Prince of Wales Feathers, Fitzrovia, W1

Close to Warren Street underground,this is quite a small pub,with an upstairs lounge and a roof terrace.The ground floor has a wooden floor,drinking shelf to the left and a rear seating area but given it does food from a shortish menu with mains around £13,this rear section will be popular with diners.The first floor will also attract diners,it's small with room for just 4 tables. The 5 handpumps were offering Dark Star Hophead,Exmoor Fox,Doom Bar ,TT Landlord and Five Points Citrus Pale (NBSS 3.5,£5 ) which was a reasonable selection with friendly service and a pleasing interior despite the burden of Christmas decorations and tables reserved for a work Xmas lunch on my midday visit.It's a decent pub and worth popping into.

This is very much a typical London pub with a good location right next to Warren Street station. A small outdoor seating area under the attractive leaded and stained glass banded windows gives way to the entrance which brings you into a rectangular room with bare floorboards and the servery down the right-hand wall. The bar has a dark wood counter and exposed brick bar back which has been liberally strewn with fairy lights. The compact space opposite the bar has been left relatively empty, mainly to be used for vertical drinking or queueing at the bar, although a few high tables have been squeezed in along the left-hand wall under a large floral mural and in the small space under the front windows. Further on, past the end of the bar, the pub transforms into more of a restaurant, with reserved tables served by banquettes and chairs running all the way to the rear of the room. This area has wood panelled walls, a nice stone fireplace with a plain mirror above, some large pictures of what I assume is the eponymous Prince and a TV screen which was switched off in favour of a funk soundtrack. Boards dotted around the place refer to a snug, which may well have been a fairy light-lit corner to the rear right, or perhaps some other spot I failed to find. I visited post-work on a Wednesday evening and the place was absolutely packed with virtually no room inside or on the pavement outside. The bar had five handpulls in action, offering three beers from the Thornbridge brewery – Lord Marples, Brock and Jaipur – plus two others in the form of Taylor Landlord and St Austell Proper Job. The Brock set me back £4.95 and was in pretty good nick without really standing out. This is clearly a very popular pub that no doubt draws a fair bit of customer purely by virtue of its location, but also presumably for its decent ale policy and homely environment. I rarely have recourse to jump off the tube at Warren Street, but should the need arise again, I’d be happy enough to call back in here again.

My first visit, despite working for three years around the corner in the late '80s/early '90s, we tipped up early evening to find a pub that was about the only one open in the area on this Bank Holiday Monday. Described well below, with basic/conventional furniture and bare boards, 1 TV spotted (off), music a tad loud and a mixed crowd. Food is served but the menus were withdrawn at 8.00 pm, perhaps this was because of the holiday; bar staff were friendly. Ales: 2 clips reversed, Britannia's Navigation, Sharp's Doom Bar and Proper Job at a steep £4.45 - it was though rather good. The pub was better than expected and probably the best in the very immediate vicinity. I'd return but only if very close by.

A stripped back interior with exposed brick, wooden floor and some original floor tiles at the bar. 5 real ale taps 3 on during my visit and "craft keg". Food served.