London Pub Tour 57 - St Pancras: O'Neills, Skinners' Arms, Scottish Stores and The Driver

It was time for a night out hitting the pubs in Kings Cross. My first stop was the ubiquitous O'Neills (NW1 2QS). The pub sits opposite British Library and was handy for a meeting point due to not being overly busy. There were tables outside under the canopy, and the entrance to the pub was on the corner. An open space greets you with a raised seating area to the right, the bar on the same level against the back wall, and a scattering of tables (small and large) in between. The floor is a highly polished wood floor with some decorative tiles on the floor. A large wooden barrel is available for resting pints on for those standing. Closer to the bar are high tables whereas the rest of the pub are low tables. A few columns break up the route to the bar. The walls have a grey and white wood panels whilst the higher half is painted dark grey. Clocks on the wall show different cities times.

I made my way to the bar and wasn't surprised to see the ales on offer were Pride, Tribute and Doombar. Keg wise there was Meantime, London Lager, Tiger, Guinness, Hop House 13, Peroni, Heineken and a few more. I went for a pint of London Lager at £5.20. I Managed to grab the last small table halfway between the bar and door. The pub was busy and noisy with a mixed young crowd. After quickly finishing up the beer I made my way to the Skinners Arms (WC1H 9NT).


The Skinners Arms are a Greene King pub just down a side road from Euston Road. The pub entrance is on the corner and leads into a darken pub with a carpet floor. Outside the pub there were some tables which were in full use. As a GK pub there of course hand pumps and yes GK IPA was on one of them. The other pumps offered up Sambrooks Session, TEA, Barnsley Bitter, Watneys Pale and something called plough (no idea).

Keg wise there were a few GK own drinks such as Yardbird, Over Easy and East Coast. Alongside these were the standards such as Guiness, Stella, Becks and the new boy on the screen, Bud Light. As I started on keg I decided to continue, so opted for a pint of Over Easy. The bar was quite busy but again was lucky to find the last available table, from where I was able to have a proper gander at the interior of the pub.

Photo from Skinners Arms Website

The pub has a very high ceiling and up towards the top there are some stained glass windows. Hanging to the side of these stain glass windows are some proper curtains. The bar sits on the side wall with a rai
sed seating area opposite. In front of the raised seating area are some stalls with a ledge for resting pints on. The tables in the pub either have seats or low stalls. The pub has wood panelling till waist height with a traditional looking patterned wallpaper above. Away from the main bar there is a little hidden side area with more tables. The whole colour scheme of the pub certainly makes it feel like an old boozer, and the carpet and wood furniture will keep it warm during the winter months, helped by the open wood fire.

I only stayed for the one before walking down Euston Road just past Kings Cross station to the Scottish Stores (N1 9DU). Unbelievable this was my first time in the Scottish Stores. The pub was quite busy at 9pm with people queuing either side of the island bar. Around the outside of the bar the floor was tiled with the remainder being wood. The main bar area completely wooden, with the colour being quite a light wood. There are partitions around the island bar with stools and tables available in some. There is no art work hanging on the walls and the layout and design feels much like a Sam Smiths. But unlike a Sam Smiths there is more than one choice of ale on. The Scottish Stores have 8 hand pumps, although only 6 were available on this visit. They stock as standard two ales from Ripple Steam Brewery which on this visit were the Best Bitter and Ripple Gold. I went for a pint of the Best Bitter which was lovely and smooth with a white creamy head atop.

The pub has an upstairs roof terrace, which I don't bother trying to find, and an additional room to the side which is more modern. The additional room to the side had more space and served food and also had a blackboard showing all the wines and keg beers available. At this stage seeing the offering of a different variety of Scotch Eggs was too tempting and I opted for a Black Pudding one and a Pork and Chorizo, which went perfectly with my second pint of Ripple Steam Best Bitter. The pub was starting to empty as it was nearly closing time, so doing what every beer person does, I looked up on WhatPub.com to see if there were any pubs still open.
My venture for one more drink led me up to The Driver (N1 9RY). There were only a few bouncers on the outside and upon walking inside the bar area was completely empty. The bar was on the back wall and was L shaped and two hand pumps offering up Box Steam Tunnel Vision and Portobello Star. Keg wise there was San Miguel, Guinness, Poretti, Mahou, Carlsberg, Tuborg, Grimbergen and Somersby Cider. For this last drink I stuck to lager and went for Poretti which I've had previously.

As stated before the bar was deserted and not a sole was to be found. But there was a lot of noise coming from upstairs, and the pub had four floors, so I decided to explore. Sadly all the floors above were for private parties, so the only place I got to explore was the roof top bar. There wasn't much of a view and it was mainly used as a smoking area or to grab some fresh air and a drink quicker. I went back down to the ground floor bar, and sat and relaxed in the quiet-ish environment. The decor of the pub was looking very nice in the dim lighting after quite a few drinks. It had soft sofas, pink pin striped chairs, and the biggest feature a stags head on the wall. I think I might have to revisit here during the daytime and perhaps not after so many drinks, so I can give it a proper review. I realised it was time to call it a night when the missus swung by, and I left without any hesitation.

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.