The Red Lion, SW1

Official site of The Red Lion - redlionwestminster.co.uk

Official site of The Red Lion - redlionwestminster.co.uk

There has apparently been a pub on this prominent site since 1434, originally trading under the name ‘Hopping Hall’. The present building dates back to 1900 and had the distinction of serving every British Prime Minister who was in office from that year up to, and including, Ted Heath in the early 1970’s, presumably as a result of it being the closest pub to the Prime Minister’s Downing Street residence. Today we find a fairly small corner pub with a single long room on the ground floor which shows signs of previous partitioning. The room has wooden flooring, an impressively decorated ceiling design and a fine dark wood servery running down the left hand side. A drinking ledge is sited opposite with a few high stools under some etched glass windows, with just a few tables squeezed in at the front and back extremities of the room. The servery displays some interesting features including some arches with etched glass inserts and a bar back dating back to the rebuild which boasts further examples of fine glasswork and an integral clock. I noticed some signs for a cellar bar, although this appeared to be closed on my Sunday evening visit, but there were a few people eating in the upstairs dining room. Perhaps unsurprisingly there are lots of images of various parliamentarians and royals on the walls, especially lining the walls of the staircase. Maybe they are all former customers. The pub is operated by Fullers and six of their beers were available from the eight hand pumps – London Pride, Bengal Lancer, Seafarers, Chiswick, Traitor’s Gate and a rare sighting of London Porter which I felt I couldn’t turn down, although I very nearly regretted it upon being told it would set me back £4.25. Thankfully, this excellent beer was on top form, so I wasn’t quite as begrudging as I might have been as my hard earned cash made the short journey down the road to the Treasury. This place is well worth a look for the fine interior and is preferable to the nearby St Stephen’s Tavern in terms of beer choice (funds permitting, of course). Just don’t expect Dave to turn up for a swift half – those days are over.

I found the cellar bar rather ordinary this week; the carpets were a bit damp and there was an odour of decay about the place. Upstairs was a little less morbid, but the staff were quite apathetic. There were 3 ales on - I had a pint of Fullers Chiswick which was OK but nothing special. Given its location and reputation it was disappointing. I'll come back, of course, but there are better pubs within 5 minutes' walk.

As usual rpadam has done a good summary of this pub - This is a rather unremarkable, small pub but keeps its beers well (a couple of pints of Chiswick in good nick during my visit) although at a pretty steep price. Staff were fairly attentive and it was busy with the after work crowd, but either I'm not as clued up or I used to be or I geniunely didn't see any MPs during my couple of hours there.