I like pubs and I also like animals but because I don’t own my own animal the two are usually kept from each other, which has the effect of rendering one very important part of my life – pubs – incomplete. Okay, not incomplete, I’m not overly concerned by the lack of paws on floors in pubs; I just like to see a pub pet as much as the next person. Which is why number six on my Christmas list is Fiona Freund and Graham Fulton’s new book, Pub Dogs of London by Freight Books.
Not only is this new book a desirable coffee table tome full of handsome looking animals - who eat far too many crisps – but it is also a handy guide to the places in the city in which you can get a pint and have a stroke. Ooh err…
A professional photographer, Fiona Freund visited pubs over London to take portraits of the dogs that called them home. Each picture comes with a little information on the dogs likes and dislikes so you can be ready for when you casually turn up for that stroke. Is this an amazing gift for pretty much anyone? Yes, it is. Should every pub in London have a pet? Yes, it should. Here are two favourites of my own.
Biddle Bros.
Surely Paco the Scotty at Clapton’s Biddle Brothers is the greatest pub dog in London? He is a dog with a back like an Olympic swimmer; you could mistake him for a hairy table if he was standing at your feet, so broad is that back of his. He comes and goes as he pleases, wandering up and down Upper Clapton Road alone, greeting people with begrudging nods, glowering to himself at how the area’s changed for the worse. He’s an old soul who once adorned the shirts of the mighty Haggerston Nomads FC.
Scooter Café
Though I prefer dogs, I have no time for the hating of cats. No reason for it. The fact that the Scooter Café has cats is no secret. They’ve had them for years. One week the resident feline will be up on your table and purring over your muffin, the next it’ll be showing you its puckered behind as if it’s never met you. That’s cats, there’s nothing wrong with hard to get and watching its behaviour here is part of the joy of this sweet little café.
