Mr Fogg's House of Botanicals, Fitzrovia, W1

As the Cambridge, this was an office hangout for me in the late 1980s. It was fairly typical of the type for the area with nothing to make it stand out. Still, it's a shame to have lost it.

Very much a gastro-pub, with about half the tables laid up for dining, but slightly more inviting I thought for those just looking for a drink than when I've walked past previously. Restrained, semi-traditional furniture and decor. Background music. One real ale on handpump - Mauldon Gold (nice enough, albeit at a whopping £5.00) - plus beers such as Longhorn IPA and Whitstable Bay Pale on the keg taps.

Enticed in by the sight of a pump clip I didn’t recognise, I had a swift half of Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde, which turned out to be a very nice mild. I see that HRH Prince Charles also enjoyed a drop of this ale when he visited The Purleigh Bell recently, but I bet that they didn’t charge him £2.60 (!!) for a half, which is what I got stung for in here. This is really a restaurant (or perhaps an extreme example of a gastropub) with almost all tables laid for diners, except for a rectangular table (with some newspapers on it) in the centre of the room and a couple of tables near the staircase. This is one of those places where someone greets you as you enter – in this case a young lady, prowling around presumably ready to pounce on prospective diners to show them to a table. She got no joy in my case obviously, as of course I marched straight up to the bar to order my drink. I didn’t see a menu – I guess one is given to you after you’ve been shown to your table – but if the price of my half is anything to go by it won’t include any cheap pub grub. There is an upstairs room, but I didn’t venture up there. There are loads of framed prints on the wall by the staircase, mainly featuring fish as far as I could tell. The disabled toilet is on the ground floor. My half of Oscar Wilde was pretty good (it was a new barrel as it was changed when I was there), but I’m very unlikely to re-visit a “pub” that charges £2.60 for a half.