User name:

Password:

Login


Sign in with Facebook


Not already a member?
Join our community and - Rate & review pubs - Upload pictures - Add events JOIN for free NOW


Chat about:
Beer of the Week (w/e 17th March 2024) with Mobyduck on the Pub Forum

The Barley Mow, Marylebone, W1

8 Dorset Street
Marylebone
W1
W1U 6QW

Return to pub summary

Page: 1 2

Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) Add Review see review guidelines


Will Larter left this review about The Barley Mow

One of a handful of heritage pub interiors that I did one afternoon in January last year. This one is a really nice back street local with wood panelled walls. Camra's heritage team gives it a three star rating, but as I found elsewhere, this doesn't have to mean it's a pleasant place to have a drink. Fortunately, in this case it's a cracking pub. There are six hand pumps with four beers on at the time of my visit. I went for Redemption Hopspur which was really good (NBSS 4), with a nice bitter finish. The pub was lively for a Tuesday afternoon (around three o'clock), with a bit of chatter going on but a number of what I took to be locals just enjoying their beers and reading their newspapers. Well worth seeking out.

Date of visit: 17th January 2023

On 15th January 2024 - rating: 8
[User has posted 3697 recommendations about 3440 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Bucking Fastard left this review about The Barley Mow

This street corner boozer has a great interior worthy of close inspection.You enter into an L shaped tap room with some good etched glass around the entrance door.The unusual feature are two small private booths with their own mid height doors and room only really for a small group of friends.Behind these booths is a narrow corridor to a rear snug with it's own bar access and all very charming.The rest of the rear corridor leads to the loos and then back to the tap room,which has long bench seating fitted to the walls and brittania tables.The Six Nations was on but with the volume turned down so that it didn't dominate the friendly atmosphere.
On my visit the GBG reguar had four handpumps on the go dispensing Harvey's Sussex Best and Forwards Choice,Fuller London Pride and Theakston's Best (NBSS 3).That's four quite similar ,low ABV boring brown beers despite obvious care being taken with conditioning.I would have hoped for a better mix of styles and strengths if the idea of the GBG is to choose pubs which celebrate British ale excellence and diversity.
This is a great little pub ,well run and hospitable and deserves a visit.Just such a shame about the dull ale selection,otherwise it would have scored much higher and would be unmissable.

On 13th February 2022 - rating: 7
[User has posted 2709 recommendations about 2709 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Tris C left this review about The Barley Mow

Closed on Sundays, this is supposedly the oldest pub in Marylebone, dating from 1791, grade II-listed and on CAMRA’s list of pubs with interiors of National Importance.
Photos on CAMRA’s site, the most interesting heritage items here are the little private ‘confessional’ booths, linked to the bar and wall with metal brackets, which apparently were used for pawnbrokers’ transactions. With a stool, they can only accommodate only around five people of average size. The walls are clad in some form of matchboard and are absolutely festooned with the largest number of clip fronts I’ve ever seen; it must run to hundreds. Customers seemed to be a very mixed and friendly bunch, one loud local American causing me to seek refuge in one of the said boxes.
Two unused clips, the friendly barmaid thereafter serving up Windsor & Eton’s Eton Boatman, Cwtch, Pride and Proper Job at a very stiff £5.20 and in excellent shape.
This is a great little pub, worth pairing with the Jackalope.

On 9th October 2021 - rating: 7
[User has posted 1943 recommendations about 1910 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Barley Mow

Attractive, old-fashioned (in a good way) London pub with a 'U'-shaped layout featuring some traditional 3/4-height wooden screened booths to the left of the central counter. With limited space for more furniture at the front and the right-hand side, and only a few tables in the rear 'VIP Room', many of the punters were out on the pavement as is usual in these parts. Traditionally decorated with a fine display of pump clips too. Four of the six handpumps were in use on this visit, with real ales ranging from Doom Bar, XT 4 Session Amber and Windsor & Eton Corker! and Over the Moon mild from Dark Star (£4.90).

