London Pub Tour 7 - Chelsea: Phoenix, Chelsea Potter and Trafalgar

I'm catching up with some of the pubs tours I've done over Christmas, hence publishing this one on New Years Day. I hope you all had a great time and here's to 2017 being filled with more beautiful beers and discovering more wonderful pubs.

I was once again out in the Chelsea area and used this opportunity to visit three pubs, two of which I've passed many times and never felt the urge to go in. First up, just off King's Road was The Phoenix (SW3 4EE). This is a Young's pub and I've never gone in before as I feel there are some much better surrounding Young's pubs nearby and in a much more convenient location. Once you walk into the pub the space inside feels much larger than it looked from the outside. This seems to be the case as they have very little seating towards the front or opposite the bar, leaving quite a wide opening all the way through the pub to the back where they have the dinning area with plenty of tables. A wide open area like this is either due to the bar area getting busy in the evenings or just providing a large walkway through to dinning area for groups of guest, and I think I side with the latter idea.


There were three hand pumps and as a Young's pub it can be expected that the Bitter would be on. The other two were their Winter Ale and Doombar. The kegs were a standard showing for the area featuring Camden Hells and Pale Ale, along with Peroni, Birra Moretti and Chelsea Blonde (Which can be found in keg or hand pump in a lot of pubs in the Chelsea area). I opted for a pint of the Winter Aleat £4.45 which had only just gone on and so I had to wait a few minutes whilst they pulled through. It's not the best beer in the Young's range but is not a bad middle percentage beer.

I next walked up to King's Road and down to the Chelsea Potter, a Taylor Walker pub. The benches outside the pub had quite a few people sat on and drinking considering it was quite cold. Inside the bench theme continued. Big picnic benches lined up all against the long wall, that seat about 10 people. There was a high stool seating area closer to the bar which is where I opted to sit. On the bar there were the now familiar Greene King ale range of London Glory, IPA, Rudolph, 1730 (Taylor Walker's own in house beer), and the guest ale was Sambrooks Pump House. On keg were some of the mainstreams along with Rekorderlig Smooth Raspberry and Grimbergen Blonde. Since I'd just had the Winter Warmer I thought I'd keep it high ABV and choose the Grimbergen at 6.7% for £5.60. It was a good beer and one to savour rather than attempt to rush down.

My last stop was the Trafalgar (SW3 5XP) which is just a short stroll across the road. This pub has had a make over and the outside garish purple has been tonned down to a blue. Inside if a mighty big and enjoyable pub. When you step inside up ahead of you is the horse shoe bar. There is plenty of sitting all around, a complete mix including high tables and stools, sofas and well, normal table and chairs. The pub was actually busier than the Potter but due to its size it felt less busy. There were nice lamps and lighting all around, in particular the liked the lighting just above the bar. The beer selection here is the best of the three pubs, though in this instance I'm basing best around a mix of beers I've not had/seen before alongside the mainstream, so a choice for everyone.

There were five hand pumps with only 4 in use offering up Tribute, London Pride, Doombar and Thornbridge Wild Holly, so sadly not the best selection I've seen here. On keg though they had the standard Peroni, Guinness, Heineken etc.. but they also had some more rare beers such as Numero Uno, Otra Vez and Wheaty McWheatface. I decided to spread myself across two beers so selected a half of the Wild Holly and half of the Otra Vez which came to £5.15. As the Otra was advertised as a sour beer and boy was it sour. Not entirely my style nor taste but it was worth having a half to give it a try. The Wild Holly was better at 4.8% and was Dark and malty, as winter ales should be on a cold day.

After finishing up my half of Winter Holly I called it a night. I'd managed to drink in two new pubs and tried 3 new beers to me. It wasn't a bad evening and considering it was Chelsea area, it didn't hit my wallet too hard.