☘IRISH PUB OF THE WEEK 999: THE SHEPHERD & FLOCK, 📍Goldhawk Lane. “

“GO WEST” urged the Pet Shop boys.

“THE WEST IS THE BEST” crooned Jim Morrison, but he also sang “Ghosts crowd the the young Child’s fragile eggshell mind” so I would be wary of taking great stock in his addled ramblings.

Instead, I take advice from noted pub sages like @londondeadpubs when they say that the Shepherd and Flock is one of the best pubs in London and after some in-depth research ( i saw a tricolor on Google reviews) it is indeed a Hiberno-House, and so is cannon for Irish Pub Visitin’

The best thing about trying to visit every Irish pub in the World , along with the endless glamour, is the fact it takes you to places of lore and myth off the beaten track- Nunhead, Kilburn, Mansion House , Wood Green, and Tucson Arizona. It has been years since I’ve gone west- I’m a Hackney lad in a Waltham Forest lad’s body, so with a journey of over an hour to the arse end of the Hammersmith Line, you hope its worth it. And it always is to be fair.

The Shepherd and Flock is a cozy boozer consisting of one lounge a la The Floirin which works if the lighting is low, as you’re all sharing the same cabin and you can hear what they’re all going on about either side of you. 2 pints of Guinness AND a bag of Taytos for £10 ( yesterday a trusted follower informed me that a Leicester Square pub was doing £7.50 Murphys!!?)And the barwoman brings them over . Loyal followers will note the tell tale quality assurance signs. The pub is busy but not packed, as it would be if QPR were playing, but interestingly I note a sticker in the jacks proclaiming solidarity between QPR and the nascent Kerry FC from back home. QPR used to be sponsored by Guinness back in the 80’s , making their shirts the most desired in the land.

On leaving the Shepherd, we have a hankering for meat that only the nearby Macedonian Restaurant can provide. And what a find! The decor is generic caf by numbers. The food is 100% authentic grilled cevapci, little delicious meaty cat turds. And the vibes are some of the finest dub reggae being blasted out of a carnival esque sound system. The whole place is like a West London Speakeasy and without doubt one of , if not THE Best Macedonian-Caribbean Fusion joint I have ever been to. That’s worth traveling over an hour for. London, you beautiful bastard, you’ve done it again!