John Snow, Soho, W1

This is a surprsingly small Sam Smith's pub with a three bar layout, located next to the famous water pump where the eponymous Mr Snow first made the link between cholera and contaminated water supplies. A corner entrance takes you into the main saloon bar which has bare boards, dark painted walls and a few wood panelled sections, a lincrusta ceiling and some button backed banquette seating around the perimeter. The bar is to the rear of this very small space and has a curved dark wood counter which looks quite good, but the bar back has been butchered a bit, with only part remaining, thereby losing some of the room's aesthetic appeal and allowing you to look clearly through to the rear lounge bar. This is accessed through an annoyingly low doorway with a modern etched glass pane above. Once you've squeezed through, you find yourself in a similarly small room with much the same set up as the saloon, plus a grand staircase to the rear right, although I'm not sure where this leads. On the other side of the pub there's a snug with limited seating and a short section of servery, which didn't look like it was the best spot to grab a seat. All doors have nice etched glass panes denoting the room you're about to enter and the windows are similarly inscribed. In true Central London fashion, lots of folk were stood out in a roped off area outside and whilst it was quite quiet inside when I arrived, there were no free seats and it very quickly filled up so that there was very little standing room either. Like many Sam Smith's pubs in London, there is no cask ale to be found, so I gave the Dark Mild (£6.00 a pint) a try and thought it was very nice. The barman seemed friendly enough and I liked the vibe in here - it seemed like a welcoming place despite what I assume is a relatively transient customer base. This isn't quite in the top tier of Sam's pubs in London, but its quirky interior and welcoming feel help push it towards the upper echelons. If I were more of a fan of their beer, I could imagine this as the sort of pub I'd be happy to have as my local and I'm sure I'll be dragging others here in the future. Date of visit - 2nd May 2024

I'd had this one on my to do list for some time as I was a great fan of the England fast bowler when I was growing up, and it's good to see him getting some recognition. This is a Sam Smiths pub with a screen between the two bars that you can duck under - much like Garry Sobers wished he'd ducked under that bouncer from John Snow in the Oval test in 1966, instead of gloving it to Brian Close for a first ball dismissal. There's no real ale, unfortunately, and the keg version of Old Brewery Bitter was very cold. At the time of my visit this pub was operating card only - no cash accepted. There are so many things this pub could do better - a mosaic of John Snow running in to bowl, for example - but cleaning the toilets would be a good way to start. Date of visit: 15th September 2022