OK, I’m not going to be able to check in between now and Friday.
Make the arrangements for Saturday and When you have finalised them, let me know. I’ll check back in on Friday and we’ll be able to arrange everything.
Enjoy everyone!!
So is Saturday OK for you then? 
If you need to be close to Waterloo for the trains I’m sticking with the Porterhouse (Covent Garden) as my vote. There’s the usual round of Wetherspoons / Pitcher & Piano types too, but they’re going to be rammed and rank on a Saturday. Pubs around Chancery Lane are okay (I work on Old Bailey) but will many be open on Saturday nights?
Camden’s still good for the Northern Line to Waterloo, but may not be good for everyone else. How about Angel?
Angel’s fine for me; I can come in to London Bridge.
Pretty much anywhere is going to be crowded on a Saturday night in central London, but especially Covent Garden. There’s a Pitcher & Piano/All Bar One type place across from the Charing X Post Office, but again, it’s likely to be packed by early evening.
Actually, the area around Angel gets busy quickly too – maybe we should plan for a late afternoon start to the festivities (depending on Twisty’s schedule, of course)…
Late afternoon’s good for me.
The non-big-chain-pub places I can think of are the Porterhouse (odd, back-street, new real-ale-&-bottled-lagers type place), the Queen Mary (boat, near Embankment tube, but you have to get there early if the weather’s nice), Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese (Fleet Street, nice despite the tacky name, not as easy to get to). If we’re going for chain-pubs, I don’t mind Hogsheads or All Bar Ones but please God no Pitcher & Piano, there’s nothing worth drinking there. Soho Bar & Brewing Company isn’t bad (if overpriced), plus there’s Blake’s, the Camden Brewing Company, the Enterprise, Pembroke Castle, Hogshead and Monkey Chews in Camden/Chalk Farm.
Watch as Fran magically changes her plans again!
After a couple of phone calls, I can make it after all. Mr Fran will be joining me. He’s a nice guy, I promise.
Hows about if we all meet at Waterloo station and go on from there? And are we talking afternoon or nighttime?
I would meet at Waterloo, but I’ll be coming from the opposite side of London. Depends where we meet, I guess. Anyone else got any strong feelings?
I was planning on getting in to Euston & then getting the tube to wherever we were meeting, certainly not meeting up at a station unless it’s right by the pub we’re planning on drinking in. Evening better for me, so let me know where you’ll be around 7ish…
If the weather is nice I may go up in the morning and play tourist for awhile then meet you whereever for mid-afternoon. I’ll throw in the one pub I know the name of - The Anchor Bankside. It’s on the river walk just East of Southwark Bridge. Not very central, but it has a large outdoor area.
I’ll also be coming into Euston, and probably at around 7pm also.
So I’ll second fierra’s need to know what, where, when at that time.
pan
Okay - I’m going to suggest Camden, The World’s End pub, 7.30pm Saturday night. It’s right next to the station, easy to get to from Waterloo, Euston and Paddington, and it’s a damn fine pub.
A vote?
I’d be happy with that.
How do we spot eachother? Being new to this whole dopefest thing, I need to know. Is there, like, a secret handshake or something?
pan
Heh - I’m quite easy to spot - I’m the one under 5ft. If you click on the red house below you can see what I look like and then recognise hopefully recognise me from them. Don’t know about anyone else though 
Fran
Right, from that I now know that I must look for a woman in a green top.
Gotcha.
OK, I can make that. Can you give more specific directions, such as which exit at Camden to take, which way to turn, etc. If anybody wants to make an earlier start, let me know. I think you can find photos of me on the people pages under the last London fest and the Amsterdam fest.
Come up the escalators at Camden tube station, take the exit on your left, look accross the road - there it is The pub actually has two rooms, but they are open to each other. Can’t say which one we’ll be in, because we don’t know how crowded it’ll be. Saturday night and all that.
Fran
Sounds good, Fran. I’m glad someone can make their mind up round here (& give good directions). Thanks.
kabbes - you just go round the entire pub asking everyone whether they are Francesca or not. If you’re very lucky, you’ll meet a lot of nice girls called Fran… ;). No one at the last LonDope looked like their picture and I didn’t see the tiny cardboard SDMB sign until way too late, so I asked everyone in a busy pub on a Saturday evening that was in a largish group if one of them was called Matt. Only got one extraneous Matt too! It was that or go home. Guess I’m not as shy as I used to be, since I didn’t pick the home option.
How crowded ? Hmm, the centre of Camden on a Saturday night…can’t imagine
I’ve mentioned to Twisty that I can’t manage the weekend (due to a seemingly permanently on-her-death-bed-Granny) but I’m hoping to meet up with him on the Monday. Have fun you crazy Saturdopers!
DEAR GOD PLEASE NOT THE WORLD’S END!
(Sorry – I live in Camden and I hate that place with a passion)
If that’s the majority vote, fine. But, if anyone’s unsure – I can recommend other pubs in Camden or in Chalk Farm (one stop further on the Northern Line Edgware Branch).
L_C – can you let me know what happens on the Monday? I’m around then too.