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The Old Star, SW1

66 Broadway
SW1
SW1H 0DB
Phone: 02072228755

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Pub Type

Greene King

Reviews (Current Rating Average: 5 of 10) Add Review see review guidelines


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Old Star

Refurbished and almost unbranded Greene King pub, with a rather corporate makeover antiseptic feel to the main ground floor bar (which also has a very limited amount of seating due to the curious layout). The upstairs St James's Bar is an equally curious arrangement of two adjoining rooms on different levels, with the downstairs Vaults Bar offers three different seating areas, including the two alcoves, and is probably the best place to head for if you want a seat. Five handpumps in the main bar plus two more at first floor level, and on this visit I found IPA and Abbot plus Black Sheep and Tribute (£5.50) as guest beers.

On 29th January 2023 - rating: 6
[User has posted 8066 recommendations about 8066 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Tris C left this review about The Old Star

Named after the British Army’s Star, this was acquired by Greene King in 2014. Situated in the heart of Civil Servant Land, it’s close to Westminster Barracks, with a view across to Basil Spence’s questionably Brutalist Home Office building and Charles Holden’s magnificent Art Deco 55 Broadway, former HQ of London Transport.
Inside it’s much as described, with a boring stripped out interior with mainly tall furniture. Given the location, it’s no surprise that décor comprises London Transport knickknacks. Customers were probably civil servants or squaddies.
Ales proffered were Yardbird, Landlord, GK IPA and Tribute at £2.65 a half and fine.
Another poor GK offering in the area; the Feathers over the road is far better.

On 12th November 2021 - rating: 4
[User has posted 1956 recommendations about 1923 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Bucking Fastard left this review about The Old Star

I didn't warm to this Greene King tied house,but there is one feature worth spotting.On a street corner,the ground floor splits into two sections with a cramped bar to the right and a lounge to the left with stairs down to the Vaults.
Around the bar the floor is pine ,the furniture is functional and the low ceiling just draws attention to the flatscreen here even when on mute.Bar blocking is rife but I noticed the 5 handpumps were offering GK IPA and Yardbird Pale (NBSS 1.5 ,a foul brew not well kept) with guests Portobello Home Turf Pale,St Austell Tribute and TT Landlord.The lounge area has some low profile modern sofas all with reserved signs.
It's worth descending to the Vaults where there is more cramped seating and two fine brick arched alcoves,sadly all reserved with access blocked for the casual drinker.Usual GK food menu with pictures,their Fish and Chips was £12.29 ,a full 10% cheaper than The Albert but still not value.
Modernised and noisy,tables sticky and a careless attitude along with a boring ale selection means that I won't be returning.

On 14th February 2020 - rating: 5
[User has posted 2709 recommendations about 2709 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


custodian 42 left this review about The Old Star

Unspectacular pub which had no real ale that I could see so had to settle for cider. Did not visit the first floor bar so there may well have been real ale there.

On 1st March 2017 - rating: 4
[User has posted 1693 recommendations about 1691 pubs]


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Moby Duck left this review about The Old Star

A Greene King pub with quite a modern feel about it,plenty of seating is available both in the main street level bar as well as in the basement bar.Six pumps with Greene King IPA and Londons Glory, T.T Landlord a decent Southwark LPA with Portobello Star "coming soon". Worth stopping here for a pint and handily opposite St James's Park tube station.

On 4th September 2016 - rating: 6
[User has posted 1868 recommendations about 1841 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Steve of N21 left this review about The Old Star

Now repainted away from Green to a Grey and White non descript exterior and refurbished as mentioned below and now falling into the gastro bar category. If there was any references to a traditional pub before they have been largely replaced by a modern bar decor including any Green King branding that may have been there before, to the extent that the normal GK pump clips are now replaced by slate roundels with the beer and abv chalked upon them. Not sure if this is an attempt to cash in on the current craft beer craze which goes in for unmarked or chalked clips, but frankly 4% London Glory, St Edmunds 4.1% and GK IPA 3.6% wont fool anyone unless they are an overseas tourist or from Mars.
Something badged as Old Star 3.9% (probably H&H Bitter) was on another and then surprisingly Goddards brewery Scrumdiggity at 4% was chalked up on the fifth.
As others have mentioned the layout of this place is pretty poor, especial the street level bar , but we managed to bag a table downstairs for some sandwiches and a couple of beers and in this respect I can’t complain. Sandwiches were good and the Scrumdiggity and London Glory were well kept.
Not one I would purposely go out of my way to find, but if after a beer and a bite to eat when emerging from St James tube station, then it is fit for purpose.

On 25th November 2014 - rating: 6
[User has posted 2094 recommendations about 1985 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Roger Button left this review about The Old Star

This Greene King Victorian corner pub is spread over 3 floors and 2 buildings. The main bar on ground floor has a great deal of wasted space with about 25% of the floor lost courtesy of a large open stairwell. The area around the bar is partially blocked by a large pillar and, thanks to the poor layout, there is not much room for seating given the overall size of the ground floor. As a result, grabbing anywhere to sit is a lottery unless you are lucky. The décor is rather plain and bland with the recent refurbishment doing very little to add anything of aesthetic value although the built in bottle display in the dividing wall is quite unusual. The beers naturally come from the Greene King range with the normal Abbott, IPA and Speckled Hen supplemented by the more obscure Royal London (which at £3.40 a pint doesn’t come cheap). A further pump was unbadged. The bar staff always seem to come across as functional but quite distant and impersonal and do not convey any great enthusiastic welcome if you are a stranger. Probably the most interesting part of the pub is the downstairs Vaults Bar, a comfy basement section with stone floors and two enticing arched recesses known as the coves (available for free hire) with their constantly changing soft illuminations and London panorama backdrops. There is also a separate bar on the first floor labeled the St James Bar with a more limited bar service and generally this only seemes to be used for private functions. The food menu is basic pub grub with main courses in the region of £7-10. On the whole this is one of those pubs that is fine for a passing visit but really doesn’t have any great appeal to make the user want to return in any great hurry.

On 4th March 2010 - rating: 5
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]


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Rex Rattus left this review about The Old Star

Being a Greene King house it had what you would expect on, but it did have Morland Original as well as the usual offerings. Interestingly all the nozzles on the handpumps, with the exception of Old Speckled Hen for some reason, sported sparklers. As a point of principal I'm immediately prejudiced against anywhere that uses these devices. This is a typical scrubbed clean, characterless place, of the sort that we see so many of these days. Nothing like the pub I knew in the 60s. But some people obviously like these sort of places, so good luck to them. I don't suppose that I'll be paying a return visit.

On 26th August 2009 - rating: 4
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Steve C left this review about The Old Star

This Greene King pub had five GK selection ales and Peroni available alongside some standard lagers. It certainly feels like it has had a new lick of paint and I think the staff have been told to keep it clean as I had to wait a while for them to stop wiping it down before I could get my drink.

I can't see myself returning here in any great hurry.

On 25th March 2009 - rating: 5
[User has posted 5179 recommendations about 5148 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


ROB Camra left this review about The Old Star

Very average London pub with a typically boring range of real ales, Pride, Youngs Ordinary, GK IPA. All served at the usual inflated prices round this part of London. It's a tidy enough pub on two levels but it's nothing to write home about. Sanctuary House or the Adam & Eve are a better option.

On 9th February 2009 - rating: 4
[User has posted 3216 recommendations about 3127 pubs]