Buckingham Arms, SW1

Another one of Youngs modernised establishments well described by previous reviewers below and was being very well utilised by the after work crowd on the evening I visited. I quite liked this one but mainly because as well as Youngs Ordinary and Special, Truman Bow bells, St Austell Proper Job and Redemption Pale Ale were available on the other three. Another of the good solid pub options in this part of town.

Still in the GBG 2018, this is a classic pub with two main areas split by the bar which serves the larger side only. The bar is to the front side of the main room, the other side is effectively a narrow corridor but nowadays with a line of those square high tables, years ago there was a long drinking shelf. In this narrow side there is an approximation of the brewing process along the wall which may be of passing interest. As you enter the pub you cannot help but notice the externally patrolled barracks opposite, then the attractive curved leaded windows and planted baskets. The main area has lots of interest on the walls, various Dukes of Buckingham, The Villiers family it seems, Royal palaces, obviously including Buck House as well as old and in cases long gone brewery ads. The stencilled quotations are a bit trite but harmless enough. Mixed seating with possibly too many high styles, a drinking ledge opposite the bar too, the smaller front tables being the best bet if you can snare those. Youngs here, or should I say the Ram Brewery Co, Bitter, Special x2, London Gold and By the Horns "The Mayor of Garratt" Not sure if this is a rebadge for Youngs or not, couldn't find it on the BTH website, anyway it was £4.90, upwards of my acceptable price range and fairly average. TVs on showing the 6 Nations, looked as if they were in position specifically looking at the wiring arrangements, so maybe not all events are shown. A nice pub, not been in prior to yesterday for a few years but on this visit I felt it was below par.

Young's establishment which was as busy as the Adam & Eve. Various hand pumps but nothing above 4.5% ABV, unfortunately.

This is a Young’s pub so has a fairly predictable ale selection, with Bitter (£1.85 a half), Special, London Gold, and Sambrook’s Wandle on. I didn’t see any menus when I was in at around 4.00 PM on Thursday, but I would be very surprised if a pub like this didn’t do food. This is a longstanding Central London Young’s pub, which I remember from the 70s as a bastion of real ale against the onslaught of the keg invaders. Obviously being a Young’s pub it’s been tarted up somewhat, but they haven’t gone overboard with this one. There are some tall butcher’s block style tall tables with tall stools; a group of armchairs surrounding a small table by the window; and some banquettes and normal tables and chairs at the back. It’s bare-boarded but the floor space at the back is broken up by a large rug. The walls have a number of supposedly amusing quotes/homilies painted on them. There’s some additional seating in a corridor reached via a doorway to the left just past the bar counter. Being a corridor space is limited, so seating is tall stools accompanying ledges/tables attached to the wall. There are attractive cut glass mirrors in the bar back that look like modern replacements (although the glass in the door behind the server might be original), all surmounted by swathes of dried hops. Despite the efforts by Young’s to give it an upmarket ambience it still has the feel of a real pub to me. I reckon it’s one of the better pubs in this part of the world.