I’m not sure why I started following the photographer Alastair Hilton on X. He’s right-ish politically, so perhaps the algorithm just blew him my way. But through the rising tide of online bilge, I still seek out and enjoy Hilton’s posts, mostly because he talks about pubs and posts pictures of cold pints on hot days.
Hilton has a narrowboat on the Thames in Chiswick and seems to half live in the bars along the river, so he was extremely cross about a recent proposal to remove the tables and chairs from the riverside, especially from his local pub, the Bell and Crown. Last week he posted a video in which he said that the word on the Chiswick street is that getting rid of the outdoor seating was the sneaky pet project of a local Green party councillor, Rick Rowe, who lives Thames-side with his boyfriend and dislikes the noise – though you’d have thought a local councillor would support a struggling pub.
