A Pub Ramble from Maida Vale to Paddington

In which we follow a route through central NW London taking in heritage pubs, a bottle shop, a shiny new Wetherspoon's, a monkey puzzle tree, and some fine ales. 

I emerged from the Bakerloo Line into the sunlight at the impressive red-tiled Maida Vale station.

I was here for the now-traditional annual gathering of our CAMRA Oxon-Berks-Bucks regions for a pub crawl ramble around a chosen bit of the capital.
This year: Maida Vale, our route shown on the map below.  The official suggested route finished at the Mad Bishop and Bear at Paddington station but we didn't make it quite that far.
3b,the craft bottle shop, was our own splinter group deviation; the relatively new 'Spoons wasn't a listed 'ramble' stop, so as not to upset the JDW-abstainers and delay them from getting their pint of Fursty Ferret.

Due to my prancing about in central London, I was last to arrive, welcomed by Gareth who was sitting outside watching the roadworks opposite..."Get yourself in there and get a pint of the 'London Lush'."

The Carlton Tavern (33 Carlton Vale, Kilburn, NW6 5EU)
I whittled on about the Carlton Tavern a few months ago. when I was in this neck of the woods making my way back from Hampstead via Kilburn.
It got knocked down, it got up again, as told in the newspaper story here.
Available cask on this visit was Otter 'Bitter' or the aforementioned London Brewing Company 'London Lush'.  The latter was an easy-drinking pale ale brewed with Citra and Comet hops just over six miles away in North Finchley.
Spot the person in the pic below who's not on a CAMRA day out...

It was a fairly long trek from the first to second pub, following Randolph Avenue back past the tube station - a tree-lined street of red bricked mansion blocks (2-bed apartment yours for £1.2 million).  When you're spending money like that you could do with a Grade II-listed Heritage pub as your local.
Ah, here you go...

The Warrington Hotel (93 Warrington Crescent, Maida Vale, W9 1EH)
The exterior of the Warrington gives a clue that it will be spectacular within... ornate columns and mosaic tiled steps leading to the front door.  The main room is to the right: an elaborate lounge of dark reds and browns, with bits of stained glass, a superb carpet, and one of the most eye-catching bar counters you're likely to find.  Semi-circular, it features a canopy above decorated in Art Nouveau style.

If the rich interior still isn't impressing you, the pub was used in episodes of The Sweeney and Minder (an episode called 'The Beer Hunter' which I really must seek out).  Hmmm, perhaps that's not so much of a selling point as Morse is in Oxford.

 

Unfortunately, the beer didn't excel in The Warrington.  Of the three hand pumps, only 'Old Speckled Hen' was in action - in reasonable condition without being exciting.
But the beer plays second fiddle to the privilege of being able to sit in this magnificent building.

A short stroll along Warrington Crescent took us to Pub#3, another heritage delight.

The Price Alfred (5A Formosa Street, Maida Vale, W9 1EE)
This Victorian hostelry dates back to 1856, although it's the refit in 1896 which earns a listing on the National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors and makes this such a showstopper.
Five separate drinking compartments surround the bar counter. The wooden partitions would once have offered an element of privacy and allowed people to drink in spaces that suited their social standing.  I believe the low doorways between each would have been used by 'potboys' collecting glasses (there being external entrances for each compartment).  But it's fun to stoop through them, even if not a single pub rambler today managed to do so whilst maintaining any cool.

  

This is a Young's house, with 'Bitter' or 'Special' available alongside a Timothy Taylor 'Landlord'.  Special, please, on solid if unspectacular form, but - again - it's the surroundings you're here for anyway.
We managed to grab a table underneath the snob screens, next to a wine-drinking lady snuggled next to her dog, greenhouse hot with the sun beaming through the etched glass windows.

It didn't take too much persuasion to tempt Gareth and Chairman John that we should make a diversion into the craft beer outlet across the road.

