Cock & Lion, Marylebone, W1

This is a fairly simple two floor pub just a short distance from the madness of Oxford Street and handy for Bond Street tube station. The ground floor has a fairly small main bar with the servery to the rear left and a good deal of banquette and standard eating to the right. The servery is fairly attractive thanks to a pleasant glazed tile frieze running under the counter and a series of clocks over the canopy showing the different times in several major cities around the world. There is a quite remarkable number of black and white photos on display covering a range of subjects, as well as a display cabinet with various odds and ends on show, but most customers had eyes only for the large TV screens which were showing a Premier League football match. We visited to watch the England rugby fixture against the All Blacks and found the ground floor too busy, so headed upstairs where seating was still available. There is a second bar at the top of the stairs, albeit without and handpulls, necessitating trips back down for refills. The room has a mix of standard and high stool seating with a simple fireplace on the far wall and a TV screen to the left and right. There are lots more black and white photos up here, many of which are sports related and these extend down the entire length of the staircase as well. Four fairly mainstream ale options were on the bar during this visit - Fullers London Pride, Taylor Landlord, St Austell Tribute and Sharps Doom Bar. I had several pints of the Tribute which I found in good shape and a friend was on the Landlord which he said was also very good. Hot food is available and the menu offers typical pub grub at prices that are sensible for this part of the city. This is a fairly functional pub of the sort that you can find the length and breadth of the capital, but it served its purpose as somewhere to watch the rugby and provided us with well kept beer, which isn't always a given. There are more exciting pubs in the area but this is a good solid option that's handy to know about.

A smallish, fairly narrow and traditional pub, in consists of a single bar downstairs and another room upstairs that is perhaps more intended for dining, although there is also a small bar counter here albeit without any cask ale on. There are also a couple of small tables on the pavement at the front. Downstairs there is carpet on the floor and a part tiled bar counter to the left. A wood and part glazed partition separates off the rear area slightly. There were a number of old black and white photos of London street scenes on the wall, and also a couple of plasmas. A sports fixture list for March was on the wall, suggesting that most major matches are screened. The restaurant area upstairs was deserted on a recent Friday evening visit, which was slightly concerning as everywhere else nearby seemed to be rammed. Here there was another plasma showing a news channel although with no volume, and a number of black and white cricketing photos on the walls. An old wooden fire-place was to one end, but this appeared unused. The menu consisted of a number of “pub grub” dishes with options such as Cajun Chicken, Hunter’s Chicken, Sausage & Mash, Ham Egg & Chips, etc., and these were mostly priced at around a tenner, although the steak options were considerably more. A Steak & Ale Pie was a very generous portion and very tasty as well, and a Smoked Chicken and Creamy Pepper Pasta was a similarly decent dish and very well received. Quite why it wasn’t busier I’m not sure, although a few more punters had come in by the time we left. Beers on tap were Doom Bar, Tribute, London Pride and Timothy Taylor Landlord. The solitary cider was Carling which I’ve not come across on draught before.

Four ales were available here – London Pride, Doom Bar, St Austell Tribute, and Timothy Taylor Landord (£2.20 a half). This is a fairly unimaginative selection, and £2.20 is expensive for a half even by London standards. They almost certainly do food, but I was in just after 11.00 AM, so probably too early for menus to be put out. It was very noisy inside due to the building site next door, but that’s not the pub’s fault and must discourage at least some business. It’s actually not a bad little pub if you can ignore the sounds of drilling and the beer prices for a minute. The walls are covered with a mass of old black and white photographs; the windows at the front are attractively latticed, with one of them a bow window as this sort of design often is. It’s carpeted, has three tall tables/tall stools, with rest of the furnishings being banquettes and normal tables and chairs. The bar counter has a nice run of Delft style blue tiles beneath the rim. The inevitable TV screens were on the walls, showling sky sports, but muted when I was in. That’s just as well as it was noisy enough in there without TVs adding to it. It’s not a bad little pub, although nothing very special. Some effort has been made to make it attractive and comfortable, but it will be a lot better when the building work is finished.

This is quite a small pub with Sky sports and a plasma screen at each end of the bar. There is another bar and a dining room upstairs, but these were not checked out during this visit. Black Sheep, Tribute, Pride and Spitfire were all available during my visit along with a standard draught selection. The staff were nice enough making this a pub that I would revisit.