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Submitted on Saturday, 9^th March 2019
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Ain't Nothin But ..., Soho, W1

Pub added by Graham Mason

20 Kingly Street
W1
W1B 5PZ

Phone: 02072870514

Correct details

Served areas

Soho

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Reviews of Ain't Nothin But ... (Average Rating: 6½ of 10) Add Review see review guidelines

Pub SignMan left this review about Ain't Nothin But ...

This is a fairly cosy, if slightly shabby, live music bar that predominantly showcases blues musicians. It's a narrow, single room set up, with dark floorboards, exposed brick and dark painted walls and a compact servery to the right on entry. The bar has a dark wood counter and simple bare brick bar back adorned with various neon lights and an electric guitar. A few seats can be found under the front windows and some bar stools run along a ledge opposite the bar, but most of the seating is in a carpeted space to the rear, where several tables, chairs and high backed benches have been arranged around a small stage. It seems like they have a couple of performers on most nights and from the few songs I caught, the sound was very good. The room, as you might expect, is decorated with loads of old photos, gig posters and guitars, with a few plain mirrors filling the remaining wall space and some trumpets and trombones hung from the ceiling. A small seating area is also available on the pedestrianised street out the front, although there's not much sun to be found out there due to the tall surrounding buildings.
The bar seems to have some sort of hook-up with the Adnams brewery, and as a result, their Southwold Bitter and Ghost Ship beers were both available on cask, along with a real cider option. The Ghost Ship was in decent nick, suggesting they get a reasonable turnover from all the old blues fans that must pass through.
This isn't really a place that you'd seek out unless you were looking to catch some live music or maybe had a particular interest in the genre, but the presence of a couple of cask ales in good shape makes it stand out a bit from most music venues. Soho is full of decent boozers that would be preferable to a visit here, but I enjoyed my brief stop off and wouldn't want to discourage anyone from popping in.

Date of visit - 19th June 2024

On 22^nd October 2024 - rating: 5
[User has posted 3350 recommendations about 3350 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Steve of N21 left this review about Ain't Nothin But ...

Seeing the new review below has prompted me to add my 10 pennies worth as I have visited this Blues bar on several occasions, the last being Thursday evening two weeks ago when they had a couple of cracking blues bands shoe horned onto the small stage at the far end.
On the ale front Adnams Ghost Ship and Black Sheep Bitter were on for our last visit, but in truth you do not visit here just for the beer as its not the strong point of the bar and its usually not very good. However, in saying that the Black Sheep was very drinkable a couple of weeks ago.
The real reason to come here is for the live music and in that respect there are usually two bands on per night. During the week the first one does the 6.30pm to 8 stint and then the headline band comes on at 9 and finishes late. And at the weekend the music starts from 4.00PM onwards.
Difficult one to score because without the live music I would say it barely scrapes a 6. But have someone like Blues Jam, The Sub Atomic Souls or the Tom JJ Band to name a few ripping out some blues numbers and this bar is up there with some of the smallest, atmospheric music bars around.
If, like us usually, you require a few reliable decent pints before the live music then the good news is that it is a very short walk from the Clachan and this Nicholson chain pub usually has a reliably good ale selection.

On 11^th March 2019 - no rating submitted
[User has posted 2236 recommendations about 2098 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Ain't Nothin But ...

Basic blues bar with the counter to the right of the door, some peripheral tall stools with a drinks shelf opposite and a small stage beyond a few small tables at the far end. Also has a compact area out on the pavement. The decorative theme doesn't need to be explained, and live music is provided every evening, but it's also worth a visit to the toilets downstairs to see the legends on the murals en route. On the real ale front, two Adnams beers - Southwold and Ghost Ship citrus pale ale (£5.00) - were available from the trio of handpumps. It certainly won't appeal to everyone, but I quite liked this place.

On 10^th March 2019 - rating: 7
[User has posted 8679 recommendations about 8678 pubs]

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