London Pub Tour 38 - Pimlico: White Swan and Morpeth Arms

It was Paddy's day I decided to keep it local to work and visit two nearby pubs that I knew wouldn't be overly busy. My first port of call was The White Swan () a Greene King pub near to Pimlico station. The pub is on a corner street with the front facing the main road and the side facing into a cul de sac. The front door on the corner had been decorated with a red telephone box poster (no idea why). There was a green mat on the floor leading all the way to the bar past many multi colour balloons that were up. I assuming this was their attempt at St. Patrick's Day though non green balloons and union jack flags with a small green walkway doesn't quite scream St. Patrick's Day.

There are lots of low tables and seats in the pub at the front and rear. There are two raised seating areas, one at each end of the pub, which are carpeted. There is sofa seating along one of the side walls. There are no stools at the bar. The pub is quite dark and not much light gets in normally, but with flags and balloons it felt much darker, and wasn't helped by the lights seemingly dimmed to the level that their practically off. The pub was busy but not rammed however, it did take a while to order at the bar due to only two bar staff working. On the bar there were 10 hand pumps which were in two separate blocks of 5. Both sets sold the same ales which were IPA, Little Haka, Belhaven Grand Slam, London Glory and 1730. The keg offering included Stella, Spartzan, Heineken, Over Easy, Fosters, Amstel, Peroni, 1664 and Hells. After quite a wait I went for a pint of Little Haka which was by the Little Brewing Corp. This was the second beer of theirs I had, with the first being a keg beer, and I wasn't disappointed. The beer was only 3.5% but as it used New Zealand hops it had an amazing smell on the nose, and this comes through in the light, sweet and bitter taste. This was certainly a session beer to enjoy a night on.

I opted to move on to my next pub Morpeth Arm (SW1P 4RW) a Young's pub right near the Thames. The pub lies on a busy main road that runs along the Thames and unfortunately its on the wrong side so as no river side views. The pub itself looks very nice from the outside with the white rendering matching the local building style. I entered the pub through the main corner entrance behind the outside gates and benches. The bar is then diagonally across from you in the next corner in a rounded L shape. The pub was busy and there was standing room only left. Generally there isn't much seating in the pub with the front area holding about 8 to 10 tables which were all taken. The side space of the pub beside the bar is mainly standing due to being a narrow space and the route to the toilets.

The pub had five hand pumps, all on, offering up Young's Special, Gold and Bitter, Grandstand and Hop Stuff's Fusilier. The keg beers included London IPA, London Lager, Hells, 1664, Guinness, Peroni, Fosters, Estrella and Aspall's. There was a very good selection of bottle beers from London breweries including Mondo and Yeastie Boys, alongside the Well's beers such as Banana Bread Beer, Double Chocolate Stout and Sticky Toffee. I spotted a bottle of Digital IPA by Yeastie Boys and immediately opted for this. I couldn't believe my luck that I had selected another New Zealand hopped beer which had that same amazing sweetness and beautiful aroma, but this also had an excellent hop kick to it. As the bottle was only 330ml it went down quite easily and I added on a half of the Hop Stuff Fusilier from cask. Sadly this was quite a gritty bitter and wasn't to my taste.

The Morepth Arms like most of the Young's estate have re-branded their sign outside to be focused on the first letter in the pub name, and have relevant symbols then included to build up the letter. I'm not a massive fan of this style by Young's but it's certainly different and stands out from other signs, currently. Surprisingly for Young's the pub interior is carpet with red walls. There is a downstairs cellar area which can be hired for private parties or dinning at Christmas. Within the pub they actually have a screen showing the CCTV from the cellar as it's rumoured that a ghost walks the cellar. Although this is a much smaller pub than the White Swan and it was just as busy, the bar service was excellent and queuing was kept to a minimum. But that's what happens when you have 3 to 4 bar staff on a St Paddy's day.

I called it quits for the pub tour here as I had elsewhere to head to meet mates for a few Guinness, as tradition requires.