Real Drinks (4 Formosa St, London W9 1EE)
This is a small shop/tasting room, with fridges along one side (don't look - your bag will be heavy, your pocket will be light!) and shelves of wine and other beverages along the other.  There was a central table allowing us to perch on high stools and sample a few beers.  Six on tap provided a selection of pale brews from Kernel, Bullhouse, Utopian, Beak, Deya, and Lost & Grounded.

Disappointed not to find anything in darker hues, I delved into the fridge and picked out a bottle of Kernel 'Dunkel', keen to see how one of the original London craft breweries matched up to all the dark lagers I'd been drinking in Bavaria the previous month.
My companions gave the Bullhouse 'Suds' the thumbs-up, and we shared a superb Kernel Irish Whisky barrel aged imperial brown stout.

I do declare I found the most expensive bag of crisps available in any pub nationwide...

I hope they're good - none of us were feeling flush enough to find out.

Another short walk took us to Pub#4.

I didn't recognise the name and thought this may be my first new venue of the afternoon, but this was familiar as soon as I turned the corner.

The Warwick Castle (6 Warwick Place, Maida Vale, W9 2PX)

I don't think I've been here when it's been so busy though.  Three different areas within, all packed and standing-room only, except for some tables at the rear reserved for dining.  There isn't really much I can say about the pub - we squeezed to the bar, got served, and took half pints outside and propped them on a wheelie bin.  We're glamourous pub-crawlers.

The longest walk of the afternoon followed, although it's a pleasing and picturesque one along the Regents Canal...

..taking us from the leafy surrounds of Little Venice to the modern developments at Paddington Basin.
Amongst the food and drink outlets of Merchant Square is one of JD Wetherspoon's recent new openings.

Sir Alexander Fleming (Unit 53, 5 Merchant Square, Paddington, W2 1AS)
Opening the doors for the first time in September '25, this has taken the ground floor glass-fronted space that has already been a trendy bar, then a smokehouse restaurant. Judging by the age of this development, both must have been very short-lived.
Top marks for the friendly staff, efficiently clearing the tables and retained a very new and clean feel to this modern pub.  Top marks for the rarity of 'Spoons toilets on the ground floor which don't require a long trek and signposts helping direct you back to the bar.

It was super-busy as well - folks pouncing upon our table as soon as we got up to leave.
Not before we'd fuelled ourselves with some food and a respectable pint of Goddards 'Fuggle Dee Dum'.

Just time for another shot of the crammed-in shiny modern developments.
One of the remaining Brewdog bars is at the foot of that silver block - but for how long will those 11 sites last?

We left the 21st century towers behind and headed south of Paddington station where the hotels and apartment blocks are from a different era.

Sitting underneath a 1969 residential block was our next pub, The Monkey Puzzle. 

The Monkey Puzzle (30 Southwick Street, Paddington, W2 1JQ)

This proved to be somewhere a little bit different and not what you'd expect from a dull exterior (tree excepted).
The open-plan bar is decorated with a real traditional feel - proper pub carpet - dark wood - areas divided effectively to provide a cosy feel.  And could those be real central London locals sitting at the bar (scowling at me).

Being a Badger pub the beer range was never going to blow us away: 'Tanglefoot' or 'Fursty Ferret'.
Tanglefoots all round, taken to the outdoor table to make the most of the good weather before the sun slipped below the rooftops.

Our next destination was only a short 5-minute walk away...oh, hang on...it was a 15-minute walk away due to Chairman John leading us in the wrong direction.😲

The Victoria (10A Strathearn Place, Paddington, W2 2NH)
As if the two Grade II listed Heritage pubs earlier in the day weren't enough for us, here's a third, this one featuring a stunning interior.
It retains Victorian fittings inside, including ornate wooden bar back and some fantastic globe lights...

We picked the Sambrook's 'Blindside'.
Doh...rugby- themed beer, but it was something a little different from te more frequently found alternatives of London Pride, ESB or Hophead. 

