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Detail Pages
The Goat Tavern, Mayfair, W1
W1
W1S 4RP
Pub Type
Taylor Walker (Spirit Pubs)Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6 of 10) see review guidelines
Graham Coombs left this review about The Goat Tavern
A narrow little pub with an upstairs and downstairs, although given it was fairly quiet we didn't need to venture there. The place was pleasant enough, with a relaxed feel, even if the crappy music was a bit annoying. Ales on were the (Greene King) house brew and TT Landlord, with IPA temporarily off. Adequate if passing but don't go out of your way.
On 13th April 2024
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3339 recommendations about 3276 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Goat Tavern
A slightly more interesting pub history here, as it dates from the mid-17th century, but was rebuilt in 1958, possibly as a result of bombing.
It’s a Greene King pub, with a GK modern ‘Victorian’ interior, though the linenfold-style bar front may be original; there’s a brass bar gantry. It’s very small inside, with two TVs dominating the visual ambience, sound down so as not to interfere with banal muzak. Tables are tall and mated with drinking ledges; there are some more traditional chairs to the rear. Décor comprises a picture of a clothed goat and dry leaves hanging about the place. Customers were few and looked bored.
Ales on offer were from the GK stable, so a painful £3.35 half of Neck Oil it was.
This isn’t great and the superior Kings Head is bang opposite.
On 28th October 2021
- rating: 4
[User has posted 1985 recommendations about 1951 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Goat Tavern
A narrow Greene King (ex-Taylor Walker pub), with a very compact bar meaning that it can be difficult to move around (but once you reach the counter, the staff are usually pretty efficient). It also has an upstairs room with another serving area (although this is usually boarded off) which is often deserted even when packed downstairs and out on the pavement. Four handpumps, with IPA and the seasonal Un-beer-lievable plus Hammerton N1 and Talgarth from Reunion Ales (£4.70) available as guests on my latest visit.
On 3rd August 2018
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
hondo . left this review about Goat Tavern
Small Taylor Walker pub with the usual dark interior and black & white tiles at the bar. 4 real ales and food served.
On 16th October 2015
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2883 recommendations about 2820 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john gray left this review about Goat Tavern
Decent little pub but surprisingly quiet compared to others but 5 mins after buying a drink they told me they shut early on Sundays. Four cask beers inc London Fields -love not war and my choice Hammertons -pentonville.Good beer.
On 12th May 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Goat Tavern
There were four ales on handpump, all from the ranks of the usual suspects. This pub is now Taylor Walker branded, so a standard pub grub menu is available. The interior is nothing special – the bar counter is on the right dominating a single fairly small room, and with furnishings comprising solely a half dozen or so tall tables and tall stools. The pop music was being played too loudly for my liking – I suppose some customers must like it that way, but I sometimes wonder if it’s for the benefit of the staff. It was festooned with Union Flags of course because of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
To be honest I didn’t think that this was a very comfortable pub, and with the superior (in my opinion) King’s Head over the road I doubt that it’s somewhere to where I will return.
On 5th June 2012
- rating: 4
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about Goat Tavern
This is a pretty straightforward and unremarkable little pub; a single room at ground floor with the bar along one side, wooden floors and seating universally on stools either at high tables or a couple of shelves at the back. A fair bit of dark wood and a series of mirrors with edge detailing run around the walls. Not much in the way of decor, I saw a few cartoons and there was some old map on the stairs down to the toilets. Two TVs in gilded picture frames, both switched off on Saturday afternoon. I didn't check out the upstairs bar. Being a Taylor Walker establishment, an exciting beer choice is unlikely, three of the four pumps were on, dispensing Pride, Doom Bar and Youngs London Gold (£3.05), a decent price for this part of the world. The young barmaid was friendly and efficient and quickly acknowledged and put right an error with my change before I needed to say anything.
Comedy nights were advertised, I assume they take place upstairs as there wouldn't really be much room in the main bar.
Not unpleasant or in any way a poor pub, but the beer choice and ambience are rather better over the road.
On 13th December 2011
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1708 recommendations about 1681 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about Goat Tavern
Sitauated just north of Piccadilly, this small pub is another of Punch’s newly branded Taylor Walker pubs that now seem to dominate the West End.
The single room main bar is certainly nothing pretentious or glamerous, more functional and down to earth. The bare floors have some chessboard tiling in the entrance and around the bar area. A series of mirrors down one side make the place seem a bit larger than it is. The furnishings consist entirely of high tables which is presumably because they don’t need so much leg room for the occupants and there really isn’t a great deal of room for anything else. There is a Flat screen housed in a picture frame at the front of the bar and piped music that acted as little more than background ambience.
If the main bar is busy (and it usually is) the upstairs bar offers some respite and an opportunity to grab a (normal height) table unless there is a function going on (the pub hosts regular comedy nights courtesy of the Laughing Horse Comedy Group). There are a few old pics dotted about and a bar that I have yet to see open.
On the beer front, there are 4 ales that mirror virtually all Taylor Walker outlets, a rather unispiring choice of London Pride, Youngs London Gold, Doom Bar and Old Golden Hen. They are Cask Marque accredited and to be fair I have always had decent quality beers in here. Prices are average for the area albeit a little bizarre with my Golden Hen at £3.51 meaning you inevitably end up with a pocketful of coppers. The food is the normal pub grub fare with main courses around £8-£13 if you can find a table to eat it at.
Most pubs usually have something historically interesting or newsworthy about them even if it’s just a bit of scandal that made a paragraph in the paper somewhere some years ago but the Goat seems to exist in its own unpretentious little world. It seems untouched by anything newsworthy and merely ploughs a lonesome furrow for the benefit of its band of regulars and the stray passer by that fancies a lucky dip. Its unassuming nature is probably the pubs most endearing asset.
On 22nd November 2011
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about Goat Tavern
The Goat Tavern is located on Stafford Street virtually opposite the much larger Kings Head on the other side of the road. As well as size the Goat is also inferior to the Kings Head in regards to beer choice in that, although there are four hand pumps on the bar, three were in operation dispensing the usual suspects of Pride, Youngs ordinary and Adnams Bitter.
And another area where the Goat suffers is in regards to outside drinking area. As is common in the area of Mayfair, there are white lines drawn on the pavement, inside of which drinkers taking the air must stay, and this space is rigorously policed by doorman whose salary is easily justified by the fines the establishments would incur if drinkers breeched the boundaries. And as The Goat has a fairly small frontage it’s not the most becoming place for an alfresco pint when the suns out.
But the one thing that does appear to be in its favour is that unlike the Kings Head where you have to be very lucky to get a seat in the busy early evening period, the upstairs seating area at The Goat is not well known and whereas the smallish downstairs bar is set up mainly for vertical drinking, a trip up the non obvious staircase to the left as you enter usually yields some free tables as it did for me this week.
But to be honest, as I am usually just after a decent pint and have no issue to drink it vertically I can’t see myself crossing the road in future visits.
On 25th July 2010
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2111 recommendations about 1992 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about Goat Tavern
Unlike the great array of ales that the Kings Head had across the road the only ales available were Pride and Greene King IPA which would explain why there were half as many people using this pub. Another ale was off and there was an unused pump, but there were no premium lagers.
The pub is very small, but there is a dining room and bar upstairs which I'm afraid that I did not see. There is a plasma screen which was showing Sky Sports News, but the pub does not have Sky Sports for the football.
I found the staff to be very friendly and I would return as I thought the Pride was very nice.
On 31st August 2009
- rating: 7
[User has posted 5251 recommendations about 5219 pubs]