London Pub Tour 37 - Victoria: Cask and Glass, The Colonies and Phoenix

Photo by Ewan Munro

So it's back to the Victoria area again where they're still plenty of pubs between the station and Westminster that I need to survey. My first port of call today was the Cask and Glass (SW1 5HN) which is close to St James's Station and Buckingham Palace. This pub is a Shep Neame pub on a street corner behind a small restaurant/shopping area in Victoria. The pub itself is tiny inside with the majority of the space being the large footpath outside which provides space for the drinkers to stand. As you walk in through the door the small bar is directly in front of you. To you left the pub becomes even more narrow and has soft cushion seating for about 6 people. To the right there is more seating but still probably a stretch at 15 people and some room for people to stand just to the side of the bar. Once you have 20 people in this pub it can be considered packed. The pub interior is dark wood with a carpet floor. The walls are filled with portraits and pictures and higher up the wall there are old Shep Neame Bottles and merchandise.

As a Shep Neame the lagers on offer were Guinness, Asahi, Oranjeboom, Whitstable  Bay Blonde and an Symonds Cider. There were 4 four hand pumps offering Whitstable Bay Pale Ale, Master Brew, Spitfire and Hog Island. I hadn't come across Hog Island before so opted for a pint of that. Hog Island is brewed by No. 18 Yard Brewhouse which is a subsidiary of Shep Neame. This seems to be a common theme now with big breweries opening up small brewhouses without any mention of them name attached. The pint had a good lacing but didn't taste anything like an American Pale Ale as advertised and more like a British one. As the pub wasn't busy I was easily able to grab one of the cushioned sofa seats and there were 4 older guys just down the other side drinking. This pub is very much a fair weather pub and as the sun had gone in and it's wasn't looking like it would be busy. This is a nice pub to visit when it's not too busy, so generally between lunch and after work or on a bad weather day early in the week.

As I finished my pint the pub did start to become slightly busier and as expected it was because the sun had started to reappear. I left the pub and walked mere metres down the road to my next stop The Colonies (SW1E 6PR). This is again a Taylor Walker pub which had completed its conversion to a Greene King. The pub is suited in the middle of a street with housing either side, but unfortunately due to development the building to the side had been knocked down and was now a building site. This has an impact on the pub as the rear of the pub is a large tarmac space with lots of benches which connnects onto the road behind. The sun normally shines through but due to the building site, the sun was blocked. I can only assume it won't be long before they consider selling off part of this rear space as it is quite large. To give an idea, the length outside is actually larger outside than the pub inside.

Upon entering the pub the bar is to your right, and you might need to navigate any crowds that gather at the tables by the front door. The pub was very busy with what looked a work function. I'm assuming the work function had started a few hours back as the people seemed quite merry at this time and were already ordering shorts. The bar stretches along the side wall and had 5 hand pumps, of which only three were on offering Boltmaker, IPA and 1730. On the keg front there was Aspalls, Becks, Fosters and Guinness. I bought a pint of Boltmaker and packet of crisps and made my way back through the work party and up the steps onto the raised seating area to go out the back door. I easily found a table and sat and drank my pint whilst watching the elder barmaids looking at a bench near the rear end on which school kids were gathering. The due went over to the bench to ID all the kids who were from a local 6th form. Any without ID were told they were unable to stay on the premises and made to leave. It made for enjoyable viewing particularly attempting to guess which seemed underage and shocked at ones that supposedly weren't.

It started to get cold so I walked inside to finish the last part of my pint and return my glass to the bar. I then walk back past the Cask & Glass which was now rammed and the pavement outside full of bodies. I made my way a few hundred metres towards Buckingham Palace but stopping shy at the Phoenix (SW1E 5JA) which is at the rear of Victoria Shopping area. The Phoenix is a large pub run by Young's under their Geronimo's brand. The work crowds were in here as well and all the tables were taken. The pub was very spacious though with some semi circle booth seating on one wall and large tables along the other wall. It was busier than the colonies but as more open plan it feels more spacious. The bar is against the back wall in the far corner as you enter from the front. There were four hand pumps dishing out Doombar, Grandstand and Young's Bitter with the final pump being off. The keg offering included the likes of Estrella, Amstel, Heineken, Peroni, Guinness, London IPA, Hells, Camden Pale and Flatiron.

