The Wellington, WC2

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