Stags Head, Fitzrovia, W1

On the ground floor of an art deco buildings,the curved end and crittal windows give the exterior lots of character.The oak framed doors give way to an open plan carpeted lounge with a banquette built into the curved end.Elsewhere a drinking shelf has peninsular extensions ,as does one end of the bar which is a pleasing feature and allows vertical drinkers to prop themselves up.Lots of 30's wood panelling everywhere.Away from the bar area there are a series of small dining type tables,while flatscreens will play Sky tv but mute on my trip. There are just two handpumps serving regulars London Pride and Tring Sidepocket (NBSS 3 but topped up from glass in the drip tray,bad practice).It's in the 2020 GBG,but hadly justified by such a small ale selection.Close to BBC House which probably explained why Craig Charles was drinking some diet coke while chatting to a mate. A decent boozer but hardly a destination pub.

Interesting pub towards Marylebone, small outside seating on roadside.

Just off Great Portland Street, the Stag's Head is a fine looking art deco pub with an attractive curved corner facade and unusual stag's head sculpture sign. The entrance porch to the right leads you into a carpeted bar area with a lovely sturdy looking servery along the rear wall which has an unusual peninsula protrusion at the left hand end. The front of the pub has a long, continuous drinking shelf with some similar protrusions, around which a number of high stools have been arranged. Some banquette seating is fitted along the right hand wall whilst standard tables and chairs fill a fairly open area to the left of the bar. There is some great wood panelling throughout the room, most notably in the rear left area, but decor is limited to various bits of bunting and promotional sporting event tat which was a bit disappointing. The landlord is presumably a Leicester City fan as there is a blue plaque on the bar back which reads 'On this site in 2016 we witnessed the fairytale become reality'. A couple of screens at either end of the room were showing muted coverage of an African Cup of Nations fixture whilst music quietly played in the background. Blackboards list a decent selection of food options, with all of the main meals clocking in at £8.75, which seems reasonable for Central London. A good mix of customers were in on a midweek evening, generating a nice buzz through low level conversation. The pub is a reliable outlet for Hertfordshire's Tring Brewery, with their Side Pocket For A Toad beer being a permanent fixture on the handpulls along with the somewhat more ubiquitous Fullers London Pride. On this visit, there was one guest ale - Tring Black Hawk - which I was offered a taster of before forking out £3.95 for a well kept pint of it - a pretty good price for this part of the city. The staff were very friendly and happy to have a chat - again, not always a given in the heart of London. I thought this was a pretty good pub in a part of the city I've not really explored properly. The beer quality and service were major plus points and I found it was quite a comfortable pub with some moderately interesting features that make a visit worthwhile. Drinking in Central London can be a very hit and miss affair, so I'll certainly bear this reliable looking pub in mind for the future.

Attractive Art Deco pub exterior, retaining original metal-framed windows and entrance. Also some decent inter-war decor in the staple shape bar with carpet, oak wood panelling and traditional fittings – other people say it’s characterless but I personally think it has a bit of period charm, I’d take it over a Youngs refit any day. Three ales on a decent selection too; Pride, Tring Side Pocket and Tring Drop Bar. The Side Pocket was in great form, the Drop Bar less so. Already filling up with early office bunk-offs well-before 5pm so must be a popular haunt and to be fair I can see why, I’d be happy to do this one again. Also, look out for the metal of sculpture of the Stags Head outside. 7.5

Popped in for the first time the other evening but thought this place was largely devoid of any character. Probably OK if you work next door, but can't see myself bypassing the Dover Castle again to pop in here. Only the two beers on but fortunately the Yellowhammer was a nice pint.

There were two ales on during my recent visit – O’Hanlon’s Yellowhammer and the ubiquitous London Pride. At £3.20 a pint for the Pride, it was as much as I would want to pay for this ale. I saw food being served (I was in there at lunchtime on Wednesday) but didn’t get to look at the menu. This is now a carpeted single room pub with mainly normal tables accompanied by normal chairs and small stools, but with some high stools at a ledge by the window. The walls are wood panelled, in the style of an inter-war but fitting. The bar counter is unusual in that at one end it is a peninsula jutting out into the room, and is possibly where the panelling dividing the room into the inevitable two bars of an inter war pub would have been. They were playing some soul tracks as background music; the inevitable flatscreen TV was on showing Sky Sports (but muted); there was a hideous games machine, but no one-armed bandit. Various prints and cartoon decorate the walls, and numerous banknotes of the world are pinned behind the bar. Actually I found this to be a fairly nice little pub. It’s not so good that it’s the sort of place that I would make a beeline for, but I would be happy to drop in for another pint sometime if I was in the area.

Randomness Guide to London - Stag's Head entry