The Warrington Hotel, W9

Opulent 3* CAMRA Heritage pub (see descriptions below – the Art Nouveau interior with marble, murals, stained glass etc really is impressive) in an opulent area, I expected a snooty haw-haw place with ludicrous prices and crap cask but actually I was quite surprised – a decent mix of clientele and two cask, though the TT Landlord clip was turned round so who was drinking that? The answer was clearly nobody so I went for a the GK OSH which was in surprisingly good shape (NBSS 3.5) and not eye-watering on the price front. There’s also an upstairs room which is far less glam. A couple of oddities, such as a random stepladder propped-up against the wall as well as the on-but-turned-round cask, made me think that they perhaps don’t take as much pride as they should with such an iconic asset. Well-worth going if you’ve not seen it, anyway.

A revisit the other day after an absence of several years, despite being able to walk here in just under 30 minutes; a bonus was that a very good half of Ghost Ship cost just £2.30, with Wandle being the longstanding second choice. This place doesn't really change, but where the furniture was solidly traditional and matching, there are now several styles, including nasty scatter cushions, at least one table with a horrible shiny copper top, mixed seats and dreadful IKEA-style stools to the bar, which jar awfully with the historic interior. Worth a look, but I wouldn't want to spend any great amount of time here, especially with the 'failed pubs job lot' furniture aesthetic.