The Oak & Poppy, Hampstead, NW3

I first visited this pub in 1984 and it featured an interesting bar back with clock; most of the then clients were quite old enough to have been drawn from my grandparents' generation. Sometime later this became the Bar Room Bar, a lounge bar serving esoteric coffees and wood-fired pizza. Today (and reverted to the Rosslyn Arms) this sterile pseudo-pub is the purview of the under-25s and I rather wish I could turn back the clock to 1984; this pub has nothing going for it.

After a spell as a Bar Room Bar this pub has changed its name back to the Rosslyn Arms, but the very tasty wood fired pizzas are still available and a two for one deal is currently running all day on Mondays and Tuesdays. There are no hand pumps for real ale to be found on the small island bar of this high ceilinged single room pub and the draught selection is pretty limited with Red Stripe, Kronenburg, Fosters, Sagres, Guinness and Courage Best Smooth being the only options. This pub has always attracted the more bohemian and affluent of the area and with the Guinness rocking in at £3.75 a pint I’m not surprised. This isn’t the biggest pub, but along with the tables the encircle the bar there are some more in the corridor that leads past the kitchen serving hatch to an enclosed garden out the back that has some more seating. There is a plasma up on the wall in the bar area, but there is no Sky Sports here – although it would be a good location to watch the world cup as the screen can be seen from the whole pub and even in off the street if it’s a nice day. This is a great pub to spend an afternoon on a hot summers day as it is bright and airy and people spill out onto the path outside giving a lively and enjoyable atmosphere, but I wouldn’t plan to spend an evening here as I’m a fan of the more traditional pub.