A little piece of home in London

Walking around the streets of Covent Garden it soon becomes clear that this is where a lot of expat's from come for a drink. Take a walk a street or two off the main piazza and you'll soon notice bars or shops with an Antipodean, South African or Canadian slant.

On Maiden Lane is Walkabout, part of an ausseie chain that has 50 pubs throughout the UK, ten in London. The Covent Garden one has an entrance on Henrietta Street as well and is open Mon-Sat 12-11pm, Sun 12-10.30pm. Walkabout also have three hotels and a backpackers in Brighton. There’s also a branch not far away in Shaftsbury Avenue.

Bok Bar is on Bedford Street, formerly the Springbok Bar. There’s a shop upstairs selling South Africa bits and pieces and a refurbished bar and restaurant downstairs called Thai Bok which sounds like a mixture. Looking at the website they’re really into the wood effect. They also have another branch at Blandford Street between Oxford Street and Marylebone.

Maple Leaf on Maiden Lane is Canadian themed pub offering North American food and sports, apparently Lumberjack Meatloaf is the signature dish. It’s open Mon-Sat 11am-11pm, Sun 12-10.30pm.

Just up from the Maple Leaf is a branch of the Australia Shop which has operated in the Covent Garden area since the early 1970’s. So if you can’t survive without your Tim Tam’s, Vegemite or Minties Australia Shop is open Mon-Fri 10.30am-6.30pm, Sat 11am-6.30pm, Sun 11am-5.30pm.

There’s a lot of international rugby starting in a couple of weeks with Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada all playing matches in Britain and Europe so any of the pubs should have a good atmosphere on the weekends.

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