Sir John Balcombe, Marylebone, NW1

Pleasant enough corner pub situated just behind Dorset Square round the corner from Marylebone station. Bit too plain and dark inside for me and lacking a bit of character, but does have outside benches for when the weather is good enough. Three hand pumps on the bar and the two Hobgoblin beers were supplemented by London Pride. I’m not a great fan of Hobgoblin beers, but my pint was good enough and would probably visit again if I needed a bolt hole from the nearby Marylebone Road.

I like the way that this pub has embraced its name as there is a large goblin sitting at one end of the bar and there is also a creepy looking table in the corner of the dimly lit pub that I would choose to sit at if I were a goblin. Two out of the three ale choices were available and these were Pride and, yes you guessed it, Hobgoblin. There was also a standard draught selection from which a had a nice pint of Guinness. There are a coupe of plasma screens that were both off whilst a football match was on so I guess that there is no Sky Sports. There was some music playing that I found a bit depressing, but I did visit on a quiet week night. I found the barmaid to be pleasant enough and although I wouldn’t make this a destination pub I would pop in again if passing.