The Mad Bishop & Bear, Paddington, W2

Despite passing through Paddington station quite regularly, it's been several years since I was last in the Mad Bishop & Bear. The pub can be found on the upper level of the retail/dining area just off the main station concourse. Run by Fuller's, it is quite spacious with seating spilling out from the pub premises into a communal area of the station. Inside, there is a raised area for dining, which was closed on our Saturday morning visit. Open from 8am, alcohol is only sold with meals until 10am when it becomes freely available. Train departure information boards are available to ensure you don't miss your chain. Regular cask ales are Fuller's London Pride, ESB & Oliver's Island & Gale's HSB. In addition, they also had Fuller's Spring Sprinter, Dark Star American Pale Ale & Sambrook's Victory. Craft beers included Siren Lumina & Tiny Rebel Rebel IPA. A 15% CAMRA discount is offered, but prices are still steep. As David has said below, this is a much better option than the Beer House if you find yourself in Paddington station, but I would still much rather walk the extra couple of minutes to the Bear for a much wider range of beers and a much more pubby environment.

Originally visited on 17/04/2018 but writing review based on another return today! Not much to note beyond the below, but i do like this as a station pub and there are definitely worse places to wait in Paddington station for wife on a very delayed train into the station! Totally agree with comment about the Beer House at concourse level - why would you wait there rather than here! Usual array of beers on hand pump here as below (Pride, ESB, HSB, Hophead, Oliver's etc) and spotted also had a red ale from Siren and a cider on hand pump.

A fairly decent station pub nicely furnished and understandably quite busy given it's location. six cask ales were available across ten pump handles, London Pride, London Porter. Olivers Island, ESB, HSB and Dark Star Hophead, there was one Cider on handpump, Harrys Haymaker. Again an expensive location but luckily the 15% discount on all ales is advertised at the handpumps. Not a place I'd linger in too long but handy for a quick one upon arrival or departure.

The Mad Bishop and Bear is a Fuller’s pub up above the concourse at Paddington Station. Escalators lead up to seating outside the front of the entrance. The noise from the escalators is akin to that of tinnitus. Inside, the bar counter runs along the back wall facing split level seating. The dim lighting allows one to forget they are in a railway station. The aforementioned bar counter supports two banks of five handpumps which were drawing the full Fullers range alongside Dark Star’s Hophead and Rhubarb Rising. Standard and premium keg was also available. I found the service to be polite and during a recent late Friday afternoon visit I found this pub to be hands down better than the beer less Beer House on the concourse.

As described by others, below, this is a better than average station bar with a good choice of ales albeit I’m not a fan of Fuller’s.  London Pride and Oliver’s Island from Fuller’s, plus Dark Star from Hophead in very good condition.  There was a dry pump with another Hophead clip on, plus one ‘coming soon’ clip.  The usual corporate food is available, but it’s fair enough given that it’s a station bar not a country pub.  Beer was expensive though, at £5.45 a pint, but I guess that’s what you pay in London.  It’s a good place to catch up with people after work or for a pitstop when travelling through.