The Lady Ottoline, Bloomsbury, WC1

A nice little pub with some good historical features, including the tiling and glasswork mentioned below. It is all a bit bijou, not least with little tealights twinkling all over the place, and clearly quite heavily focussed on food. A warm welcome though. On handpump were two from Brew York, Siren Memento and a Crafty Apple cider.

Official site of The Lady Ottoline - www.theladyottoline.net

Official site of The Lady Ottoline - www.theladyottoline.net

A street corner pub with an interesting exterior still with Charrington's insignia and the former name of Kings Arms picked out both in mosaic tiling by a side entrance and on the window frieze.Shame that the name hasn't been retained.There is a small interior ,quite minimalist but retaining a good fireplace with wood burner and a high moulded ceiling.The wooden floor means chatter will bounce around the interior but background jazz seemed very appropiate.The tables are mainly square wooden extendable dining types,but there are some high tables and bench seating and only drinking is just fine,the upstairs restaurant draws most of the diners although meals will be served anywhere.There is some art on the walls and the overall affect is smart gastro but dont let that put you off. There are 4 handpumps drawing on my Saturday afternoon visit Doom Bar,Southward Potters Field Porter,Bloomsbury London IPA and Tiny Rebel Cwtch (£4.45,decent nick but a very short pint was pulled into the dimple glass) Overall I thought the ale range was decent,it's tucked away and the food smelt good.Worth popping in if crawling the area.