London pubs: The Salisbury pub

Location: The Salisbury, London

Located deep in the heart of London, this gem of a public house is located near to Leicester Square station, in the center of London's entertainment and tourist area, a constantly bustling quarter of the city, giving it that high, charged atmosphere, highlighted by the brightly lit and neon signs for the wide variety of shops and theaters.

The pub itself is of a trend of public houses maintaining the vintage and antique designs of early pub heritage, one of the most iconic and distinctive characters that London and the UK as a whole is known around the world for.

The pub has a dark exterior, with the trademark sign hanging outside, and large patterned windows around it. There are a couple of entryways, both maintaining the exterior style, and equally giving an impression of the venue interior.

Entering through one of these, one is met with a vision of vintage style, with a large curved bar in the middle of dark wood displaying a range of beers on tap lining the inner edges. Behind the bar is the spectacular shelving of a very dark wooden frame, elaborately decorated, with curved arches framing mirrors of more etched patterned glass. On the shelves, the pub displays many of its other wares, bottles of wines, and spirits of a wide variety of well known names.

The rest of the bar is no less appreciable, with seating lining the walls, several booths of semi-circular cushioned sofas in a dark red colour tastefully lit up highly ornamental orange lighting, emphasising the dark, warm atmosphere of browns, reds, patterns and brass metal coat hangings. The windows at the entrance side, which during the day, daylight infuses the area with a gentle white ambiance, making it an ideal reading area.

Apart from the main bar area, leading through to the dining room. This medium sized room accommodates several dining tables of varying sizes, lined with chairs and green coloured cushioned benches against the walls. The walls themselves follow the style of the rest of the pub, with carved dark wood frames and patterned mirrors to reflect the light around evenly.

Even the stairway to the toilets is worth it for what greets the visitor. The walls all the way down are lined with countless overlapping posters for the various plays and acts that have graced the West-end theaters of London, going way back to times long past up to the current stage performances.

From opening, the pub sees a steady stream of customers coming in, starting with regulars, and building up to groups of both regulars and visitors, which by lunch time ensures an atmosphere of a bustling social centre, before quietening down mid-afternoon for solo drinkers and couples having late lunches. Music plays throughout the day, a variety of classic rock hits and the occasional pop tune.

Overall an excellent place to come for a drink, either on one's own, or as a group, the range of beers are generally of a good quality, from the well known lager brands, to Belgian beers, and a choice selection of both popular and guest ales. If alcohol is not an option, there is always the coffee available, as well as a range of soft drinks and fruit juices.
For those who long for a special sense of style and history, there is also an image of Marianne Faithfull reclining on one of the side sofas, as also given below.

Images courtesy of pubs.com, the BBC, and Time.

London pubs: Dicken's Inn

Location: Dicken's Inn, St. Katharine's Docks, London

From the outside, this large venue stands out with a distinctive style from times not so long past. It has a history nestled in the heigh days of the Thames as a major trade route, having once been a warehouse further up the river. According to the main website, in the 1820's the building had a brick exterior built up around it, which hid the remarkable timber frame until the 1970's. During this time the building was carefully deconstructed and the timber frame was moved to its current site, where it was reconstructed to the public house that it is today. An array of framed photographs of this event hang just within the entrance, with a plaque below to commemorate its reopening in 1976.

The front of the building gives of a very welcoming vibe, standing out from many other places for the effort put in building up this appearance. Behind a small beer garden to the groundfloor terrace, the railing lined with flowerboxes which are full of bright flowers in Summer.

Above it, one can see two more floors of terraces, all spreading out across the entire front, and one can almost imagine how appropriate an image this gives of a busy drinking house in warmer evenings, with the clientele standing, leaning, all having a pleasant evening. However in Winter, the outside is much quiter and more subdued for the lack of bright colours, but hardly seems diminished in its impression to the potential visitor.

Inside, on the groundfloor, the place is fairly dimly lit, and invitingly warm despite the outside cold. The bar is immediately in front, and stretches out for a considerable length, with a brassy top, and shelving across the bricked walls, which are lit up to display their wares. The beers here are more of the standard variety of London lagers and ales, but do offer the casual drinker a wide choice to choose from.
The next noticeable aspect of this floor is the impression of a low ceiling, which is more illusory, from the large beams running over the darkwood floor for the entire length of the building, with plenty of seating available, high stools and tables in the middle, more cushioned armchairs and sofas with low tables at one end, eventually dining chairs and tables at the other end, all mark out the main bar area of the venue. There are a few television screens around showing sport, and music plays at a comprise between being a presence and background noise, never giving out an impression of quiet solitude. Timber columns here show the thickness and quality of wood used for the old frame, and run intermittently along the building, going up through every floor to the roof.

