The Ladbroke Arms, W11

A smart looking little pub but as expected very much food led, cask beers were Timothy Taylor Landlord, Portobello Star and a House beer called Bloom. The pub itself is ok but the nature of its business wouldn't lend itself for a prolonged stay, unless of course eating.

A smart and pleasant pub in the backstreets, with some friendly staff. There is one main room across the front, with a small restaurant area up a few steps and a canopied patio area out the front. Generally it has an open, modern feel although there are a few nice traditional touches including a splendid mirror. Just TT Landlord and the Greene King house beer on at time of visit, but some other ales were promised from the likes of Portobello.

Official site of The Ladbroke Arms - www.ladbrokearms.com

Official site of The Ladbroke Arms - www.ladbrokearms.com

They had four ales on when I dropped in here Tuesday lunchtime - GK IPA, Truman's Runner, Sambrook's Wandle, and Portobello Autumn Red (£3.95 a pint). It's not a sensational selection, but OK nonetheless. Food was obviously available as just about everybody else was eating, but I didn't see a menu. But it's a gastropub, so I wouldn't expect to see much pub grub on it. It seems that table service is available in the bar area at the front, where I was sitting. A room at the left beyond the bar counter had all tables laid for diners, but although most of the tables back there were unoccupied most of the diners prefered to eat in the bar area. But I found somewhere to sit at a large table in the centre of the bar. There are some more seats apparently for drinkers at the back past the dining area, so this pub is quite a bit larger than it looks from the front. There's a bit of outside seating at the front. There are only normal tables and chairs in here; no fruit machines or others of their ilk; and I didn't see any TVs. It's not that sort of place. But of course they did have some typical gastro features, such as the large vase of lilies on the counter, large jars of nuts and olives, and one of those demi-john like water dispenser thingies on the counter. There's mainly arty decor on the walls, although I did see a fairly nice large mirror, including an ancient and much damaged framed advert for something called Pap'anis, which I guess must be (or have been) a foreign drink - French probably. This is an old Victorian backstreet pub. In fact on one wall is an old black and white photograph of the pub, probably from the 19th Century. There's not much of heritage value left now, but I did see some stained glass panels at the tops of the windows, and there was a bit of a frieze featuring bas-relief heads. It's still obviously dog friendly as there was a veritable pack of the things in there when I visited, but to be fair to the owners, when one of them decided on a bout of "yipping" it was soon banished to the car. This pub is OK for a swift, but probably not somewhere you'd want to spend a great deal of time unless you're eating.

This is a lovely backstreet pub.quite small inside but outside seating front to the front.Last visited 35 years ago.Three London beers on handpump Sambrookes-wandle,Portobello -monster mash and my Trumans-bold as brass which was good.Friendly staff and warm interior. A gem.

Located on a side street about half way between Holland Park and Notting Hill Gate tube stations, the pub is hard to spot from a distance as it is set back some distance from the road behind a pleasant patio beer garden. The interior is typical gastro-pub, with a smallish bar in the front and dining areas in several opened-out rooms behind. Busy, but the staff were working well. Four handpumps, offering Doom Bar, Wandle, Dark Star Partridge and Adnams Regatta (fine, but pricy at £3.80). Overall, worth a look if you are in the area.