The Gunmakers, Marylebone, W1

Seeking a pint early on New Years Eve, we made for the Gunmakers. Almost everything was off, bar a very hoppy blonde and a slightly darker bitter. We orderer 3 pints of the bitter but recieved just one as that too went off. Settling for 2 pints of the blonde, we sat back to enjoy our beer, but were soon asked to move so that the stage could be set up for the live band later in the night. Staff seemed to be pretty miserable, from the Eastern European bar maid to the huge bouncer playing with his phone. Not really a welcoming environment, made worse by the lack of beer. Interestingly, the flyer for the New years Eve party declared "real ales on tap" someone was going to be disappointed! Probably won't be going back.

Smallish pub tucked away on the way back to Baker Street from Marylebone High Street and one I’ve utilised for a decent pint of something different to the usual London protagonists when in this part of town. And in that respect it did not disappoint again the other night. Harveys seasonal ale Kiss, Darkstar Pale Ale, Hackney Brewery Best Bitter and St Austells Tribute (which had just gone) were on the four pumps and the Hackney Best and Darkstar brew were well kept pints. As mentioned below it is mainly one square space in front of the bar with seating round the three sides and the front of the used for vertical drinking. And then a further smaller space stretching back to the right of the bar. Beer has always been decent and it is comfortable enough. But due to its smallish size, it gets a bit noisy when there is a few in, and you can’t help but get the full conversations from the bar flys and even from the tables opposite. So after my recent visit last week I am now fully genned up on the price of flights from Dublin and why Premier league referees should be equipped with Smart phones to play back contentious decisions…yawn!. And for such a small pub , it has three large flat screen teles on the main 3 walls away from the bar, meaning that there is nowhere you can sit without being in full view of a large screen. Yes, useful when there is something worth watching on, but bloody distracting when they insist on showing a meaningless La Liga game at 10.30 in the evening.

There were four real ales on during my midweek lunchtime visit – Landlord, Spitfire, St Edmunds, and GKIPA. At £3.50 a pint, I thought the Landlord was somewhat overpriced. I didn’t ascertain the prices of the other ales, but I would be surprised if they were not similarly overpriced. The Churchilliana still remains, with the outside sign plus at least a couple of portraits of the great man inside. Other features include a couple of small artillery pieces outside the main door, and a large number of cartridge cases in frames on the walls. On the ledge on the wall on the left is a plaster model, some 4 feet in height of someone leaning on a lamppost. It could be George Formby I suppose, but looked more like Charlie Chaplin to me. The walls are wood panelled, and the floor is varnished bare boards with what look like the original boards. Seating is normal tables plus banquettes and small stools round the sides of the room, with the centre of the room remaining empty, presumably to aid vertical drinking. All the tables sport a small vase with two or three roses in them, and a piano in one of the corners also has a couple of flower vases on it. I guess the piano is there for decorative purposes. Further evidence of the upmarket aspirations of this place is provided by the yellow awning covering the handful of outside tables that appears to be sponsored by Veuve Clicquot. The pub has some interesting features and is a reasonably comfortable place to stop off for a pint, but I have to say that I found the ale prices to be a bit offputting. I doubt whether I’ll be visiting again.