The Swan, Bloomsbury, WC1

Prior to the other night, I hadn't been here since a disastrous visit a good 15 years ago when I'm sure the pub was far more gloomy. Being a Taylor Walker pub it's still gloomy, but that has more to do with the owner than the lighting, being a tired venue with TV on, printed menus, games machines and the like. The clientele here are either tourists or elderly locals. The barmaid was utterly useless. Despite clearly waiting, she served four other customers who clearly arrived after me and when she did get round to serving me, she couldn't speak a word of English. Surprisingly, there's a very large selection of ales here, which says something, though what I known not: Belhaven's Golden Bay, Taylor Walker's 1730 Special Ale, East London Brewery's Cowcatcher, Knight of the Garter's Golden Ale, Hammerton's Life on Mars, Windsor & Eton's Guardsman, Wimbledon's Quartermaine and Truman's Budburst at a very competitive £2.00 a half; it was though rather dull. This pub gets an extra point for the beer range, but I can't see myself coming here again, not least because the vastly superior Queen's Larder is right next door.

Second Taylor Walker house on our pre-Christmas Friday mini crawl and I can also concur when being able to compare to the earlier Friend in Hand that this one is a cut above their standard pub offerings. Good traditional décor and the far end once you have fought your way past the throng at the front is a comfortable space both for vertical drinking and for seating in the many comfortable seating options available at this end. But the thing that raises it above the others is an improved beer offering with seven ale pumps providing a good range from mainly local London breweries and a couple of decent seasonal specials. Alongside London Pride there were a couple from the Hackney brewery including New Zealand Pale Ale one from London Fields, and a very nice Santa’s Little helper from Caledonian. The only thing that was missing as the evening wore on was a decent atmosphere, and although there were quite a few in, food seems to be more of a priority here than the bar vibe and what atmosphere there was kind of washed over you. So for us, a nice solid pub, but not one you would choose to spend all evening in, and we didn’t soon moving off to the much livelier Queens Larder next door.

Seem to be following in Real Ale Rays footsteps tonight.Anything but a typical Taylor Walker pub.(sorry Hondo) Nice rectangular pub with a long bar.Brightly lit with large chandeliers and stained glass lanterns. Nice and comfortable pub.Great selection of beers on cask,keg and bottled.London Fields -Shoreditch triangle and Black amer ipa,five points -railway porter and a beer from Bespoke brewery were some of the beers on the 7 handpumps.All tried and in good nick.If they keep up this beer selection I will be calling in regularly.

Standard taylor walker pub. 5 real ales and food served.

Randomness Guide to London - Swan entry