London Pub Tour 26 - Belgravia: Nags Head, Wilton Arms, Star Tavern and Gloucester

During a quiet day at work I opted to have a lunch time tipple and so made my way up to Belgravia. My first stop is a pub that I admire for both its quirkiness and all the memorabilia adorning the walls. This pub is the Nags Head (SW1X 8ED) which is an independent pub and also has the name of the owner Kevin Moran on the outside. Every time I've popped in the landlord has been there, and during non-busy periods he sits and and strikes up conversation with the customers. The pub is on a residential mews, though I understand most houses are for investment and not lived in. As an independent pub the owner has their choice of beer and he likes to stock Adnams, which is why outside of Guinness and Carlsberg the other beers are all Adnams (Jack Brand Dry Hopped Lager, Broadside, Lighthouse, Ghost Ship and Bitter).

The pub has a downstairs bar area, which is why some hand pumps have more than one beer badge attached, because the tap for that beer is downstairs. I didn't pop downstairs on this visit but there is a large flag attached to the ceiling with lots of posters and art work on the walls. Downstairs has more tables though is slightly harder to get served in. The ground floor bar is not that large and there are only a few tables against the walls with some bench seating on the wall side and small stalls on the other. There bar itself is very low, and the bar staff are actually lower down behind the bar. For those wishing to sit at the bar there are some very tiny, low down stalls.

As stated in my opening paragraph, the pub is filled with memorabilia all over and it is a mix of sports, celebrities that previously visited, war, planes, film and more. On the war upon entering there is a 3D viewing machine, which is one of those old seaside photographing flicking machines showing some old school erotic material. The pub is strictly no mobiles and encourages conversation. there are hooks all over for people to hang their coats and bags so that people don't take up seats with their items. I could spend many an hour browsing through the items and photographs in this pub.

Whilst I checked out some of the books and photographs I drank a pint of Broadside. Slightly steep at £5 but this is an expensive and touristy part of town. I haven't had Broadside in ages and it tasted miles better than I remembered and went down a treat. I followed this up with a pint of the Dry Hopped lager at £5.50, which wasn't as good as the Broadside but still went down well.

Whilst I was this far up in Belgravia I thought it best to pop a few doors down to The Wilton Arms (SW1X 8ED) which is a Shepherd's Neame. Both this and the previous pub have flower boxes which brighten up the area during the spring and summer. When entering the Wilton Arms you are side on to the rectangle bar. There are tables with seating following all around the outside wall, with some in self-contained booths (separated by bookcases or glass screens). There were quite a few people in the pub but they were all sat down eating. Just past the bar are some steps down to a small lower area where there are additional tables. The whole pub is carpeted and has red vinyl ceiling, harking back to pubs of old.

There were three hand pumps but only two were on offering up either Masterbrew or Spitfire. On tap there was Guinness, Oranjeboom, Ashai, Fosters, Symmonds cider and San Miguel. I went for my trusted lager of Ashai at £5.50 which unfortunately tasted different. I'm not sure whether this was due to the dry hopped lager I'd just had previously, but the pint wasn't that enjoyable. After putting the pint away I made my way back to work.

After work I was still in the mood for a few more drinks so I headed back towards Belgravia and to the Star Tavern (SW1X 8HT) a Fuller's pub on a cobbled mews. The Star Tavern is famous for being the pub where the great train robbery was supposedly planned. Now days as a Fuller's it more aimed at an upmarket crowd from the businesses nearby. Walking up the steps and through the door, the small bar is to your right. The bar is a square (mini horse shoe) with a little space down each side, with bar stools. Directly opposite to the bar is the dinning area with about 10 tables. There is also a private dinning area upstairs. This isn't a large pub and was already very busy with an after work party so was down to standing room in the dinning area, though the bar stalls on either side of the bar were free, so I grabbed myself one.

The pub had 5 hand pumps but only 4 were on, offering up Pride, ESB, Oliver's Island and a guest ale from Windsor brewery, Canberra. On tap there was the usual showing of Fuller's own beers such a Frontier, Wild River and Fuller's IPA, along with mainstream beers such as Amstel, Guinness and Peroni. I went for a pint of the guest ale, Canberra, which was a dark bitter that wasn't offensive or pretending to be anything it wasn't, just like the pub. I had a look at some of the portraits on the walls whilst drinking my Canberra. I didn't stay for another as I had one last pub to knock off on my list, The Gloucester (SW1X 9QR).

The Gloucester is a Taylor Walker pub located along the busy Sloane Street which houses many upmarket shops. There are two entrances into the pub. The first, and most used, is the entrance out onto Sloane Street with the second being through the rear of the pub into Harriet Walk. When entering from Sloane Street the front door is between two bay windows. The bay sits just to your left, but you are advised to walk the whole length of the bar as some beers are only on taps towards the rear. I sadly didn't do this so failed to notice Titanic Vanilla and chocolate stout was available. The other ales on offer were 1730, London Glory and IPA. Lager wise they offered up Stella, Peroni, Blue Moon and amstel, along with Guiness and Aspall Cider. I ordered a pint of Blue Moon which was served with the obligatory orange slice.

The front of the bar was full so I made my way to the dinning seating at the rear that was available for drinkers to us. The front of the pub is quite restricted in size due to stairs leading up to the toilets and a small dinning area, and the supporting walls of the pub. There are some small booth sections on the side, and there are bar stalls along the bar, but the majority of seating is either the rear or the two bay windows. There was a group of workers from Harrods having an after work celebratory drink, but the remainder of the pub were tourists.

The rear seating/dinning area was carpet covered whilst the rest of the pub was a wood floor. The pub stretches back quite far and the bar runs for the majority of this, though I think trying to get service at the far end is less likely then towards the front. Overall the pub upon walking in fills cramped due to position of the bar and the supporting walls. With this pint I called it a night and made my way to the tube station.