Munich Cricket Club, Westminster, SW1

The Old Monk is built into the basement of a dull and quite boring, modern office block and is quite easy to walk past in favour of the more alluring and traditional style Strutton Arms next door. The rather mundane entrance leads downstairs to the spacious if somewhat dim and gloomy bar with its contrived décor and expanses of stripped back brickwork. The ceilings are a tangle of exposed pipes and air conditioning units and there are raised areas to the one side and at the rear. The main bar area has bare floors and plenty of tables so you can usually grab a seat unless it is exceptionally busy. The most interesting part of the pub is at the rear with its 6 carpeted arched snugs that are quite cosy for small groups. Note the small skylights where the pub extends underneath the pavement above. This provides the only natural light as well as the weird experience of watching people walk overhead. There are 4 hand pumps but the ale selection has improved since my initial visits and they do have occasional festivals. Food looks nicely presented but a bit pricey. The place can feel a bit hollow and cavernous when not busy when the piped music tends to echo around the walls. A single central plasma screen is usually supplemented by a few makeshift TVs during major sporting events. On a hot day (remember them?), the Monk is one of the coolest places to escape the heat but overall, it's really a pub geared up for the local office workers rather than anything to go out of the way for.

A surprisingly large subterranean pub,and fairly busy in the afternoon. Nice cheery welcome from the young girl behind the bar who also knew how to pour beer properly and to the top of the glass,so top marks for that. Lots of exposed brickwork and wooden floors, large floor area with a choice of seating, but I reckon can be cleared if needed for functions, but there is a raised area similar to a terrace with a number of arches over, wine types announced over. A laid back bluesy jazz type soundtrack and Sky Sports News on muted, but a bit echoeing due to the hard furnishing. Beers on, were Bath Ales Barnstormer, Twickenham Strong and Dark, plus GK IPA and Abbot, plus a couple of handpulled ciders. Ticked a few boxes for me and a new discovery too,

This is a large basement bar that had Twickenham Ales Grandstand, Barnstormer, Greene King IPA and Abbot available during my visit last week. There was also a selection of premium and standard lagers available from staff that I found to be pleasant enough. I spotted a plasma screen and the six nation’s rugby was being heavily advertised, although I spotted no sign of any Sky Sports advertisement. I got the feeling that most of the other customers were local office workers that had crossed the road to drink/eat here and there was no atmosphere to speak of so I wouldn’t make a special trip to return.

Visited the pub earlier in the week. Good atmosphere, excellent and very friendly staff. Good food too and excellent choice of beers. I would recommend highly.