Well, either that or The George, which is where Karl used to start the night. I suggest doing both. Begin at The George and then move to The Ship. Theyre both tiny. I've been in them before...
Karl Hyde on Born Slippy: "The lyric was written on a drunken trawl through the streets of Soho. Nights back then started at the George on Wardour Street and this one ended up moving to the Ship just down the road. I came back from the toilet and all my companions had left apart form this girl who was the most blonde I’d ever met. I’m pretty sure she was sat with Bill Bailey at this point. I remember pulling a tenner out of my pocket and saying, “Get a round of drinks in” before wandering off towards the tube."
Bill Bailey inspired Underworld's hit track Born Slippy, frontman Karl Hyde has revealed. He told Radio 4’s Front Row that he wound up drinking with the comic – who he didn’t know – in The Ship on Wardour Street in Soho, and gave him a fiver to get a round in. ‘I remember him looking at me with a bemused stare,’ the singer said. Until this week, Bailey was unaware of his role in creating the famous ‘lager, lager, lager’ refrain.
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Karl Hyde (vocalist, Underworld): We used to go out drinking in Soho and I ended up in the Ship on Wardour Street. All the lyrics were written on that night. A drunk sees the world in fragments and I wanted to recreate that. I was inspired by Lou Reed's New York album and Sam Shepard's Motel Chronicles. I was into flash photography as well, so I was walking around Soho with a notebook and camera, just observing things. In those days I'd open the book whenever a musical idea inspired me. Rick [Smith] came up with a rhythm and I started singing over it. The vocals were done in one take. When I lost my place, I'd repeat the same line; that's why it goes, "lager, lager, lager, lager".
" Born Slippy is about a journey from The Ship on Wardour Street up to Tottenham Court Road tube station and then catching the night train back to Romford. I can plot it out through the words. It was pointed out to me it might be good to leave a few clues as to what you’re talking about and there was a real crisis for me there."
By the way, Europa on Wardour Street (where Karl found someone shopping), was just up the street from The George and was a drinks shop (which would explain why Karl was in there), and is now Ryman Stationers. See:
http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/directory/1160/21343.php for details.