I selected a pint of Flatiron Red, which I've had before, but couldn't quite remember whether I liked it. The beer was okay, nothing special and I managed to drink it. There is a small outside patio area in the pub which was filled with smokers so I ended up staying inside standing near a post in the pub. The TV was on showing The Chase but with the sound off and music playing but the noise volume was quite high in hear and you couldn't properly hear the music because of this. The pub was decorated with green wood panelling and the area above was painted white. The floor was the standard wood flooring and the tables also wood. This was very much the textbook equivalent of a gastro pub. I even seen the bar staff walk out to table which already had a group sat on it and place down a reserved card for an hour's time, poor show indeed. I finished off my pint, used the facilities and made my way back out in the quieter London rush hour to head homeward.

London Pub Tour 31 - Belgravia: Horse and Groom, Plumbers Arms and Victoria

It was a quiet day at work so I once again decided to pay a visit to some of the local pubs, in particular ones I haven't visited for 6 months+. My first port of call was the Horse and Groom (SW1X 7BA) a Shep Neame pub which is down a mews just off from all the embassies. Normally on a nice sunny or just warm day people are outside drinking, but it was a rainy day so it seems most people didn't feel like heading out. The outside is typical shep neame colours and the door is on the right with a step up. The pub itself isn't large and only has about 7 tables in the bar area (3 high, 4 low). I understand there is a dinning room upstairs though I would assume its about a similar size. The floor is wood boards and the walls have wood panels on them.

The bar is in the far corner to the left and they had three hand pumps serving up Whitstable Bay Pale, Spitfire and Hog Island. On tap there was Thatchers, Samuel Adams, Guinness, San Miguel, Ashai, Oranjeboom and Whitstable Bay Blonde. I hadn't come across the Hog Island before so went for a pint of that but sadly it was at it's end and the barman asked me to select something else, so I went for a pint of Sam Adams at £5. There were only 4 other people in the bar but soon a group of three came in for food and went up into the dinning room. The pub was quiet and relaxing, though the outside area is a nice sun trap during the good weather and that is normally when this place is busiest. There are some large wooden barrels outside in the mews for leaning beers on.

This is not a bad Shep Neame pub though limited on beer selection the venue itself is nice. I finished off my pint and made my way back towards Victoria station and for my second stop the Plumbers Arms (SW1W 0LN). The Plumbers Arms is nearly 200yrs old, and is a Taylor Walker pub that is most famous for being the pub that Lord Lucan's Mrs ran to covered in blood. The pub has a small outside area for standing and the inside is not as large as you might expect. The bar is on the far left upon entering but the placing of a huge support pillar in the middle of the pub does eat into the space. there are tables placed around the outside, and down at the end of the bar is a little soft seating area. There are function rooms upstairs though these are very bare with some basic table and chairs. The floor is wood apart from the tile around the bar area. Most of the people in the pub were tourist eating and there was only a single bar lady on.

The pub has four hand pumps offering T.E.A, Sussex's Best, GK IPA and GK Fresh Golden Beer. On tap there was Heineken, Hells, Sambrooks Pale, Becks Vier, Peroni, Stella and Guinness. Although not a fan of Greene King ales I did go for the Fresh Golden Beer under their St Edmund's brand. There was no mention of Greene King on the badge, which I've noticed on a few of their beers now. The beer had the usual GK taste but slightly weaker than normal, and the fruitiness of the beer came through more, which was nice. There were stalls at the bar but I opted to sit on one of the free tables. Sadly they had a TV on showing Loose Woman, with special guest Jeremy Kyle.....shudder.

