London Pub Tour 4 - Pimlico: Cask Pub & Kitchen, Pride of Pimlico and Gallery

I've been popping into pubs recently that I've either neglected for a while or never previously visited. Today however I decided to pop by some pubs that I've regularly visited over the last 6 months. I started off by popping into the beer nirvana that is Cask Pub & Kitchen (SW1V 2EE). This is a sister pub and precursor to the The Craft Beer Co pub chain.

The pub itself is on the corner of a 1950's estate, Lillington Gardens, which was part of the redevelopment after World War II and the new estate ideology that planners were promoting. Cask opened in 2009 and the outside area has some table and chairs for outdoor drinking, and even on this chilly day some people were braving it. When you walk into Cask the bar is just visible round the corner of the wall and between the pillar. Once you approach the bar you see the very large selection of ales and lagers available. There are 10 hand pumps that cover multiple styles, and normally you have a few casks from one brewery. Next are the kegs, all 12 of them, serving up lagers from London, Double IPAs from America and a stout (Imperial if your lucky) or two. Rather than name all that was one went I went as the selection changes regularly, I've attached a photo of the beer menu.

I opted to go for two half pints, of the first of which was an alt beer, Neu by Orbit Beers London. Now Cask isn't cheap but it does offer you a selection and at £2.65 for a half, it was good to try this beer. Sadly there was no major taste coming from it, though that did at least mean there was nothing off putting about it. The second half was All Day IPA from Founder Brewing Co at £2.95. I can understand the price for this beer more than the first, due to it being imported from the US. It was much better than the Neu and there was hops coming through in the taste. I touched upon the price as I do like to at least cover the cost aspect of beer, though I know if going to Cask I will tend to drink or find beers that I wouldn't normally find on tap elsewhere hence why I'm probably more willing to pay the price. They also have a massive selection of bottles which range in price from £4 through to £90, though offer a 1/3 off for take away bottles.

The pub itself had a varied selection of drinkers in with plenty of seating, though sadly most of it was marked as reserved from 7pm. I'm not a huge fan of reservations at pubs as it can put off already present and paying customers from remaining, which has a knock on effect particularly if a booking arrives later than planned, which is quite common. The pub wasn't overdone with Christmas decorations and was perhaps going with the theme of Christmas-lite.

I left Cask and walked 2 minutes down the road to the Pride of Pimlico (SW1V 2QA). Much like Cask this pub is built into the same 1950's development and has always been a pub. This is much more of a local boozer and is particularly popular with the Irish. This pub honestly smells and reminds me of an Irish pub I used to go to as a kid, which is now sadly closed. The pub serves only keg with the selection offered of John Smith, Guinness, Guinness Golden, Carlsberg, Stella, Fosters and Peroni. There is some Rekorderlig Cider bottles available for those with a sweet tooth, but most importantly they sell Tayto crisps!

The pub is very spacious with seating all around the two front bay windows. They seating at the front and rear bar (although the whole pub is one room, there are two bar serving areas). There is a pool table that has plenty of space to play on, and not be stuck up against a wall like in so many other pubs. Then there is a middle aisle between the front and rear bar, which mainly guys sit on and watching the horse racing on the TV. The pub was quite busy with everyone taking the seats against the bars and bay window area nearest to the front bar. I would guess there were around 30 people, which was more than were in Cask. I bought a pint of Stella and a bag of Tayto's and relaxed in the friendly and comfortable environment.

After finishing off my pint I headed a further two minutes down the road to The Gallery (SW1V 3AS) which is situated right next to an entrance to Pimlico tube station. This pub was very quiet with only about 8 customers on the ground floor area. The pub has a lot of seating with a little raised area on the ground floor. There's also s an upstairs balcony seating area, which I've only ever sat once in. The bar is staffed by Aussi's (always has been, at least for the last 6yrs) and we all know Aussi's and beer go well together.

There were 5 hand pumps serving up London Glory (Greene King), Pure Gold (Purity), Boon Doggle (Ringwood), Iron Duke (Cottage Brewery) and Landlord (Timothy Taylor). Alongside this were 7 kegs offering Leff, Budvar, 1664, Guinness, Peroni, Staropramen and Becks. Sadly the Budvar was off so I opted for a Becks. The Gallery can be busy at lunch time with tourist heading to the Tate Gallery nearby and after work with teachers from the nearby school. I've had food here previoulsy, a burger, but I didn't think it was too great. Beer wise I had opted for the becks as I've had all the ales on offer before and since I'd already started on lager, had decided to keep to it.

After finishing off my pint it was a short stride to the tube station and off homeward bound.