around the globe

A few of us had got together for an early evening drink. A venue selected between a couple of the London railway termini, to help the commuters among us get away afterwards.

There's countless pubs in central London, but it's surprising how certain ones get referenced and used as landmarks as well as known for their various uses.

Close to where we'd picked, there's a good selection of well known ones.

There's the Anchor, which is a good pub to sit outside, to watch the Thames go by on a sunny evening. It was used in one of the Mission Impossible films and featured Tom Cruise sitting drinking outside.

It's just along from The Market Porter, which is a massively popular market-side pub with people spilling onto the pavement. Despite being busy, there's a fast service, and a good selection of beers. It's another easy place to meet before heading off somewhere else. A standing up kind of pub, also seen in TV series, particularly cop shows.

Then there's The George. This is an old coaching inn with a Shakespearean history. It's got a galleried timbered appearance and nowadays is owned by the National Trust as a historic building. It had to be rebuilt after it was burned down in the Great Fire, so the version that is there now probably dates from the 1677 rebuild. More a place we'd go to in a larger group.

The Globe is mainly a locals' pub, and like the Market Porter, it is adjacent to Borough Market. This one was used in Bridget Jones and in the movie Bridget lived in a flat above the pub.

We'd all arranged to meet just along from this stretch, but applied one of the rules. The 'More than two pubs along' rule. That's the one related to where we were all working. The nearest pub to an office is the one for quick drop-ins. The one after that is for quieter conversations.

The 'third pub away' has two advantages. Less chance of conversational accidents and the geometric progression of possible pubs dilutes unexpected co-incidences.

There's another more complicated rule about pubs with suspicious names. Like the 'Slug and Lettuce' or 'The Barrow Boy and Banker'. But maybe that's a rule to save for another day.