The Kings Arms, Fitzrovia, W1

This is now a McMullen's pub with their Country and Cask Ale on, plus a guest ale of Whole Hop Brewery Flying Frog (£2.10 a half). When I arrived a fourth pump was unclipped, but by the time I left it had a handwritten clip for something called Hopping Mad, a 4.5% golden ale. I was in too early to see any sign of food. It's carpeted, has banquettes around the sides, metal framed tables and small stools. All very traditional. The bar counter looks to be an original Victorian feature, and parts of the bar back are old, if not original, dating from 1900 according to the landlord. Unfortunately you can't see much of it nowadays, as bits of wood have been attached to it to provide shelving, and it's otherwise obscured by optics, bottles, cans, notices, an old till and some drinks machines. But some cut and etched glass is just about visible with the brewer's name (Charrington) in the top centre, and the pub name is at the bottom (but obscured by bottles). There's also a cast iron pillar with a decorative capital, plus a small vestibule at the entrance. This apparently used to be a seven room pub. There are disused doorways now of course, but I can well believe the claim to seven rooms. As decor there were old (mainly whisky) bottles on the bar gantry, a shelf with books and knick knacks at one end, plus miscellaneous prints on the walls. I also saw a TV (of course), a juke box, and a quiz night advertised for Mondays. It was very quiet when I was in before noon, so impossible to judge the atmosphere when busy, but it's comfortable enough and both the landlord and barmaid were friendly and chatty. I liked it in here. It had the feel of a traditional pub about it and it's the sort of place to which I'd be happy to return.

Quite a quirky interior serving 4 real ales. Live fitba on during my visit.

I found the Kings Arms a bit of a mixed bag. The awkward layout means that some areas are reasonably spacious whilst others are tight squeeze with quite a bottleneck at the bar. At one end of the pub is a partitioned off lounge with comfy sofas whilst the remainder of the pub is a traditional style but rather blandly refurbished. There are a few nice touches such as the old clocks, book shelves and two old fashioned tills that probably started life in the shillings and pence days. They were selling Cumberland Ale when we were there which makes a change from the usual mainstream beers. We had no problems with service and the customer base was pretty civilised. Not worth going too far out of the way for but you could do a lot worse if you are in the area.