The Ship, Fitzrovia, W1

Comfortable quirky pub which lives up to its name and has ship fittings inside, including a full sized ships wheel. Other quirks are the fabric front bar and gantry, wood ceiling, plethora of brass and sodium-style lighting. Also a good amount of breweriana. Glass case on the bar which I think had grub in. The positives end there as ale-wise there was merely a lacklustre Doom Bar to be had - quite how they managed to arrange that for a late Thursday afternoon on New Cavendish Street is beyond me. Worth a visit to say you’ve had a look anyway.

Just the two ales on in here, both from Sharp's - Doom Bar of course and Atlantic (£2.10 a half). Although there was Bass signage all over the place they didn't actually serve any Bass. Food seems to be exclusively Vietnamese, seemingly rice and noodle based and around £5 - £6 or so. As you might expect the smell of spicy food was pretty evident when I dropped in here on Friday afternoon, but I still liked the place. It's carpeted, with mainly traditionally red upholstered banquettes, small round stools and standard tables, with one or two tall stools at ledges. It's small enough that there isn't room for more than half a dozen or so tables. I saw private functions advertised; maybe there's another room upstairs as there wouldn't be room for one downstairs unless you took over the whole pub. There are interesting knick knacks all over the place, decorating the walls and on the ceiling. For some reason they seem to specialise in brass taps and spigots, although there are brass jugs and the like. I even spotted a wall plaque for HMS Ocean, and the inevitable maritime theme is continued with the large old ship's wheel near the entrance. Other items of interest are the Wenlock Brewery mirror on the right, as well as the copper hooded fireplace, also on the right. Although the ale selection is just about in the "OK" category at a push, I liked this comfortable little pub and wouldn't mind visiting again.