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Disappointment of the week with Tris39
on the Pub Forum
Image posted by Ian Mapp
Submitted on Tuesday, 18th January 2022
With picture contributions to 1067 other pubs
View all this pub's pictures (13 more images)
Detail Pages
The Guinea, Mayfair, W1
W1
W1J 6NL
Served areas
Reviews of The Guinea (Average Rating: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blackthorn _ left this review about The Guinea
Tucked away down a back street, albeit just around the corner from Berkely Square, this isn’t somewhere you’re likely to stumble across by accident, but is worth taking a small detour if in the area.
Internally it’s a single, U-shape room and quite traditional in appearance with black wooden boards on the floor, black painted paper on the ceiling, dark green embossed wallpaper on the lower part of the walls and sandy colour paintwork above. Etched glass windows were at the front of the pub were draped with long red curtains. The walls were liberally covered in pictures, many of them portraits or caricatures, as well as an old menu (not actually that old going on the prices) and a “Pies sold all day” sign. The barmen were very smartly dressed in waistcoats like you might expect in a smart hotel bar, not a back street boozer. It was pretty much full to capacity on our recent Saturday evening visit, and we were initially standing before grabbing a small table in the window when it became available.
Beers on tap were a Young’s London Original and London Special, along with St Austell’s Proper Job. The solitary cider meanwhile was Aspall’s Suffolk. Overall, not a bad pit stop and worth popping in if in the area, but I’m not sure I’d bother going to far out my way to get here.
On 20th February 2023
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1947 recommendations about 1860 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Ian Mapp left this review about The Guinea
Back street, mews based pub that you have to go looking for.
A front bar and restaurant to the side. Appear to trade of their pies, although all the awards detailed on the walls were from the 1990s.
Very smartly dressed bar staff and very low lighting. Gave the appearance of a soho after hours drinking den, although in reality - its just a pub that takes pride in their service.
Youngs range and Proper Job on offer.
Former patrons, booze hounds such as Frank Sinatra, Richard Burton and Princess Margret. They knew what to look for in a pub :-)
On 18th January 2022
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1337 recommendations about 1323 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Guinea
This is a smart, traditional Young’s house down a rather attractive Mayfair back street with a fairly well preserved interior. Two entrances, each with their own ‘Private Bar’ and ‘Lounge Bar’ etched glass panes, both lead into the same partially opened out bar area, albeit at opposite ends of the room. The left side is ostensibly a separate restaurant area with a small partitioned carpeted seating area to the front giving way to a full dining room up a few steps and through a doorway manned by a formally dressed doorman. A gap in the partitioning allows you through to the bar proper – a bare boarded room with a lovely curved dark wood counter along the rear wall and a somewhat underwhelming mirrored back which displayed a very small Young’s sign but was otherwise fairly unmemorable. Low stools and hard benches run along the front wall under sizable windows with nice panes denoting ‘Wines’, ‘Spirits’ and the pub’s name. Two windows has a rather nice brass rail across them with low level lamps fitted to them, which help generate muted, moody lighting once darkness descends outside. The bar and room both turn 90 degrees and run to the ear down the right hand side of the room where a drinking ledge and high stools compete for space in the narrow gap between wall and bar, before things open out again at the back, allowing space for a few more tables in what must arguably be the cosiest spot in the pub. Decor throughout consists of a few quirky adverts, some Hogarth style pictures and the obligatory shot of Prince Charles pulling a pint. The clientele in here was very upmarket on my visit, but I didn’t feel bad or frowned upon propping up the end of the bar in my jeans and hoodie.
On the bar, the two unsurprising Young’s beers – Ordinary and Special – were complimented by a couple of guest ales in the shape of Truman’s Runner and Sambrook’s Pumphouse Pale (£5.15). The latter poured quite temperamentally but settled soon enough and turned out to be a very nice pint. The barman was very polite and formal in his dealings with customers and despite the place having a strong food emphasis, the location of the diners in the rear room meant that the bar area was solely in use for drinkers, making for a better overall atmosphere.
Young’s certainly know how to mess up a perfectly good pub, but with this one they have for the most part, acted as sympathetic, tasteful custodians of what is clearly a fine historic pub. I liked the cramped but evocative bar area and thought they had plenty of interesting features to reward repeat visits. If you’re keen to splash out on a pint in this pricey part of the city, you could do a lot worse than this fine venue.
On 5th June 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
View more reviews of The Guinea (11)
Pubs Galore is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
- Official site of the Guinea, includes menus, wine list and real ale details - www.theguinea.co.uk
- Guinea page at the Youngs site - www.youngs.co.uk
- Facebook - The Guinea Grill
- Twitter - The Guinea Grill
- CAMRA WhatPub :: The Guinea - whatpub.com
- Historic Pub Interiors - pubheritage.camra.org.uk
London Victoria, 1.36 miles, 26 min walk (show)
London Marylebone, 1.48 miles, 28 min walk (show)
Pub Details
Pub details supplied by members of this site to the best of their knowledge. Please check with pub directly before making a special trip.
- Accommodation : No last updated 23 November 2018 by Tris C
- Bar Billiards : No last updated 23 November 2018 by Tris C
- Beer Festivals : No last updated 23 November 2018 by Tris C
- Beer Garden : No last updated 23 November 2018 by Tris C
- Car Park : No last updated 23 November 2018 by Tris C
- Child Friendly : Yes last updated 24 May 2019 by Tris C
- Darts : No last updated 23 November 2018 by Tris C
- Dog Friendly : Yes last updated 23 November 2018 by Tris C
- Function Room : Yes last updated 05 June 2019 by Pub SignMan
- Hot Food : Yes last updated 29 July 2013 by Dave McNally
- Jukebox : No last updated 23 November 2018 by Tris C
- Karaoke : No last updated 23 November 2018 by Tris C
- Live Music : No last updated 23 November 2018 by Tris C
- Live TV Sports : No last updated 23 November 2018 by Tris C
- Micropub : No last updated 23 November 2018 by Tris C
- Pinball : No last updated 23 November 2018 by Tris C
- Pool Table : No last updated 23 November 2018 by Tris C
- Quiz Night : No last updated 23 November 2018 by Tris C
- Real Ale : Yes last updated 29 July 2013 by Dave McNally
- Real Cider : No last updated 05 June 2019 by Pub SignMan
- Wheelchair Access : No last updated 05 June 2019 by Pub SignMan
- WiFi : Yes last updated 05 June 2019 by Pub SignMan
