Craft Beer Co, WC1

This latest venture from the Craft Beer Co team - a bold foray into the West End - may well be their finest so far. It certainly has the 'Wow' factor when you enter, enhanced by the way the servery, with its prominent handpulls and keg fonts, dominates a fairly small, compact ground floor room. I counted fifteen handpulls and a remarkable thirty keg taps, offering the usual range of small batch, hard to find, craft beers and ciders. The cask range was, for some unknown reason, dominated by Oakham and Summer Wine brews, which occupied all but two pumps with a Siren Craft beer and their own house ale the other options. This gave me a chance to sample one of my all time favourite beers, Summer Wine Diablo IPA, which came in at £4.30 and was in near perfect condition, as I've come to expect from this chain. A slightly more restrained bottle menu was listed on a clipboard at the bar and didn't seem to have as many of the extremely expensive bottles which characterise the other outlets. Food is also available from Forty Burgers. The main bar is a narrow room with big windows on one side, under which a drinking ledge and high stools provide good people watching opportunities, whilst the servery is on the opposite wall. A couple of high tables and stools have been squeezed in at the front and rear of the room, but that is the extent of the seating options here, so unsurprisingly, it fills up pretty quickly. There's not too much visual distraction - some garish orange walls, old brewery mirrors and a white tile bar back being as visually stimulating as it gets, but that's to kind of miss the point of this place. A narrow staircase leads down to a dark lounge with three rows of standard and low stool seating filling the space, including in some recesses on the left hand wall. The colour scheme is a lot darker down here, creating a cosy feel and more brewery mirrors are on display. A very informal outdoor drinking area had been roped off on the Endell Street pavement. The staff were the usual friendly and knowledgeable bunch, happily taking time to talk people through various options from what is frankly a daunting range to the uninitiated. I really liked this place and can see myself using it regularly. It might well prove to be too small to cope with the inevitable demand and therefore become crowded at peak times, but this is a price worth paying for seeing this exciting company expand into an area dominated by the big chains.

Similar setup to the other Craft Beer outlets with 15 outstanding ales to choose from and no less than 30 kegs. Excellent burger and chips helped to sustain us whilst finishing off our bank holiday Monday in London town. Decent toilets but down a steep flight of stairs off the downstairs lounge. Nice and quiet at about 12:30, picking up by 14:00. Well worth a visit when down the smoke.

After all the song and dance, I was expecting something a little bigger for the latest Craft Beer outlet. As noted, there's just a long narrow room, with some space outside (which is clearly going to lose its appeal come winter); downstairs, there's a lounge area, containing a dozen or so tables, although many were sporting 'Reserved' notices on my mid-week visit. I hope they've got good air-con down here, as it's going to be needed it when it gets busy. Obviously, though, it's the bar counter itself that's our main focus and, with 15 pumps and 30 taps, it needs a lot of attention. Standards were as high as one would expect, and the pricing policy will be familiar to anyone who's checked out the other pubs in the group. It's a must-visit for lovers of interesting beer although, for me, a 'probably best avoid on a Friday evening' due to the lack of space inside.

Superb conversion with quality fittings.Long narrow ground floor bar and basement area with seating.Original beer signs inc superb Lloyds and Yorath Stout sign. Amazing range of beers with 15 cask and 30 keg.Tried loads inc Atom -Fyne Roosters and Siren all in good condition.No outside seating but they have a roped off area.Shame as this could have been a ten.Best avoid at busy times as it will get rammed as its quite a small pub.