The White Horse & Bower, Westminster, SW1

Dating from 1818 and rebuilt in 1894, this is a fairly commanding corner backstreet pub in a Pimlico/Victoria hinterland. It’s all a bit bland inside, with mushroom-coloured paints and new floor, with mixed height furniture. TVs were showing nothing of consequence and the loud chatter of office workers didn’t make for a restful experience. The only item of interest was a gilt framed (reclaimed?) White Horse & Bower mirror, perhaps an indication of better times passed. Despite being a Shepherd Neame house, all four pumps were unused, with an info board blocking them, leaving the only credible option being keg Spitfire, which in fact turned out to be Spitfire lager. This is a dull pub. The vastly superior Speaker is just round the corner, so I doubt I’ll return. Note restricted opening times.

This is a Shepherd Neame pub, so it's no surprise that the ales on were Spitfire and Whitstable Bay Pale (£2.25 a half). Sandwiches are from £4.95 (ham & chutney) to £6.95 for the club sandwich. Main courses are par for the area - the burger is £11.95 and cod & chips is £12.95. It's now a single room, but the doors testify to its multi-room past. The corner door takes you into a small vestibule; and a further set of doors - a sort of airlock system therefore - takes you into a carpeted area furnished with tall tables and tall stools. Then on the left is the bar counter, which looks inter-war as does the bar back, and past this is an area with normal tables and chairs. There are a few prints on the walls, and a "White Horse & Bower" mirror that looks modern. A pop music radio station was being broadcast; rubbish music as it happens, although thankfully not too loud. It's an ordinary run-of-the-mill pub - I wish we had more of them.

One room Shepherd Neame pub with mute TV and low background music. Strongest beer was 4.5% ABV.

The White Horse and Bower is a Shepherd Neame run pub so I wasn’t surprised to see Spitfire and Whitstable Bay available. Two other hand pumps were unused during my pre-Christmas afternoon visit, but the usual SN keg favourites such as Oranjeboom were present. A couple of plasma screens located at either end of this long and thin pub were off, but BT Sport was advertised so expect football when available. There was no worthwhile sport being played during my visit so low background music was preferred. The centrally located bar is bookended by front and rear carpeted seating areas. The toilets are located down a steep flight of stairs, much like many pubs in this area. I didn’t see any menus during my visit, but there was a small chest with that supported some cutlery and condiments so food is available. The service was polite without being overly friendly. I'm not a massive SN fan so I do not envisage a return visit anytime soon.

A very basic Shepherd Neame pub, just around the corner from the Home Office. I have to call in here occasionally when whoever is having a birthday has no imagination. Green, institution coloured walls with some B & W prints on them. There are 4 handpumps, but rarely are all 4 on. The beer quality is at best average and can often be poor. Considering how busy it can get that just shows a complete lack of cellarmanship. Lots of better options in the area, so don't do this one.

This pub, originally built in the early 1800’s and called ‘The White Horse’, was rebuilt in it’s current guise in 1894 by the former New Westminster brewery. Today, the pub is owned by Shepherd Neame and presents a very simple single room set-up typical of many Central London pubs. A corner entrance takes you into a relatively narrow room that extends a reasonable distance to the rear. The entrance is flanked by some pleasing frosted glass panes with decorative patterns picked out, which takes you into a front seating area, mainly furnished with high stools around tables and ledges. Further into the room, the servery appears to the left with a dark wood counter and rather bland bar back which has a couple of pleasant mirrors to the side. Standard tables and chairs fill the narrow space opposite before the room opens up again to the rear and some more comfortable looking options are arranged here. There is plenty of dark wood offset by smart contemporary touches throughout the room, which come close to giving a cold, corporate feel, although I found there was just about enough of interest here to avoid such a fate. Our visit, on a relatively quiet mid-week afternoon allowed us to bag a table, but the pub’s popularity with the civil servants and media types working nearby, means that it can get uncomfortably busy in a relatively short space of time. There were only two beers available when we visited just before Christmas – Shepherd Neame Whitstable Bay and Spitfire – each doubled up across the row of handpulls. I sampled several pints of the Whitstable Bay and found it perfectly drinkable. This is a fairly unremarkable place that worked pretty well as somewhere that pleased everyone from our work party, but is unlikely to hold a great deal of interest for the more discerning drinker. I was happy enough enjoying a few well kept pints but wouldn’t actively seek the place out for a return visit.

The White Horse and Bower page on the Shepherd Neame website - www.shepherdneame.co.uk

The White Horse and Bower page on the Shepherd Neame website - www.shepherdneame.co.uk

A neat and tidy but rather faceless Shepherd Neame corner pub a few doors down from the Barley Mow and sufficiently far enough away from the general touristy area of Westminster to retain a local's ambience. The interior is 2 rooms knocked through and the décor rather plain and unfussy with plenty of pictures and murals that ultimately fail to diguise the feeling of bare space that seems to eminate from within. 4 Ales from the Shep Neame range – Spitfire, Kents Best, Master Brew and my first sighting of the brewery's new Canterbury Jack ale. Customer base is generally fairly civilised and the piped music rather bland and just about audible. A well positioned plasma screen is situated on the rear wall and there is a paper rack if you have struggled to find the elusive Lite / London Paper distributer. Not unlike its near neighbour, there is nothing special to draw you to the place but it is fine for a relatively peaceful, quick, couple of pints.