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The Gunmakers, Marylebone, W1
W1
W1U 4AP
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6 of 10) see review guidelines
Moby Duck left this review about The Gunmakers
The pub has had a two year closure since the previous reviews re-opening 2019. I found a single roomed rather soulless pub with a basement restaurant area. Two handpumps offering St Austell Tribute and Marstons Shipyard Pale. Nothing special to see here.
On 23rd March 2024
- rating: 4
[User has posted 1872 recommendations about 1845 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Gunmakers
This is a single room Victorian pub close to Paddington Street Gardens and looking out across a rather dull car park. The pub is quite smartly appointed, having undergone a relatively recent change of name from its former incarnation as the William Wallace. Some limited pavement seating is available with great views of the aforementioned car park but you'd be better off entering into the spacious main bar. The room is bare boarded and has button backed bench seating down either side and under the etched glass front windows. Walls have high wood panels decorated with hunting scenes down one side and framed bullet displays down the other, which I suppose bear some relevance when considering the pub's new name. Various portraits and photographs appear on the uppers, including a picture of Muhammad Ali near the bar, apropos of nothing. Equally baffling is the collection of Churchill photos, statuettes and the like, including his image on the pub sign, which I can't seem to account for although one image of him drinking a pint did vaguely look as if it could have been taken in this pub. The bar is on the rear wall and has a dark wood counter and plain bar back topped with blackboards listing live sports coverage and detailing a function room available for hire. The room extends to the rear past the right hand side of the bar where you'll find a dumb waiter on the side wall with a fine old mirror for 'James Grafton - Gunmakers' above. A couple more tables and chairs can be found back here under similar panelling with a large bust above the toilet doors and more photos on the walls. A couple of TV screens were showing muted coverage of a Europa League fixture with music playing quietly in the background.
There were four beers on here - Trumans Zephyr, St Austell Tribute, Twickenham Black Eel and a strange pump clip bearing a vaguely familiar logo but no other information as to what beer might be on. Upon enquiring, the friendly barmaid conversed with a colleague before telling me it was Whisper and True Milkshake Stout! I then instantly recognised the clip as having the logo of the Wiper and True brewery and ordered a pint (£4.90). I have to say it was in great shape but it must be one of the heaviest drinking pints I've ever tried, tasting exactly like a pint of milkshake.
This is quite a nice pub with some interesting and well kept beer differentiating it from the majority of pubs in this part of town. The interior is a bit too opened out, with nothing to break up the sight lines or afford much privacy, but there is enough going on to maintain interest beyond a quick pint and I would consider this for a revisit when in the area.
On 5th June 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about Gunmakers
A late Victorian pub, until quite recently trading under its original name of The Bricklayers Arms before a spell as The William Wallace, recently renamed The Gunmakers.
Located in something of a Marylebone backwater, the place overlooks a rather unattractive car park. Inside, it's a fairly decent-sized pub with very attractive three-quarter height parquetry wood panelling, which probably dates from the 1930s. Walls are adorned with old shotgun cartridges and the like as well as loads of Winston Churchill memorabilia; for why? The floor is modern bare boarded and there are three TVs showing sport with the sound down, which for me isn't exactly a selling point; muted music played in the background.
Food here is more 'posh' pub grub rather than gastro and apparently the place boasts a pub cat. I didn't see it, so perhaps it's languishing in one of their pies! Clients are a mix of estate locals and the well-heeled in suits.
Service was slow and barely competent, thereafter it was St. Austell's Tribute, a reversed clip or Truman's Rio Gold or Runner at £2.10 a half which was fine and surprisingly cheap for the area.
Wood panelling aside, I can't really recommend this pub as it's a bit bland. I won't be returning, but wish all the best for those who want to give it a go.
On 4th August 2016
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1985 recommendations about 1951 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Danny O'Revey left this review about Gunmakers
Small but grand pub near Baker Street, light wood floor. high ceiling, padded red leather benches around the outside.
Various sketches & photographs around the walls, there is an unused fireplace in the middle of one wall & a pillar in front of the bar for perching around. Nice tidy pub with four well kept real ales.
There is a lucky black pub cat.
Best pint of Trumans Runner I have had (though tended to avoid it previously)
On 28th January 2016
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1456 recommendations about 1434 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about Gunmakers
The building has a very pleasing exterior,although the etched glass windows on the ground floor are often obscured at busy times by a crowd of external drinkers(and smokers) who gather around a space heater.The interior is a simple square room with a leg to the right,with bare floorboards but quite upmarket red leather backed benches and chairs around the perimeter with the bar running along a rear wall.The flatscreens do create a large diversion and should really be switched off if no one is paying attention.A Liverpool goal in the Europa league match being screened when I was in wasnt noticed by anyone apart from me,thankfully the volume was on mute.
