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Detail Pages
The Golden Lion, SW1
SW1
SW1Y 6QY
Pub Type
Greene KingReviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about The Golden Lion
One of the best pub fronts I have ever seen, and I immediately added it to my to do list. When I looked inside, though, I saw three hand pumps with three Greene King beers, all with "coming soon" notices draped over them. I've seen this before in a Greene King pub (Old Dog & Partridge in Nottingham a couple of months ago), and then - as now - I turned around and walked out the door. Is this a widespread phenomenon in the GK tied estate? And if so, are they having a laugh?
On 15th September 2022
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3746 recommendations about 3483 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Ian Mapp left this review about The Golden Lion
Nice exterior, with a large bay window. Interior is very Nicholsons in feel - this extends to the same menu and near same drinks selection that I found in the Prospect of Whitby the day after.
On this visit, the TT Landlord was off - so it was a Beavertown Neck Oil. Standard pub food, delivered quickly and effeciently.
On 18th January 2022
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1338 recommendations about 1324 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Graham Coombs left this review about The Golden Lion
Another typical St James's local, in an old building wedged in between offices and boasting lots of dark wood and some nice glasswork. There is a 'Theatre Bar' upstairs and outdoor drinking in the adjacent alleyway. A Greene King pub, with IPA and Yardbird on handpump, plus TT Landlord as the guest.
On 16th September 2021
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3339 recommendations about 3276 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Golden Lion
Dating from the late 17th century and rebuilt in 1900, this is an attractive Victorian pub in St. James's, a stone's throw from the eponymous palace.
A first in this Greene King pub, this is a relatively atmospheric place with dark wood and an attractive bar with cut mirror back and a part-tiled pot shelf. The ceiling is patterned and the curved granite frontage with leaded stained lights is a pleasant feature. Furniture is sparse (the downstairs room is really rather small) with some tall tables and chairs. There's an upstairs room referred to as a theatre, but this may be a reference to the former theatre next door. The website claims there's a garden but I wonder if they are referring to the three patio tables out in the side alley. Staff were friendly and helpful and music was muted.
Ales: Greene King IPA and London Glory, Sharp's Doom Bar, Golden Lion (GK?) Ale and Hardy & Hanson's Rockin' Rudolph which was fine.
The place is worth a return trip but only because this isn't a great area for pubs - I prefer The Red Lion down the alley.
Closes at 10.30 on Saturday.
On 23rd November 2017
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1985 recommendations about 1951 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
hondo . left this review about The Golden Lion
Nice ornate exterior with a wood and tile bar. Greene King pub serving 6 real ales.
On 25th September 2017
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2883 recommendations about 2820 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Lester Ford left this review about The Golden Lion
A pub I have visited probably only once in my lifetime but having been to a do recently on a Friday night opposite this was the perfect opportunity to correct that.
A GK managed pub, might be owned but I'm unsure, 6 hand pumps with 4 ales on. I had a few pints of Timothy Taylor Landlord with each pint being very good. The other ales on were mainly from the GK stable though Wimbledon Brewery had an ale on next.
This is a small thin pub with the gents toilets downstairs and a function room upstairs, which on this occasion was closed for a private function. To the side is a well used outside area for both smokers and drinkers.
The walls have various images and words of the local area and the windows are stained glassed.
Bit of a local after work pub but fine for a few pints and is very traditional.
On 19th April 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 80 recommendations about 78 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Golden Lion
This is a small single room pub close to St James’ Square and easily reached from Green Park tube station. The front windows on approach make quite an appealing sight, with leaded panes presented in a lattice formation with a variety of stained glass inserts which all look very nice when backlit in the evening. The interior is bare boarded and sees the servery running along the left hand wall with rather minimal seating options opposite. The dark wood servery has a rather chunky counter, pillars with basic cut glass on them and a rather appealing glazed tile canopy. The bar back also has some decent glasswork, albeit slightly obscured by the general paraphernalia dotted around. Much of the room has dark wood panelling and the furnishings are mostly in the form of high tables and stools and the odd drinking ledge. The windows to the right of the room have some even larger stained glass sections and to one side the royal coat of arms stands proud on the wall. Elsewhere I noted a lightshade made from antlers and a TV screen showing muted news coverage with music playing very quietly in the background. A sign pointed the way to the upstairs theatre bar – a nod to the St James’ Theatre which previously stood nearby until its demolition in the late 1950’s – but I didn’t explore.
