The Mitre, Paddington

The food comes in tiny and expensive portions. Think of it as a snack not a meal if you are feeling hungry. It's not bad, but there just isn't much of it.

Pub is Victorian, alright - good. But sort of dingy Victorian - bad. It doesn't have much in the way of atmosphere, really. It's not especially snug. On the other hand, there is no TV that I have noticed and if there are fruit machines, they don't gurgle at you annoyingly. So sort of unsnug dingy.

The bar staff are pleasant and amazingly put all pints into their appropriate branded glasses. But don't use too much English vernacular, they won't understand you. Makes you feel really at home in your capital city - not. Much like the rest of Paddington, then.

I seem to always end up here as a friend likes it, but I keep wishing that we could go elsewhere. It's OK, but I wouldn't go looking for it especially. You can however avoid the dinginess by sitting outside in the summer. If you can prise a seat away from all the other people who are also trying to avoid the dinginess.

Am I overdoing the dingy nature of the place? It's not that bad. It's just not that good.

20 Aug 2006 02:28

All Bar One, Regent Street

Makes you think it's more "wine in the evening" than "beer in the evening". Stupendously loud so that you have to shout at your friends and can't hear what they reply. Hideously packed - a bit like trying to drink on a rush hour tube train. Full of apparently affluent types - unsurprisingly, perhaps, given the location. I have been once and haven't been back, despite working about 2 minutes away. So I suppose I don't like it that much. But is it much worse than a lot of other places? Hmm. Probably not.
So it's not really a pub then. But as it calls itself a bar, you can't complain. If you wanted a pub, you don't want this.

20 Aug 2006 02:15

The Red Lion, Pall Mall

This feels like a country village pub rather than one in the heart of London. Except the prices - no surprises there. Very bona fide, olde worlde decor. Traditional seating and because it is so tucked away, no real tourists, despite its being very close indeed to Buckingham Palace. I thought it was great - I really like going there. It's not overly large though, so if it got any more popular, you would be out in Crown Passage where there is nothing to look at at all.
Also, it isn't staffed by young foreigners with a poor command of English who offer you ice to put in your Guinness (it has happened elsewhere...).
So if you want a pub that doesn't look as if it has changed dramatically in the last few decades and probably won't in the next few, this is an excellent bet. It is part of the now vanishing non-Costa-non-Starbucks London that is rapidly vanishing underneath a tide of rampant drossy commercialism. You'd never know you were about 5 minutes walk from Oxford Street.

20 Aug 2006 02:03