The Dartmouth Arms, Dartmouth Park, NW5

The Dartmouth Arms is a a corner pub that is situated on one of those streets i like with a few shops on it. Once inside there is an oblong shaped room which runs to the rear,the bar is on the mid right side,the floor is part carpeted and bare boarded,there is comfy bench seating around the edge of the room with tables and small stools. There were three real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Ilkley Mary Jane,which went down well,the other real ales were Dark Star Sunburst and one more i failed to read my noted of. Sadly the pub was empty on my Friday afternoon visit. I though this was a decent pub on a nice street. I am so pleased that i enjoy visiting pubs unlike some other reviewers on this site. Pub visited 2/6/2017

The signboards outside promise much, "real pub, real ale", "London's best selection of cider" etc. Unfortunately the promises are fairly empty as once inside across two banks of chrome handpumps only Adnams Bitter and Young's Special (£3.60) were on offer, I didn't see any real ciders. There is an unusual copper topped island bar split between the rear dining room with its large roof lantern and the more drinker friendly front room. Old scuffed boarded floor, lower panelled walls painted brown with swirly wallpaper above. Behind the bar there is a large Bass mirror while another mirror has an antelope skull above. Shelves contain a selection of books and board games with an ancient radiogram on top, newspapers in a rack, standard issue seating with a single orchid in a small vase on each table. There are at least three fireplaces, a bucket of torn newspaper and kindling suggests they get some use in the colder months. Meals and bar snacks are served, there were a couple dining in the restaurant on Saturday afternoon but I didn't check out the menu. What stood out during my visit however was the utterly shambolic service, caused due to the unfortunate punter ahead of me ordering a Pimms. Not only did the clueless barmaid not know what a Pimms was, or how to mix one, but she couldn't manage the till either, resulting in the landlord getting involved and taking an age. The resulting kerfuffle meant that I waited well over 5 minutes to be served despite there being no one else waiting. It could've been worse, the bloke got his Pimms just as I was draining the last drops of my pint, his patience was remarkable.