Buckingham Arms, SW1

I remember this famous London pub about thirty years ago and I don't think a lot has changed, some of the furniture looks to be original deco from a previous make over and I remember leaning on the drinking shelf on many previous occasions. The beers are Wells and Youngs plus guests, well kept of course as the pub has been in every GBG including the 2012 edition. The service was fine considering the location and how busy the pub can be.

Popped in on a Friday night and enjoyed my visit. Winter Warmer was on good form and got a bit of banter from the barman. The interior seems a little plain, compared to what I was expecting – I have subsequently heard that this place was fiddled with by the refurb brigade from Youngs so that might explain things. Anyway, apparently this has been in ever edition of the Good Beer Guide. Worth a stop.

Youngs have done a pretty decent job of retaining the original Victorian features to this place, I particularly liked the plush chairs near the door and the fine curved bar. Beer wise it is standard for Youngs', and my pint of Special was acceptable. We were doing a pub crawl so didn't stay long, but its worth a return visit, and I'm sure as with most Youngs pubs the food is decent too.

This pub is famed for having appeared in every single edition of the Good Beer Guide and so it seemed as good a place as any to check out on a recent Westminster to Victoria pub crawl. The pub has a lovely Victorian interior, which, despite having clearly been altered over the years, still retains a number of interesting features. There are a number of bar stools along a ledge at the front of the main room which creates a lot of open space for standing, with a larger selection of seating options to the rear. The bar has some pretty impressive etched mirrors behind it and extra light is provided by the handy skylight which helps to brighten the rear of the pub. There is also an unusual corridor of seating behind the bar, with lots of high tables and stools lined up along the wall. As you would expect from a GBG regular, there was some well kept ale on offer, namely Young's Ordinary and Special, Sambrook's Wandle (£3.20), Butcombe Bitter and Wells Bombardier. A comprehensive bottled selection of Young's beers was highly visible as well. I had a very good pint of the Wandle served efficiently by the not particularly welcoming barmaid. A nice environment for a drink and nice to see a Young's pub with some guest ales. I certainly wouldn't hesitate to return if I'm in the area again.

Randomness Guide to London - Buckingham Arms entry

Randomness Guide to London - Buckingham Arms entry

A modern interior, with high stools and benches, bare board floor with a lrge rug in the centre. Cream walls with various quotes about London written on. Its neat, cosmopolitan & I really liked it and a great complimentary contrast to the nearby Colonies and Cask & Glass. High ceiling its modern but comfortable. Hooky Bitter was well kept, and there were another couple of real ales as well. I can see why its in the Good Beer Guide.

I didn't think this place to be anything special and some of the other punters left a lot to be desired. It's a large pub and the staff were nice enough, but the Ordinary and Deuchars were off leaving only Bombardier. Standard and premium lagers were also available, but I think I'll walk past next time.

Originally called the Black Horse, the pub was renamed when the current building was built in 1901. Today the pub is a Youngs house and noted for being one of the few pubs that has featured in every edition of the Good Beer Guide since its inception. The interior has recently been refurbished and, in my books (and many others looking at the previous posters), the pub has definitely lost some its previous character. The carpets have been ripped up and replaced with a shiny new bare wooden floor, the walls painted a plain cream with numerous quotes from the likes of Oscar Wilde & Samuel Johnson (nothing original in this) and pictures / photos of local London landmarks. At the rear the tables seem to have grown an extra 18 inches in height and attracted some high padded benches to go alongside them. Much of the old pots, pans, tankards, jugs and urns have disappeared which would no doubt please the cleaner. The basic TV has been upgraded to a fancy new flat screen although this isn't really a TV kind of place. On the plus side, the piped music was pretty sedate on my recent visits and certainly not loud or intrusive. The spacious open bar remains with its wonderful patterned mirror back and the ornate seating in the latticed bay windows are almost stately homish. Most importantly, the beers (Ordinary, Special and Bombardier) are still fine although a bit limited in choice and they seem to have taken an inflation busting leap in price along with the food. The ambience has always been very civilized (despite it being the haunt of many politicians) but the place has been virtually empty on my 2 recent lunchtime visits. The most interesting feature is at least untouched - the hidden corridor that runs behind the bar where some of the more secretive drinkers have shied away from prying eyes over the years. Despite its obvious partial demise, to call it ruined is perhaps going a little too far and I would still recommend it as one of the better pubs in the area, especially if you didn't know it pre-refurb.