NFL in London

National Football League in London

NFLUK

London-Best Pubs

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Welcome to London NFL fans!
Are you ready to drink like the British do?
Well, it’s doubtful you can.
Brits quaff pints like Americans consume pharmaceutical commercials-but that doesn’t mean you can enjoy a tipple like Londoners do.

We have a few tips to help you out.

NFL Pubs
The NFL has a deal with Fullers pubs to help promote each team. These are great places to meet like-minded fans, and tip back a few cask ales. They are NOT sports bars however, so there are no TVs, and you can’t watch games there. They also traditionally close around 11pm, so if you’re looking for late beers-you might try elsewhere. Since these are London pubs-so expect London prices of around £6 a pint.
Both are in very touristy areas, so you can always slide to another expensive pub should you wish.

After-Work
Londoners love to get smashed after work. So if you’re looking to hit the pubs around 4pm, sharpen your elbows. Pubs generally stay busy until after work (7-9ish) then drunken suits hit the trains to the north, south and angry-spouse.

Tipping
No need to tip bar staff for pulling pints, unless they are REALLY nice. Generally they will just look at you quizzically. You can tip servers if they bring food & drinks to you, but as a general rule look at the bottom of the receipt to see if the tip is included, or just ask!

Bars we Recommend

So where would we recommend you drink?
Good question-here are a few of our faves in London.

Brewdog
Brewdog is an amazing brewery/ bar group started by two young Scottish lads over a decade ago. Now they have some of the hippest brewpubs in the world.
They have big locations in Camden, Covent Garden, Canary Wharf, Dalton and more.
Great beers at an affordable price, plus good food as well.
One of the best beer chains in the city.
www.brewdog.com/bars/uk

Borough Market
If you do head to the Bears bar in London bridge, then you have a whole host of bars that await you behind it. Rake, The Miller and Gladstone Arms are all nicely tucked in behind the market and have outdoor spaces. Best of all-if you’re hungry, just nip to one of the lovely local food stalls which will be tempting you with their aroma.

boroughmarket.org.uk/traders/cafes-bars-restaurants

Granary Square/Coal Drops Yard
Located next to Kings Cross Station, this new development of condos, restaurants and bars is very cool. Next to the canals, there are loads of reasonably priced places to grab a drink, sit down to a nice meal, or just hit a brew pub. This area has changed dramatically, and is not to be missed!
Very close to the station, so you can get pretty much ANYWHERE in London
www.kingscross.co.uk/coal-drops-yard

Camden
Camden has a reputation as a rock’n’roll haven for naughty. It has gentrified quite a bit recently, but you can still find some great bars and restaurants, and the area is open much later than the rest of London. Plus, pints are cheaper than the other touristy areas.
Loads of places are next to the canals, so you can sit outside and enjoy the view.
Or feel free to walk up the road a bit to Kentish Town, which has some nice pubs of its own.

Enjoy your visit! And let us know if we can help make your vacation better!
See you Sunday!

NFL’s Worst Teams

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It’s already week 4 in the NFL, and we can identify some of the teams that are in trouble.
You know how some taxi’s have that orange light on the back that prompts you to call the police if you see the light on? That’s how bad some of these teams are.

While the NFL was talking of investigating the Miami Dolphins for tanking the season, some other teams look like they couldn’t even compete in the NCAA.

Are the Redskins worse than the Dolphins? How low can the Broncos go?
Should the Broncos have a fire sale to get rid of Andy Dalton and AJ Green?
It might give them a chance to win a ring with another team.

Here are some funny cartoons to help take your mind off all of the NFL pain.

It’s only week 4-but some teams might be able to go 0-16. Or ‘whoa and 16’ depending on how the fans feel.


Bears in London

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The Bears are in London!
Well…not really.
They don’t get here until Friday, so you won’t really get a chance to see or meet them.

Loads of London venues have started to ‘Bear Down’ despite having no idea about the game.

It’s nice to see people get into the spirit of the games, and support either Raider Nation or the Bears.

We were sent these from a venue near London Bridge.
Good to see people getting into the spirit of it all!

London-To Do

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October 23, 2012 – London, UK: SKYFALL London Premiere at Royal Albert Hall.

Welcome to London!
What do you have planned?
Some sight-seeing? Take in some West End musicals? Get absolutely smashed on pints in a pub?
Why not do it all?

