London Pub Tour 1 - Westminster: Albert, Munich Cricket Club, Low Slow & Juke and Marquis of Granby

I work near Victoria station in London which has provided me with access to a wealth of pubs that are only a few minutes travel away. Although when you in one area too often you can find yourself not regularly visiting or ever having gone to some of the pubs actually within walking distance. The Albert (SW1H 0NP) pub in Victoria happens to be one of these pubs.

Not my photo, a stock free use one

This is a large victorian corner pub that's would be impossible not notice and register was there. And obviously I've noted it, it's just I always had somewhere else I wanted to try which left this place on my list of unvisited pubs. So to correct that wrong I went along to final check out the innards and tick it off the list.

Now this is a Taylor Walker pub, like so many in the Victoria area, and unfortunately Taylor Walker pubs are now owned by Greene King. Taylor Walker pubs always had a good selection of ales, and I don't think I've seen one of their pub's with less than 5 hand pumps, all with different ales. The ales they selected would come from a large array of breweries ensuring that there was at least one drink you could settle on. Sadly since Greene King took over I've seen the selection drop down to mostly the Greene King range (Greene King, Hardy's and Hansons, Belhaven etc..) which is disappointing since I'm not too fond of Greene King ales (Something about the taste running through all their brews).

Hidden amidst the Greene King.....Titanic

So imagine my surprise upon walking into the Albert and starring right out at me is Titanic's Chocolate and Vanilla Stout. I've not had this version of the Titanic stout before though last year discovered the wonders of their Plum Porter (yum yum). So I immediately opted for a pint of this from the very eager barman who was queuing up orders from the punters. The beer was a beautiful colour and the aroma's coming off it were very enticing and the flavour did not disappoint. It wasn't quite on the same level as their plum porter but I'm not letting that distract from the good pint it was.

The Albert itself was decked out in Christmas ware and was at that comfortable busy where nearly all tables are taken although only 2 or 3 people per table. Although, it was only once I'd taken my seat that I realised there was a dinning area at the back and upstairs, which absolutely makes sense for a large Victorian pub of this size. I can certainly say having a Titanic Stout on a cold dark evening, in a large Victorian pub filled with Christmas lights shall now become my bellwether for the start of the Christmas period and not the Coca Cola advert.

it's just not cricket

I left the Albert after the one as I had a few more pubs I'd not visited in a while that I needed to get to. My next stop was at the Munich Cricket Club (SW1H 0HW) on Strutton Ground only a few minutes walk away. Now the last time I visited this pub it was called the Old Monk Exchange. The pub is actually in a basement and I can fully see why they've converted it into a Germany style beer hall (loosely). At first glance not much had changed. The tables had been replaced with benches and Munich/German memorabilia adorned the walls, and as expected the beer selection was all German. Now my knowledge on German beers is not great but they did have quite a few brands I'd never heard of including Löwenbräu, hence why I opted for a pint, though I selected the Oktoberfest version at 6.1% compared to the original at 5.2%. (This was after one of the staff members had finished swearing at I assume her manager, saying she refused to do something, very nice welcome to the pub)

I grabbed an empty bench, which was very easy considering only 6 other customers were in the pub, and enjoyed the surprisingly easy drinking pint. I had to wander back up to the bar to double check it was the Oktoberfest version as it certainly didn't have any hint of a 6%-er. I will most defintely come back to this pub to sample a few more of the German beers that I've not had before though it's not top of my list.

I left the Munich Cricket Club and regained signal on my phone. The obvious choice at this stage was to head to the Grafton Arms next door however two Greene King pubs in one day was not to be as I noticed on the WhatPub website that there was a pub nearby that I've never seen nor heard of before, so I went off in search of it.

I found the Low Slow & Juke just off Victoria street on Abbey Orchard Street (SW1H 0EX). This pub was again downstairs and what immediately strikes you is that its hosts live music seemingly of the American New Orleans jazz style. When you reach the bottom of the stairs there is a reception desk which I soon learned was to handle all the table bookings and reserved seating this place has. I just stated I was here for a drink and she nodded me through to the bar.

Inside neon light

The pub had a nice selection of ales, though an even bigger selection of bottle beers. I had already set my eye on the S

team Brewery Lager which I'd never had before. The kind gentleman behind the bar informed me it was happy hour and preceded to point out a range of draft ales/lagers on a reduced price however, my mind was set and I stuck with my Steam Lager. I didn't realise till this moment that the pub is actually owned by Marston's which then made sense of the beers in the happy hour were Pedigree, EPA and Pearl Jet (The new name for Oyster Stout). My Steam Lager had the usual taste coming through as any Steam Brewery beer and was drunk in no time at all.

I decided to not hang around for another drink in case the bookings all arrived and besides I had a final destination to get too and needed to get to a pub a bit closer. I hadn't at this stage decided which pub I'd go to exactly. I did linger outside the Speaker but decided to push on a bit further passing three other pubs before I settled on the Marquis of Granby (SW1P 3RF) a Nicholson's.

The pub was quite full and no seats were available and the bar area full of people. Once near the front of the bar I seen the pump selection wasn't as wide as some of the other Nicholson's pubs, but then I noticed they had some Firkin's on gravity dispense. Of course was going to have the gravity dispense as that's quite rare to find in big London pubs. Unfortunately for me the beer i was drawn to was 'Al Murray Pub Landlord - Dependence Day' which tasted very watery and also of elder-flower.

The gravity drop choices

Houses of Parliament Division Bell

What the beer lacked the pub did make up for. They had their own hand cooked crisps for which you can choose a flavour which they will add into the brown paper bag and shake up for you. I selected good old salt and vinegar and they tasted beautiful. Also the pub had a glass cabinet that they called their 'Beer Library'. Within this cabinet were books, beers and notes of the brewing process which made for an interesting peruse. Though the one stand out feature had to be the Houses of Parliament Division bell. I'd never noticed this when I'd been in this pub before, and it's certainly an interesting feature, particularly as they state its still active.

After finishing off the Al Murray pint I called it a day and headed on my way. I had managed to visit two new pubs and had three really enjoyable beers, which I will certainly call a good evening.