The Northumberland Arms, Fitzrovia, W1

I dived into this compact street corner pub on a bit of a whim, being at a bit of a loose end in a part of town unfamiliar to me, and was pleased to find a decent little boozer, The pub is well lit, thanks to two sides being dominated by the large banded windows that run along them, letting plenty of light into this small bare boarded space. The servery is on the back wall and has a simple dark wood counter enhanced by modern hand and foot rails and a large, unattractive bar back, the saving grace of which is the door to one side with fine etched glass panes in the door and above. Standard tables and chairs run around the perimeter of the room whilst a couple of high tables and stools have been positioned in the centre, with a fair bit of space left in between for people to stand in relative comfort. The pub felt quite well-to-do to me, being full of people in suits and snappy dresses, but the décor is considerably more down-to-earth, with a St George’s Cross flag on the back wall and six nations flags hung around the ceiling. Elsewhere, there are framed portraits where the subject’s head has been replaced by that of an animal for no apparent reason, several plain mirrors and blackboards promoting food. A TV screen in one corner was turned off but a pop music soundtrack underscored the buzz of conversation. Menus were supplied to each table, rolled up and stuffed into ancient looking pewter tankards. The pub offers two ales, which on this occasion were Fullers London Pride and Purity Mad Goose, with the latter weighing in at £4.50 a pint and in pretty good condition. The barmaid seemed pretty icy at first, but seemed to thaw a little, which is a little unusual for a pub that must get plenty of passing trade. I’m glad I gave this little pub a try, as I thought it was quite a nice spot in which to enjoy a decent pint and watch the world go by through the windows. The limited beer range will be an off-putting factor to some, but if you’re looking for an unpretentious pub in this part of town, you could definitely do a lot worse.

Corner pub with a plain interior. 2 real ales and food served. Handy for the Venezuelan Embassy.

There were two real ales on here – Old Speckled Hen and the increasingly ubiquitous Sharp’s Doom Bar. The Doom Bar was in good nick, but at £1.85 a half (£3.60 or £3.70 a pint?) at the top end of the price range even for central London. Main courses were around £10 a throw, and sandwiches in the £5 - £6 range and available between 12 noon and 5.0 PM Monday to Fridays. This is a small one room corner-site pub. It has the tall ceilings typical of a late Victorian pub, and being bare-boarded any noise bounces around the room. The piped music was at a comfortable background level when I went in, but for some reason it got cranked up after a few minutes – and with The Quo being played it seemed too loud to me. There are a couple of tall tables with tall stools in the middle of the room, but otherwise furnishings are banquettes and normal tables and chairs. Looking at the clientele when I was in on Wednesday lunchtime, I would guess that it gets most its custom from passing trade drawn from the hordes walking up and down the frantic Tottenham Court Rd. There isn’t a lot more to say about this place. The windows are modern replacements, and are mainly plain glass, but have a small pane of blue glass in the corners. There’s nothing of note on the walls, except a couple of black and white photographs and a gilt framed mirror. This is a fairly ordinary and unexceptional pub. The beer’s not cheap even for this area of London, and I don’t anticipate making a return visit.

This is a fairly unremarkable pub, although I found the staff to be friendly enough – for London anyway. Pride and Landlord were available and another 3 pumps were off. I doubt that I'll ever go here again as there are better pubs in the area.