The Barley Mow, Westminster, SW1

As described by others, below, this pub was one of the few left open in this area after about 8pm. The foreign barmaid was not the most welcoming and certainly not that friendly to us – instead she spent a lot of time chatting to other customers rather than serving. The gaming machines were noisy, and there was football showing on the multiple TV screens. Ales on were Pride, Doombar and Twickenham Naked Ladies, all in reasonable condition. It was OK as far as it went but I shouldn’t rush back.

Dating from at least 1842, this was rebuilt in the 1930s. I don’t know if the interior dates from that time, but I suspect not as it ticks every ‘Victorian’ box and I don’t think Victoriana was very much in vogue during the reign of George V, so I suspect it’s fairly new, barring the rather attractive hop bine cornice. Customers seemed to be a younger lot, possibly local residents rather than either tourists or office workers and definitely not squaddies. The parlous state of London’s ale crisis was laid bare here, with five unused pumps, then just Wandle and Twickenham’s Naked Ladies at £2.63 (?) a half and good. This is one of the better pubs in SW1, especially this close to Victoria, but it’s not great, feeling a bit like a theme pub; the lack of imagination in the ale department lets the place down a bit, but it’s probably your best bet in the locality, with the Royal Oak over the road, not yet visited.

One big room with a semi circular bar. Eight hand pumps but nothing above 4.5% ABV. Standard keg offerings.

The Barley Mow was very busy with an office crowd during lunchtime the week before Christmas. Seating is found throughout the open plan rectangular interior that houses a bar in the centre of the rear wall and a raised seating area to the right. Most of the tables supported condiments and although I didn’t look through a menu I suspect that traditional pub grub is available. Upstairs is an advertised function room that I did not visit on this occasion. This is a corner pub so seating is found along the path on both exposed sides. Some seasonal background music was playing and the TV was airing muted rolling news. A sign on the front of the pub advertises Sky and BT Sport. Available from the bar was a range of standard and premium draught products. I counted 8 hand pumps, one of which was unused. This left Sambrooks’ Pump House Ale, Twickenham Brewery’s Naked Ladies and Redhead, Sharps’ Doom bar (x2) Wychwood’s Hobgoblin and Fullers’ London Pride as the cask ale options. I found this place to be a pretty run-of-the-mill pub that I would pop back into if passing, but I wouldn’t go out of my way.

One of my locals whilst working at the nearby Home Office. A lot of their leaving do's are held in here as it's a very large pub. One central servery with a raised area to both left and right and a decent sized area in front of the bar. It can still get packed with suits (like me) on a Thursday night after work, but the service is usually fine. 4 ales available on the 6 handpumps on my latest visit with a not particularly inventive selection on them as with many pubs around here. Spitfire, Pride, Harveys etc. It's always been a decent, if not outstanding pint though which is why I much prefer the "works do's" to be here rather than the Puzzle across the road. Lots of screens to watch the football on as well. It's a good solid pub.

Official site of The Barley Mow - www.barleymowhorseferryrd.co.uk

Official site of The Barley Mow - www.barleymowhorseferryrd.co.uk

A large U shaped room with a squint ended horseshoe bar, fittings are all fairly modern, nothing of any particular character. There is a further room upstairs available for hire, I didn't visit. The place has a Pubco feel, lots of high tables, large menus, wooden floor with one corner carpeted in a tarten pattern, two slightly raised areas mirror each other across the room. The pub is on a corner site and has large clear glass windows all around, letting in plenty of light. Little decor of note, just a few framed prints of this and that, several TVs were showing horse racing. There is however a reasonable beer selection available, the handpumps offered Black Sheep Golden Sheep, Castle Rock Harvest Pale (£3.75), Doom Bar, Spitfire, Harveys Sussex Best and Deuchers IPA. Standard pub food menu reasonably priced including a Saturday all day breakfast for £6.95 and weekend roasts for £8.50. Efficient and friendly service and unusually for SW1 a pub that clearly has regulars.

I come here not infrequently when working locally, it being one of the better pubs in the area for a pint or three after work. The six hand pumps regularly seem to offer Harvey’s, Deuchars, Doombar and Spitfire, and two changeable ales which today were TT Landlord and Skinner’s Heligan Honey (at £3.40). Not the most interesting of alternatives, but very serviceable. It always seems to have a healthy crop of after work drinkers in the evenings, but is rarely uncomfortably heaving, and has an efficient team behind the bar. Main meals on the menu start at £7.75 but the ones on the specials board on the wall above the rear of the bar are generally cheaper and better value. As others have said there is nothing exceptional about this pub, but it’s a good ‘work local’ and worth coming to if in the area. A rating of 6 feels slightly mean, it just slightly missed a 7.

An attractive, street corner pub with plenty of flower troughs outside, and happily one of the very few establishments around these parts that seems to bother opening on a Saturday night. Inside, it's a single room, L-shaped pub, that in some ways has the appearance of a sports bar – there are numerous flags hanging from the ceiling, both small ones around the bar and full size ones elsewhere. There is a projector in the corner (although the screen was rolled up on our visit) and a fixtures list for forthcoming tournaments. Besides that, it's a little more traditional. A raised area in one corner is full of leather sofas and chairs, and there are large windows to look out of. There is wood panelling on the lower part of the walls with cream paint-work above and the flooring is a mixture of carpet and wood. A small TV was on in the corner. Beers on tap were Nelson's Jammin' Jack, Harvey's Sussex Best, Doom Bar, Spitfire and Deuchar's IPA. Ciders were Strongbow and Thatcher's Gold.

There were six handpumps in operation, dishing out Harveys Bitter (£3.30), Sharp’s Doom Bar, Pedigree, Spitfire, Sambrook Wandle and Deuchars IPA. The food was reasonably priced, although as I didn’t eat here I can’t comment on the quality. Main meals were around the £7 - £7.50 mark, and the sandwiches were in the region of £5 a throw. The pub itself has a fairly modern(ish) interior, with modern replacement wood panelling. It’s mostly carpeted, with a couple of raised areas in the corners. There’s a standard mix of furnishings, including several sofas, armchairs, upholstered benches, normal tables and chairs – but no tall tables/stools. Games machines and the like abound, and some pop music was being played. This is a fairly unremarkable pub with nothing very special about it, although it has to be said that they do have a reasonable ale selection. However, all the ales are of a similar type – e.g no summer ale, stout or mild among a choice of six. But I wouldn’t object to a return visit, although I don’t think it’s worth a special effort to seek out. It’s an “OK” pub.

Need to get their menu sorted out a bit. They don't seem to understand what the (V) mark is. Having been served with a so called vegetarian meal with bacon in it. Didn't get much response when I complained either.