The Dolphin Tavern, Holborn, WC1

This is a very small flat-iron shaped corner pub. It has some of the dirtiest seating that I have ever seen – it would take the George, in d’Arblay St to beat it, unless that pub has had a refurb since last time I was there. Had some real ale on (Adnam’s I think), but nothing out of the ordinary as I recall. I particularly liked the interestingly large windows, split into lots of smaller panes. I actually quite liked this pub in spite of its shortcomings.

I wasn't that taken with this small pub as I walked in, but my greeting from the barman was very friendly and my Guinness was very good. The drinks selection of Adnams, Broadside, Amstel, Fosters, Heineken and Aspalls along with the Guinness isn't the most diverse, but the size of the bar dictates and there was another hand pump which was off during my visit. There was some very low back music playing and the plasma screen was off when a football match was on so I gather that there is no Sky Sports. There is a ledge running down the outside of the pub on the wide path side so it is possible to escape outside when the pub is busy, but I wouldn't want to be in here when 40+ people are present on a cold evening. This place is certainly not a destination pub, but I would have no problem with popping back in again if passing.