#10 - Serbia, In Which I Meet a Pop Star

Friday 18 June 12.30pm Paya and Horse is London's first and, to my knowledge, only Serbian pub, so I feel it's worth taking Friday afternoon off to get to Battersea Park to watch them take on Germany. I have to admit, it looks like the sort of pub I'd usually avoid, housed as it is in a squat, bland modern brick building. But these are not usual circumstances.

If the red, white and blue flag in the window isn't enough of a clue, the Serbian influence is clear as soon as you walk in. The game is being shown via Serbian TV. It means that the only words I understand are the German players' names, but this actually adds to a sense of the exotic.

The Serbian influence extends to the home-made food on offer. Since every last one of the pub's menus have disappeared, I'm asked what I'd like to eat. I explain that I'm vegetarian.

They look at me a little sadly.

The hunt for the menu is called off.

I'll not be needing that, then.

Maybe unsurprisingly, the traditional Serbian nosh is largely meat-based. Sausages seem to be popular. But the chef rustles up a perfectly satisfying plate of grilled vegetables with hunks of cheese and bread, and I settle into the game.

The atmosphere is tense throughout, Serbia taking the lead and defending it to the end. The most touching sight is of two slightly scary men sharing a brief hug before they resuming their stock, more-macho-than-thou stances. A lovely moment.

(It's not out of focus. It's soft focus. Which suits the mood, don't you think?)

The game over, I interrupt a family meal to strike up a conversation with a man who turns out to be called - no, really - Slobodan. Born in what was then Yugoslavia, he's lived in the UK for 40 years and is only in London for the day, making the trip up from the south-west to watch the football game at Paya and Horse with his son and grandson.

So far, so good. But the best is yet to come. Slobodan is no ordinary Serb: he's a bit of a rock god. He was part of one of Yugoslavia's most popular 1960s pop groups, Elipse, who he promises I will be able to look up online.

I do just that, and it turns out there's a whole world of "yugobeat" and "yu rock" out there that I've been missing out on. The best English-language site I can find is here - reckon that's my man Slobodan top-right of the picture?