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.

Beers to note - March 2017

I'm still playing catch up due to losing the first two weeks of March for write ups, though am now into my March write ups, and hoping to keep up the good post rate. During March I managed to sample 69 beers with 39 of these being 'new' to me (56%). These beers were consumed in 44 different locations, mainly pubs, of these 21 were 'new' to me. I'm using the term 'new' as I'm basing the data on Untappd data which I only started using about 18 months ago. So although I may have had a beer or visited a pub before, I'm considering it 'new' if it was before 18 months.

Of those 69 beers I had in March the below are the ones that stood out most for me:


Guinness Rye Pale Ale (Guinness) - 5.0% | Bottle 500ml
I think I remember the press release about the newest beer in the Brewer's Project from Guinness but had put it to back of mind and not thought of locating it. I happened to be in Morrisons looks for a bottle of Draught Guinness Original when my attention was brought to the Rye Pale Ale. I picked it up without hesitation (along with the Guinness Original). The beer tasted good, as it was both light but spicy. The beer tasted miles better than their Hop House 13 and is definitely competing with the West Indies Porter. I can't wait to taste the next in the series as they've tended to be quite good.



Honkers Ale (Goose Island) - 4.3% | Bottle 355ml
I've seen this a few times in pubs but never gone for it as I'm not a massive fan of Goose Island IPA. Well I was certainly surprised by this beer, firstly with it being a bitter and secondly tasting so amazing. Such a shame this was only 355ml as I could have done with a 500ml version.






Dave (Great Heck) - 3.8% | Cask Pint
I didn't have great expectations for this beer as the venue itself wasn't that great and it was served in a doombar glass. But the beer shone through the venue and delivered its wonderful malty taste. And at 3.8% can easily be sessioned.






Moment of Clarity (Siren) - 4.7% | Keg Pint
The price I had for this abv beer seemed quite high but it was worth the money in the taste it delivered. The beer was slightly hazy but came through with a tropical fruit taste and the hops. Not a session beer, particularly at the price I paid.



Little Haka (The Little Beer Corporation) - 3.5% | Keg Pint
Perfect example of new world hops in an ale. Light and bitter yet a sweet after taste. Best of all was the amazing fruity aroma the beer gives off, which makes it even more enjoyable to drink. At 3.5% and with a nose like that, it's certainly night out material.




Digital IPA (Yeastie Boys) - 5.7% | Bottle 330ml
Another brilliant example of new world hops this time in a stronger beer. The nose is still there but not as powerful but the flavour is sweet and hoppy.




XB (Theakston) - 4.5% | Bottle 500ml
I've had a few Theakston beers in my time but I don't think I've ever had this classic, and I must say its now become a favourite of mine. It was a nice bitter with some good malts coming through.







Ram Rod (Charles and Wells) - 5.2% | Bottle 275ml
I've always liked the Charles Wells small bottle beers such as Ram Rod and Light Ale. I know they're aimed to be used in mixtures such as light and mild but on their own they're excellent tasting. The Ram Rod is particularly enjoyable as the 275ml is a perfect size for the high ABV.

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.