The Wellington, WC2

With seven well-kept ales usually on, the Wellington often features in our London crawls. Indeed on more than one occasion we've stayed all evening and worked our way along the pumps. Never actually eaten here so can't comment although the menu doesn't look that spectacular. Well above average.

Extremely and helpful, friendly apporach from all staff makes this pub a joy to enter, and the food and drink keep that pleasure flowing. Bar food is uninteresting but a bit expensive for what it is - but then it is in the heart of Touristland. The atmosphere was relaxing and calm, and it wasn't at all ruined by the noise from some irritating idiots at the far end of the bar. Upstairs is billed as a restaurant, but as I didn't go up there I can't comment. The real strength of this pub is its ales - 7 on tap this visit, and I had a beautifully kept pint of Thornbridge's jaipur IPA. I was impressed by the "Sip before you sup" policy, a rare but much welcomed attraction. Highly recommended for lunch and for inclusion in a local crawl.

Occupying a prominent street corner position on The Strand and next door to the Lyceum Theatre is The Wellington, a large Nicholson's pub. Outside, we learn that the pub dates back to 1903. Note the fine corbels high up on the external walls. Inside, as we might expect, it's a fairly standard typical Nicholson's interior with much polished woodwork and a fine ornate bar back. It's quite a narrow interior in places, which makes it seem more crowded than it actually is, but seating on the pavement outside relieves the crush and imbues something of a continental café feel to the place. There's the obligatory Wellington memorabilia. An upstairs dining room, called imaginatively The Dukes Bar, caters for the hordes of tourists who overrun the area, particularly in summer. I've had decent pints of Leeds Best and other beers from the wide Nicholson's portfolio list in here recently. This pub is worth including in any crawl of the immediate area.

Long narrow pub off Covent Garden.Had a very good selection of real ales and the ones that I tried were in good condition.Outside seating area.Can get very busy lunch time.Don't know about the food as this is a pub,not a cafe.

Just to redress the balance a bit, was here mid-evening on a Wednesday and everything was working well. Busy but not too bad, staff attentive, good selection of beers in good nick. Might be a question of luck or timing, but would be happy to return.

This is the worst place I have ever visited in London. I've never complained about food before and I hate to complain but after waiting about 30 mintues for some-one to take our order and 1 hour for the food it came along so rock hard i couldn't even get my knife into the chicken. The staff left dirty plates on other tables and seemed to busy talking to care. I couldn't eat my food and I was very upset, i was offered something else but after waiting a good two hours I didn't fancy another long waite, so i left and got a sandwitch from tesco which i should have done to begin with. Really awful place, I've seen on some websites the staff defending themselves and blaming customers for being rude, i wasn't rude, but being treated in such a way will make anybody upset, and i can understand why some people would be rude, i felt really upset i feel bad for not being able to eat my food because i don't believe in waste, but this was an extreme case, which is why i feel its important to warn others. I work in customer service and i would never dream of treating our customers like this, they were complaining about customers demanding too much? but the staff were just standing around talking and not doing alot, maybe if they worked together and harder as a team they might improve the turn over time of their business, sadly i think this place is lacking any customer service skills and will probably close down soon along with most other pubs. What an awful experience, stay away people.

Official pages of the Wellington, contains menu and real ale details - www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk

They had London Pride, Deuchars IPA and Cairngorm Autumn Nuts on – the latter at £2.90 a pint, and it was in excellent nick as well. This is a longish, narrow corner pub at the Aldwych end of The Strand. It is bare-boarded now, but does have an attractive plaster decorated ceiling that looks as if it might be original, as well as a rather nice red marble fireplace at the back of the ground floor bar and some marble facing on the walls. It didn't seem very welcoming when I was in there at noon the other day. The service was OK, but the door was being kept open (expecting deliveries?) making it fairly cold inside, plus there were some cleaning materials still on the bar making me feel a little like I had arrived before anyone was expected. A couple of girls in there for the breakfast kept their thick coats on the whole time. I suppose if I came at another time it would be warm and welcoming. This used to be one of my locals in the 70s – when they did Bass and Charrington's IPA. At least the beer has improved. I remember one of our group saying that he would give up beer when it reached £1 a pint – he never did! It's still OK as a pub, but I don't think that I would go out of my way to visit though.

This is a long and thin pub that gets very busy early evenings when I’m normally in attendance. The bar area is raised so I normally find myself plotted on the stairs leading up to it so that I can get a bit of space. The staff are generally fine, but on occasion there can be an excruciating wait even when quiet. There is some seating put the front, but again during a nice warm evening it can be difficult to find a space.

Official pages of the Wellington, contains menu and real ale details - www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk