The Glassblower, Soho, W1

My first visit to this pub for many years left me seriously underwhelmed. Being a Taylor Walker pub I expected something a bit interesting in the way of ales, if only their own Westerham Brewery 1730. The four handpumps had a couple drawing cider (Wilce's Dry, and Millwhite's Apples & Pears - perry/cider mix perhaps?), plus GK IPA and GK London Glory. Very disappointing. With my CAMRA discount, my pint of London Glory was £4.05 - that makes it £4.50 without the discount. It was produced woefully short as well, but the lady who I took to be the bar supervisor came over and gave me a top up. I suppose one should expect top of the range prices in a bar a stone's throw from Piccadilly Circus. The usual Taylor Walker pub grub menu is available, also at top of the range prices for pubco pub grub. Two one-armed bandits greet on the right as you enter; the room is furnished entirely with tall tables/tall stools; and the black-painted false beams seem a futile attempt to imbue it with an "olde worlde" feel. A previous poster mentions two levels, but I only visited the street level room. I didn't find anything to recommend this pub - other than it's still there. But maybe I was just unlucky with the ale choice.

Another very busy pub on 2 levels.4 cask beers on inc Otter -bitter and Trooper.Touristy.

Situated just off the northern end of Piccadilly Circus, this triangular wedge shaped pub is ideally located to catch the best (or worst) of tourist London. Now labeled under the Taylor Walker banner, it bears most of the hallmarks of the averageness associated with the brand. The single room interior is quite basic and much smaller than it looks from the outside. Furnishings are predominantly space saving high tables but bagging one is a rarirty. A large pentagonal lantern hangs in the centre of the building but for the most part it is a barren place as far as décor is concerned. There is an upstairs bar / dining room but the “section closed” sign seems to be a permanent fixture on the stairs leading to it whenever I am there. I spotted no TV’s or any signs of the comedy nights that certainly used to be held here so it’s just some bland piped music on the entertainment front. There are 4 ales generally available, most recently Doom Bar, Youngs London Gold, Black Sheep Ale (as opposed to the more regular Best so a bit of a bonus there) and Spitfire (albeit with a “coming soon” clip). The quality is generally quite good and service has on occasions been surprisingly proficient and on one occasion I even had a full pint replaced because of some sediment in the bottom even though I had drunk about three quarters of it. Food is by way of the standard Taylor Walker pub grub menu although you will be hard pushed to find anywhere to sit and eat. There are now so many Talylor Walker branded pubs in the area that they all become much of a muchness and the Glassblower doesn’t really stick out much from the rest. It does a decent enough job if passing by but there’s not enough to go out of the way for.