Tuesday 19 March 2013

The Chandette

After we went to the Hunterian Museum last Saturday we popped for a quick pint at The Chandos in St Martins Lane. 
It is a Samuel Smith Brewery owned establishment that only stock Samuel Smith products.
Back in 1998 Mark and I spent seven months working there as a live-in bar couple, it was my first ever job in London and I have some fond memories of that time.
When we worked there you could get a pint for less than £2 but our round on Saturday (two pints) came to £8.50, how times change.
I wonder if the wages have followed suit?
N'ah!
These pics where snapped outside the pub. 
I remember getting black fingers from shining that bloody brass behind me every morning.
The pub is slap bang in the middle of the West End near Covent Garden, Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square.
It's a real shame that the beer prices have shot through the roof cause it's a fab place for a lengthy drinking session.
Vintage 70s floral print maxi dress, 90s teddy faux-fur jacket, repro Victorian lace-up boots, mohair hat, gloves & Frocktasia earrings.
Here we have 'The Chandos' class of '98 having a wee swalley on a Saturday night which incidentally was  both pay & beer line cleaning day, loads of free booze, happy days ;)
I'm the one draped on the sofa (no surprise there) & the dude sitting next to me is Matt, who is my brother-in -law.
Other news...
The lovely Sacramento bought a vintage shirt from me the other week and here she is ROCKING IT in one of her fab outfits :)
 Raven haired sauce goddess Sarah put her photoshoppin' skills to good use last Friday and grafted the heads of some of my favourite bloggers onto the glowing orange, trashy clad bodies of retro catalogue models. 
At long last my dreams of walking in the footsteps of Samantha Fox have been realized, thank you Sarah ;)
My fellow models are Tamera, Helga & Vix.
The original catalogue scans are from an awesome blog called Retrospace
If you haven't heard of it, I can highly recommend adding it to your fave blogs, it's one of my daily doses of unadulterated vintage & retro fun and inspiration.
Today's tune is 'The Model' by Kraftwerk, enjoy :)
Loads of love,
Jennie
xXx


11 comments:

Unknown said...

lOVE this entire post!!!!
the photo is great and i am always on the look-out for vintage pallazo's with kooky prints (elastic waist).
big hugs
Reva

Becky said...

Love the old pub pic!
Sacramento looks fantastic in the shirt and I love the post Sarah did.
Your floral maxi is pretty!!!
Becky :)

Willow said...

What a charming looking pub. And how fabulous you look standing in front of it in these lovely pictures. Your boots are beautiful, and that hat is gorgeous! Sacramento is definitely rocking that shirt. x

Lucys Lounge said...

i wouke in a pub in london about 25 years ago. i loved it. it was in victoria. your dress is great as usual. love lucy

Perdita Tinsel said...

I find it a bit outrageous how Sam Smith's have shot up in price round central London ... and it is mainly there. :/

Franca said...

Man, 4.25 a pint! Shocking! I remember when I used to think £2 a pint was expensive.

You look lovely and I love that old photo.

Frocktasia said...

Perdita, unfortunately all the pub prices in the West End have just avalanched over the past five years. In 2006 when I started working at 'The Lamb and Flag' on Rose Street the price of a pint was hovering around the 2.50 mark, when I left in 2011 only the bitter was still under £4 a pint...OUTRAGEOUS indeed! For a really long time The Chandos was the cheapest watering hole in the West End, probably still is but at £4 a pint it can hardly be considered cheap. As someone who came from a country with no pub culture to speak of, I relished the social aspects of pub life here in the UK. In the past popping to the pub was something we did almost on a daily basis, a bit like Eastenders, where they all seem to live there. A few years ago you could still afford to have an all-day drinking sessions and buy drinks for random strangers on a regular basis but now (unless you are rolling in it) you have to be much more careful with the pennies and as a result pub visits have become few and far between for us anyway...x

Vix said...

Real ale's still between 1.80 and 2.40 a pint here, you need to move!
Fab dress, by the way! x

Frocktasia said...

Vix, totally, that's what I've been telling myself for years! Curse my hoarding ways for keeping me here ;)
...xXx

Curtise said...

Love a good pub, but not at those prices! Much cheaper here, thankfully.
Great frock, what a very pretty print. xxxx

Miss Simmonds Says said...

I've walked past this place many times but not gone in. It looks like it used to be a nice cheap place to hang out in. Love your dress and fur coat! xx