406) Coopers Corner of Bow Bridge, St. James’, D8
Sitting beside a set of almost ‘Exorcist-steps’, this establishment previously existed in a former guise as a deeply dodgy-looking den of sin and gin called Murray’s - one never felt much in a hurry to head there at the time, and its profoundly shut state went some way to excluding one from its dormant doors. It has since, as of 2023, been reopened and extensively revamped and, while no Beamish bonder, we figured we would lose many credibility points by not going, and so we did, of a quiet and deeply dead Monday afternoon on which we were the first customers. As per so many rejuvenated hostelries, gastritis is the prevailing aesthetic inside, and the food menu reigns supreme - if that’s your beef, then you’ll be mooing like a calving cow.
The subterranean toilets are not the easiest to find, being located in the very dark underground, and with unhelpfully vague coded signifiers on the doors that may inadvertently enable a cis-man to blunder in upon the ladies, to everyone’s mutual displeasure. But for us, the whole place was redeemed and rendered exceptional by its happy placement right beside the underrated and often overlooked River Camac. A seat outside by one of the barrels is a must for to soak up the gorgeous riverside views available and obtainable, on which views we much glutted ourselves, lapping up vistas of seaweed and flowers and gushing waters, cheering on the sole brave lady-duck who dared to swim upstream and against the current.
One suspects, if one waited long enough (we couldn’t and didn’t), you might even be treated to the spectacle of a patient heron or diving cormorant biding time amidst these bubbling rapids. Mindful of our trajectory and preferred tastes, we only stayed for the space of a glass of Guinness apiece - the puny glasses looked like shrunken Lego micro-pint, pitiful in our fat hands. Here’s the deal about Coopers Corner - We’ll Be Back For the Camac!
It really is on a corner, fact!
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