The Constitution, Pimlico, SW1

A traditional, high street boozer in the middle of Pimlico. There's a few benches and chairs outside, and the troughs of flowers make for an attractive appearance. Inside, it's a single room, square bar with carpet on the floor and much wood panelling on the walls, a mustard colour paint on the ceiling and plenty of jugs, plates, etc., on a shelf around the perimeter. The pub has a somewhat nautical theme, with a ship on the pub's sign, various drawings of ships hung on the walls and a few model ships displayed by the leaded windows at the back. Seating was a mixture of tables and chairs, with a number of high stools at the bar. There was a plasma at the back of the pub as well as an old TV perched up on a shelf near the door. Neither of these were in use on a recent visit, but there was a Sky Sports fixture list on the wall, so clearly they do get regular use. We didn't eat on this occasion, but a specials board chalked up next to the bar listed various dishes such as Ham, Egg & Chips and Macaroni Cheese. I'm not sure what was on the regular menu if this was the specials, but they looked reasonably priced at around the £6/£7 mark. Beers on tap were Sambrook's Wandle, Courage Best and Directors, and Spitfire. A surprisingly good choice of cider for pubs in these parts with Strongbow, Magner's Golden Draught and Weston's Traditional Scrumpy.

In the heart of Pimlico is The Constitution, a single room pub with a rather striking Italianate style façade. The pub was constructed in the 1840’s by one Richard Lacy, who also constructed some of the neighbourhood terraced streets. It’s a pleasant carpeted comfortable wood panelled interior with many framed nautical prints on the walls and jugs/vases etc on a high shelf around the room. The pub sign depicts a large sailing ship and I gather there once was a famous American sailing vessel so named, but, disappointingly, I didn’t see anything inside the pub to explain any connection. Leaded windows and curtains add to the traditional cosy atmosphere, which is scarcely spoilt by the presence of 3 TV sets dotted around the pub. Seating is mainly of the traditional variety with several high round tables with stools by the bar area seemingly favoured by the locals. Notably, there appears to be a good customer base with no specific age group dominating. There’s an upstairs function room called The Churton Room and a few benches outside on the pavement at the front. On the real ale side, beers on were Courage Best, Greene King London Glory, Spitfire, Caledonian Over the Bar and Adnams Broadside. Unusually, Courage Best appeared to be the best selling real ale. On 2 separate recent visits, beer has been very palatable. It’s not a showstopper by any means, but well worth a look if in the area