Pontefract Castle, Marylebone, W1

Decent selection of beers, Tribute had gone but was being replaced, TT Landlord was very iffy (dunno why my friend didn't return it), Doombar & Beartown Bear Ass were good, Pride & Hobgoblin completed the line up, we didn't suffer the short measures that others experienced. Brief tasting notes and ‘sip before you sup' offers on each pump. Nice woody little bar, ornate iron spiral staircase to upper floor, where some people did seem to be just drinking & chatting, so cannot confirm reports of it being a dining only area. Tall round tables with barstool style seating, nice original bowed window frames, some little wooden tables outside, continental stylee. Quiet but rather whiney soundtrack ystdy, various sausage & mash options from £6. Fascinating approach if you find the little alley leading to St Christophers Pl from Oxford St – a few paces which take you from 21c mayhem to a rather more sedate and preferable land. PC lacks a traditional feel but was worth having ‘on map' for ystdy's crawl.

I wouldn't deliberately drink in this area but have been forced to do so on a couple of occasions following a film at the Odeon and a meal. This is just off the tourist route and is certainly one of the better pubs in the area, but of course that's not saying much. In short, worth a minor detour if you're stuck in the area with no hope of escape before last orders.

One block north of Oxford Street, the Pontefract Castle is a pleasant, functional Nicholson’s pub. A relatively small main bar has bare floorboards and pastel shaded walls, but thankfully there is enough dark wood, especially around the servery, to give the place that unmistakable London pub feel. The servery is on the rear wall and boasts an attractive curved bar counter. High tables and stools fill the space opposite and much of the rest of the room, with a few sofas and pouffes set up on the right hand side. My evening visit saw the place lit by some nice ornate lamps above the bar, but there are some decent sized windows which should make it bright enough during the daytime. Downstairs is the ‘St Christopher Cellar Bar’ – packed on my visit and playing loud music, seemingly as part of a private function. Meanwhile, a spiral staircase leads from the main bar up to the ‘Top Bar and Dining Room’, which I failed to explore. Hot food is served in the dining room and I also noticed a good bar-snacks menu with a few tempting offerings. A decent soundtrack played quietly enough in the main bar, certainly a lot more restrained than downstairs, although a few people preferred the tranquillity of the benches available outside in the adjacent alleyway. As is often the way with this chain, an encouraging ale selection was provided, with options on my visit consisting of Roosters Nectar, Oakleaf Hole Hearted, Nicholson’s Pale Ale, Holt's Mild, Inveralmond Ossian and something enigmatically labelled ‘Cornish’. A very friendly barmaid poured me a pint of the Nectar which was top notch – easily the best pint I found during a crawl of the surrounding area. Whilst there is nothing particularly exciting or unusual about this place, I thought it was a comfortable spot for a well kept pint or two and could well imagine myself sneaking off here in order to escape the Oxford Street hoards.

A street corner Nicholsons house, this one had all six ales on the go (Landlord, Pride, Doom Bar and three guests) and the ones I tried were pretty good with decent staff serving, which is a rare combination their places. It’s less obviously ‘Olde Worlde’ than Nicholson’s usual pubs. It’s situated over a number of levels, with spiral wrought iron staircase leading upstairs, whilst downstairs there’s a cellar bar with similar wrought iron gates. The layout looks to be aimed mainly at the ‘stand up and drink’ post-office crowd, with tall round tables with barstool style seating on the ground floor. Based on this visit I’d say it’s worth a stop and I’d visit again.

A pleasant enough and good sized corner pub from the Nicholson’s stable. There’s limited seating in the downstairs bar although plenty of space for vertical drinking. There was a spiral staircase leading to an upstairs bar and restaurant area, although we didn’t check this out. There were also three or four small tables in the pedestrianised street outside. Being a corner pub there were large, dual aspect windows and this gave a reasonably light and airy feel to the place. The wood panelled bar had an impressive carved wooden backdrop and a good range of pumps, all sporting a notice outlining a brief description of the beer and an invitation to try before you buy. There was a decent looking “pub grub” menu at what appeared to be quite reasonable prices, although we didn’t eat on this occasion. Staff all seemed friendly and helpful. A blackboard listed around 25 beers, with the current offerings being ticked. Presumably these are rotated around regularly, although there may well be other guests as well, as not all the ones currently on appeared to be on here. On this occasion they were Adnams Lighthouse and Broadside, Doombar, London Pride, Leeds Best and York Brewery’s First Light. Ciders were Aspall’s Suffolk and Strongbow. There were also about seven lagers to choose from, if that’s your thing.

A large Nicholson’s house sitting on Wigmore Street, a fairly short stroll from the completely dry Oxford Street. It is on several levels as previous reviewers have commented but best to get served in the street level bar before exploring as this is the one where the beer offerings are. Although the usual traditional wooden decor, I find the Ponty not as dark as other Nicholson houses and for me it’s a decent place for a pint when escaping from the madness of Oxford Street. Six hand pumps with the usual Pride, Doombar and TT Landlord. But then there was St Austells Tribute and the Thornbridge Wild Swan and the latter was a good pint.