On 29th June 2019 - rating: 7
[User has posted 8039 recommendations about 8039 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


train man left this review about The Barley Mow

Having been pleasantly surprised, a couple of Mondays ago, to see a dartboard hidden behind the bar, and in use, I returned yesterday with friends for a comedy throw/keenly competitive game of tactics.
We waited until other customers had vacated the area, and were moving a couple of tables to enable play, when we were curtly told that the board was only for use by a team on Monday nights, and ‘had we asked permission?’..
Seriously? Can we use a dartboard in a public house? The board should carry a sign denoting ‘not for public use’. We didn’t buy another £18 round, I won’t be back.

On 25th November 2018 - rating: 3
[User has posted 412 recommendations about 411 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


hondo . left this review about The Barley Mow

Quirky interior with some wooden booths/snugs. 6 real ales.

On 23rd October 2018 - no rating submitted
[User has posted 2883 recommendations about 2820 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


custodian 42 left this review about The Barley Mow

Bar in centre as you come in. Booths to the left and open at the right and rear. Six real ales - nothing above 4.5% ABV.

On 16th July 2018 - rating: 5
[User has posted 1693 recommendations about 1691 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Delboy 20 left this review about The Barley Mow

Nice little pub a short stroll from the main drag. If you are visiting for a trip to Wembley and want to avoid the crush of the Globe and the Spoons it is worth popping in here and the nearby Beehive. You can actually get served and get a decent pint!

On 7th June 2018 - no rating submitted
[User has posted 1650 recommendations about 1552 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Pub SignMan left this review about The Barley Mow

Tucked away down one of the many side streets in Marylebone, this is a lovely heritage pub with a very unusual interior for Central London. You enter into a fairly straightforward main bar area comprising an L-shaped space with a dark wood servery on the rear wall. Banquette and low stool seating is available along the front and right hand sides and the walls have tongue and groove panelling decorated with pump clips, a nice Fullers mirror, a fine portrait of the pub and a TV screen which was switched off in favour of a drab selection of pop music. Over to the left, some attractive mid-height panelled screens along the end of the servery have been used to create two private snugs, each with their own door, accessed by a passageway down the left side of the pub. The snugs are pretty basic with simple seating, hooks for coats and bags and access to the servery but not much else. It’s also perhaps a bit misleading to describe them as ‘private’ – most people will be able to poke their head over the top of the panels to have a look inside. To the rear left there is a final small seating area, again with bar access, in a smartly carpeted space with comfy, if somewhat limited, seating. This seemed like a very pleasant place to enjoy a few drinks, especially as the front part of the pub was packed out for someone’s work leaving do. There is no garden but a decent sized area had been fenced off to the front of the pub, creating the usual London al-fresco drinking scene.
There were six ales on the go here on my mid-week visit – Black Sheep Bitter, Fullers London Pride, Gales Seafarers, Sharps Doom Bar, XT2 and West Berks Mister Chubbs. I also noticed a few Camden beers plus London Pride on keg dispense, although I wasn’t able to figure out if the latter was available for the same price as the cask. The bar staff were friendly and dealt well with the large crowd at the bar, serving up a rather nice pint of the Mister Chubbs in the process.
This is a lovely old pub with a very interesting layout thanks to the little snugs down one side of the building. It was a bit of a spur of the moment addition to my crawl, but I’m certainly glad I popped in. It’s a great place to have a nose around with some decent beer and friendly, welcoming staff and I’ll hope to give it another go at a more peaceful time in the near future.

On 5th June 2017 - rating: 7
[User has posted 3093 recommendations about 3093 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Real Ale Ray left this review about The Barley Mow

This pub is in the Camra Guide of National Heritage Pub Interiors, so well worth a visit. The main attraction here is the two drinking boxes attached the bar on the left hand side and the small snug at the rear. The pub interior is small, but the added tables and chairs out front adds the space. We went for the West Berks Mister Chubbs and the Fullers Olivers Island, which were well kept.

On 4th August 2015 - rating: 8
[User has posted 3368 recommendations about 3368 pubs]

Page: 1 2