The Salusbury, Queens Park, NW6

As described below the pub splits in 2 with the bar at the rear. 1 real ale.

I would have to say below average pub. Thought this would be a decent venue (GK ownership aside) but it was quite poor. The pub is well described below in terms of its layout - the right hand side or drinking wing was well occupied by mostly gents that looked like they knew how to scout out a decent pub but they, like me, must have been left feeling very underwhelmed. The pub certainly packs in the tables but I wonder how often they are fully needed. There were three hand pulls, one had a turned round clip for GK IPA - FFS how can a GK pub not manage a single cask offering. Left with nothing other than keg and so I maintained my Guinness summer odyssey. No surprise they had a Salusbury lager - why is it every venue I frequent that has a beer named after itself is below average? Peroni, Stella, Camden Hells and Estrella Galicia provide the lager choices, - Camden Pale, Something called East Coast IPA and Aspall cider are the remaining choices. This completes my NW6 venues on Pag and what a damp squib to go out on. Had my hopes this would be an interesting venue but interesting only to those who really appreciate crap beer choices.

Greene King pub in Queen's Park with a fairly modern-looking interior. It was quite busy and we were shown to a table and invited to download an app, which we politely declined. Greene King IPA is the regular cask ale. A guest was Morland Old Speckled Hen. Pizzas appeared to be popular. Average pub.

This looks like a modern shop conversion, but on the plus side they did have a few ales on – Sadler’s Brewery One Stop Hop (in conjunction with Greene King), a GK trio of IPA, Abbot and Carnival, plus Moncada Blonde which obviously I reckoned to be the best bet. Food seemed to be available from a single sheet menu. Small plates, such as grilled quail, potato salad, or Dorset crab, quail eggs, watercress are £7.25, with main courses well over a tenner. The beer battered cod, chips & mushy peas weighs in at £12.95. Not cheap. The pub itself is essentially split into two rooms side by side, with the bar counter on the back wall serving them both. Furnishings are mainly hard wooden tables and chairs, with a lot of black plastic upholstered banquette seating as well as an armchair or two. There’s also a few tall stools at a ledge at the back near the bar where hundreds of paperback books are crammed onto shelves, looking more like an arty decorative feature than a library service. There are loads of fairly large prints on the walls, several being artworks extolling the musical virtues of Gladdy Wax (means nothing to me obviously). The music playing had a reggae beat, so possibly there’s a Caribbean influence here. This place doesn’t really have enough traditional pub character for my taste, but although I’m not a great fan of GK ales it did have one ale from a London microbrewery. It’s OK for a shop conversion.

The Salusbury is a smart upmarket pub that is close to the shops on the busy salusbury road. The pub has two entrances on either side of its frontage,the right side takes you into the dining area,the left door to the drinking area,these area are fairly narrow and oblong in shape,a wall divides the two,the bar is at the far end where the two seperate rooms open out into one. The right side has tables laid out and some bench seating,the left side for drinkers has mainly normal tables and chiars,there is an open kitchen behind the bar to the right. There were five real ales on the bar,i had a drink of GK Ale Fresco which was quite a nice drink,the other beers were GK IPA /Abbot,St Austell Tribute and Portobello Market Porter. There was some decent background music playing,the pub was fairly busy with both drinkers and diners. This is quite a pleasant pub to have a drink in. Pub visited 1/5/2014