Plenty of hand pumps lined the bar, but one was unclipped and another doubled up, so I eventually established that there were four ales available – Greene King IPA, Morland Old Speckled Hen, Taylor Landlord and Brighton Bier The Fall Guy (a collaboration with Greene King). The latter set me back £4.10 and was in reasonable shape. The bar staff seemed pretty friendly and had a good rapport with their regulars. One of the barmen complimented a customer on his smart new jacket, telling him he looked “very dapper”, but sadly did not see fit to lavish such praise on my hoodie.
This is a pretty decent pub with some interesting features, pleasant service and a passable range of beers. Whilst it doesn’t quite match up to the grand interiors or extensive beer selections of other pubs in and around the area, it remains a good solid option and one I’d be happy to revisit.
On 4th November 2014
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Golden Lion
Owned by Capital Pub Company (they of the Clarence) this pub is housed in a tall, thin building and next door to what was the St James’s Theatre (demolished in 1957). The outside is attractive and the eye is drawn to the wonderful leaded windows with picked coloured glasswork (including a golden lion motif) that bows impressively in the middle. The interior is narrow which allows for little seating space, just a few high tables and stools with ledging on the walls for perched drinking. There’s dark wood panelling on the walls which accentuates the somewhat gloomy interior (wrong time of day?) which is broken a little by the quirky tiled gantry above the bar and the etched mirror bar-back. There were six handpumps with four ales on, two from Twickenham as well as Black Sheep and Sharps Own. I tried a half of each of the Twickenham beer which were in very good nick but did cash in at a frightful £1.95, which even in this part of London is pretty ludicrous for a local(ish) brew. A selection of papers was available which I always find a nice touch, especially in central London. There’s also an upstairs theatre bar apparently but I didn’t note its existence at the time. Overall I rather liked this one despite its faults, if the beer quality is as good as I experienced on my visit, I’d be happy to pop back.
On 25th April 2013
- rating: 8
[User has posted 5099 recommendations about 5082 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Golden Lion
Tall thin pub, whose fancy stonework looks somewhat out of place in a sandwich between the more modern buildings either side. Interesting wavy window between the two original doorways in the narrow frontage (only one of which is now used). Plenty of stained glass and other decorative features to admire in the traditional dark-wood interior. Not much room for furniture, so most customers can be found standing (either inside or out in the side alley which has some powerful heaters in the winter months). 'Theatre Bar' upstairs, operating as a lunch-time restaurant. Five of six handpumps were operational on my last visit - offering Black Sheep, Hogs Back TEA, Twickenham's Spring Ale and Naked Ladies, and Sharp's Own (£3.75). With its friendly and efficient staff, this one is worth seeking out if in the area.
On 27th March 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
John Bonser left this review about Golden Lion
In the heart of St James, and wedged between tall modern office blocks is The Golden Lion, a pub that is immediately noticeable for its attractive curved bay frontage with frosted leaded windows portraying a crested golden lion and several theatrical masks.
The interior is narrow and slightly cramped and features much polished dark wood and a mahogany bar counter that, rather unusually, contains some green leaf motifed tiles as part of the bar gantry. Like many pubs of this ilk, seating inside is limited with a few high stools and circular tables and a shelf with stools opposite the bar. Note also the fine dark burgundy ceiling.
A familiar looking framed potted history of the pub reminds us that it was once a Nicholsons pub. Pleasingly, the new owners, The Capital Pub Company, appear to have left the attractive traditional interior largely untouched from those days, although I did notice 2 silent TV’s – one on the bar gantry and one above the door – and a rather large electronic games machine.
Outside in the covered passageway, there’s several stools for outside drinking which, I can imagine, are well patronised at busy times. The opposite wall here exhibits a plaque telling us that here stood The St James Theatre, until it was controversially demolished in 1957, despite a protest led by Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier.
On my recent Saturday lunchtime visit, the pub was initially heaving, but the bar quickly emptied upon my arrival, not, I hasten to add, due to any inappropriate behaviour on my part, but because there was a large pre booked party about to take lunch in the imaginatively named Theatre Bar upstairs.
There’s 2 banks of 3 pumps which were offering Hogs Back TEA, Batemans Miss Lapland, Doom Bar and Greene King Golden Glory. A decent pint of Hogs Back TEA - £ 3.70p was enjoyed.
Well worth dropping in when in the area
On 7th January 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 560 recommendations about 560 pubs]