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VERSION:2.1
N:The Boot
FN:The Boot
TEL;WORK;VOICE:020 7837 3842
ADR;WORK:;;116 Cromer Street;WC1H 8BS
URL:
NOTE:I suspect that this is the same Boot used as a meeting place by the leading figures of the Gordon Riots, described in Dickens Barnaby Rudge as being in the fields behind Tottenham Court Road, which it certainly would have been back in 1780. Dickens, when he wrote his novel about the riots some 60 years later, would have been familiar with the area, living only several streets further down in Doughty Street. If it is the same pub, it has certainly changed since the riots. Notwithstanding the disappearance of the surrounding fields, the current pub is not the ramshackle dump of the novel, but is housed in a slightly ungainly Regency building, pasted inside with the muted browns and yellows that constitute Mark 1 pub dcor, feeling slightly fake and disappointingly predictable. Rather lacking in insurrectionary firebrand characters at the bar, it is now a rather quiet spot for the locals, including an always-on big screen so the slack-jawed can drool at non-stop sport, a standard range of beers and an unremarkable but satisfying range of food. Its open at weekends, has a few tables outside and can be very pleasant in summer sitting outside watching the world go by, as Cromer Street is one of the quieter thoroughfares in the area.
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