Adam & Eve, SW1

This is a fairly straightforward Taylor Walker pub on Petty France, close to St James’s Park tube station. You enter into the main bar space, which has bare floorboards and a centrally located drinking ledge arranged around a pillar, which helps to nicely break up the otherwise open space. The bar is on the right hand wall and I noticed that there are still some match strikers below the counter. Down the left hand side of the room, there is a carpeted seating area with some comfy leather benches and a few standard chairs in sections divided up by some screens with decorative etched glass. The walls have some nice half paneling with a moulded pattern texture above. At the rear there is a snug which is signed as ‘Meeting Room 3’, although it’s unclear where the other two rooms might be. A TV screen was tuned to Magic Radio which played at a sensible background level. Five fairly mainstream ales were available in the shape of Sharp’s Doom Bar, Wells Bombardier, Black Sheep Bitter, Fullers London Pride and Woodforde’s Wherry (£3.55). The Wherry was in fairly good shape though and the barmaid was nice and friendly, which isn’t always a given in Central London. I liked the fact that there were still a few interesting features left in this pub and that the soul hasn’t been completely ripped out of the place. It’s good to see five functioning hand pumps, but a more adventurous selection would be better, especially given the surge of new breweries in the capital. Overall, not a bad place for a quick pint, but not worth seeking out either.

Welcoming pub near St. James’ Park, with five real ales, as at last week being Pride, Doombar, Bombardier, London Gold and, as I recall, Woodforde’s Wherry, of which our party enjoyed various. Service was good, and the landlady swiftly rearranged her seating plans to allow us to continue sitting in an area that had been reserved for others. There is a small back yard, the few seats there usually populated by smokers.

Randomness Guide to London - Adam And Eve entry

Randomness Guide to London - Adam And Eve entry

Despite being situated close to a main tourist area (Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament etc are 5 a minute walk away), this typically old-fashioned Victorian corner pub is pleasantly refreshing in that it feels very much a local's pub and is relatively unspoilt by any cynical tourist marketing programme. Despite the obvious refurbishments, the pub retains a decent amount of character with its unusual panelled windows, plenty of bare floorboards, dark ceiling and panelled walls. One side of the pub is given over to a triumverate of carpeted snugs separated by patterned glass screens. Note also the central pillar with its extended shelf (also separated by glass screens). There is also a small snug to the rear where children are welcome during the daytime. There are 2 TVs but from memory no Sky etc and my erecnt visit thet were tuned to the very bland Magic FM which was OK for a bit of background but a bit dull. There is no permanent dart board but they do advertise darts on Tuesdays so presume they put up a temporary board The beers are generally quite mainstream (Pride, Greene King IPA, Adnams, Youngs Ordinary with the occasionally interesting guest beer). Prices seem pretty reasonable compared to many of the neighbouring pubs. Food is the typical Punch Tavern pub grub fare with main courses in the £7-10 range. It is generally quiet on my visits which suits me and it is one of my preferred pubs in the area although it could do with a bit more of an inspired ale choice.