Cask, SW1

Somehow, I’ve missed to review this one in all the times I’ve been coming here so time to put that right. The main salient points have all been covered by a multitude of reviewers below but outside of its always impressive real ale offerings the reasons I will continue to frequent it are 1) Its always a good atmosphere and is a reliable lively bolt hole this close to Pimlico tube. On an evening when the whether forecaster was predicting Snow Armageddon hitting London the pub was extremely lively when we arrived at 6.00PM and was still going strong when the last of us left some 3 and ½ hours later. 2) The service levels are extremely high. They were coping admirably with the after-work rush when we arrived and although our first round included the final pint of Marble Pint, the beer was put back on in time for our third round and the other four beers that went whilst we were there were also duly put back on during the evening despite the constant demand at the bar. 3) The quality is always good. On this particular evening eight of us had five rounds taking in most of the beers below 6.5% and we didn’t have a single duff pint between us. Cask is certainly not dead in this place. 4) As for Mr Fastard below the beer range does seem to get better with each visit. Alongside three offerings from Marble (Earl Grey IPA, Pint and the Porter) were EightArch Brewing easy life and Bobolink Coffee Oat Stout, Fyne Ales Vital Spark, Magic Rock Ringmaster and Park Brewery porter to name a few. Some might argue that’s a heavy presence of dark ales, but with temperature level plummeting and Snow Armageddon on its way , I was OK with that.

At last, a pub that gets a revisit stamp! I had Abduction which was excellent and the choice was extensive - 15 keg, 14 real ales and bottles in fridges. There was a price list to the left of the bar that showed increases in price subject to the ABV level - saves any messing around.

Housed in a dismal looking building,the interior isnt exactly cutting edge although functional. Its all about the beer here and was one of the first pubs to push craft beer and still does a very impressive range of keg and bottled beers. Cask beer wise there are 10 hand pumps with an equally impressive lineup on my latest visit here, Harbour Light Ale and Amber Ale, Stancil Barnsley Bitter,Glastonbury Pilton Pop,Smoked Rye and Velo Dog from Gun Brewery,and four from Hopcraft,Excange of Fluids 2,Every Hop I Love Is Dead,Graveyard Eyes and Digging Up The King.If your into good interesting beer this is the place for you.

Situated on the corner of a unappealing block of 1970s flats, this modern take on a pub goes from strength to strength. the interior is very contemporary with mushroom paint schemes and scrub top tables. Staff are pleasant and happy to discuss beer. I have visited several times in the last couple of years for both drinks and food. The beer is constantly changing and is always on top form. Sometimes the choice is restricted by nothing more than ABV, with perhaps 6 of the 10 pumps over 5.5 and far too strong for a session, but if you go back in a couple of days, the choice has changed. Quite often, there is a mild and a porter on the bar amongst the amber, red and brown beers, I have never failed to find something to my taste. Food is burger orientated and aside from the sweet brioche bun they are mighty tasty. The pub sells a decent glass of wine too, much to the delight of the wife. Fridges behind the bar and in the main room contain a bewildering assortment of bottled beers from around the world. Not my thing, but I am sure that some punters will indulge. In short, the Cask is a beer oasis in this part of London and well worth a visit.

Ten ales on handpump on our visit, we went for Siren Dinner for Six and Salopian Lemon Dream. I ordered a half of Salopian and then decided to upgrade to a pint. In spite of the pub being busy, this wasn't a problem to the patient barman. Beware a lot of tables reserved around the pub for the office crowd at 5pm.

19 July 2009 Hophead, Olde Trip, Morland Original (greedyk now, as is Olde Trip), Tom Wood's Bomber County, Everards Tiger, all £3.20. Under pressure, Peroni (£4.20), Leffe, Budvar, Amstel, Aspall Suffolk Cyder, guinness cold. A board montage of Darkstar clips (x15) to left of bar suggests that fine brewery will be well represented. Décor feels quite spartan on entry, open access to bar which runs the length of far wall, tiles here, otherwise light wood floor throughout. Reasonably spaced seating in the form of 14 dark wood tables (2s,3s,4s) & chairs, and wooden banquette winding around walls & below windows, solid base tho, & scatter cushions may prove more decorative than functional? Central pillar in bar area has drinking shelf & a few barstools &, behind this, two chesterfields face each other across a low table. The wall here has a large plasma but this will be for only occasional use (ie no Sky), along a bit to a wooden sideboard and boxed mirror. A little extra light is provided by the vertical ‘skylight' panelling nr ceiling, easy listening soundtrack was unintrusive. Printed food menu looks good, & good value for the area, eg fish, chips & mushy peas (that's right folks!) £8.75; cottage pie £7.75; Cask steak & cheese burger wi fries £8.50; seabass, spinach, spuds dauphinoise £9.75. A large blackboard at rear carried no info, but one could imagine may advertise daily specials at some point? or maybe a wine list, which I failed to note despite all this talk of food, sorry. Although the friendly guv, Martin, commendably aims to promote real ales (& there may be a ‘fest after a bedding-in period), I do think that the Cask is not very ‘pubby' and, as such, may need the food to be a significant contributor to retain a required customer base. No reason that shouldn't happen; it is served lunch & evening, opening includes weekends, the wet side has a good selection (& belgian styles in fridge), at least 3 good malts, it's clean and could appeal to female customers rather more than some scabby pubs around the station (despite its odd positioning under council flats). I wish them well.

This was my first return visit to this pub since a group of BITE reviewers visited back in the Summer of 2009. The interior has changed a bit. Then it had a few homely touches, with a sideboard or two and some high quality and attractive furnishings. Now it’s far more functional with basic upholstered benches round the sides and normal tables and chairs taking up all available space. It looks as if they’ve crammed in as many tables and chairs as possible (not a bad thing really) and with the light grey painted walls and minimalist black and white photos I found it fairly functional and characterless. But one thing that hasn’t changed is the range and quality of beers. You would be very hard pressed to fail to find something you liked here. My chum and I went for the Ilkley Joshua Jane, and after three pints we became convinced that we did like it. The main food on offer seems to be burgers – at around the £10 mark a pop. This remains a real ale Mecca, and is well worth a visit.