I drank the pint quite quickly, probably helped by what was on TV. As I had a bit more time on this long lunch break I decided to stop by the Victoria (SW1W 0NR) which was just down the round. This has now been rebranded from Taylor Walker to Greene King and has a new sign to go with it. This is always a busy pub and at this time on lunch it was still quite busy. There are two entrances, the main entrance facing towards the station and a small back door entrance on the opposite side mainly used by workers to get into the pub quicker. Along with the rebrand the pub had a fresh coat of paint inside. To get to the bar you need to walk into the centre of the pub. There are a lot of tables varying in size, but the middle area infront of the bar is open with some booths against the wall.

There were 4 ales on offer which were 1730, Tribute, Doombar and Glory. On tap we had Fosters, Aspall, Belhaven Pilsner, Stella, Peroni, Guinness, Becks, 1664, Hells, Hop House 13 and Punk IPA. I hadn't come across the Belhaven Pilsner before so decided to give it a try and immediately regretted it. The beer had a metalic taste and not much aroma to it. It was difficult to drink and I suddenly remembered the last Belhaven pint I had which was very much similar on New Yrs in the Boot. I can sense a trend there. And to top it off, I only realised at that stage that Greene King own Belhaven, so their ales aren't that great and the lager is metallic, not looking good. I think I left a bit near the end and made my way back to work with a bit more energy in me.

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.

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.

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.

London Pub Tour 21 - Mayfair: Guinea, Coach & Horses and Burlington Arms

Photo by Ewan Munro

I actually assist CAMRA by delivering London Drinker magazine every two months to a selection of pubs in central London around the Piccadilly area. Delivering the magazine gives me the perfect opportunity to visit a varying selection of pubs (both on the route and off the route) along with discovering some pubs I wouldn't have previously. I'll cover some of the other pubs in the route throughout the next few months, as sometimes I don't always get to stop and drink due to time pressures.

After trudging across London with a box of Magazines and coming out of Green Park station with the rain beginning to drop, I was glad to finally arrive at the Guinea (W1J 6NL). Now the Guinea is probably the least favourite pub on my route mainly due to the typical customer. As expected the pub was rammed inside with lots of suits. This is a very small pub and mainly does good trade during good weather as everyone can stand on the quiet cobbled road outside drinking. It's based in an old mews, and has what I can only assume is a posh grill restaurant upstairs based on the doorman in his outfit.When walking in the pub door, you see how small the pub is, with the bar just to your left. There is seating against the front window and a sofa area just behind the bar. Then there is a little standing area along the walk next to the entrance, and that's about all the space inside.

Photo by Alan Stanton

The Guinea is a Young's pub and as such they have Young's ale on (Special and Bitter) and also Sambrooks Pale Ale. They also have 6 kegs serving up Guinness, Amstel, 1664, Estrella, Camden Pale and Heineken. I went for a pint of Estrella which was okay, and standard lager. Looking behind the bar it was strange to see they had jars of Pickled Eggs and Onions, which I assume they were selling. The rain started to let off and the suits made their way outside with their drinks for a smoke. After drinking my pint quickly, I made my way onto the next venue I was dropping the booklets at, The Coach & Horses (W1J 6PT).

The Coach & Horses is a Taylor Walker turned Green King pub. It stands out amongst the other buildings around it due to its design and height. It's a stand alone, slim, tudor beamed pub. This is one of my favourite looking pubs from the outside, due to the contrast with its surroundings. The front entrance is not in use, and you have to use the side door. The building is slim on front and actually gets wider as it goes back. The bar area is small and there is some tight seating surrounding it. There are some small tables against the partition wall separating the larger and more spacious dinning area from the bar area.

Photo by Ewan Munro

The bar was offering up Exmoor Dark, 1730 and Ruddles. They had in Keg Camden Pale & hells, Hogstar, Peroni, 1664 and Fosters. I picked up a half of Exmoor Dark which was dark-ish in colour and smelt very good. Not sure if lager previously impacted upon my tasting of the beer, as it felt quite plan. The pub wasn't too busy and so I found a small table and a seat in the bar area. Looking at the bar, the top had loads of pump clips showing off beers they'd sold previously. Sadly now as a Greene King it stocks more Greene King ales and only has one guest.

