The Queens Head, WC1

Fine London boozer & food outlet, not large there is a front bar and a smaller almost corridor shape at the rear. The bar runs along side the front area. Wood seating & some lower bench seats its a nice atmospheric relaxing place, perhaps slightly cosmopolitan. Real fires, 3 very well kept real ales, including 2 from Redemption. Now a Good Beer Guide 2014 pub

Just a five minute or so walk from the bustle of Kings Cross/St Pancras, the Queen’s Head is a pleasant Victorian pub promoting carefully sourced food and drink. It has a fairly simple single room layout with the servery running down the left hand wall. You enter to a tiled floor area with some button backed sofas and low stools under the front windows before passing an upright piano into the main bar space with bare floorboards and plenty of standard table and chair seating. I’m not sure there’s much in the way of original fixtures and fittings remaining, but I spotted some nice tiling on the right hand wall underneath some decorative mirrors and there’s a decent fireplace on the back wall, which could’ve done with being lit during my visit on a bitterly cold winter’s evening. The servery has some nice integral lamps on the bar counter and a hop lined bar back with a pump clip collection. The room extends further to the rear in the back left corner and there are some more tables squeezed in here which seemed to be favoured by diners during my stay. I noticed a small book swap and a collection of board games to keep the punters entertained. There were just the two ales on hand pull – Dark Star Hophead and Jack of Clubs from the new (to me at least) Wild Card Brewery from East London – with a turned clip on a third pump. The Jack of Clubs seemed like a decent pint and the barman who served me was a very personable chap. I noticed one real cider available and several more racked up behind the bar, whilst a popular keg range provided some rarities from the likes of Kernel, Camden, Harviestoun and Black Isle. Food seemed to be going down well and the table next to me ordered some sort of sharing platter which looked very nice, even if the sharing didn’t extend to offering any to me! Reading Roger’s review from 2007, it sounds like this is a good example of a below average, run of the mill pub being given a new lease of life by taking a bit of care in what they do and stocking good quality products. I’d most certainly consider a re-visit the next time I’m passing through Kings Cross.

Well worth checking out if you are in the area.Three cask ales,a few craft kegs and a good bottled range.Getting busier each time i visit.

The Queens Head official site - www.queensheadlondon.com

The Queens Head official site - www.queensheadlondon.com

Narrow rectangular bar with a further seating area beyond. Several small roof lights. Beer and bar snack menus on the tables. Fairly basic furniture and decor, enlivened by a few flourishes including some floor and wall tiling. A couple of wooden benches out front. Small rear patio. Three of the four handpumps were on, with Dark Star Hophead, Windsor & Eton Black IPA and Gadds No 3 (£3.40). Overall, worth seeking out if in the area.

This is a small Victorian side-street pub. There is some original tiling on the right, and the mirrors above it could also be original although they are not such good quality as some others I have seen. The pool table mentioned by other reviewers has now gone, and the emphasis now is clearly on a combination of comfort (sofas on the left as you enter) and the modern gastro look. There area some normal tables and chairs at the back, behind a good bit of open floor space with parquet flooring, presumably occupied by vertical drinkers when the place gets busy. Some bushels of dried hops above the bar back and draped across the ceiling midway down the length of the pub add something of a rural look. Now onto the ales – Cottage Brewing Hawker Fury, Darkstar Hophead and Windsor & Eton Guardsman were available on handpump, along with Hedge-Layer cider. The Hawker Fury was in good nick. I did see some clipboard menus on the tables, but didn’t scrutinise them. The music was being played at background levels, and wasn’t the dross we usually have to listen to – I recognised a live version of The Stones’ Sympathy For The Devil. I reckon this placed has improved somewhat since previous reviewers’ visits, and I would be happy to drop in here again for another pint of something decent to drink.