The Britannia, Kensington, W8

Uninspiring Youngs pub. Well done out as have been all the pubs I have visited today, but only Youngs special at 4.5% will not inspire a revisit.

As mentioned below, this was indeed once called The Britannia Brewery Tap and dates back to 1834, though substantially altered over the years and acquired its current name in 1938. The former Britannia Brewery is now occupied by the neighbouring Allen Mansions. Situated in a rather ordinary part of Kensington, just off Kensington High Street, this is, surprisingly, a very large pub with quite a modern interior, modern in that it has recently been renovated. It's bare boarded with mixed lighting, eclectic furniture, the ubiquitous blue/grey colour scheme and is split over two levels with a helical metal staircase leading up to the two function rooms. Also on display are ugly aircon ducts though this is countered by the blessed relief of no TVs, the pub providing welcome respite from the onslaught of Euro 2016. To the side, there's a small smoking alley. This pub though is a bit sterile and resembles a more corporate or hotel venue and the gaggle of potty-mouthed squealing Australian cougars was a bit off-putting for us. Ales: Young's Special and Bitter, an unused pump and Sambrook's Wandle at a steep £4.45 a pint and fine. I wouldn't avoid coming here again, but The Scarsdale Tavern around the corner has far more pulling power.

A Young’s pub with a floorboarded bar at the front of the ground floor and a dining room at the back. There are also two bars/function rooms upstairs. There is a pleasant London pub atmosphere and an almost exclusively male clientele, the after-work crowd, many drinking wine rather than beer. Plenty of comfortable seating including a couple of sofas. Staff were pleasant and helpful. Four ales on, all from Youngs, I had Young’s Special, which was a little more insipid than I would have liked, but drinkable nonetheless. A decent bolthole, worth a visit.

This is a Young’s pub that’s been given a makeover that’s typical of this pubco. There are sofas and armchairs all over the main bar area, a bareboarded floor, pastel painted wlls, and other modernistic features such as the empty wine bottles in a rack on the wall as a decorative feature. The area at the back is effectively the dining room, as mentioned by others. This was at one time the brewery tap for the (failed) Britannia Brewery which was acquired by Young’s in the 1920s. The brewery is long demolished now and replaced by residential accommodation, leaving just the pub, which has been extended to the the left. There’s a large mural photograph of the pub and brewery behind some sofas at the back, probably taken soon after Young’s acquired it. When I was in yesterday afternoon they had on Bitter, Special and Bombardier, with no guest ale. But this pub’s raison d’etre is certainly not the beer. It’s anything but a locals’ pub now. But it was open in the afternoon when several members of my group were desperate for a cup of coffee, so if you want to visit a wine bar/restarant/pub with the appearance and comfort of a hotel longe then this is the place for you.