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New pub visits 2025 with Pangolin
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Image posted by David Walton
Submitted on Tuesday, 6th May 2025
With picture contributions to 1227 other pubs
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Detail Pages
The Black Lion, West Hampstead, NW6
NW6
NW6 1RD
The Black Lion, West Hampstead
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Reviews of The Black Lion (Average Rating: 4½ of 10) see review guidelines
David Walton left this review about The Black Lion
Visited 06/05/25. Visited previously 18/03/24.
No cask. Keg offering of Guinness, Crush from Drop Project, Neck Oil, Panama Creatures from Hammerton, Yes and Sun Shine from the Goodness Brewing Company, Estrella Galicia and the AF version, Campfire from Two Tribes, Jubel Peach lager, Hofmeister Helles, Asahi, London Pilsner from Portobello and the Devon Red from Sandford Orchards.
Pretty smart pub on West End Lane but not to be confused from its rather grander Kilburn namesake. This one has a seating area out the front with picnic benches and which was surprisingly busy on quite a chilly evening. Inside it is bare boarded around the sides with a zebra crossing style tiled area from the entrance to the rear right hand corner. The bar counter is on the left-hand wall just inside the entrance and it has a very attractive tiled front with a slatted wood curved end by the entrance. To the right of the entrance at the front with an illuminated wall shielding it off from the entrance is a seating area with tall tables and tall leather backed stools and a ledge down the right-hand wall with unbacked stools before a slightly raised stage area opposite mid bar counter. There is an interesting, shaped skylight above the stage and an old-style cinema illuminated board behind the stage listing upcoming events. The glass front of this side can be opened to bring the outside seating area metaphorically closer to the inside. There are some booth tables with leather seats down the middle of the venue and along the rear right-hand wall either side of the tiled zebra crossing flooring. There is quite a large, decked beer garden on a couple of levels at the back of the venue. Quite a glitzy venue, summed up by the illuminated stairs to the first-floor toilets, but the lack of cask beer scores it down for me. There may be two Black Lions in NW6 but only one cuts the mustard for me.
On 19th July 2025
- rating: 5
[User has posted 777 recommendations about 774 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about The Black Lion
A large elongated boarded room with the bar in an internal corner effectively forming a bit of an L shape. Lots of exposed brickwork, a modern oval rooflight and lots of B&W photos of stuff on a ceiling beam, wall mounted angle-poise lamps. A chequered tiled area around the bar, seating is mixed with some booth styled areas to one side with button backed benches. A garden is to the rear although I didn't look, to be honest I couldn't be bothered. The pub is as bland and ordinary as it gets, the photos are just a pub by numbers item, one unusual point was the selection of games, including here possibly uniquely Subbutteo. Bet there's been some disagreements over that after a few pints. Beers were GK IPA and OSH plus Royal Arsenal Hop Stuff APA (£4.20). I have to be honest and say the beer was in very mediocre shape.
The whole experience was rather forgettable and dismal, a bland and uninteresting pub in a bland and uninteresting part of London.
On 1st May 2017
- rating: 4
[User has posted 1710 recommendations about 1683 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Black Lion
Renamed from The Lion back to the original Black Lion around 2012 and not to be confused with NW6's other Black Lion a short walk from here, this was a second time in here the other day after my one visit back in the late 1990s when the pub was much as described below, a place where one visit was quite enough.
This area is considerably more gentrified than it was nearly 20 years ago and this has rubbed off on this pub, perhaps a little too much, certainly for the purists. The floor is modern bare boarded and although furniture is fairly conventional, the walls are all bare brick and dotted with wall-mounted Anglepoise (or similar) lamps; the black and white chequerboard tiled apron to the bar is more conventional. Lighting is quite muted as is the jazz soundtrack wafting over the gramophone. Clients are a mix of ages but are generally quite hip.
Ales: Hardy & Hanson's Rock on with Rudolph (is this the same as Rockin' Rudolph?), a reversed clip and Twickenham Brewery's Naked Ladies at a steep £2.20 a half and really not good.
I'd come here again as there is in effect nothing else in the vicinity, but the prices and ale quality are a deterrent.
On 3rd January 2017
- rating: 4
[User has posted 2266 recommendations about 2218 pubs]
View more reviews of The Black Lion (4)
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- Black Lion official site with menu and event details - theblacklionnw6.co.uk
- Facebook - The Black Lion
- Twitter - The Black Lion, West Hampstead
- CAMRA WhatPub :: The Black Lion - whatpub.com
West Hampstead, 0.33 miles, 6 min walk (show)
Finchley Road & Frognal, 0.61 miles, 11 min walk (show)
Pub Details
Pub details supplied by members of this site to the best of their knowledge. Please check with pub directly before making a special trip.
- Accommodation : No last updated 08 July 2015 by Tris C
- Bar Billiards : No last updated 03 January 2017 by Tris C
- Beer Festivals : No last updated 03 January 2017 by Tris C
- Beer Garden : Yes - Front patio and rear garden. - last updated 08 July 2015 by Tris C
- Car Park : No last updated 08 July 2015 by Tris C
- Child Friendly : Yes - Barred after 8.00 pm. - last updated 08 July 2015 by Tris C
- Darts : No last updated 03 January 2017 by Tris C
- Hot Food : Yes last updated 29 July 2013 by Dave McNally
- Jukebox : No last updated 03 January 2017 by Tris C
- Karaoke : No last updated 03 January 2017 by Tris C
- Micropub : No last updated 08 July 2015 by Tris C
- Pinball : No last updated 03 January 2017 by Tris C
- Pool Table : No last updated 03 January 2017 by Tris C
- Real Ale : No last updated 02 August 2019 by Tris C
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