Midland Hotel, NW4

Positioned just across the bridge over the M1 from Hendon station, this is a smart old roadside bar with a partly opened out two bar layout. The front bar has clearly been knocked through from a former two room set-up, as evidenced by a now redundant entrance porch that would once have had doors leading into left and right-hand rooms, but which is now closed up on one side. The porch retains a nice old feature though – an elaborate stained-glass pane over the door which bears the legend ‘MH 1890’. The front room has exposed floorboards throughout, broken only by a checker-tiled strip around the servery which occupies the mid-section of the rear wall. The left side of the room has been set up as a pleasant seating area with standard tables and chairs arranged either side of a modest fireplace on the end wall. Black and white photos of the local area dot the walls which have, for the most part, been painted white. A lone high table stands opposite the bar whilst the right-hand portion of the room has mostly been filled with a pool table, leaving minimal seating options squeezed around the perimeter. The front of the pub has some fine windows, most of which have arched top panes with stained glass inserts depicting bows and other such decorative motifs. The servery has a white panelled counter, which is a shame, as it offers no contrast to the large swathes of white wall that dominate the room’s aesthetic, although the counter does describe a rather pleasant shape thanks to its curved ends. The bar back is a dull grey and partly mirrored, but with no obvious original features retained. A TV screen to one side of the bar was showing muted rolling news and I noticed an unfurled pull-down screen in the rear left corner, which I can only assume is used to screen sports. Behind the servery, a second bar can be found, although the current restrictions on moving around pubs meant I only got a couple of brief glimpses. It seems to be a spacious open plan room with the servery to the front and plenty of standard tables and chairs plus some comfier options including at least one nice button backed sofa. From here, you can move out to a ‘secret’ beer garden. Pop music played quietly in the background and there was a nice vintage car parked outside when I arrived – I’m told vintage cars often stop by here and can often be seen in the car park. Only one of the four hand pumps was in action when I arrived, scaled back as a result of the lower footfall seen since lockdown. Thankfully, the lone ale wasn’t a sloppily kept Doom Bar or Greene King IPA, as you might expect, but a terrific pint of Oakham White Dwarf, served to me by a very cheery, welcoming and industrious lone barmaid. A station-side pub in the beer deserts of North West London hardly seems like a promising location for some good beer, but this place seems to have made a priority of cask ale after it recently dodged the wrecking ball, having been bought by greedy developers who are now looking into a Trojan Horse-style development of the upper floors. It’s nice to see the pub still trading and would definitely recommend calling in to lend some support if you’re in the area.

This is no longer the Greene King pub found by previous reviewers; GK have sold it to a finance company (and they have form in this respect), and now there's a (hotly opposed) planning application to demolish it and replace it with masses of residential accommodation. I wish the objectors well. But for now it's a pub, and not a bad one at that. They had two real ales on - New River Riverbed Red (trips off the tongue that one), and Oakham Citra (£3.90 a pint), with another couple of handpumps unclipped. During my Wednesday lunchtime visit there was a blackboard advertising various burgers for £5 a pop. There were also clipboard menus on all the tables with all main meals at £8.50, including burgers - but these came with chips whereas my fiver version was sans chips. Good quality though. This is a landmark pub, now painted brilliant white inside as well as out. The room at the front where I sat has a pool table and mainly standard furnishings. There's a large separate room at the back accessed via an archway to the left of the servery, which is where some sofas are located for those who like to lounge around in pubs as well as more normal tables and chairs. The bar counter also extends into a corner of this room. Behind this room is a sort of conservatory cum covered drinking area, and a garden with picnic bench seating. Unfortunately the garden is a little too near to one of the busiest roads in the country - the M1 - plus trains going past. There's tall fencing surrounding the garden which at least shields you from the sight, if not the sounds, of its noisy neighbours. You don't see many Morris Minors these days, but this pub had one parked out in front of it as well as another in a parking bay in the garden next to a classic MG as well. The pub seemed to be staffed with delightful, energetic and crazy young girls during my visit. But they were very apologetic that their till wasn't working, and that for (hopefully) one day only it was card payment only. Well, I've learnt my lesson on that score and against all the odds had a bit of plastic on me, which I just had to wave at the little phaser like device she was brandishing in order to get a pint of excellent Citra. It was very quiet when I was in, but I hope it gets busier in the evenings and at weekends. I found the white paint everywhere a little overly clinical, but nevertheless enjoyed my hour or so in this friendly pub.

Seems to be a change going on here, judging by what I saw compared to previous reviews. The Greene King livery has gone and there has been a half-done rebrand. In essence it's a fairly straightforward local here now; the front bar has stripped floorboards, a less-than-lovely cream and mushroom colour scheme, moulded ceiling, muted TV news, slightly over-loud music and pool table. Behind is a large room that wasn’t accessible on my late afternoon visit. Live music and quiz night advertised. Three pumps with ales two on; GK OSH and a surprisingly excellent Dark Star Hophead which the young friendly barmaid fussed over to make sure it was clearing properly. Also at £3.60 a fairly cheap option too. So I stayed for another. Started filling up around 5, so the locals are obviously on board. There’s potential here, with a bit more work on the interior being the priority.

This Greene King pub has a small seating area at the front that is made up of a mix of sofas, pew seating and more conventional tables. There is also a plasma screen for showing Sky Sports and the bar is stocked with standard draught products and has three hand pumps that were all drawing GK IPA. The back bar here is much larger than the front and it houses two pool tables and a DJ booth is found in the far right hand corner. Oddly there is a dartboard on the wall in the booth so the oche has a step up just before the board. There is a covered decked area out the back that leads to more seating on a paved area past a BBQ. This whole area is fenced in, but the lorries flying up the M1 a short distance away are very loud. The only signs I saw of food were some advertisements for curry available to eat in or take away for £6.50 between 18:00 and 22:00 on Tuesdays through to Sundays. The pubs that I have visited in this area have not been that great and this pub is no exception.