Rose & Crown, SW1

There were two handpumps on the bar – one had a Spitfire clip reversed, and the other was dispensing Bombardier. The Bombardier was at the reasonably average price of £3.10 a pint, and tasted fine. This is an oddly shaped “L” shaped pub, presumably as a result of having two or more rooms knocked into one, with the bar (unusually with no gantry) opposite the point of the L. It’s reasonably comfortable inside – carpeted throughout, with a couple of banquettes at the back, and the remainder of the furnishings being normal tables and chairs. As you enter through the door in Lower Sloane St you see on the right the glass fronted cabinet at the end of the bar that would have been the food servery in a previous incarnation, but now is home to bottles of wine and soft drinks. There was a TV on showing a sports channel; a pool table; and a juke box. Some dark wood panelling looks to be the result of inter-war pub refitting, and some walls above the dado rail level are painted magenta. This doesn’t sound too good, but nonetheless looks quite attractive and is a good background to some black and white photographs of Hollywood greats such as Cary Grant, Burt Lancaster and Katherine Hepburn. This struck me as a straightforward honest, unpretentious pub, of the sort that I would not have expected to find quite so near to Sloane Square. I would be very happy to drop in for another pint.