The Flying Horse, Fitzrovia, W1

Nearing completion in my attempt to explore all the central London pubs with heritage interiors on Camra's inventory. This one is easily missed, having a narrow frontage on the busy pavement opposite Tottenham Court Road tube. It's been well described by experts on the link below, and it's difficult to photograph because it seems to be always fairly busy. On the bar is a row of eight hand pumps with London Pride, Doom Bar and Ghost Ship all doubled, plus the house beer from St Austell and Wye Valley HPA. I went for the Nicholson's Pale which was ok (NBSS 2.5) but nothing special. I don't drink this beer often enough to know whether it ever attains interesting status, and at over £6 a pint I'm unlikely to return here to try it again, no matter how delightful the heritage interior.

Although I visited this pub when it was the Tottenham many moons ago, I remember little about it, now although some smart ornate woodwork and some nice furnishings it cant escape the Nicholsons brand feel. A tourist trap given it's location, handily placed opposite Tottenham Court Road tube, it was fairly well attended upon my arrival on a Saturday afternoon, aided and abetted by the first Saturday game of the new Premier League season being screened. There are eight handpumps but only half being utilised, beers on were Doom Bar, Hophead, Pride and Nicholsons Pale, gone are the days when you could go to a Nicholsons pub and find interesting beer. A functional pub but doesn't particularly appeal to me.

A smallish Nicholson's pub, once marketed as the 'only pub on Oxford Street'. There are some nicely historic bits to the interior, including glasswork, ceramics and woodwork, with a rather splendid picture. Usually seems pretty busy, although there is another bar downstairs, again not visited. A reasonable selection of beers seemed well-kept, including two from Siren, two from St Austell (one the house ale) and London Pride.

Located at the junction of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road, this is a traditional, single room pub that doesn’t look especially large from the outside but extends back some way from the front entrance. Décor wise it consists of a dark, wood strip floor and has quite a dark ambience overall with fairly low level lighting and further dark woodwork on the walls. The right hand wall was largely covered with large mirrors one of which had been decoratively painted. Where there weren’t mirrors there were large portraits, and each mirror or portrait was framed with carved woodwork and interspersed with colourful tiling. A large chandelier was hanging at the rear and there was elaborate cornice work on the ceiling. Seating was perhaps a little limited, and we perched up on one of the stools along the bar counter. Beers on tap were Truman’s Fine and Dandy, Itchen Pride of the Valley, Oakham JHB, Thornbridge January Blues and Oakham Pale Ale. Three further pumps for Doom Bar, London Pride and Exmoor Gold had all run out, which might normally raise some concerns about their stock control, but we visited on a Sunday evening when they had no doubt not had the chance to replenish from the weekend. Ciders meanwhile were both from Mortimer’s Orchard, with both the regular and English Berry varieties.