The Belgravia SW1, SW1

Semi buried pub on a corner with no real ale at all - just keg. Various TVs as you'd expect from a sports bar.

Basement bar serving 2 real ales and food. Darts area advertised but not visited.

This pub was originally called the Red Lion and was one of the few pubs in this area to elude me. The Belgravia is a semi basement pub that is set under a block of flats,just the sort of pub i like going in. Once down a few steps the bar faces,the room is bare boarded,the seating a mix of tall tales and chairs and a bench seating,there is a small raised area to the rear. There were two real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Doom Bar which went down well enough,i failed to note the other beer as i was in a rush to get my bus back to Nottingham. I was happy enough having a quick drink here and will no doubt visit again if early enough for my bus. Pub visited 1/7/2015

With time not being at a premium during my small crawl of the Sloan Square area I took a small detour and visited the Belgravia. Well described by others and as they have commented it’s not the most architecturally prepossessing place, either outside or inside, and after traversing the steps down into the bar to find only one of the two hand pumps in operation dispensing the ubiquitous Doom bar I turned heel and headed for the nearby Duke of Wellington. It probably serves a purpose and with its plethora of TV screens I can see it being a popular place to watch the footy for local residents, however there were more outside in the patio garden area than inside for my mid-afternoon visit. Won’t leave a rating as I didn’t stay to try its delights, but from what I could see, there seems to be a lot better in the area.

This is a small pub dwarfed by the block of flats built above it, unusually you step down from the pavement level to enter via a front terrace. Boarded flooring, a fair few high tables with stools plus one very long table with benches each side which would either seat a large group or be communal seating. An unusual tiny raised area to the rear is the VIP area, available for hire, not sure if it is free territory when not booked. There are TVs everywhere, at least four including outside and this is a small pub, the rain affected Ashes were being aired to a handful of interested punters listening to the summarisers filling the void without play. I decided to sit outside, it feels slightly continental with the awning, foliage and groups eating, however I was soon driven back in by a most tenacious wasp that was attracted by my pint of Brakspears, seemingly it wasn't a lager or wine drinker as that is what everyone else was on. The Brakspears Bitter was £4.10, I was prepared for this around here, the other choice was the ubiquitous Doom Bar. Food is served, reasonable value for the area, chilli/lasagne £7.95, baguettes £4.25. The place doesn't look much from the outside but wasn't too bad and I may well have stayed longer if the cricket was in play and the wasp bought its own beer.

The Belgravia is found down some steps at the foot of a block of flats. There is some seating out the front which consists of picnic tables and a couple of café tables. Food is served and there are various deals throughout the week. I had a look at the menu and the mains were around the £8 mark which is on a par with the other ‘proper’ pubs of the area. Standard draught is available and the two hand pumps on the bar were drawing Adnams Southwold and Greene King IPA. The pub itself is L shaped with a raised seating (dining) area at the rear that is available for hire. A booking of ten people or more comes with a free finger buffet, which is an offer I’ve not seen anywhere before. There are a couple of plasma screens that were showing England playing cricket via Sky Sports and there was a decent sized crowd showing interest. The barman was friendly enough and my pint of Southwold was well served. I’d have no problem popping back in here again.

This pub is set down a few steps from the main road, leading into a small outside seating area with, unusually as far as I’m concerned, a TV on the wall outside the pub. I thought that it was pretty basic inside, with the usual pubco meal deals advertised on chalkboards on the walls (curry night on Monday, etc, etc), the usual mix of tall tables/stools and standard tables and chairs, plus one very large table (10+ seater) with hard benches reminiscent of school dinners. There were TVs on showing a sports channel, but muted so that we could enjoy the unnecessarily loud pop music. At the back on the right up a couple of steps is a table with a bit of seating – perhaps big enough for a half dozen occupants – labelled the “VIP Area”, which is apparently available for private hire. A bit pretentious I thought. The only ale on was Doom Bar, with another pump not in use. By this time my companion and I were having some difficulty calculating the price per pint from the total price for a pint and a half, but eventually we concluded that it was overly expensive. The Doom Bar was OK, but I still don’t think that this is the sort of pub I would rush back to, especially as it’s in an area with several other much better pubs.