TMT Day 4 - Onward to Bristol

Bagels, trains, and Sunday Roasts.

I’m calling for a worldwide mandate that all coffee shops open by 7 am.

Some friends suggested two coffee shops near my Airbnb, Origin Coffee and Ozone Coffee Roasters, which opened at 8:30 and 9, respectively. What kind of hell is this? What is an addict to do? A quick scan around the area didn’t show much else open before 8 am unless you count Costa or Caffè Nero (which I don’t).

Shame, London, shame.

In any case, I still had time to wait out the coffee shops before my train, so there was hope. I wandered a few blocks away to Beigel Brick Lane Bakery.

It’s a low-frills spot; I doubt it’s changed much since it opened. The lady who took my order - plain bagel, cream cheese (schmear?), and lox - was giving me just the right amount of early morning “what the fuck do you want?” energy that matched my pre-coffee state. The guy next to me, wearing a hard hat and a Hi-Vis vest, took a sip of something in a styrofoam cup and just let out an “Oh fuck me, that’s good,” English accent and all. I looked down to see what it was - maybe some soup or consumé? I didn’t ask.

The bagel was good, though my bagel standards are pretty low. But it only cost $4.49! Crazy. I can’t remember the last time I paid less than $12 for a lox bagel in the States. They’re also open 24 hours, so if I lived here, the salt beef + pickle would probably happen at ~1 am more often than I’d like to admit.

There are a ton of reviews for this place, so it’s no secret, but sometimes good is just good.

Alright, you’ve made up for your late brewing coffee sins, London.

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Today, I headed to Bristol, about an hour and a half west of London by train.

It’s a cliché, but the novelty of European train trips wanes. The historic, beautiful stations. The manic energy. The backpackers looking lost. The giant board of train numbers and destinations you squint at a few times to make sure you’re doing it right. I love it all.

It probably comes from growing up in the early aughts, when going to Europe or traveling writ large still felt just difficult enough. All the movies I watched had the main characters on trains, either falling in love or running from the bad guys. The train was adventure. The train was possibility. The train meant I was out there in the world, doing something. At least to a little kid outside of Portland, Oregon.

Anyway.

Once I arrived in Bristol, guess where I went? A pub!

Well, actually, no. I tried to check into my room first, but it wasn’t ready. But then, then I went to a pub.

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A bit off the main downtown was The Open Arms. It was fantastic. On one side of the pub, they were showing Formula 1, and on the other, cricket. Both had watchers. I overheard that Australia won by six wickets(!), which I truly had no idea what to make of, but now I’m intrigued.

I asked the bartender if The Open Arms was a tied house or a free house. She said a pubco owned it, but the publican pretty much has full autonomy. So, it’s either a really nice pubco, or they were granted the MRO option. Also, is this a weird question to start asking people?

It was Sunday, which meant I got to observe one of life’s truisms - the Brits and a proper Sunday Roast.

There was a steady flow of people all afternoon looking for their roast and a pint. And between the two bartenders, they seemed to recognize almost everyone who walked through the door.

I tried to remember if I’d ever had a proper Sunday roast in England. None came to mind. But after a couple of pints and smelling a few roasts coming out of the oven, I needed one. And it was great.

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I’ve only included a few pictures in the posts so far. I’ve posted some to Instagram, Threads, and the Substack Chat for this newsletter. But I figured I’d drop a few here for those who aren’t on social media. Most are straight out of the camera (RAW+JPEG) or light touches, so I’ll need to revisit them when I return home.

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Pub Tracker

London

• Ye Old Mitre ($7.69)

• Ye Cheshire Cheese ($7.51)

• The Liberty Bounds - JD Wetherspoon (Beer + Burger $12.65)

• The Eagle Ale House (TBD)

• Exmouth Arms ($7.60)

• The Carlton Tavern ($6.60)

• Chesham Arms ($7.73)

Bristol

• The Open Arms ($5.74)