The Swan, Bloomsbury, WC1

Swan is on of my favorite pubs for having Old Peculier! Food is good and have 8 handpumps serving 7 ales and a cider. Nice bar staff!

Official site of The Swan - www.greeneking.co.uk

Official site of The Swan - www.greeneking.co.uk

Not a bad little pub down an alleyway, quite small and narrow with the traditional 'north face of the Eiger' stairs to the gents below. It clearly benefitted from a Taylor Walker restoration some years ago so has some traditional-looking touches, despite the best efforts of GK. The ale range was a bit Yorkshire-biased, with TT Landlord, Theakston's Old Peculier and Black Sheep Best, along with Tribute, Ruddles Best and the obligatory IPA and Old Speckled Hen. A bit expensive, but this is Bloomsbury.

Small, thin pub with bar running along one long wall, padded leather benches on opposite wall with tall tables & stools inbetween. Dark red ceiling and a few mirrors & subdued lighting, despite a few rips in the seats it feels comfortable. 8 real ales, including local selection, well kept

Down a pleasant pedestrianised street, close to Great Ormond Street hospital, this is a narrow but surprisingly deep, single room Taylor Walker pub. You enter the pub past a reasonably appealing outdoor seating area with a few sturdy looking benches arranged under an awning. As you make your way into the building, you initially find yourself in a fairly spartan space, with a drinking ledge and high stools to the left and a plain space with room for minimal seating over to the right, somewhat hemmed in by the appearance of the bar a little further on along the right hand wall. The servery is nothing much to write about, coming straight off the Taylor Walker conveyor belt with its straight dark wood counter and modern looking bar back with neatly organised bottles and a hop lined top. The room has a chequered tile floor around the bar, an exposed floorboard runway through the centre of the room and to the rear and some carpet down the left hand side. High tables and stools run down the middle of the room opposite the bar and some L-shaped banquettes follow the left hand wall, broken only by a small, modern looking fireplace, with some standard tables and chairs to the rear of the room. The walls have been covered with modern wallpaper and a red anglypta band can be seen above. A few pictures and mirrors in tacky gold frames could be found around the room as well as corporate looking blackboards listing the usual promotional stuff. Various Euro 2016 national flags were hung around the room and a TV screen to the rear was showing muted rolling news whilst some non-descript music chugged away in the background. A standard Taylor Walker menu was placed on each table and I enjoyed watching a French couple puzzle their way through it before coming to the bar to take a photos of all the hand pumps and keg taps. Contributors to the French version of Pubs Galore perhaps? The pub is currently listed in the Good Beer Guide and there was certainly a handsome row of handpulls to have a go at. Options on this visit comprised Taylor Walker 1730, Sambrooks Junction, Morland Old Speckled Hen, Greene King London Glory, Hop Stuff Pale Ale, Hammerton N1, Windsor and Eton Conqueror and Redemption Trinity - a reasonable mix of predictable duffers and established London-based breweries. My pint of the Pale Ale set me back an upsetting £4.50, but was pretty good and served up by a very friendly German(?) barmaid. Her Australian colleague also seemed very friendly and became engaged in an excellent pub conversation with a fellow countryman who enlisted her help to help him use a pocketful of change to buy his pint. Customer (picking coin from huge pile he's dumped on bar): "What's this one", Barmaid: "That's a 2", C: "What, £2?", B: "No, 2 cents", C (in complete disbelief): "What the hell am I going to buy with all these two cent coins?", B: "And those are one cents", C: "Stupid bloody Poms!". I'm no great fan of Taylor Walker pubs, but I thought this one seemed to avoid a lot of the usual pitfalls, such as bland corporate interior, disinterested staff and dubious quality beer. Perhaps the room's compact width helped make it feel a bit cosier. Either way I enjoyed a good, if expensive, pint here and would rate this up there with the best I have found in Bloomsbury thus far.