The Feathers, SW1

A fine Nicholsons house,it has some great features .It's a large pub and to the front there is a staircase to a first flooring dining room with a balcony overlooking the front of the pub and the stained glass window extending below and above.There are three banquettes on the left side of the ground floor,a few high tables then a raised rear section,roped off and reserved on my visit.Lot of wood panelling and ornate features as you expect from this chain.The L shaped bar has all the handpumps to the front,8 in total offering on my trip Doom Bar and Doom Bar Extra Chilled (WTF?),London Pride,Mondo Jenny Jenny Gold,Wainwright,St Austell Proper Job and Nicholsons Pale and Fyne Jarl (NBSS 3.5,a fine brew when crawling).There are 5 craft keg taps and a bottle menu so drinkers are well catered for. This would be my pub of choice in the immediate area,where there are far too many Greene King pubs for the likes of the discerning drinker.

This is a fairly grand Nicholsons pub opposite St James’ tube station. You enter directly into the main bar area, with a smart servery positioned over to the right. The bar has a nice curved counter with a panelled front and copper top, mirrored pillar and a tidy bar back. The surrounding area is bare boarded and three large, wood clad pillars with plain mirrors on the run through the centre of the room from front to back, creating a clear distinction from the bar area to the right and the seating section to the left. The seating in question is a mix of high stools, tables and chairs and some limited banquette booths along the end wall. Everything here has been painted in quite warm shades or else uses dark wood to convey a nice, homely feel, with the odd bit of feature wallpaper breaking things up nicely and elaborately framed plain mirrors adding a sense of depth to the room. Potted plants add a splash of colour and decorative friezes run around the room beneath the ceiling, with the whole scene only really let down by a number of corporate-style blackboards which detract from an otherwise quite pleasant space. The room runs a good way to the rear, eventually reaching a raised seating area with plenty of regular tables and chairs ideal for diners to utilise. This space is partly obscured from the rest of the pub by one final, huge pillar and has carpeted floor, more potted plants and plain mirrors plus a TV screen that was turned off on this visit. The space seemed to be occupied by a private function, so perhaps it is possible to hire the area. With this being a Nicholson’s pub, a varied ale range is all but guaranteed, and as such, options on this visit comprised Sharps Doom Bar, Nicholson’s Pale Ale, St Austell Proper Cracker, LBC Never Mind the Kent Hops, Black Sheep Holy Grail, Oakham Citra and Adnams Broadside. With this being my first pint of 2019, I opted for an old favourite and ordered a pint of the Citra, which was perhaps suffering slightly from a lack of post-New Years throughput, but was nevertheless still good enough to slip down nicely. There’s no obvious ‘stand-out’ pub around St James’, so it’s always good to have a few options in mind should you find yourself in the area. For me, this is a pretty solid effort that promises comfortable seating, decent service and a few interesting ales, making it a good place to know about when passing through the neighbourhood.

Having a refurb at the moment. Now it's a wait and see.