Morpeth Arms, Pimlico, SW1

As I approached this pub,the sight of Youngs Pubco signage made the heart sink,but I was pleasantly surprised.It's on a street corner with an apex door,leading to a main room with a wooden floor,seating in various shades of yellow leather and a servery with a good bar back.The windows are pleasing originals with some decent etching and good framework.There is a rear snug with a banquette and a drinking shelf,while on the first floor there is a restaurant.Outside tables and chairs run along both walls ,but the heavy traffic lessens the appeal.The muzak wasn't too loud ,and although this close to the Tate the customer base will be transitory it still felt relaxed enough to spend some time in.The food is from a short pub grub menu with mains starting around £12 with a median price £15. There are 5 handpumps and besides the dull house Youngs Bitter and Special,the guests were Sambrooks Wandle (no better !),Redemption Pale (decent),while a third guest had just run out. Better than you may think,not a destination but there are a lot worse pubs in this neck of the woods.

This is still a Young's pub so the beer choice is unsurprising. My chum and I did have a bite to eat - a sharing sausage platter for £13, containing six sausages, a little jar of chutney, a couple of slices of bread and some chips. It was enough for two, as long as you're not ravenous. Sandwiches were around £5 - £6, and main courses around £9 - £11. I also spotted some Scotch eggs on the bar counter, for £4 a throw, served hot apparently. The standard was OK. None of this is particularly cheap, but is the going rate for the area. The pub itself has the typical refurbished look of a Young's pub. There are those horrible tall benches in the back room, but the furnishings and decor in the main bar are quite tastefull. It is worth having a read of the framed history of he pub. This pub falls in the OK category as far as I'm concerned. It is a perfectly comfortable pub; you can get some reasonable ale and reasonable food. It's a reasonable stopping off point if you're visiting the Tate just down the road.

The pub is said to have been constructed for the wardens of Millbank Prison in 1845 and it is alleged that it is haunted by a former prisoner who attempted to escape via a tunnel beneath the premises. The downstairs area is effectively one room, but the bit at the back feels separated due to the layout. The bar is at the front, it has some attractive detailing, particularly to the front of the counter with wood carving and a lower profiled kick plate in metal. Some of the windows retain decent etched glass in ornate frames. Decor includes various musings and quotations on the walls and a few framed prints, the rear area has a map of the Thames and a few coal braziers on a shelf, this area is lit by a large curved feature rooflight. Upstairs is The Spying Room, the MI6 headquarters are opposite. The stairs to this room have pictures and information about "The Cambridge Five", Philby, Blunt, Burgess et al as well as some nice coloured prints of the building plans. The advertised river views from this room are not really all that great but it allows for some overflow seating at busy periods. There is also pavement and terrace seating to the frontage and side. Youngs beers, Ordinary Bitter, Special, London Gold, Bombardier and guest Oxfordshire Ales Marshmellow (£3.80) were on offer. Food served but I didn't check the menus. A few high tables along the edges but most ground floor seating was at reclaimed old dining tables with regular chairs. I've always quite liked it in here, it feels like a proper pub with real history, nice to drop by after a while. Close to the original Tate Gallery.

A traditional, street corner pub alongside the Thames path. It's a slightly unusual in that it's something of a wedge shape rather than completely square owing to the geography of the roads that it is on. It's a two room pub with the main bar being at the front and a smaller room behind. Apparently the pub's cellars form part of an old tunnel network that was used to transport convicts on to Thames barges prior to deportation to Australia. The décor is a rather sombre shade of burgundy paint-work, although with somewhat lighter ceilings where there are two very large, candelabra type light fittings. There is brown carpet at the front with old wooden flooring at the rear. The wood panelled bar counter is unusual in having a curved brass plate running around the bottom. Whether this is decorative, or to prevent it from getting kicked, I'm not sure. A few locals pictures hung on the walls and there was a pile of board games on a shelf. Staff were friendly and helpful. The rear room was smaller and had a few high tables with some red, velvet covered bench seating and a small domed window in the ceiling. The food menu was a decent “pub grub” offering, with a good choice of mains including some with smaller portion sizes available at lunch time, jackets, sandwiches and a few tapas style dishes. Most of the mains were around the £8 - £10 mark, and we enjoyed the dishes that we had. Young's dominated the beer line-up, with their Bitter, Special, London Gold and Bombardier. The guest on this occasion was Rucking Mole. The solitary cider was Strongbow, unfortunately. Prices seemed a little step at £8.45 for two pints.