The Beer House, Charing Cross, WC2

Tucked away in a dark corner of the Charring Cross station concourse, close to the steps down to Villiers Street, this is a small single room station pub that was given a token 'craft beer' leaning makeover around five or so years ago. This pretence is evident from the windows full of bottled beer displays and to be fair, it is the bottled range that is perhaps the main draw here, focusing around some of the country's better known craft brands plus a few Belgian and continental options. Keg beers included mainstream lager and cider products plus obscurer offerings from the likes of Harviestoun and Affligem but there are also cask ales here, with four handpulls on this occasion serving up Greene King Abbott Ale and IPA Gold, Morland Old Speckled Hen and Fullers London Pride. The Hen set me back £4.50, which is by no means cheap, but was still 40p cheaper than I paid for a weaker beer in Covent Garden earlier that same evening. The beer was in adequate shape but really at that sort of price you want your pint to be top quality - something I suspect this venue doesn't really aspire to. The pub itself is a rather corporate feeling affair with a narrow entrance passage with high stools along ledges down either side leading you into a small bar area with the servery on the back wall. The room has dark tongue and groove panelling with white painted uppers and a single bare brick wall to the right, with decor consisting mainly of blackboards promoting various offers and the like. A couple of small cabinets full of beer bottles continue the theme started in the front windows and there was a large Guinness rugby flag on the front wall. The bar itself has a rather dull tongue and groove counter and faux brick bar back with some pork pies stacked up on the end of the counter seeming to be the main food option that evening. TV's to either side of the room were showing a muted news channel whilst irritating R&B music played to cover up the fact that no-one was willing to strike up conversation in here. A departures board was also displayed to the right of the bar, which is no doubt useful for timing your last pint to perfection. The pub doesn't have any toilets, so you need to ask at the bar for a token which can be used to save you from having to pay the 30p fee for the station facilities. Judging by some of the reviews of the pub's former incarnation, this is a massive improvement on what went before, but that's obviously an improvement from a very low starting point and doesn't really mask the fact that this is an uninspired run-of-the-mill station bar of the sort that has been eclipsed by far superior bars in stations such as Kings Cross, Paddington and Euston. I might consider using this place again for a swift drink before catching a train, but with more time on your hands you can do much better just a short walk away.

Official site of The Beer House at Charing Cross - thebeerhouseuk.com

Official site of The Beer House at Charing Cross - thebeerhouseuk.com

A single-room station bar on the Charing Cross concourse, it has a wooden floor and a few handy tables. WiFi is provided by The Cloud. There were 3 ales on handpump, Pride, Speckled Hen and GKIPA, plus a selection of pressurised beers including 2 from Meantime, Schiehallion and some foreign lagers. The only hot food is chicken wings (really, what is the point?), while the cold option was stale pork pie and rancid mustard served on a piece of old driftwood. Expensive, but worth a quick pint while waiting for a train.