Just as it was getting dark and I was beginning to flag and think about my bus home, we ambled into our final pub of the day.

The Bear (27 Spring Street, Paddington, W2 1JA)
This was another revisit for me, although it turns out to be cheaper when not accompanied by Mrs PropUptheBar ordering 10% sours.
The Bear is part of the The Craft Beer Co chain which started back in 2009 with the opening of the CASK Pub and Kitchen in Pimlico.  An apt place to finish, then, being as CASK was where we began our 2025 ramble.
They added The Bear to their list of locations in 2022, the site having previously been a wine bar and originally a bank.
We stuck with the cask this time, not even venturing a look at the wide range of keg lines.  My last beer of the day was from Chelmsford brewery, a Radio City Beer Works 'Antenna' 4.5% West Coast IPA.  Very good it was, too.

Thanks to the folks who put in the hard work to arrange these rambles, picking the pubs and devising the routes.
A great day out - looking forward to wherever 2027 takes us.

Wandering Up Whitehall

Brief midday central London pub explorations en-route to a CAMRA day out in Maida Vale.
Yes, an unusually-wise short post featuring three half-pints in Good Beer Guide-listed pubs all within a few minutes of Trafalgar Square.
The Oxford Tube bus whisked me from Headington to Marble Arch remarkably swiftly on this occasion. My Oxford colleagues who'd opted for the train were entangled with the United massive ("yelllllows!") on the station platform on their way to a crunch game at Portsmouth.  All trains delayed - so just me in the capital early doors.
I opted to head right to Whitehall, remembering that London looks pretty spectacular when the sun is shining. 

I hadn't walked this street in years.
It's busy with tourists, police vans watching diligently for wrong un's, the neo-classical governmental buildings magnificent, the cluster of pubs at the top of the street looking inviting. 
It was the Old Shades that I headed to, a 2026 Beer Guide entry that I really couldn't decide whether I'd visited before or not.

The Old Shades (37 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2BX)
This is a Grade II listed building, the true magnificence of which you need to be across the other side of the road to witness.  I wasn't about to try and stand in the middle of Whitehall waiting for a gap in traffic and pedestrians for the perfect pub picture.
The current narrow gothic building was built in 1898 by Treadwell & Martin.  Wedged between souvenir shop and Italian café, the Old Shades is bigger than it looks once you step in - stretching back some distance and widening after the first few tables by the window.

It looks like a Prop Up the Bar exclusive visit has been arranged to ensure pictures without pesky customers... 

The cask range on the long majestic bar counter featured six hand pumps, playing it safe with beers folks have heard of and the two locals.
"Prices reflect the very central location", notes the CAMRA website description.  Uh-oh.

A Southwark 'LPA' for me, a crisp pale ale with a bitter kick. 
£3.50 for the half pint.
With the pick of the tables, I slipped into the curved leather-upholstered corner seat underneath the portrait of Churchill.  And marvelled this magnificent pub...

So, where was everyone?
Some were drawn to outdoor tables, basking in the sunshine outside The Clarence.  Some were tempted by advertisements for steak & ale pies at the Greene King Silver Cross, 
But most were bothering the Guardsmen at Horse Guards Parade...

Crikey, that's a lot of tourists.
I continued to Trafalgar Square and snapped my own tourist shot of Nelson on his column and Charles I on his horse.

In an enviable position in the corner of the square was pub number 2.
This building was originally built for the Union bank, designed in Italianate style by F.W. Porter and opened in 1871.  Turned into a Scottish restaurant in 2005, Fullers took over and opened it as a pub in 2014.

The Admiralty (66 Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross, London, WC2N 5DS)
Pre-noon drinking may be frowned upon in some quarters but it's all relative to what time you went to bed and what time you had breakfast, isn't it?
And it means you can make a fairly relaxed visit to The Admiralty before it gets inevitably rammed and the pickpockets begin their shifts.