After finishing up the half I moved on to my final stop for this delivery batch, the Burlington Arms (W1S 2JL). The pub is down a cul de sac just off Bond Street and out the back of Burlington Arcade. The pub isn't large on the inside but does have an upstairs dinning area. This place is frequented by suits just like the Guinea and it was busy on this day with customers.

The pub does have an automated brewing machine, and I remember talking about this with a representative from the company at this pub over a year ago. I don't believe I've had any of their own brewed beers during my previous visits. On this visit there were 6 ales on including Good Old Boy, Market Porter and Edinburgh Castle. On the keg front they had Rothaus, Harpoon IPA, Goose IPA, Pilsner Urquell, West Coast IPA, Mosaic Pale, Amstel, Heineken, Cote Breton Brut Cidre and Guinness. I opted for a pint of the Rothaus which was a beautiful pint. After my Rothaus I stayed for one more drink as something in the fridge had caught my attention. I didn't know the name of the beer but liked the can design, so ordered based on that. What I ordered was Ægir India Pale Ale by Ægir Bryggeri. The can was a ring pull which completly comes off, and as I was unaware of strength required I did spill a little. I poured the beer into a glass and enjoyed the hoppy pale ale-ness of it. I've since seen further beers by the same brewery and have been tempted to pick them up, but have thus far resisted.

London Pub Tour 9 - Whitehall: Clarence, Old Shades, Silver Cross and Walker's of Whitehall

It was still the lead up to Christmas and I opted to head up to Whitehall and the offering of pubs there. From Embankment tube station I walked to my starting point, the Clarence (SW1A 2HP).

The Clarence is a Geronimo's, aka Young's pub, which stands out on the street corner due to imposing size. The pub is partial wood, there are lots of nice lights and it has a very clean look. There are green tiles on the wall by the large clock, I'm unsure if this was something orignal found during the refurbishment 5+yrs ago or whether its a bizzare design feature. The pub actually feels a lot like a Nicholson's. The back and front of the bar is filled with tables whilst the middle is stools and the bar service area.

The hand pumps are spread out amongst the bar with different ales on each on, so you have to ensure you look around before choosing. The kegs meanwhile are just repeated in each of the three units so no need to hunt around. The ales included the usual Youngs selection, some Adnams, and then Naked Ladies from Twickenham and Quartermaine from Wimbledon. I opted for the Quartermaine which came in at 5.8% and wasn't so easy to drink as a first pint. Perhaps I should have chose more wisely and went safe with a 4%er.

The bar wasn't too busy though the seating at the front had all been claimed and so I settled with a bar stall opposite the bar. I relaxed and took my time with the pint, not only because it was 5.8% but also because I didn't think they'd be any seats at the next few pubs due to it being post work. I left the Clarence and headed a few mere metres to my next pub, The Old Shades (SW1A 2BX).

When I walked into the Old Shades I realised I would have no trouble in finding a seat due to how empty it was. There were some customers in the small bay window at the front, and the bar staff, and that was about it. Unsurprisingly I got amazing quick service. There were some beers on that I hadn't tried before like Bishops Tipple and Edinburgh Castle (Seen but never been tempted). Alongside this they had the new pump clip design for Pedigree, which I don't feel is anywhere near as good as the old one. I however was drawn to the Shandon Stout by Franciscan Wells. The pint tasted very much like a Murphy's stout, which is a good compliment.

The pub is long and narrow and has wood panelling all around, and is actually about the same length as the Clarence but not as wide at the front. At the back is a dinning area which looked great with some sofa booth style seating, but was evidently deserted. The pub had plenty of seating and I selected my seat so I could get a good view of the Chandelier and stained glass dome window above the bar (Sadly as you might be able to tell from the photos on this blog, I do need to use a proper camera and not my phone camera, hence why no photos of the aforementioned chandelier). The front of the bar is tiled, which is quite different and impressive.

