Lancaster Gate pubs
A fascinating warren of streets stretching out just off Hyde Park, brought to public attention by the modest £2 million mansion bought in the area by the Blairs. Who says that crime doesn't pay?
The Cleveland Arms, 28 Chilworth Street, W2 6DT
There are some places I just sink into with a grateful sigh, and never want to leave. The Cleveland Arms – a small, wooden wonder of a pub – is one of them. Fronted by a beautifully idiosyncratic set of windows, the inside seems to reach out in a big warm hug. Lovely bar staff, plenty of guest ales, cheap food, darts – well, I couldn’t ask for much more. Relaxed, low-key, it’s a rare and classic example of a true haven from the outside world.
Reviewed by Fred Flange, Nov 2008
Telephone: 020 7706 1759
Nearest station: Paddington, Zone 1 (380 metres)
Duke of York, 8 Dering Street, W1S 1AA
Nasty. Just off Bond Street and full of the sort of people I really don't want to run into. Spread over three floors (boasting Pool! Darts! Games!) it has been lathered in the bland white-walled decor originally found only in Clapham, and now spreading out across the capital like a bad strain of influenza. Boorish rugby boys swill lager and pick the crushed bones of foxes and proletarian scum from underneath their desert boots, all the while droning on about their salaries and how bad the weather is for skiing. Their girlfriends (all seemingly cloned from a strand of Julia Carling's hair) manage to bleat on about nothing at all for hours on end. Does it do food or show sports? Do I care?
Reviewed by Fred Flange, Mar 2005
Telephone: 020 7629 0319
Nearest station: Bond Street, Zone 1 (250 metres)
The Mitre, 24 Craven Terrace, Lancaster Gate, W2 3QH
Once you escape from the hideous road system around the equally hideous Royal Lancaster Hotel, Lancaster Gate is pretty nice. It comprises typical white stucco Georgian houses arranged into a series of long terraces, interspersed with large squares and fascinating backstreets. It has a whole range of excellent restaurants, cafes and solidly traditional pubs. It's a very elegant stopover between Oxford Street and Notting Hill, and, as soon as you get off Bayswater Road, very rarely visited. The Mitre is secreted at the end of a pleasant, unspectacular terrace. It has a range of tables outside and a series of different rooms within. The appearance comes in standard pub dark browns and light browns, with a late 19th century bar curving round the side of the sunny saloon bar and the darker, more intimate private bar off to one side. Further to the back are a collection of other rooms, one of which has an extraordinary set of portraits hanging from the walls and which feels rather like a Victorian Gentleman's smoking room. Even on a Friday it rarely gets rammed, and there's usually enough room for everybody to grab a seat. Beer is the pretty standard offer of lager plus one interesting bitter, there is the usual range of New World wines and a rather tasty food menu. Quite strangely, on visits I made to this pub on Saturday afternoons 13 months apart, I bumped into the same squad of Welsh girls in full rugby regalia, who drank vast quantities of Stella and then sang very loudly (but as I was forced to concede, rather tunefully). It may be best to pick another night rather than encounter the roaring rugby oestrogen in full flow, but otherwise this is a cracking boozer, very relaxed and friendly, and in a lovely part of town.
Reviewed by Fred Flange, May 2004
Telephone: 020 7262 5240
Nearest station: Lancaster Gate, Zone 1 (250 metres)
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