London Pub Tour 39 - Victoria: The Beer House, The Shakespeare and Sloe

The Beer House(SW1V 1JU) in Victoria station is directly opposite platforms 1-5. There is a small 'outdoor' area, by which I mean there are some tables outside the front of the pub but which are underneath the roof of the station. As you enter the bar is on the left wall and stretches down to the staircase at the far end. Directly opposite the bar are some high bench tables. Towards the rear there are some low tables. There is an upstairs to this pub which is like a mezzanine , offering a view over the balcony at the front of the bar and out into the station. The floor of the pub is wood effect lino, with the walls a dark cream wood colour with some areas of exposed brick walls. There are some TVs in the pub which were all showing Sky News. The pub wasn't busy for a Saturday afternoon with about 20 people inside and out.

As this is a Greene King pub there were three hand pumps which were all offering up GK beers (Speckled Hen, IPA and GK House selling as Beer House). The tap front is more varied offering up the usual suspects (Amstel, Guinness, Peroni, Stella) alongside Yakima Red, Schiehallion, Affligem and Pilsner Urquell. I ended up purchasing a pint of Yakima Red for £5.85. The beer was okay but I feel it tastes better in bottle format. Being in the station the pub is sometimes frequented by underage pigeons which appear to have learn their lesson now.

I made my out of the train station (just) to the bus station area and into the Shakespeare (SW1W 0RP). The Shakespeare is a large corner pub with entrances on the main road and bus station. The pub was a Taylor Walker, now Greene King, and as such has a slightly neglected look. Entering from the bus station you come into a lower floor dining area. Taking a step up takes you into the main pub area and directly to the bar which runs along this back wall. The rest of the pub is to your left with a large mix of high and low tables scattered around and between wall posts. The pub has a vinyl white ceiling wall paper, the floor is wooden and the walls are the standard Taylor Walker mismatch of fake wood panels and pattern wall paper. The pub seems to be quite a catch for tourists unlike the other station pubs and they seemed to make up the majority of customers today.

I wasn't planning to go for an ale due to not being a GK fan but the choice was made all the more easier by only 1 of the 4 hand pumps being on (and it was Speckled Hen). On the keg front there was Fosters, Stella, Guinness, Heineken, 1664, Peroni, Truman's Pale, Blue Moon, Wimbledon's Brave and Sambrook's Pale Ale. I decided to look at the bottles and see if there was anything worthwhile and noticed the bottles they seem to be promoting in all the Greene King pubs. The bottle beers are by Craft Academy, which is run by Greene King. The bottles have a terrible plastic wrap around them do they stand out with bright colours. I picked up a bottle of Bitter Sweet which cost £5.90 for only 330ml. Nowhere on the bottle does it state Greene King, so they appear to be deliberately hiding their name. The beer was a 6% black IPA, which surprisingly tasted less Greene King than their normal beers. There wasn't much of an after taste but the beer was enjoyable.

After easily finishing off the bottle I made my way back into Victoria station and down to platform 16-19 area where my final stop of the day was. Sloe (SW1W 9SJ) is your original typical station pub where people will stop for a swift one or two, or pop in if there is a delay. No ales are served here and the bottle selection is just sol or cider. The beers on tap are Fosters, Stella, Heineken, London Pale Ale, Peroni, Amstel and Guinness. At the front of the pub are some low tables with soft seating armchairs. As you progress in you reach the bar area where opposite are two high tables with seating. Then at the rear of the pub running along the back wall is a long cushion seating with around 5 or 6 tables and chairs.

The bar was actually empty of this visit as the rugby had now kicked off and Sloe doesn't have any TV screens. Apart from the two barmaids, I was the only one in the pub. Almost all the beer taps were off due to having a busy Friday the night before so my choice was made for me and I went for a Stella. The pub is quite dark as no natural light is able to enter due to its location inside the station. Their beer cellar is in the door marked 'the engine room' and is small, perhaps another reason they were low on beer. The staff though used this as an opportunity to clean the lines, which is good to see being done. The pub is normally quite relaxing and easy to read a newspaper or book in, and today was more so due to no customers. I only stayed for the one and nobody else entered in that time, though the Foster's did come back on, but I wasn't tempted.