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Detail Pages
Bricklayers Arms, Fitzrovia, W1
W1
W1T 1QS
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Bricklayers Arms
A pretty and unusual looking building which gave me the forebodings as I could remember my previous visit here fairly well. Downstairs, which I appeared to have not remembered anything about at all, is two teeny rooms one behind the other with a bar dividing the two and serving both. It’s dark wood panelling, quarry tile flooring and banquettes in the front, and flock wallpaper in the rear. The upstairs lounge gave me a slight shudder when I went to confront my demons but it seemed a lot smaller than I remembered – time playing tricks I suppose. Interestingly, the mobile phone ban is actually enforced here. We sat in the downstairs front bar which had a good atmosphere with some regulars in situ providing pub banter. No cask OBB so finally went for a keg OBB which was absolute grot. A decent mid-ranking Sam’s. 6.5
April 2006
Sam Smith's pub with a laneway under the left-hand side of the building. A funny little place, the upstairs is like a gentleman's club that hasn't been decorated since 1976 - very cosy. Downstairs is divided into a front and back room. No OBB, so the ale drinkers might as well give this one a miss. Found the barman to be a grumpy sod; someone queried a short measure (turned out it was a lined glass) but his attitude in dealing with the query was rather abrasive which put a bit of a dampener on the atmosphere. As usual for SS pubs, no TV etc. Rated 5
On 20th December 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 5089 recommendations about 5072 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Bricklayers Arms
Somewhat hidden away, this Sam Smiths pub has a brewer's Tudor façade and a deliberately old-fashioned interior. You probably won't find anywhere to sit in the small front bar, and whilst there is a bit more seating in the even smaller back room this isn't really an option either if people are playing darts. Persevere, though, and head upstairs where the lounge bar offers some comfortable seating and a very relaxed atmosphere (and as far as I could tell, the same choice of beer as available downstairs). Crazily, still no OBB on handpump, and the Extra Stout now costs £3.60, but it is nevertheless a reasonable spot if you go at the right time.
On 30th March 2018
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Bricklayers Arms
It's got to be about 15 years since I last visited this pub, when it was one of our regular haunts when I worked nearby at St Giles Court. It doesn't seemed to have changed much. The main bar is at the front with the brick-built bar counter facing you, and with another small room at the back down a couple of steps and accessed round to the right of the servery. The back room was still being used by a bunch of blokes playing darts, possibly skiving off from work.
The front room has terracotta tiled flooring, which is most unusual. The panelling on the walls looks to be the real deal, but you never know with Sam Smith's and their penchant for traditional restorations. On the subject of Sam Smith's, unfortunately this isn't one of their pubs that does the real ale version of Old Brewery Bitter.
This is quite a nice and relaxing pub that is just far enough from the hell that is Oxford St to avoid the crowds. But I have seen it fairly busy on a nice day with a fair number of punters lounging about outside. But I don't think you would come here for the beer.
On 18th October 2016
- rating: 4
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about Bricklayers Arms
This pub dates back to at least the 18th century in some form but was rebuilt in 'brewers' tudor' probably in the 1920s/30s and was one of my main office haunts from 1988 to 1991 when our Gresse Street-based company would fill the place on a Friday night, in fact most weekday nights, spilling out onto the pavement on balmy summer evenings!
The small front bar is a bit stark and is a symphony in ceramics with a brick or quarry tiled floor and brick faced bar; upholstered bench seats are to the walls. There's another slightly lower bar to the rear, but it's the upstairs room and bar that's altogether larger. We didn't explore, but if unchanged it was a rather grand room with dark wood, velour seats and window reveals.
We didn't bother with the keg-only Smith's offerings but had a half of the low alcohol Alpine Lager and bade our farewells.
Closed Sundays.
On 29th March 2016
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1985 recommendations about 1951 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
hondo . left this review about Bricklayers Arms
Sam Smith's pub with quite a plain interior by Smith's standards. 2 rooms on the ground floor didn't visit upstairs.
On 23rd April 2015
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2883 recommendations about 2820 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about The Bricklayers Arms
This secretive little Sam Smiths pub can be found tucked away round the back of Tottenham Court Road.
The exterior is rather quaint and charming and it’s comforting to see ample brickwork on display as the name impies.
The interior is divided into front and rear basr on tehb ground floor and an upstairs lounge bar. The small front bar is quite simple but is very neat and tidy with leather banquette seating either side of the entrance porch, dark paneled walls.and a bare tiled floor. A corridor to the right of the bar leads to a compact room with bare wooded floors and a single table around a curved banquette. A ledge along on wall has a few stools and there is amazingly a dart board, quite rare for the West End especially within such cramped surrounds. A small service hatch opens into the main bar. Upstairs, the carpeted lounge bar opens during peak hours and is a little bit more spacious with its own wells tocked bar. The window bays double up for extra seating although the awkward and impractical seat at the top of the stairs does baffle me a bit.
The general décor contains displays providing everything you ever needed to know about bricks but were afraid to ask with drawings, diagrams, elevations and descriptions regarding everything brickwork.
Whilst there is a good selection of Sam Smiths beers (I think virtually the whole range was avaibale) but there are no hand pumps so everything is in keg form. As is the norm for Sam Smiths pubs, prices are so low you sometimes just don’t care.
I have used the Bricklayers many times over the years and always found it friendly and civilized albeit somewhat uncomfortable when crowded as it does inevitably get when service can be a bit slow. This little corner of the West End has a few little pubs that must be leaning towards receiving some kind of heritage status and the Bricklayers is well worth a visit just to see how pubs once to be before the interior designers had their day.
On 10th November 2011
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about The Bricklayers Arms
This is a small Sam Smiths pub, but it is worth a look around as it'll only take 30 seconds, which is 4 minutes and 30 seconds less time than it took me to be served. I wouldn't have minded, but a bloke standing behind me was served before me. On enquiry the barmaid thought that I had already been served, she was the only one working the bar.
This is not the best SS have to offer.
On 31st October 2008
- rating: 5
[User has posted 5249 recommendations about 5217 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Clive Thompson left this review about The Bricklayers Arms
Tucked away off Rathbone Place and probably doesn't get much passing trade. There is a small front bar with bench seating around the sides and a few tables. The even smaller back bar has a few stools just one table and a dartboard, there's also a serving hatch to the bar which looked as if it was still used. Upstairs is a pleasant lounge with sofas and armchairs that feels a bit like walking into someone's front room. It does have it's own bar upstairs but I imagine this is only opened during busy times.
On 21st March 2008
- rating: 6
[User has posted 777 recommendations about 697 pubs]