The Bayswater Arms, W2

Greene King branding on the menus but still the old Taylor Walker carpet at the entrance. 4 real ales and food served. Pretty formulaic stuff.

Greene King's acquisition of the Taylor Walker brand hasn't improved matters; if anything they are worse, despite what is optimistically termed a beer festival we were treated to GK IPA. London Glory, Abbott, their execrable Purple Reign and just one imposter in the form of Broadside. I was reduced to Wifebeater, though the beers were actually in very good shape for what they were. The one saving grace is the 10% Camra discount on the real ales, though you need good negotiating skills and a fair reserve of emotional energy to get the two overstretched bar staff to apply it. Despite the wide range of eating places in Queensway it's popular with tourists looking for fish and chips and the Famous (sic) Big Ben Burgers. Don't ask me why.

Having walked past this pub many times in the past, I paid my first visit inside on Monday afternoon. I soon realised that I hadn't been missing anything. It's a very ordinary Taylor Walker pub, furnished with more than its fair share of tall tables/tall stools, plus some normal tables and chairs with small round stools. These TW pubs are all much of a muchness - dark wood everywhere, faux chalkboards a la Spirit, and glossy pubco menus. Anyway, the ales on were Rockin' Rudolph, Bombardier, London Pride, and Westerham 1730 (£2.23 a half!). My guess is that the Westerham 1730 was brewed- or more probably just re-badged - for the TW brand, as the menus had printed on them "Great British Pub Food", and under that "since 1730". That's a bit rich I would say, as although the original Taylor Walker may have started brewing in 1730, this Punch generated iteration of the name certainly hasn't been around that long and claiming such an ancient brewing heritage is only very tenuous if I'm being generous. I reckon this pub benefits from right by the entrance to Bayswater Station. In fact it has all the attributes of a station pub, apparently meeting the needs of its transient clentele.

Bayswater Arms page at the Taylor Walker site - www.taylor-walker.co.uk

Bayswater Arms page at the Taylor Walker site - www.taylor-walker.co.uk