The pub didn't get any busier and it was at this stage I realised that it just wasn't going to be a busy night in the pubs, which is fine by me. I left the Old Shades and again made the very short walk to the Silver Cross (SW1A 2BX). The Silver Cross (A Taylor Walker) has two floors, both with bars, though the downstairs was sectioned off for a private party on this visit. The pub just on the upstairs area is certainly larger than either of the two previous pubs and was busier with around 50 people or more in the pub, but not felling packed. It has been claimed that the Silver Cross was the only legal brothel in the UK based on a royal licence that was granted which has never been revoked. Although I don't believe they operate using that licence any more!

At the bar I was surprised to see it wasn't too Greene King orientated on the ales. They had Guardsman, Trooper, Hackney IPA and Bentonville. I selected a pint of the Amber Ale by Hackney and took a stool on one of the high tables. It was at this point I noticed the mismatch of the flooring in the pub with some wood, carpet, till and slabs, however it all seemed to go well with the feel of the pub. The walls were just as mismatched with areas having mirrors, wood panels, photograph wallpaper and other pattern wallpaper. The music within the pub was slightly loud considering it wasn't busy though that wouldn't put me off visiting again.

I only remained for the one as I had a last visit I wanted to make to a pub that is in my eyes really a bar, and that I've never been impressed with, but felt I should at least visit. The pub is literally just round the corner from the Silver Cross, and even has a board advertising the fact. The place, Walker's of Whitehall (SW1A 2DD). Last time I was in this venue they had no real beer option at all so it did surprise me to see 5 ales on tap this time. Although tempted by the lovely Harvey's Best, I opted for something new, as I so often do, and selected the XT 3 by XT Brewing. The pint itself was really not great and I feel perhaps it was more to do with the venue rather than the beer itself, and at this point was rather glad I didn't let it spoil Harvey's for me.

The bar area is quite small and has a large high cushioned seating around one wall, with some tables available. I don't think you could fit more than 30 people in the space, and that would perhaps be a slightly uncomfortable number. The place had about 10 people and they all seemed to be drinking cocktails. There was a horrible soundtrack playing quite loudly of just dance/drum beats. Downstairs is a restaurant and the facilities, and where I departed after paying a visit to the boys room.

Considering all these pubs were opposite a spoons, they all manage to pull in customers and provide a decent and well maintained pint of ale (well, apart from one). They each offered something unique in the pub design and it's always good to see such a variety of pubs. I didn't pop into the spoons but will aim to cover that one another time.

London Pub Tour 7 - Chelsea: Phoenix, Chelsea Potter and Trafalgar

I'm catching up with some of the pubs tours I've done over Christmas, hence publishing this one on New Years Day. I hope you all had a great time and here's to 2017 being filled with more beautiful beers and discovering more wonderful pubs.

I was once again out in the Chelsea area and used this opportunity to visit three pubs, two of which I've passed many times and never felt the urge to go in. First up, just off King's Road was The Phoenix (SW3 4EE). This is a Young's pub and I've never gone in before as I feel there are some much better surrounding Young's pubs nearby and in a much more convenient location. Once you walk into the pub the space inside feels much larger than it looked from the outside. This seems to be the case as they have very little seating towards the front or opposite the bar, leaving quite a wide opening all the way through the pub to the back where they have the dinning area with plenty of tables. A wide open area like this is either due to the bar area getting busy in the evenings or just providing a large walkway through to dinning area for groups of guest, and I think I side with the latter idea.


There were three hand pumps and as a Young's pub it can be expected that the Bitter would be on. The other two were their Winter Ale and Doombar. The kegs were a standard showing for the area featuring Camden Hells and Pale Ale, along with Peroni, Birra Moretti and Chelsea Blonde (Which can be found in keg or hand pump in a lot of pubs in the Chelsea area). I opted for a pint of the Winter Aleat £4.45 which had only just gone on and so I had to wait a few minutes whilst they pulled through. It's not the best beer in the Young's range but is not a bad middle percentage beer.

