The Queen's Head and Artichoke, 30-32 Albany Street

Rewind fifteen years and this pub was in a battle royale with the nearby Cape of Good Hope for the title of worst pub in London. Each sought to outdo the other with awesome combinations of formica tables, cracked ceilings, hideous carpets and startling levels of neglect. Several years ago, the QHA made the break, gaining new owners keen to exploit the denizens of John Nash’s Regent’s Park terraces, rather than the estates sitting behind them. The pub, inheritor of a title that goes back some 400 years, still retains the mottled glass windows from its previous incarnation, but everything else has changed. Gone is the dingy, life-sapping interior, to be replaced with light wooden fittings, traditionally crafted and well put together. Gone are the malevolent staff, to be replaced by a combination of sweetness and light that comes with knowing the food and drink served is excellent. And in truth it is: on the expensive side, yes, but a mention in the Michelin guide doesn’t come for nothing, and the combination of modern English and tapas has been well thought through. The two or three real ales on tap is also a thoughtful concession after its Fosters on Formica years. Whilst I find it difficult to condone the way the refit has led to the wholesale rejection of its former clientele, this nevertheless is the best pub of the little run just behind Regent’s Park.

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