Marquis Cornwallis, Bloomsbury, WC1

There’s a decent ale selection in here – London Pride, Doom Bar, Tribute, Adnam’s Soul Star and Mauldon’s Silver Adder (£1.90 a half) were all available when I visited on Wednesday afternoon. But this is still a food led gastropub, even though the menu wasn’t too expensive by London standards. Sandwiches were mainly £5 - £6, and they advertised a fixed price (and no prix fixe here) 3-course menu for £13, featuring stuff like gammon steak & chips, and fish and chips (or more precisely “breaded hake with crushed minty peas, tartare and fries”). Main courses on the a la carte menu were mainly £10 - £11. This looks like an old Victorian boozer, but inside it’s all sofas, banquettes, and normal shaped but chunky tables and chairs all in neat rows. In the gastropub way, all the tables in here bore a single stemmed flower – on Wednesday it was a single yellow tulip. Some large potted ficus benjaminii added to the saloon lounge atmosphere. The high ceiling which is typical of pubs of this era, coupled with the bare-boarded floor, allows the ambient noise to bounce around the place making it quite noisy. But it was doing a very good trade so must be a thriving concern and is presumably giving the customers in this area what they want. It’s not the sort of pub in which I’d want to spend an entire evening, but it’s OK for a swift one. The Silver Adder was good as well.

This is one of M&B's "Metro Professional" brand which I guess is supposed to a pubbier variant of their awful All Bar One chain. It certainly does seem to attract the same sort of younger well-heeled types who go here for a four quid pint of daftly named beer rather than an ABO for a seven quid glass of Pino Grigio. It is pleasantly appointed if rather noisy due to bare boards and high ceilings, and doesn't suffer too much from the huge leather sofa disease, and yes you will get a pint of something unusual. Service is a bit haphazard though and there was an unpleasantly strong cooking smell when we called the other afternoon. I wouldn't stay for more than the one pint before moving on.

Randomness Guide to London - Marquis Cornwallis entry

Randomness Guide to London - Marquis Cornwallis entry