London Pub Tour 28 - South Kensington: Hoop & Toy and Zetland Arms

On this London Pub Tour I made the short tube journey from Victoria to the museum district in South Kensington. Just outside the station there is the Hoop & Toy (SW7 2HQ). This pub has the standard Taylor Walker look with the pub name on a gold background and encased in a plastic, for weather proofing, above the whole length of the pub. The outside has nothing stand out feature wise and the interior likewise. The pub itself has the feel of an estate pub built after the war built into the ground floor of a building and with quite a low roof. Surprisingly though the pub is about a century older.

The pub is open plan with some support pillars throughout. Upon entering, the bar is on the wall directly opposite and stretches along the majority of it. The pub has plenty of seating with all seats around tables, though some of these tables are quite small and close together, providing not much space. The pub is quite dark inside due to the low ceiling and as the light is only able to enter from the front entrance as the side area of this corner pub is bricks and side doors. The pub was busy with mainly tourists that must have been coming back from visiting the nearby museums and having a late lunch / early dinner. On the far side a large group had pulled some of the tables together so they could sit as one. There were screens with sports on and some gaming machines, which were all the more visible due to the glow of light in the dimly light pub. The pub had a wooden walk way from the front door to the bar, which then ran alongside the bar. The remainder of the pub was carpet, which with the low ceiling is beneficial for soaking in noises when busy.

At the bar we had the option of four ales which were GK IPA, London Glory, Scrumdown from Sambrooks and Grubber the GK Seasonal. On the taps we had Guiness, Peroni, Over Easy, Amstel, Fosters, Hells, Camden Pale, Stella, 1664, Punk IPA, Sambrooks IPA and Aspalls. I ended up selecting the one beer I had yet to taste before which was the Scrumdown from Sambrooks. The pint cost £4.70 which is reasonable for a tourist area. The beer poured dark with a red hue. It had a sweet taste to it and no bitterness. This was a good Irish Red Ale which was just missing the creamy head you expect from the style. After the lone pint I moved on to the next nearest pub which is the Zetland Arms (SW7 3EX) which also happens to be a GK pub.

This pub from the outside immediately looked much better. Again a corner pub, but much larger and more importantly both sides had window letting in that much required natural light.  When entering from Old Brompton Road the entrance is on the corner. The pub looked small from this entrance but is much bigger than you expect, plus it extends back further than you can see. From this entrance your diagonally facing the bar. Down the right hand side are some tables with sofa seating one side and chairs the other. Down the left is the same style seating until some high tables at the end by the toilets. A work crowd was blocking the bar area up right by the door so I squeeze past them further down the bar, it was at this stage I noticed that there is a large rear section which has numerous high tables plus some large round sofa seating on the back wall. The pub was all wood flooring except for tiles directly alongside the bar. The bar runs in a loop through all sections and some beers different beers are hidden down the far end which I learn afterwards.

On offer at this pub was again 4 hand pumps offering up Twickenham's Red Head, the own label 1730, Green King IPA and the aforementioned Sambrooks Scrumdown. On tap there was an ever larger selection offering up the mainstream beers such as Guinness, Peroni, Stella and 1664, alongside the Sambrooks Pale, Hop House, Hazy Hog, Hogstar, East Coast, Vedett and Little Tenderness (to name a few). I selected a pint of Hogstar by Hogs Back for £5.30. It's a beer I've had before but normally later on in the night so not quite remembered whether I enjoyed it or not. The beer I would say is average, it has a slight hop aroma with a bitter taste to the beer. After finishing my pint I had no hesitation in ordering a second beer and this time the one I had failed to spot on the bar area round the corner. This of course was Little Tenderness by the Little beer Corporation. The pint cost £5.80 and came in a branded glass with the tag line Drink a Little Beer. This was an amber looking beer which had a roasted dark malty taste to it. There was also a slight smokey taste which was different and nice. I certainly liked that beer and would be keeping my eyes out for any other beers by the Little beer Corp.

I ended my little pub tour here only managing to knock two pubs off my list but slowly covering move of the central west area of London. I had visited neither of these pubs before, though passed them many times. If in the area again, I would certainly walk that little extra distance from the station to the Zetland Arms for a pub that has a better feel.