The Jack Horner, Bloomsbury, W1

Smart street corner Fullers pub with a great location in a prime retail area, not too far from Oxford Street. Entering through a corner porch, you emerge into the main bar area, which is dominated by the centrally positioned servery, which the bare boarded room wraps around. The bar has a beautiful counter front, richly embellished with decorative woodwork flourishes beneath a polished stone counter. There’s some mixed seating to the front, under large light features and a display gallery packed full of seemingly unrelated objects. To the left of the bar, nice ethed glass screens have been used to create a cosy snug-like space with a couple of tables squeezed in, whilst to the rear, the room opens out into a dining space of sorts, with two-thirds height panels topped with Fullers themed murals and branding. There’s another gallery back here, packed full of tankards, jugs, earthenware and a million other things. Pop music played a little loudly, although not so loud as to impede conversation, and there are a few benches outside on the pavement to one side of the pub. Three Fullers beers – London Pride, EBS and Dark Star Hophead – were available on handpull alongside a guest of Tiny Rebel Billabong. I opted for a pint of the latter, which was in decent nick and served to me by a friendly barmaid who had a good laugh with me when another bloke very nearly paid for my beer by mistake with his contactless card! I thought this was a nice city centre Fullers house, not benefitting from the grandeur of some of their Pie and Alehouse establishments perhaps, but still presenting itself as a smart, comfortable pub that you’d be happy to settle down in for a while. Definitely a good bolt hole away from the surrounding retail madness and well worth a look in passing.

Fuller's place converted from a bank in 1994, it’s nicely decorated in the dark wood and burgundy trim of the type that's welcoming if perhaps a little contrived (tourists, innit?). Staple shaped interior with some partitioned seating which is surprisingly small, especially as the left staple end is set aside for dining. Irritatingly there were stools all-round the bar blocking service points, mind you the staff weren't exactly exemplars of customer service themselves. Three banks of ale pumps with the central one displaying all the choices, Pride, ESB, Oliver's Island, Rocky Red (NBSS 3) Dark Star Hophead and a guest in the shape of Tiny Rebel. Prices are steep, as is the Fullers norm these days. Overall it’s a decent shout for the area - something that's a known quantity and generally consistent. 6.5

I like Fullers pubs and this is another good one Very busy with a good range of Fullers beers but I went for St Austall-cousin jack. Maybe I shouldn't have.Touristy interior but that's what they want.

Fuller's Ale and Pie House with a staple shaped bar serving an extensive Fuller's selection. Pretty formulaic but did the job on a crawl.

Official site of Jack Horner - www.jackhornerpub.co.uk

Official site of Jack Horner - www.jackhornerpub.co.uk

This is a Fuller’s Ale & Pie house, which had on Seafarer’s, Wild Rover, ESB, and London Pride when I visited the other day. The “Jack Horner Pie” is £12.95 (what’s in the pie varies apparently). Sarnies are around £6 - £7. I didn’t test the quality, but those prices seem to be at the top end of the range to me. There’s lots of dark wood in here, false marble facings on the pillars, modern replacement bare boards, modern etched glass panels, bric a brac on display on shelves, and a tiled splash area around the bar counter all probably intended to give it an “Olde London Pub” look about it. It works to some extent, and it’s all good quality stuff, but it doesn’t take much of a practiced eye to see that it’s all modern replacements. Furnishings are a mix of normal tables and chairs and tall tables/tall stools. It’s a comfortable enough pub that has a reasonable ale selection (as long as you’re OK with Fuller’s beers), but it does suffer a bit from the Fuller’s Ale & Pie corporate look. I would visit again though, as I quite like Fuller’s ales.