Since you’re just arriving here, we have a few things that you might want to try.

London Cocktail Week
Do you love booze? Great-you came to the right country.
London cocktail week is a chance to savour some tipples from some of the top bartenders in the city.
Hit a few locations and let the booze show you the way.
More info and tickets here:
https://drinkup.london/magazine/22568/what-is-london-cocktail-week

James Bond in Concert
If you haven’t been to Royal Albert Hall, you simply must!
This weekend (Oct 5 & 6th) the orchestra is getting the band back together to play along to a James Bond classic.
This weekend it’s Skyfall, and you can watch the movie all while the orchestra plays along.
Tickets might be tough-but there are loads of LEGITIMATE ticket touts around Covent Garden.
More info here:
royalalberthall.com

BFI Film Festival
Do you love movies?
Well the UK makes some of the best dang movies on the planet!
To celebrate the British Film Institute is hosting its annual film festival across the city this weekend.
Get some tickets, mingle with celebrities, and see some incredible movies before they are released in cinemas.
Tickets here.
bfi.org.uk

Comedy
London has more stand-up comedy in a week than New York, LA, Toronto and Chicago…COMBINED!
That’s a lot of laughs. Most of the established comedy clubs have some great acts, just avoid the flyerers in Leicester Square handing out nebulous claims to crappy shows.
You should probably avoid Leicester Square all together unless you want to lose money and dignity!
Piccadilly Circus has the world famous Comedy Store, which always has great international acts.
Our fave club is the Backyard Comedy Club in Bethal Green.
Great acts, reasonable tickets and you never know who might pop in to do a spot!
backyardcomedyclub.co.uk

London-Sports Bars

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So you’re coming to London and you want to watch sports like you do in the US?
Is there anything like it here?
No.
Sadly, you are out of luck.
But we do have advice to help you out.

The UK and London particularly are woefully underserved when it comes to sports bars.
While some of the UK chains have made some efforts to modernise, they are still a few dreadful decades away.
Bad food, violent fans, drugged out patrons, and horrible service are just some of the things you can look forward to.
(which is why most people watch at home!)

So if you do want to catch a night of sports-where should you head?

We have a few tips to help you out in your excursions.

NCAA Football
Looking to watch NCAA football when you are over from the states?
Good luck!
Very few places will actually show the games, and due to time zones-most of the big games don’t air in the UK til the wee hours.
One of the problems with NCAA football is that it takes place on a Saturday-a traditional ‘football’ day for Brits, that continues on til at least 7pm.
After that the bar becomes a ‘bar’, with the music pumping up to 11, and punters drunkenly enjoying their weekend.
Trying to get them to switch on a college game with sound would be like asking a Brit ‘where in France are you from?’
The other problem with college football is that it’s only played on 1 TV network over here-BT Sport ESPN.
That means you can only watch 1 game at a time. Sometimes this game was played a few hours ago.
There was an ESPN Player app-but it crashed more times than Robert Downey Jr. in the 90s’.
Belushi’s Londonbridge is perhaps the only London location that shows college sports.
But again, it will be packed, will only show one game, and it will close before the game ends.

Wings & Food
First thing you will notice when you try chicken wings in the UK is how tiny they are.
Like seriously tiny.
You’ll then notice that British people like to mess around with a whole whack of flavours that are downright gross.
Peri-Peri? Mango Cream? Geez-louise, pass the Frank’s Red Hot sauce.
Burgers are also cooked in a mandatory fashion-which means over-cooked, over-sauced and on a flaky bun.
We have yet to find a good burger in London after 15 years, but hopefully one day!
McDonald’s is consistent and has free wifi.

If you are looking to watch some sports-here are a few places we would recommend for this weekend.

Princess Alexandra
Located in leafy Crouch End, this pub is close to Tottenham Stadium and is open late.
While not on a direct tube line-it is a celebrity haunt, so you never know who you might find.

MeatHouse
Right near Kings Cross Station, this place has meat, meat and more meat. They have a few tvs for the games, and a great feast of a menu.

Sports Bar & Grill-Farringdon
This sports bar chain is under new owners, so they are starting to change them around. While it is a chain, we like this one because of their manager Martin. Classy, funny guy, who makes the trip worthwhile.