King & Queen, Fitzrovia, W1

A fairly non-descript one room corner London pub which has been well described by previous reviewers. Four our visit three of the four handpumps on the go with Adnams Ghostship, Shep Neame Spitfire and Tring Brewery Bring me Sunshine. We tried the Adnams and Tring brews and they were in decent nick. Nothing really to signal this one out from others in the area, but it has one historical fact in that its location is dead opposite what used to be a Victorian workhouse for the poor which is believed to be (as he lived round the corner) the inspiration for Dicken’s novel Oliver Twist. Currently this old Victorian building is being converted into luxury apartments. I bet the selling company don’t mention that the building was a former workhouse.

Dating from 1767 and rebuilt in 1903 for Watney's, my experience pretty much mirrors that of others below, except that the carpet may have been replaced. This is very much a locals' boozer, off the beaten or touristy track, in the shadow of the Post Office Tower. The manager here took pride in looking after his ales, making sure that there was a goodly amount of pull through and checking clarity; service was friendly. One unused pump then three ales available: Tribute, Brakspear's Gravity and Ghost Ship at £2.50 a half and very nice too. This makes for a decent stop in the area, away from tourists or office workers.

The ales on here were Banks Park Brewery Sunbeam; St Austell Tribute; Breakspear Bitter (£2 a half); Adnam's Southwold; and Hobgoblin Golden IPA. This is a decent enough selection. Very simple menus were put out on the tables at noon, explaining that a full kitchen service is unavailable at present, but offering a range of sandwiches, mostly at £3.50 - £4.0 a pop. The carpet's seen much better days, as has the upholstery on the banquettes and the small stools. The tables are all square dark varnished affairs, and there are no sofas or tall tables/stools. There are miscellaneous plaques and framed cigarette cards above the brick built fireplace, but the best feature for me was the array of framed portraits of various kings and queens above the bar counter. And they were all "real" kings and queens - no Elvis or King Kong here. The only heritage feature that I noticed was the large capitalled pillar in the centre of the room. This struck me as a real, comfortable, and welcoming pub. It looks the sort of place that's far enough off the beaten track not to attract too many tourists. Although I was in at very early doors, one or two punters that were known to the landlady turned up - regulars presumably. I was once told by a chum that any pub that had Breakspear's Bitter on must score highly - that's a 7 for me.