I next walked up to King's Road and down to the Chelsea Potter, a Taylor Walker pub. The benches outside the pub had quite a few people sat on and drinking considering it was quite cold. Inside the bench theme continued. Big picnic benches lined up all against the long wall, that seat about 10 people. There was a high stool seating area closer to the bar which is where I opted to sit. On the bar there were the now familiar Greene King ale range of London Glory, IPA, Rudolph, 1730 (Taylor Walker's own in house beer), and the guest ale was Sambrooks Pump House. On keg were some of the mainstreams along with Rekorderlig Smooth Raspberry and Grimbergen Blonde. Since I'd just had the Winter Warmer I thought I'd keep it high ABV and choose the Grimbergen at 6.7% for £5.60. It was a good beer and one to savour rather than attempt to rush down.

My last stop was the Trafalgar (SW3 5XP) which is just a short stroll across the road. This pub has had a make over and the outside garish purple has been tonned down to a blue. Inside if a mighty big and enjoyable pub. When you step inside up ahead of you is the horse shoe bar. There is plenty of sitting all around, a complete mix including high tables and stools, sofas and well, normal table and chairs. The pub was actually busier than the Potter but due to its size it felt less busy. There were nice lamps and lighting all around, in particular the liked the lighting just above the bar. The beer selection here is the best of the three pubs, though in this instance I'm basing best around a mix of beers I've not had/seen before alongside the mainstream, so a choice for everyone.

There were five hand pumps with only 4 in use offering up Tribute, London Pride, Doombar and Thornbridge Wild Holly, so sadly not the best selection I've seen here. On keg though they had the standard Peroni, Guinness, Heineken etc.. but they also had some more rare beers such as Numero Uno, Otra Vez and Wheaty McWheatface. I decided to spread myself across two beers so selected a half of the Wild Holly and half of the Otra Vez which came to £5.15. As the Otra was advertised as a sour beer and boy was it sour. Not entirely my style nor taste but it was worth having a half to give it a try. The Wild Holly was better at 4.8% and was Dark and malty, as winter ales should be on a cold day.

After finishing up my half of Winter Holly I called it a night. I'd managed to drink in two new pubs and tried 3 new beers to me. It wasn't a bad evening and considering it was Chelsea area, it didn't hit my wallet too hard.

London Pub Tour 1 - Westminster: Albert, Munich Cricket Club, Low Slow & Juke and Marquis of Granby

I work near Victoria station in London which has provided me with access to a wealth of pubs that are only a few minutes travel away. Although when you in one area too often you can find yourself not regularly visiting or ever having gone to some of the pubs actually within walking distance. The Albert (SW1H 0NP) pub in Victoria happens to be one of these pubs.

Not my photo, a stock free use one

This is a large victorian corner pub that's would be impossible not notice and register was there. And obviously I've noted it, it's just I always had somewhere else I wanted to try which left this place on my list of unvisited pubs. So to correct that wrong I went along to final check out the innards and tick it off the list.

Now this is a Taylor Walker pub, like so many in the Victoria area, and unfortunately Taylor Walker pubs are now owned by Greene King. Taylor Walker pubs always had a good selection of ales, and I don't think I've seen one of their pub's with less than 5 hand pumps, all with different ales. The ales they selected would come from a large array of breweries ensuring that there was at least one drink you could settle on. Sadly since Greene King took over I've seen the selection drop down to mostly the Greene King range (Greene King, Hardy's and Hansons, Belhaven etc..) which is disappointing since I'm not too fond of Greene King ales (Something about the taste running through all their brews).

Hidden amidst the Greene King.....Titanic

So imagine my surprise upon walking into the Albert and starring right out at me is Titanic's Chocolate and Vanilla Stout. I've not had this version of the Titanic stout before though last year discovered the wonders of their Plum Porter (yum yum). So I immediately opted for a pint of this from the very eager barman who was queuing up orders from the punters. The beer was a beautiful colour and the aroma's coming off it were very enticing and the flavour did not disappoint. It wasn't quite on the same level as their plum porter but I'm not letting that distract from the good pint it was.

