38 / The "Local"

In Britain, "living locally" definitely means patronizing a neighborhood "local," sometimes also called the "public house," or "pub" for short.

The Sherlock Holmes on Northumberland boasts a full restaurant menu. It's good!

The Coal Hole, on the Strand, has terrific pies (I particularly recommend the lamb-apricot).

I haven't been inside the Bung Hole (at least not yet), but I do like the name. It's on High Holborn, and I guess it's supposed to be a wine bar. As you can tell from the link, it doesn't get universally good reviews, but with apologies to one of my legal colleagues (you know who you are, Bill), I am almost positive you can get a Guinness at the Bung Hole, and I doubt you can go wrong with that.

The idea that our daily existence might, quite logically, revolve in significant part around a privately-owned but "public" house, "local" to one's place of residence, indicates that there are different approaches to social organization. Having now been able to witness the "pub scene" up close, I'm thinking that had I been brought up in England (or Ireland), I'd be putting down a Guinness daily. For a non-drinker, that's saying something!