London Pub Tour 27 - Knightsbridge: Bunch of Grapes, Tattersalls Tavern and Paxton's Head

I decided to pay a visit to Knightsbridge and pop in the last set of pubs outstanding from the area on my London pub tour. My first stop was down Brompton Road in the direction heading away from Hyde Park and past Harrods, it was The Bunch of Grapes (SW3 1LA). This corner pub on the very busy tourist area was surprisingly not full of tourists. The pub was packed with no seats to spare with drinkers everywhere and only the occasional diner. There was a separate upstairs dinning area which I didn't checkout so perhaps all the tourists were up there...

The pub has a large rectangle bar in the centre which takes up quite a look of the space in the pub. Seating with tables are all around the sides of the bar, with some room for additional tables at the rear where the pub opens up slightly and where I stood to drink. There were some nice old paritions with glass between some tables, and parts where the outside of the bar points inwards. There was a limited bottle selection and the ales on offer were all GK (Glory, Abbot, IPA and the seasonal Grubber) repeating across the 8 hand pumps, so I plucked instead for a lager. There was a selection to choose from (San Miguel, Guinness, Hop House, Stella, Staropramen, Fosters, Peroni and Hells) but I ended up getting the Hells at £5.60.

The Hells was the usual standard and did go down a treat after a busy week at work. As the pub was packed I didn't hang around too long and made my way out the rear exit and back up past Harrods to my next stop Tattersalls Tavern (SW1X 7QA). The pub itself is just off a main road and is built into what feels like a modern office block. It certainly feels like a modern pub being an open plan pub on one floor. There were quite a lot of people outside drinking though although its a small one way road it was busy along with the surrounding buildings being close and blocking out light, which is one of the main reasons for drinking outside.

The bar is along the back wall and facing out into the open plan layout, though I feel that the amount of space here was about equal ro the Bunch of Grapes, as the space had been used better. There are two rows of tables which were all occupied, and sadly left only standing room in the pub. Most of the people were tourists and were eating though a few regulars were in after work, I found this out during my 5 minute wait to be served whilst they served people they knew ahead of those actual there first at the bar. The pub itself offered four ales which were London Glory, Grubber, 1730 and Doombar. On the keg front they had Hop House, London Pilsner, Stella, Heineken, Amstel, Over Easy, 1664, Fosters, Kopparberg and Aspalls. I obviously went for the Over Easy which I hadn't tried before. Over Easy is brewed by Craft Academy (aka Greene King) and is only 3.8%. Considering the beer was only 3.8% I was a bit surprised by the £5.30 price tag. The beer had a good hoppiness to it along with a nice aroma, but had a dry after taste.

There was quite loud music blaring out across the pub, which felt weird for a mainly tourists with their families having dinner. I did though notice a sign saying downstairs dinning area, so perhaps that is where most people were seated and it was quieter. There wasn't really much else stand out about this pub as it just felt characterless with its open plan floor, no nooks to discover or interesting articles on the walls. I made the very short walk through the pedestrian walkway to the next and final stop Paxton's Head (SW1X 7PA). The pub is situated right on the busy Knightsbridge and opposite One Hyde Park. The pub sign outside the Paxton was in the same format and styling as the Bunch of Grapes. The outside of the pub looks quite standard but upon walking through the main door I was surprised at the interior. The pub was like what the Bunch of Grapes should have been. The pub was spacious and had a large oval bar, the two side walls of the pub were decorated with glass mirrors and wood.

On the bar the pub was offering up 5 ales: Grubber, Doombar, Bombardier, IPA and Glory. The kegs this time were Guinness, Peroni, Hop House, Fosters and 1664. I had actually asked for Grubber but the barman mishead and poured Doombar, but there were no complaints from me on this, so I took the Doombar. I think this perhaps was a good call as I'm not a Greene King fan and their seasonal ales aren't generally much better than the all year ones. Whilst awaiting my beer I did see a tourist come up and ask for a beer then point at the cider. The bar staff did well and informed them it was cider and made from apples, which I don't think was the drink he was looking for and he quickly changed his mind.

The pub wasn't too busy and as I wandered round I noticed there was a downstairs area, so thought I'd check it out. To get downstairs you walk down a half spiral staircase. Downstairs has its own small bar, though this wasn't in use, but I did wonder if some of the stock on display was empty or not. There is a pool table and screens placed around, which had sky sports news on. The walls are exposed bricks, and there are quite a number of tables all around the outside. I ended up staying downstairs in the quiet (only 2 other customers, although just as I was leaving a group booking arrived) and finishing off my pint. It also helped that the toilets are downstairs, so made for one less trip back down and up the stairs.

Overall the Paxton Head was my favoured pub due to decoration and style, which I hadn't expected. The Grapes is a standard pub though probably better to visit outside of both tourist dinner time and Friday after work parties. The Tattersalls though is probably not an establishment I would actively seek to return to as there wasn't any particular draw there either in location, beer, the actual pub interior or exterior.