'Jaipur' and 'ESB' perhaps a little stronger than I needed, Timothy Taylor 'Golden Best' lesser-seen than 'Landlord' or 'Boltmaker', but I steered towards the 'Pride'.  On reasonable, if not spectacular form with a price tag of £3.45 a half.
Most of the tables were adorned with 'reserved' signs, but I'd be long gone before "Vicky 1pm" arrived, hogging a large table with a prime view of the impressively decorated pub.
It's that mezzanine that is the icing on the cake...

You need to descend the spiral staircase to the basement to reach the loos.
That basement - refurbished after a big fire in 2022 - was a warren of booths within pillars and vaulted ceilings: the Gunwhale bar situated in the depths amongst nautical decor.

I had time for one more swift half before I needed to be elsewhere in the capital.
Plentiful options within easy reach of Trafalgar Square.  I decided to make a revisit to The Harp...after all, what right-minded soul could walk past this...

The Harp (47 Chandos Place, Charing Cross, London, WC2N 4HS)
Stained glass windows, budding flower basket display, outdoor vertical drinkers...
This is a central London pub with a deserved good reputation.
The first recorded mention of the pub was in 1805 when it was known as the 'Welsh Harp'.  It's a now a Fullers pub operating as a free house, providing a vastly different (and hard to pick from) range of cask than the Admiralty.
Ten hand pumps offering both familiar and more unusual ales.  I fancied veering to the dark side, so ordered the fantastic Downlands Brewery 'Oatmeal Stout'.

One day I'll do justice to the collection of classic central London pubs.
And find the most daunting steep staircase up or down to the WCs.
In the meantime, The Harp makes its case for an inclusion on that list - I wouldn't want to try taking these two steps at a time after five pints of beer...

But right now I was navigating them safely and leaving the heart of the city behind to catch the Bakerloo Line to Maida Vale.
More waffle and some half-decent pictures from there in the next post.

Richmond Pub Explorations

Mid-March provided the chance to join a 'Pub Research' trip to the affluent leafy surrounds of Richmond, West London, as organised by folks on CAMRA Discourse.
The day would serve up a mix of venues, pricey pints, a shrine to David Bowie, the Ted Lasso pub, and some fine company.
Here's the route for the day, starting at the bottom in the Old Ship...

My journey on the Oxford Tube was delayed due to being stuck a few hundred meters behind an accident on the M40 which saw the motorway closed for over an hour.
"Can we get out?" the students on the back seat asked the driver when he did the rounds updating passengers.  "No, we're on a motorway you daft buggers."
Perhaps they realised how close we were to Beaconsfield Spoons.

My plan for breakfast, a leisurely journey out west, perhaps an extra pre-noon pub, all slipped away as the traffic sat unmoving.  In the end it was surprising I made it from Notting Hill on the District Line to the first venue just 25-minutes past the midday meeting time.
Obviously I had no time to sort out the lighting in my shoddy pub picture...

The Old Ship (3 King Street, Richmond, TW9 1ND)
This town centre inn has been run by Young's since 1869, although existed as a pub for a fair few years prior to that.

Heading into the left-sided of the two ground floor bars, I grabbed a Twickenham 'Naked Ladies'.  The name and pump clip being frowned upon by some woke folk, despite it referring to a statue in the grounds of York House. 

 

The pub research crew numbered nine, myself included, having travelled from such exotic locations as Croydon, North Hampshire, Leicester, and Stafford.
The sun streamed through the windows with their stained glass designs; the fire crackled (perhaps unnecessarily on this warm day); the first pint went down a treat.

As it should at a steep £7.10.  
"Am I going to get a sub-£5 pint in Richmond?" I asked.
"You'll be lucky to get a sub-£6 pint," came the reply. 

Right - time to move on.  We walked along the side of Richmond Green before turning down Old Palace Lane, where the last building before reaching the Thames is The White Swan.

