Three Pints in Bayswater

Midweek in July, the sun was out, and I decided to head into London for a day of pub explorations.
The plan was to start centrally in Bayswater before venturing a little further into West London.

Hopping off the Oxford Tube bus service at Hyde Park Corner, the first order of the day was to visit a couple of nearby pubs from the Good Beer Guide.

And to take a picture of the elephant statues in the corner of Hyde Park.

Twenty One Elephants

After a 15 minute walk along the north side of the park, the first pub stop was the Leinster Arms.
I reckon it looks absolutely glorious, with the pub name stretching across the tunnel that leads to the mews behind.

Leinster Arms (17 Leinster Terrace, Bayswater, W2 3EU - web)
Now I did arrive at 12:05, just a few minutes after opening time, so I can't complain that I was the sole customer in the pub.  Reviews suggest, in normal  circumstances, it's thriving with tourists from the many nearby hotels, plus a handful of locals and those drawn to live sport on the TVs.

I'm afraid I didn't liven the place up.  I sat quietly with my £5.10 (oof, that hurt!) pint of Fullers 'London Pride', with a soundtrack of Frank Sinatra and Bruce Springsteen in the mellow lunchtime music mix.  It would obviously be a very different experience in more 'normal' times, with a crowd of punters in.

The 'Pride' was in great condition, for what must have been the first one poured on the day.

Early doors at the Leinster Arms

I'm usually a sucker for a bit of Pub Heritage, but the area's headline heritage pub, The Victoria, had not yet re-opened.  As an alternative, I back-tracked on myself a little to visit The Mitre.
The wedge-shaped corner pub certainly makes for an impressive picture.

Mitre (24 Craven Terrace, Lancaster Gate, W2 3QH - web)
Inside it's pretty impressive too, with a sweeping wooden bar, etched glass and mosaic tiled flooring, in a pub that dates back to 1859.
The team here were taking the collection of contact tracing details very seriously.  There seemed to be a procession of local workmen popping in to use the loo, all of whom had to give their details in order to spend a penny.
Table service only too - even if that long bar is crying out to be leaned on.

Two hand pumps offered up Young's 'Original' or St Austell 'Proper Job', but in this instance I plumped for the draft Camden Town Brewery, 'To The Pub'.

This pale ale has been brewed to support and celebrate pubs as they re-open, with 260,000 pints being dished-out free-of-charge to bars alongside orders of keg Hells Lager.

Leaving the Mitre and walking down toward Notting Hill, there was just one more Good Beer Guide entry to visit in the vicinity. 

Champion (1 Wellington Terrace, Bayswater, W2 4LW - web)

The Champion initially re-opened without any real ales on, but by the time I visited they did have Doom Bar on offer.
Decisions, decisions, Doom Bar or more Camden lager on tap?
Against my better judgement I asked for the Doom Bar which started out tasting pretty fine, but the magic fizzled out and the second half of the pint was less impressive.
And it cost me a shocking £4.70.  For a Doom Bar.  Hell's bells.

I sat in the big leather seats by the window, today opened wide onto the traffic of Bayswater Road with the northern gates of Kensington Palace directly opposite.
Downstairs is the Mercury Lounge and a sunken garden.  The pub alleges a bit of rock'n'roll history, with '70's musicians frequenting it, most prominently Freddie Mercury.
I did try to do a bit of internet research about this, but got quickly waylaid and never did get to the bottom of whether 'We Are The Champions' was really written here.
But they say it was, so I'll believe 'em, and they've got a display on the wall with sheet music and pictures of the band.

Three central London pubs was enough for me today.  It was time to travel westwards into the suburbs in search of something a little different, the results of which I'll cover on the next post.