Last detail worthy of note here is written on some of the beams, a selection of quotes, mostly drink related, and from a variety of sources, with an example below:

“Did you ever taste beer?” “I had a sip of it once” said the small servant. “Here's a state of things,” cried Mr Swivvler, “she never tasted it – It can't be tasted in a sip.”
from the Old Curiosity Shop.

The first and second floors are the main dining areas of the pub, each displaying the style of food they serve and as such giving off distinct impressions to relate to the diner.
The first floor is the pizzeria, with lighter coloured furniture and décor, to bring out a lighter vibe to go with the pizzas they serve. The second floor is the grill, with dark wood furniture, and the smell of grilled meat in the air. This floor also has a feeling of greater space, with the roof stretching out high over the top, white panelling between the numerous beams, smaller beams between the larger ones, giving an almost barn-like appearance, revealing the upper structure of this historic place.
Again, with both floors, they shared another feature with the open front kitchens, showing the food being prepared and served in full view of the waiting customers and new customers waiting to be seated.

This concludes a review of the Dicken's Inn. A remarkable place to go for a drink, with a warm atmosphere, and with plenty of space to relax in. It is recommended for anyone who wishes to go, including solo drinkers, but it stands out for groups of people, and parties. The location itself is excellent, having the surrounding docks with a plethora of boats of the rich and famous, lines of shops and some restaurants dotted around in tasteful brick buildings, and not least, the docks' proximity to Tower Bridge and the Tower of London.

Pictures from the author and the Dicken's Inn website.

London pubs: Anchor Tap, & Horniman at Hay's

Location: Anchor Tap pub, London

From an unassuming exterior down a side street near to Tower Bridge, this public house retains much of the character of its age. While finding details on its past is sketchy, the pub was run by the Courage Brewery from 1787, when the Anchor Brewery closed down, to 1981 where it has since been run by the Samuel Smith's Brewery company.

Through the front door, one is greeted by a venue from a time long before, with a dark murky feel from the cream and brown patterned walls, and lots of dark wood panelling. The furniture itself is mostly of a dark wood, blending around the sides of each room of this deceptively expansive place.

Past the first bar area, to the right is a larger room, with more furniture for drinking on, stools and chairs surround the front sides of a variety of circular or rectangular tables, with the walls lined with cushioned benches. Even a piano offers itself as a surface, with a line of stools along its front, and a smouldering fireplace in the corner.

The walls of the room are covered in a wide array of black and white photos, hinting at the long history of the place, showing scenes of the street outside, and of the Thames river, elaborating on the history that London has as a once major port for sea trade.

Moving on, the games room is smaller by comparison, with more of a murky dark appearance despite the increased light from a large window, containing some furniture and a couple of games machines on one side.

In keeping with this theme is a back room of similar size but more square in shape, lighter décor and lighting is used in this room to provide the required lighting over the central pool table, while benches line the sides for onlookers.

Last on the downstairs is the lounge room, where the décor is lighter in colour than the rest, with more comfortable seating around low tables, the armchairs covered in patterned cushioning.

Going upstairs, one is greeted with the dining area, which consists of three rooms, the smallest of which is separate from the other two, while the largest contains the upstairs bar in one corner. The rooms are outfitted with laid out dining tables and comfortable seating, fully-cushioned benches and armchairs, their patterns introducing a pleasant shade of green to the surrounding colours.

An extremely pleasant pub overall, though very quiet on a Sunday, with a good amount of room for a backstreet venue. It offers a certain solitude away from the bustling crowds of Central London, and nearby, a short stroll to the Thames path for a walk along the Thames bank.

Images by the author, and BeerintheEvening.

Location: Horniman at Hay's, London

A good sized pub just off the side of Hay's Galleria, which is a very tall arcade with a good twist of Victorian décor, and even a steampunk statue in the center. The entrance itself simply takes the visitor right in to the thick of the atmosphere where the brightly lit bar area greets one, and a rich assortment of colours and styles create a seemingly decadent feel to it. One does indeed feel like they have stepped in to what a gentleman's club would have appeared in Victorian times.

There are cream coloured walls, dotted with gold framed hangings, gold-coloured trimmings and theatre-like decorations for the ceiling. Several chandeliers hang down over the bar area, highlighting the colour of the wood much more brightly, while moving further in, one will find that it is more dimly lit, there the staircase leads one up to the mezzanine dining area.

Walnut-coloured wood panels, railings and shelving behind the bar makes a change from the usual dark wood, while murals line the walls above the bar, and along the outer edge of the mezzanine, depicting scenes of Britain's seafaring and colonial history in exotic locations.

The bar contains the usual set of lagers that many other pubs have, along with a few common ales found in London. However it does also contain some guest ales and Belgian beers.

The locale is warm inside, and evidently it is frequently busy, even during Sundays. Recommended as a place to relax with company, and to try whatever ales there are available.

All pictures done by the author.