At the bar there are four handpumps which on my trip were drawing St Austell Tribute (permanent) and guests of Mondo Ryder Pale Ale & James Brown Ale and Trumans Bold as Brass.All three guests were in good nick justifying the 2016 GBG entry and it was good to see three locally brewed ales available.
There is an intruiging sign on the wall to The Winchester Suite through a side door,but the fire door has a combination lock,so I couldn't investigate if the ghost of Arthur Daley inhabits what is a private function room on the first floor.
The pub gets busy immediately afterwork,but was calm enough by 8pm so consider your arrival time with care if crowds bother you.Food available until 9.30pm,but most punters on my trip were just drinking.
I thought the ale range was pretty good and would happily use the pub again for a decent pint or two.
On 23rd October 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2728 recommendations about 2728 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Mark Davey left this review about Gunmakers
Seeking a pint early on New Years Eve, we made for the Gunmakers. Almost everything was off, bar a very hoppy blonde and a slightly darker bitter. We orderer 3 pints of the bitter but recieved just one as that too went off. Settling for 2 pints of the blonde, we sat back to enjoy our beer, but were soon asked to move so that the stage could be set up for the live band later in the night.
Staff seemed to be pretty miserable, from the Eastern European bar maid to the huge bouncer playing with his phone. Not really a welcoming environment, made worse by the lack of beer.
Interestingly, the flyer for the New years Eve party declared "real ales on tap" someone was going to be disappointed! Probably won't be going back.
On 6th January 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 292 recommendations about 276 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about Gunmakers
Smallish pub tucked away on the way back to Baker Street from Marylebone High Street and one I’ve utilised for a decent pint of something different to the usual London protagonists when in this part of town. And in that respect it did not disappoint again the other night.
Harveys seasonal ale Kiss, Darkstar Pale Ale, Hackney Brewery Best Bitter and St Austells Tribute (which had just gone) were on the four pumps and the Hackney Best and Darkstar brew were well kept pints.
As mentioned below it is mainly one square space in front of the bar with seating round the three sides and the front of the used for vertical drinking. And then a further smaller space stretching back to the right of the bar.
Beer has always been decent and it is comfortable enough. But due to its smallish size, it gets a bit noisy when there is a few in, and you can’t help but get the full conversations from the bar flys and even from the tables opposite. So after my recent visit last week I am now fully genned up on the price of flights from Dublin and why Premier league referees should be equipped with Smart phones to play back contentious decisions…yawn!.
And for such a small pub , it has three large flat screen teles on the main 3 walls away from the bar, meaning that there is nowhere you can sit without being in full view of a large screen. Yes, useful when there is something worth watching on, but bloody distracting when they insist on showing a meaningless La Liga game at 10.30 in the evening.
On 27th February 2014
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2111 recommendations about 1992 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Gunmakers
There were four real ales on during my midweek lunchtime visit – Landlord, Spitfire, St Edmunds, and GKIPA. At £3.50 a pint, I thought the Landlord was somewhat overpriced. I didn’t ascertain the prices of the other ales, but I would be surprised if they were not similarly overpriced. The Churchilliana still remains, with the outside sign plus at least a couple of portraits of the great man inside. Other features include a couple of small artillery pieces outside the main door, and a large number of cartridge cases in frames on the walls. On the ledge on the wall on the left is a plaster model, some 4 feet in height of someone leaning on a lamppost. It could be George Formby I suppose, but looked more like Charlie Chaplin to me. The walls are wood panelled, and the floor is varnished bare boards with what look like the original boards. Seating is normal tables plus banquettes and small stools round the sides of the room, with the centre of the room remaining empty, presumably to aid vertical drinking. All the tables sport a small vase with two or three roses in them, and a piano in one of the corners also has a couple of flower vases on it. I guess the piano is there for decorative purposes.
Further evidence of the upmarket aspirations of this place is provided by the yellow awning covering the handful of outside tables that appears to be sponsored by Veuve Clicquot. The pub has some interesting features and is a reasonably comfortable place to stop off for a pint, but I have to say that I found the ale prices to be a bit offputting. I doubt whether I’ll be visiting again.
On 17th July 2010
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about Gunmakers
It was fairly busy in here during my week night visit, but this was mainly due to a football match being shown on the large plasma screen up on the wall in this open plan pub. It was good to see the TV being muted during half time with some music playing for 15 minutes so that we weren't all subjected to the ramblings of Andy Gray.
I thought that the barman was nice enough and my Guinness was well served. There was a range of Greene King ales available alongside a standard and premium lager selection.
There is a sign for the Winston Churchill outside which may have been an old pub name and the theme is taken inside with a few portraits of him mingled in with the gun theme. I did note an impressive display case full of rounds and cartridges.
I would use this pub again if I was in the area and wanted to watch a match.
On 14th February 2010
- rating: 8
[User has posted 5254 recommendations about 5222 pubs]