London Pub Tour 16 - Fitzrovia: The Prince of Wales Feathers, The Carpenters Arms and Fitzroy Tavern

I don't believe in partaking in dry January so I always try to get out to the pub as soon as possible in January to prevent it becoming one by accident. This year I managed that task on 2nd January as part of my London Pub Tour. The place - The Prince of Wales Feathers (), the drink, a decidedly Christmas one - Santa Paws by Brew Dog.

I opted for the Santa Paws as I'd had it previously in December and enjoy it, but only in bottle. When I seen it on tap I thought I better give it a try, and the honestly tasted much better on keg than it did in the bottle. The flavours just came through better to make this beer so enjoyable, and a good choice for first beer of the year.

The Prince of Wales Feathers (which in itself is a decidedly strange name for a pub which seems to have just come about by chucking Prince of Wales in front of its original name The Feathers) is located just a few metres away from Warren Street tube station. The front of the pub looks very traditional until you get closer and notice the stained glass windows. The pub has a roof terrace and I believe a beer garden out back, but due to the weather I didn't try to seek out either of these, nor sure if they would be open. When walking into Feathers you will see straight ahead stairs going up and  just to your right are two tall 8 seater tables. The bar is against the side wall, and there is no seating around it, offering a very spacious bar area. Where the bar ends the walls come in slightly, and this is where the tables for the dinning start. There were about 20 people in the pub, with majority sat down eating in the rear. The beer choices available on my visit included Estrella, Heineken, Camden Pale, Camden Hells, Stigel and Numero Uno (which I've had before). On Cask only three of the 5 pumps were in action offering up Landlord, Doombar and Ticketybrew.

After my excellent pint of Santa Paws I took a short stroll, maybe about 5-10mins, down to The Carpenters Arms (W1T 4EY). This was a corner pub on a back street just off the main road. It's also owned by the same company as the feathers, Castle (Which is a M&B brand). This pub was a two part bar with the side I entered into a small bar area, with some seating on the edges, including a sofa and table in one corner, and a small bar. The other side was a large dinning area which had a larger bar and more people. I stayed in the smaller bar area where there were about 6 other people. There were two hand pumps offering Doombar and a Coming Soon Speckled Hen. I certainly wasn't going to wait around for that Hen to come on. On the keg side they had Stigel (which I'm beginning to realise is maybe now more common in London pubs that I originally thought), Peroni, Veltins, Chimay Gold and Pilsner Urquell.

I selected a pint of Pilsner Urquell as I thought the Chimay was going to be a high percentage, but was shocked to discover afterwards that is was only 4.8%, drat. There were craft cans available but nothing stood out too much. The Pilsner Urquell came in a branded jug and was okay. I used to like Urquell quite a bit but now think there are some far more enjoyable Pilsners. I guess the only way to change my mind is to pop into one of the pubs that have freshly brewed tank Pilsner Urquell.

I left the Carpenters Arms and walked again for another 10 minutes, by passing other pubs, to get to the one I wanted, Fitzroy Tavern (W1T 2LY) a Sam Smiths pub. I already knew what I wanted to drink in this pub, hence why I bypassed other pubs. I've not been to this pub before so was unaware that it was separated into 4 separate areas, with no connections between them. The first section I went into had nobody in there and I couldn't see anyone at the bar, so I walked out and into another section where there were about 4 people, but again I couldn't see anyone at the bar. Both these sections would be in what I would consider the rear of the pub. I then walked around to the front (main road entrance) and finally found bar staff, but had to decide which quarter I wanted to sit within. I selected the busier section as this meant bar staff were more likely to hang around on this side and I'd get served quicker.

I order a bottle of the Organic Cherry Ale, which doesn't come cheap compared to Sam Smiths prices, but when compared to fruit / craft beers elsewhere I think it's quite reasonable. The beer comes in a non-standard 335ml bottle (Might like their larger non-standard 550ml bottles which when poured into a glass and creating a bit of head looks exactly like the normal Sam Smiths beer pint measure). The beer has a tart cherry flavour that is delicious, and not sickly sweet. It is my favourite of the fruit beers offered by Sams but I do admire their other beers. Compared to the likes of some of the mainstream belgium fruit beers like Fruli or Timmermans, this beer is vastly superior.

The Fitzroy tavern itself is a wonder to behold. Sam Smith's have spared no expense in recreating an old sytle pub with the wood and glass and privacy screens. It is a pub worth visiting to look at any enjoy, though it's not the best example of what Sam's have done, but it does look stunning. Yes, this might be a modern instalment to a pub, but I like pubs that have character, which this does, compared to a pub that may strip out furniture to a minimum and floors down to boards. Obviously if all pubs looked like this it would be dull and uninspiring, and I that's what I like about pubs. You find so many unique or different styles, different eras and historical impacts. Pubs are ever changing and should adapt with the times, but we all dread when a large swath of pubs follow a new trend, as we all know trends change, and soon those pubs begin to look dated and undergo another change. In each of these changes it loses any original features or identity.

So that's the end of my pontification about pub design and where I ended this beer tour.