The White Swan (26 Old Palace Lane, Richmond, TW9 1PG)
As the road is a dead-end, this location is unspoilt by traffic - nicely tucked away in the quiet backstreets, their website suggesting we'd found "Richmond's best kept secret".
It was very foody, all tables inside filled with lunchtime winter menu trade.  Luckily for us the weather was glorious so having to sit on a sunny, leafy, enclosed terrace, with the trains rumbling by on the line behind us, was no hardship.
Cask ale on offer was Harvey's 'Sussex Best' or Surrey Hills 'Shere Drop'.
Despite having a 0.2% higher ABV, the Shere Drop was 60p cheaper than Harvey's.  So, being a penny-counting scrooge, of course I went for that.  On great form...NBSS 4.

Right...back to the Green and onward to the Cricketers in the corner.

Well, at least that was the plan.
By the time I'd finishing taking a picture, several of our group were bustling back out, declaring it not worth a stop for the Greene King house beer.  They made their way instead to the Prince's Head, just a couple of doors down.
Time for a quick half by myself? After all, I'd taken a photo.

The Cricketer's (24 The Green, Richmond, TW9 1LX)
Beers on the three wickets on the bar (I think I can get away with that when the pub's called the Cricketers) advertised a Tim Taylor 'Landlord' (coming soon), a house beer 'Cricketers Pale' (coming soon) and the mysterious 'Triple C'...

Hardy & Hanson's Bitter, I suspect.  3.9% ABV, served with a foaming head...brown and twiggy.
I could claim everyone missed the beer of the day, but I'd be fooling nobody.
What can I say about the pub?  Mostly dining custom, an ill-fitting soundtrack of dire modern pop, cricket bats hung from the wall.

And cricketing Players cigarette cards in the Gents...

Mr Daniels, Somerset, top-row, third-from-right, is my favourite for finding time for some casual in-game pipe smoking. 

I made short work of my Triple C and undertook the 30-second saunter to join the rest of the group in the Prince's Head.

The Prince's Head (28 The Green, Richmond, TW9 1LX)
Hang on a minute...it's the Ted Lasso pub!
Hence the scarf behind the bar from fictional AFC Richmond.  Masquerading as the Crown and Anchor in the TV show probably accounts for a fair bit of extra custom, the place being relatively busy on a Friday lunchtime, 'please wait to be seated' signs for the dining tables.
Here's the cask line-up, Pride warranting two pump clips...

A sensible half of 'ESB' for me.

We had a little further to walk to reach the next pub on the itinerary, apparently one of Richmond's oldest.

The Red Cow (59 Sheen Road, Richmond, TW9 1YJ)
It's also surely a contender for the closest tree to a pub award, The Red Cow is situated at the convergence of two roads, meaning hanging baskets to maintain on two sides.  I'll consider the Worple Way side to the 'back' due to the extraction duct, although our way in was through the open doors under the canopy.

This was a Young's house for many-a-year, but was sold to Punch in 2021, now with a community focus and dishing up food from a Cambodian kitchen.
Despite recent modernisations making the place bright and airy, the Red Cow retains a bit of pub heritage with the bar back.  Of Victorian origin, it's an impressive feature...

Real ales just out of the shot were Harvey's 'Sussex Best' or Timothy Taylor 'Boltmaker'.
A £5.90 pint of Sussex Best for me: well-kept and pleasantly enjoyable under the St Paddy's bunting.

Moving on, we made our way to the pub I was most looking forward to today - a real ale haven, recently a local branch CAMRA cider pub of the year, and once awarded a national cutest pub dog award.

