Argyll Arms

Time Out says

Thu Jul 14 2011

Robert Sawyer created this ornate Victorian pub in the dying days of the 19th century, and he’d still be proud of his Grade II-listed, Nicholson’s-run monument to mahogany and etched glass by one of the West End’s busiest pedestrian intersections. Within, the unhurried sipping and supping of quality ales might recall a quiet rural pub but for the rapid turnover of the international clientele, all happy to have found a real London pub with a broad range of beers and an array of suitably eccentric little spaces in which to drink them.

Expect to find Sharp’s Doom Bar and Timothy Taylor Landlord, joined by the varied likes of White Horse Village Idiot, Brains Milkwood and Downtown Honey Blonde from California; ask for the beer menu if you can’t see the taps for the crush at the bar. Traditional dinners (toad in the hole, meat pies) keep locals and tourists happy; there’s table service at the equally elegant Palladium Bar upstairs.