Sir Colin Campbell, Kilburn, NW6

A short walk down Kilburn High Road from the station, this is a traditional two-bar pub that has done well to retain its original layout. The left-hand side of the pub is perhaps the more basic of the two rooms, by virtue of the bare boards, plain painted walls and utilitarian seating down the left-hand wall, including some awkward looking high tables and stools. The servery is to the right and has a basic wood panelled counter, albeit with the helpful addition of coat hooks, and a partly ripped out bar back which retains some shelving, but has no backing to it, so that you can see straight through to the other room. The room’s public bar credentials were rounded out by a dartboard and a large TV screen showing Sky Sports News. A passageway behind the bar takes you through to the seemingly more popular (i.e. not empty) right-hand room, which is also bare boarded, but sports some fancy floral print wallpaper, high tables and stools plus a few banquette and pew options nearer the front. The windows have unusual top screens that look like they can be detached, perhaps to aid airflow? There’s a fireplace next to the bar, which was draped with a large rainbow flag, whilst a second TV screen was showing the same channel with the sound up, which clashed a little with the 80’s pop tunes playing in the other side of the bar. Unbeknownst to me, the pub has some sort of long-term issue with its cellar and beer lines, which means that it has had to suspend cask ale. This left me with a bunch of mainstream products to choose from, so I plumped for Guinness at £5.70 a pint. It was a decent enough drop and the lone barman seemed pretty friendly, but with only two other customers knocking about on a Tuesday night, it wasn’t a particularly memorable visit. I quite liked this place for the simple fact that it has managed to retain it’s multiple room interior when so many other pubs in this part of the world, including the spectacular Black Lion a few doors down, have thoughtlessly been knocked through. The ongoing cask saga and the total lack of atmosphere definitely count against the place, but if they could get some decent beer on again, I reckon it would be worth giving it another try.

Official site of Sir Colin Campbell - thesircolincampbell.co.uk

Official site of Sir Colin Campbell - thesircolincampbell.co.uk

We managed to enter through the exit of this pub, which is the only Good Beer Guide entry for NW6. Although, there were no real ales at all for our visit. The keg selection was Gamma Ray, Neck Oil, Capel Road, Amstel, Kronenbourg, Hop House 13 & Guinness. Much deteriorated from my last visit, in terms of ale range, the dark interior still feels fairly homely. But with the only other customer on our arrival sat outside, it lacked any kind of atmosphere. Another customer did come in (also through the exit). But fairly disappointing in all.

Best pub for real ale along the Cricklewood and Kilburn stretch.Nice warm cosy pub to boot.Busy.Only 3 real ales on my visit but Weird Beard -Little Things That Kill was good.

This pub has definitely gone up several notches since previous reviewers' unmemorable visits. This pub still retains its two rooms, joined by an archway behind the servery. Each room has three handpumps - two in each room were repeated, and in each room there was a pumpclip on a bottle to indicate the beer available in the other room. The four ales on were the Tiny Rebel pair of Rocksteady and Juicy, plus One Mile End Temperance, and Watney's Pale Ale. I was a bit dubious about the latter of these, but the barman kindly gave me a taster and as it tasted fine - and was on special offer at £3 a pint - I gave it a go. And it was very good. The barman didn't know who brewed it, but a quick search reveals that it's brewed under licence at Sambrook's. There was no sign of any food at 3.30 PM on Wednesday. Of the two rooms the one on the right, which I guess might have been the Saloon Bar, seems the most interesting. The walls are wood panelled to dado height, with wood framed wall panels above that as well as a wood framed fireplace. It looks to be good quality - oak perhaps. There's a simple bar back, now see through between the two rooms, and a simple and cheap-looking bar counter. The pub sign still has its old Watney Combe Reid signage. It all looks inter-war to me. There's a small garden at the back. All furnishings are pretty standard, being mainly normal tables and chairs, but the room on the right has a banquette, settle, as well as a couple of tall tables/tall stools. There are one or two deals - Monday gets you £1 off a pint of real ale or craft beer (however that's defined) plus accoustic music, and there were also deals regarding cocktails that I couldn't be arsed to write down. Quiz night Tuesday. I reckon that this is a cracking little pub. It has a welcoming feel to it, and I would be very happy to visit it again.