The Phoenix, Lisson Grove, NW1

A largely hidden, mid-19th century backstreet pub just off Marylebone Road, this has recently been converted into a backpackers’ hostel with the bar retained to the ground floor. This is a very basic, scruffy room, with mismatched seemingly second-hand furniture and an upright piano in the corner. The bar array is very basic indeed, bare brick or painted black (like most of the ceiling in an otherwise white room with a little patterned wallpaper or bare brick), with a man seated behind it at a computer screen, checking in guests. Décor is minimal, with just a few knickknacks to a couple of windowsills, illumination coming from somewhat institutional ceiling lights. There was a microwave in another corner, used to warm up food by customers, some of which arrived via a shabby Deliveroo rider, who took his break in the pub. Customers were a bit weird and hard to determine where they were from, though probably inmates from upstairs; one bloke was sat in a corner snoring away, whilst another was torturing the aforementioned piano, drowning out the tinny piped soundtrack. There’s no real ale of course, just Eurofizz presided over by a loopy barmaid, who when asked for a half of Stella (£2.40) informed me that there weren’t any Stella glasses. I told her that this didn’t matter, to which she replied that she had a Foster’s glass, but that it didn’t quite hold as much beer; an attempt to point out that all half-pint glasses contained exactly the same amount fell on deaf ears. This is a deeply poor pub, the customers – and their behaviour – give one the feeling of drinking in the day room from One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest; a return visit is off the cards.

Official site of The Phoenix - www.phoenixhostel.co.uk

This is the bar/common room of a backpacker's hostel. Pretty basic and scruffy, second hand tables and chairs and sofas, and communal kitchen facilities. Usual keg fare. Perfectly good for what it is, but there's nothing here for pubgoers.

Official site of The Phoenix - www.phoenixhostel.co.uk

The Phoenix is a small back street corner pub that is in a quiet area of marylebone. Once inside the pub was very basic and the room we went in was quite depressing,our visit was lateish on a thursday night and there were only 2 other customers in. There were no real ales on the bar and the keg option was John Smiths smooth crap so we had a Guinness. My wife was very dissapointed with this pub. Pub visited 20/3/2008 Photo taken 21/8/2008