Stanhope Arms, SW7

I last came here in the late 1980s and recall a Victorian bedpan fixed to a wall. A return visit the other night, due to the place being on CAMRA's list of heritage interiors, being of Some Regional Interest. It's a Greene King central London pub, so naturally there's an A-board outside advertising fish 'n' chips to the inevitable tourists. The heritage elements relate to the bar back, etched console brackets and some cut glass panels. Otherwise it has a modern herringbone floor with a black and white tiled bar apron. Walls are part wainscoting dark smoky blue with some field panelling up to a white ceiling with egg and dart cornice. Illumination comes from fake brass and cut glass Victoriana. Furniture is conventional split roughly 50/50 between high and low. The pub is big on TVs which no one was watching and quite loud music; a games machine flashed in the corner and graffiti is rife in the loo. Ales: one unclipped pump, Landlord, Abbot, GK IPA and Truman's Zephyr at an unsurprising £2.60 a half and good. This is by no means a great pub and though no masterpiece, the Hereford Arms next door is a better bet and a lot cheaper too.

Official site of Stanhope Arms - www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk

Official site of Stanhope Arms - www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk

Solid and bustling pub opposite Gloucester Road tube station, popular with tourists for food. Reasonable range of beers for Greene King, with Landlord and Sambrook's Pale alongside Abbot, IPA and London's Glory. A quick pit stop rather than somewhere you would linger.