The Mitre (20 St Mary's Grove, Richmond, TW9 1UY)

That's pub dog Rudi being stroked edge of picture.  He won his award aged 18-months, so is a much older fella now, providing us a good welcome.
The Mitre dates back to 1865 and - like the last and many other pubs in this area - was previously run by Young's.  It shut in 2012, reports suggesting it was in a quiet and sorry state, so fair play for the complete turn-around.  Fourteen hand pumps serving some lesser-seen beers and real cider, plus Neapolitan pizza seems to have done the job.

It was nice to see something a little different here, beers from Coley's, Darwin, Fownes, Wantsum, Burning Sky, Turning Point and Surrey Hills ('Shere Drop' being the house beer).

Based on it being a brewery I'd not previously encountered, I picked a half of the Coley's best bitter from Manchester.  And based on it being strong, hoppy and chocolatey, I picked a half of the Turning Point 'The Festive', an excellent flavoursome East India porter.

The clock ticked past 4pm and it was time to convince those members of the group who'd sunk into the leather cushioned armchairs that we needed to move on, heading north to our 6th (official) pub of the day.
Signage as we crossed the District Line by footbridge confirmed we were now about to enter North Richmond..

Could we Hope for a good pint in this neck of the woods?...

The Hope (115-117 Kew Road, Richmond, TW9 2PN)
Erm...no, not really.
In 2020 The Hope turned into the private members' Richmond Club.  That didn't last too long, as it has now been re-opened as a pub again, offering live music and comedy if you're here at the right time.  Interrogating Stafford Paul's encyclopaedic pub and brewery knowledge was entertainment enough for us.
Wadworth '6X' was the only beer available, taking over two pump clips...

That's an awful lot of flower displays on the bar.
And they've opted for a very dark grey paint job.
But never fear - because they have a Bowie shrine in the corner!!!

Now that's something you don't see everywhere.
More Bowie on a random wall as we trekked from The Hope back to the central hub of Richmond...

Where our final venue on the trip was directly next to the train station in a splendid wedge of a building...

The Railway Tavern (28/29 The Quadrant, Richmond, TW9 1DN)
This old hotel dates back to 1888, was previously called the South-Western, and had to endure a spell as O'Neill's.  Not to be confused with The Station Hotel which once stood across the road and featured early Rolling Stones gigs, although the Railway was used as a practice space for The Roosters, including a young Eric Clapton and Tom McGuinness, who'd go on to be a member of  Manfred Mann.
The pub was taken over by Nicholson's in 2024.
Hence the duller-than-they-used to-be Nicholson's range of ales: their St Austell brewed pale ale, Pride, or Adnam's two big hitters.

£3.30 procured me a half of 'Broadside'.
So - in the end - nothing topped the wicked price of that Twickenham beer in the first pub of the day.  And the Shere Drop in the second pub still stood out as my best beer of the day.

A big thanks to those who put the itinerary together and picked the pubs, ensuring I visited a few places that I may not have ventured to if left to my own devices.
And thank you for making the odd-bod from Oxford so welcome. 

Prop Up the Bar's Foolhardy Bonus Pub:
I wasn't quite ready to catch the tube back to central London, having spied a Beer Guide entry not too far away on the other side of the river.
Somewhere used in the Beatles film A Hard Days Night.

The Turks Head (28 Winchester Road, St. Margarets, TW1 1LF)
It's a bit of a street corner stunner, possibly looking its best lit up at dusk.
All pubs with turrets are ace. (Unproven Prop Up the Bar fact).

This Edwardian pub dates back to 1902 although it has been altered inside to make it open-plan, given a coat of gastro-blue paint, with added Chesterfield sofas in front of an unused fireplace.
What are those things on the ceiling?

The beer range included Fullers 'Pride' or the rugby-themed 'Prop Me Up' alongside Mondo 'Juliet' pale ale.
'Prop Me Up' seemed apt, considering the title I picked for this blog years ago. 
And appropriate as I would benefit from someone to prop me up by this point.
And where better to have a rugby beer, with Twickenham Stadium just down the road.

After a superb day, it was time to head home.
Then return to London for a different pub crawl the following day.