Anglesea Arms, South Kensington, SW7

Another Good Beer Guide Tick - described well enough below by Tris. Surprisingly, just the one cask on - but it was a well kept TT Landlord, so I was more than happy. Until I got the on line banking notification following a swipe. This and a cheese toastie - £18. To be expected in this neck of the woods I suppose. Oddly, a day time bouncer at the door. Probably to stop people running away after being presented with the bill :-)

Official site of Anglesea Arms - www.angleseaarms.com

Official site of Anglesea Arms - www.angleseaarms.com

A traditional looking pub located down a side street but just off of the Fulham Road, it has an attractive appearance with lots of hanging baskets and was very busy on our Saturday afternoon visit with far more punters on the terrace outside and even spilling out on to the pavement than there were inside. It’s quite traditional in terms of décor with dark wooden boards on the floor, dark wood panelling on the wall to the left and some yellow patterned wallpaper to the right. A small tiled fireplace was off to one side although it looked as though this was probably no longer used, and above this was an oil painting of a reclining nude. Elsewhere was a large Burton Ales mirror as well as some old black and white photographs and a couple of TV screens, although fortunately these were not in use on our visit. The room was broken up a little with some wood and glass partitioning, and some of the glass was attractively etched. Green padded bench seating was around much of the perimeter. A further room down a few steps to the left had a “Please waited to be seated” lectern at the entrance, so was presumably intended for dining. Beers on tap were Moncada Notting Hill APA, Abbott Ale, Timothy Taylor Landlord, Sambrook’s Wandle, St Austell Tribute and Greene King IPA. Prices seemed expensive with a couple of pints coming in at a hefty £12.

After a sweaty afternoon pottering around the Natural History and V&A museums, I decided it was time for a pint or two and the reviews made me pick this one to start. This is a compact street corner pub in a quiet area and has a bit of backstory as a ‘CAMRA pub’ back in the 70’s when such outlets were few and far between. These days it is owned by Greene King! A few steps up to the outside patio and enter to a fairly traditional interior with light varnished wood, old oil paintings, some glass portioning panels and a generally respectable air, though the bunch of squawking middle aged females who thought they had some sort of god-given right to take up as much space by the bar as possible were a pain. Half a dozen pumps; 2x GK, London Pride, St Austell Tribute, Bedlam (went off) and Vale Brill (not so brill in the drinking, NBSS 2). Not too expensive for the location, at least. The beer let down what otherwise would have been a decent visit. I’d be prepared to give it another go though. 6.5