Not already a member?
Join our community and
- Rate & review pubs
- Upload pictures
- Add events
JOIN for free NOW
Chat about:
Random news of the day with Real Ale Ray
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
Earl of Lonsdale, Notting Hill, W11
W11
W11 2QA
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Brainy Pool left this review about Earl of Lonsdale
Great interior in here (at least in the front part), if rather awkward to navigate without breaking your back. All really charming, Sams do such a great job with these historic pubs. Worth diving in from the Portobello chaos for a swift pint of stout (£5.20). Mixed and touristic clientele as expected, drinking a very wide range of beers!
On 24th September 2022
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1058 recommendations about 1023 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about Earl of Lonsdale
A Sam Smith pub with a noteable interior ,much like The Prince Alfred ,Warwick Avenue.
There are 4 seperate rooms all with their own front doors and low level partitions requiring flexibility to duck under.The island bar serves each ,the largest room gives access to both the beer garden and the lounge,empty on my visit and looking like an overflow area.Ducking down,there is a small snug,then the one table Private Bar,charming,then the Library.The ceiling is impressive with great cornicing and well preserved.There is lots of etched glass around , wood panelling everywhere and the dark stained floorboards give a lot of atmosphere.
Such a shame it's a real ale free zone ,so a SS Extra Stout it was,a little cold and not very tasty.The other keg offerings were all SS derived and the pub grub was from a standard menu.
Worth buying a half to look around,there are some fine features,but just how much Sam Smith keg beer you are able to stand will define how long you stay put in the pub.I pushed off sharpish after having clocked the interior for which marks have been awarded.
On 18th June 2022
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2727 recommendations about 2727 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Earl of Lonsdale
Surprisingly large Sam’s pub, out in the Badlands (the nutter on the bus we took didn’t help). There’s a fairly ornate front bar with the original drinking areas restored with cut glass glazing and the low ducks between them which is great although finding anywhere to sit when even moderately busy is a close to impossible. To the rear is a large red room which felt a bit Spoons-like to the extent that a large table was taken up with outsized group of junior drinkers. My Man in a Box tasted rather sweetcorn, which is a black mark given the quality I’d had elsewhere. No cask OBB here either. Maybe I visited at the wrong time, but I didn’t really feel overly fussed about the place. 5.5
July 2010
A Sam Smiths house on a corner of Portobello Road which demands a visit due to the interior (refitted from the original plans after being ripped out in the 1960’s). The bar is surrounded by four areas divided up into snugs, with four-foot high doors between each one (similar to the superior Windsor Castle nearby). There’s also a bigger back room with a real fire at either end. Beer-wise there’s no OBB, just keg, with the usual cheap prices and dopey SS staff. Worthy of a visit for the novelty value, though the nearby(ish) Windsor Castle does a similar job with original fittings and better beer. Rated 7
On 11th February 2020
- rating: 6
[User has posted 5089 recommendations about 5072 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about Earl of Lonsdale
Cannot really improve on the descriptions given below for the interior of this pub. As usual Sams Smiths have done a very good job on restoring it to its former impressive interior after it had the guts ripped out of it in the 1960s. And as a consequence this is a very characterful place to have a beer and a bite to eat, especially in the side lounge room when the large open fireplace is going on a chilly December lunchtime.
Sadly it's the rest of the package that is not up to the interior and spoils this as a truly enjoyable pub experience.
It's location on Portabello Road means most of the clientele are single visit foreign tourists who are very unlikely to ever return, so the pub doesn't really need to work to attract people back and consequently in this ones case SS doesn't bother to even try.
Firstly the Sam Smith beer range is poor at the best of times, and especially if the draught version of OBB is not available, as is the case here. Fortunately being Christmas there was a couple of stouts available and the extra stout when taken with food is usually passable.
Secondly, we did eat here and the food we experienced was edible but average at best. The Steak and Ale pies are now £9 plus and I was expecting something better than a clearly microwaved pie for that.
And thirdly the service left a lot to be desired. Nothing against the hard-working barmaid and the young lad running around trying to dispense the meals and clean up the carnage left by previous diners, but two young staff only in a busy pub like this just isn't enough to avoid the frustrating queues forming at the bar.
This pub could be a really great pub, if only the rest of the experience was up to the interior. Still worth a visit to see the interior if you are in the area.
On 29th December 2016
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2110 recommendations about 1992 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Earl of Lonsdale
This is still a Sam Smith’s pub, so the real ale choice is going to be limited, to put it mildly. In this one the range amounts to less than one, with only the keg version of Old Brewery Bitter being available (£1.45 a half). There is a sign in the window saying that food is available all day, every day. When I was in at Wednesday lunchtime there were simple menus on all the tables, with sandwiches between £4.50 and £6.95 and main courses reassuringly in the pub grub category at around the £8 mark – the steak & ale pie is £8.15.
Being a Sam Smith’s pub it’s been sympathetically restored, with screening being added to return all the original separate drinking areas, complete with cut glass glazing and the low doorways between them that would have originally been there to allow potmen and cleaners, etc, to move between them without having to go via the street. They’ve done this style of restoration in several of their London pubs. Furnishings in the main bar areas are mostly upholstered benches with standard tables and small round stools, but in a large lounge at the back there’s a mixture of sofas and normal tables and chairs. At the back of the main bar area there was a real fire on the go, which was very welcome on a miserable November day.
The pub itself is rather nice. I like places like this with plenty of character, but the absence of a real ale is a massive minus point for me. It’s typical Sam Smith’s – poor beer selection in great pubs.
On 7th November 2013
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Earl of Lonsdale
Very fine glasswork with snob screens; the interior makes this worth a visit - once. This is a Sam Smiths pub and service is very poor.
On 20th December 2011
- rating: 3
[User has posted 1985 recommendations about 1951 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john mcgraw left this review about The Earl of Lonsdale
A pub of much ornate glass and woodwork. Several bars seperated by partitions with very low doors that you have to duck under to get to each section. Does not sell real ale but does the full range of Sam Smith's beers. I tried their Extra Stout which was in my oppinion better than Guinness but then again I am not an expert on Guinness.
On 9th September 2008
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2044 recommendations about 2025 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Philip Carter left this review about The Earl of Lonsdale
Strange pub, it has dividing partitions. You can walk around the pub, but the doors in the partitions are about 4ft high. Nice big back room for non smokers, with a real fire at either end. Sells Samuel Smith bitter.
On 11th January 2007
- rating: 8
[User has posted 757 recommendations about 720 pubs]