pubs. It has been around for a while. Although currently owned by the Antic chain, it dates back to the 18th century. It appears to have had many names, all of them George themed - from George IV to simply The George. These days it's officially recognised as old and has the appropriate moniker to reflect this. Antic bought it in 2013 from previous owners Sue and Keith Allen, who retired from the pub trade, for what seems to me to be a reasonable sum of £85,000. After a refurbishment, it reopened later that same year and has been going ever since. It’s nice inside. It feels like a proper pub and has a decent selection of real ales and tatty furniture to perch on. I imagine the clientele are somewhat different to what they were back in the East End’s glory days, but it’s not ostentatious like other refurbished places and is a good spot to relax. So that's what I was doing there back in November 2017 when I sampled their lime and soda offering.
Before I can review the quality of the drink I have to mention the customer service experience. Upon ordering my drink - “a lime and soda please.” - I was met with a blank stare as though I had uttered words yet to enter the English lexicon. “I'll have a lime and soda please”, I repeated, but still nothing doing. Right, I thought, this is going to be an interesting experience.
Lime and soda is a fairly common non-alcoholic beverage served in pubs in the UK but I get that new bartenders, especially those from outside British culture, may not know what it is or how to make it. This particular bartender must have fallen into one of those categories because, after seeing that repeating my order continually was getting me nowhere, I decided to give him a crash course on how to make this staple of British sobriety. After first explaining what the ingredients are and informing the bartender that the 'lime' generally refers to the lime cordial - "the green stuff in that bottle" - and the 'soda' is usually served from the drinks gun and not a glass bottle like tonic water, I thought it best to let him get on with it. He was the pro, I was just a mere customer.
Given that I had to do at least half of the work, you’d expect this to have been the best lime and soda I’ve ever had but it's important to note that a) I didn’t have control of the creative process and b) I’m not a bartender, I don't know if the lime and sodas I like are industry standard. I still trusts the experts with their superior knowledge to do a better job than I could. And so I placed my trust in this one.
Appearance: The first thing I noticed about this glass of lime and soda was just how small it was. It really was tiny. A bit like the disappointment you feel when you’ve decided to order a half pint of beer, only to re-discover that a half pint is actually not that much liquid. That was how I felt when this drink was placed in front of me. It was a long way from the full to the brim pints of lime and soda I'd come to expect from the pubs in E2. The next thing that struck my was just how clear the drink was. There was only the palest tinge of green. It looked as though I had poured a glass of Sainsbury’s basics soda water and looked at it through green tinted spectacles. The absence of the crowning fresh lime that should adorn every lime and soda only added to the drabness.
Taste: The initial sip compounded my disappointment. Bland fizzy water. As feared. A more mindful second sip did reveal a hint of the sickly sweet artificial lime flavour that makes this drink what it is, and a stir with my finger did improve the consistency to the extent that after three or four sips I was beginning to feel that this one was a grower. It was certainly punching above the low weight of expectation I had upon first sight and taste. It was cold and refreshing but did require repeat finger stirs keep it palatable.
Price: £1. Not untypical for a lime and soda in a recently trendy area. It was smaller than I had expected and the service was unnecessarily bespoke for something so simple to create, but you can't really argue with £1 drinks.
Is it worth ordering a lime and soda at The Old George? Hard to say to be honest given the bizarre experience I had with round one. Even more strange was that the second round (admittedly from a different bartender) was different to the first. The second time the drinks came in a pint glass, contained much more lime cordial and also had a fresh lime quarter. It even cost less than the first round.
In a way the two lime and sodas I had at The Old George demonstrate the point I'm trying to prove in this blog, no two lime and sodas are the same. Even in the same pub, different bartenders have their own interpretations. Like walking down a street in Naples and tasting a different pizza from each pizzaiolo. Such variety is unmatched in the soft drink world. If I had to make a recommendation on whether to come here for your lime and soda I'd say that if you like your sobriety wild and unpredictable, this is your spot
Sources:
Pub website:
https://oldgeorge.co.uk/ https://londonist.com/pubs/pubs/old-george
Pubhistory entry:
https://pubshistory.com/LondonPubs/BethnalGreen/OldGeorge.shtml
Article about the pub
http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/bethnal-green-s-old-george-pub-sold-to-london-chain-1-2220013
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