The Albert itself was decked out in Christmas ware and was at that comfortable busy where nearly all tables are taken although only 2 or 3 people per table. Although, it was only once I'd taken my seat that I realised there was a dinning area at the back and upstairs, which absolutely makes sense for a large Victorian pub of this size. I can certainly say having a Titanic Stout on a cold dark evening, in a large Victorian pub filled with Christmas lights shall now become my bellwether for the start of the Christmas period and not the Coca Cola advert.

it's just not cricket

I left the Albert after the one as I had a few more pubs I'd not visited in a while that I needed to get to. My next stop was at the Munich Cricket Club (SW1H 0HW) on Strutton Ground only a few minutes walk away. Now the last time I visited this pub it was called the Old Monk Exchange. The pub is actually in a basement and I can fully see why they've converted it into a Germany style beer hall (loosely). At first glance not much had changed. The tables had been replaced with benches and Munich/German memorabilia adorned the walls, and as expected the beer selection was all German. Now my knowledge on German beers is not great but they did have quite a few brands I'd never heard of including Löwenbräu, hence why I opted for a pint, though I selected the Oktoberfest version at 6.1% compared to the original at 5.2%. (This was after one of the staff members had finished swearing at I assume her manager, saying she refused to do something, very nice welcome to the pub)

I grabbed an empty bench, which was very easy considering only 6 other customers were in the pub, and enjoyed the surprisingly easy drinking pint. I had to wander back up to the bar to double check it was the Oktoberfest version as it certainly didn't have any hint of a 6%-er. I will most defintely come back to this pub to sample a few more of the German beers that I've not had before though it's not top of my list.

I left the Munich Cricket Club and regained signal on my phone. The obvious choice at this stage was to head to the Grafton Arms next door however two Greene King pubs in one day was not to be as I noticed on the WhatPub website that there was a pub nearby that I've never seen nor heard of before, so I went off in search of it.

I found the Low Slow & Juke just off Victoria street on Abbey Orchard Street (SW1H 0EX). This pub was again downstairs and what immediately strikes you is that its hosts live music seemingly of the American New Orleans jazz style. When you reach the bottom of the stairs there is a reception desk which I soon learned was to handle all the table bookings and reserved seating this place has. I just stated I was here for a drink and she nodded me through to the bar.

Inside neon light

The pub had a nice selection of ales, though an even bigger selection of bottle beers. I had already set my eye on the S

team Brewery Lager which I'd never had before. The kind gentleman behind the bar informed me it was happy hour and preceded to point out a range of draft ales/lagers on a reduced price however, my mind was set and I stuck with my Steam Lager. I didn't realise till this moment that the pub is actually owned by Marston's which then made sense of the beers in the happy hour were Pedigree, EPA and Pearl Jet (The new name for Oyster Stout). My Steam Lager had the usual taste coming through as any Steam Brewery beer and was drunk in no time at all.

I decided to not hang around for another drink in case the bookings all arrived and besides I had a final destination to get too and needed to get to a pub a bit closer. I hadn't at this stage decided which pub I'd go to exactly. I did linger outside the Speaker but decided to push on a bit further passing three other pubs before I settled on the Marquis of Granby (SW1P 3RF) a Nicholson's.

The pub was quite full and no seats were available and the bar area full of people. Once near the front of the bar I seen the pump selection wasn't as wide as some of the other Nicholson's pubs, but then I noticed they had some Firkin's on gravity dispense. Of course was going to have the gravity dispense as that's quite rare to find in big London pubs. Unfortunately for me the beer i was drawn to was 'Al Murray Pub Landlord - Dependence Day' which tasted very watery and also of elder-flower.

The gravity drop choices

Houses of Parliament Division Bell

What the beer lacked the pub did make up for. They had their own hand cooked crisps for which you can choose a flavour which they will add into the brown paper bag and shake up for you. I selected good old salt and vinegar and they tasted beautiful. Also the pub had a glass cabinet that they called their 'Beer Library'. Within this cabinet were books, beers and notes of the brewing process which made for an interesting peruse. Though the one stand out feature had to be the Houses of Parliament Division bell. I'd never noticed this when I'd been in this pub before, and it's certainly an interesting feature, particularly as they state its still active.

After finishing off the Al Murray pint I called it a day and headed on my way. I had managed to visit two new pubs and had three really enjoyable beers, which I will certainly call a good evening.