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Found this mug looking for old stuff, the mark on the back intriged me because it is clearly a British made mug but on the mark at the bottom is a swastika. Found this site and I think I have worked out the explanation now as in the day it was not seen as a symbol of evil cause the war had not yet happened. Don't drink the stuff, much prefer a good scotch, but enjoy and keep the memory alive.

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Two more days to report, the second first. Neither of the two Deptford pubs exist any more, full stop. Now to the first day. I went first to search out three closely related pubs. No sign of the Fountain Vat nor the Admiral Carter. However, the St Paul's Vat was at a pub - a very LONG pub - which has unfortunately been Nicholsoned - it is old, and it looks old, but not for the same reason (it is not a Nicholson pub, in fact it is a Greene King - but you get the idea). Then came a shocker. Stopping off on the way to find the Old Street Vat at a hostelry nearby I mentioned my quest, only to discover that the pub's cleaner's father was in the Frothblowers and he still has "all his stuff". Unfortunately he wasn't there, but I have a phone number and shall be chasing up shortly. The Old Street Vat isn't there any more - it's a nightclub, but heigh ho. Thanks for the "Sapper" story, Dave, I wonder how much else there is in popular novels.

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On the Trail again. Interesting how the search for the Frothblowers is turning into a kind of social history of London pubs. Take the Red Lion. Noted as being in Cannon Street, yesterday I actually found it in an alley off an alley next to a church – hence the Churchyard Vat. The Red Lion (no longer “Ye” Red Lion”) is old and looks old – though the reason it looks old is that it is a Nicholsons pub now, and was made to look old about ten years ago by all of the usual woodwork effects – clearly machine-tooled. No sigbn of the AOFB. Next I went in search of the Bull’s Head, which a London Pub website says is in Mitre Street rather than St Catherine’s Way, which I cannot find. Unfortunately there is no pub in Mitre Street at all. Further enquiries led me to a pub called the Black Bull, not the Bull’s Head, and from then I went to an unrelated pub, won £13 on the quiz machine and then £30 by winning (with one other) the pub quiz night. Ah, the modern subsidising the ancient!

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In search of the Frothblowers 3 Went first to find Ye Red Lion in Cannon Street. It isn’t there – but see below. I then headed to Poplar in search of the Prince Arthur. I discovered in a nearby pub that Brunswick Road is now basically a motorway, and though there is a pub somewhere simply called the Brunswick (and I couldn’t find it) a cab driver assured me there was no pub of that name, so I headed for Canning Town. In a Canning Town pub I learned that the Anchor still exists, but is used as storage space by a local character. Apparently little inside has changed so I might be lucky, but it isn’t open during the evening. However, I also learned that Ye Red Lion is not in fact on Cannon Street itself but in a road off of it, so I’m having another go tonight, as well as doing the Bull’s Head in Tower Hill. More later!

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On the Trail 2 Before anything else, some notes about pubs on the list I haven't visited since getting the list of Vats but which I know. The Three Tuns in Beckenham has been refurbished so many times it hardly seems worth checking out, but I will anyway as it is near my mum. David Bowie used to run his Arts Lab gigs there. Arts OF Bowie, eh? On the other hand The Bulls Head in Dartford is very promising, and for all I know may be the pub my memory insists I once saw a plaque about the AOFB in (where WAS it, or was it something about the Buffaloes?) Anyway, visited the Black Lion in East Ham. I'd call it Plaistow, but I doubt that there are two in the area. East Ham describes a large area after all. (Did you know that West Ham Football Club actually play their home games in East Ham?) The Black Lion is very old and untouched - with pre-Victorian features. I couldn't find any AOFB material but it was a bit full, and I'll try again. The staff are going to look around too. Right, must be off, more to check!

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http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/59983-Frothblowers_Anthem.html Only the AOFB would get a silent film made of their song!