Bars & Pubs

Never judge a book by its cover. The pubby exterior of the Kensington Arms, replete with swinging pub sign, gives way to a space more like a café-bar inside, all pale wood and brightness. The initial shock wears off pretty quickly, however. The lunch menu, affordable gastro fare from caesar salad at £6 to fish and chips or steak at just under a tenner, is a gem. Beer includes Spitfire on tap and Cornish ale, Sharp's Doom Bar (perhaps a nod to the bar's Cornish cousin the Mariner's Rock). The jaunty, colourful decor, including 1930s travel destination posters, ensures this is more than a standard-issue, pale-wood gastro-joint.

Time Out Bars, Pubs & Clubs Guide 2008/9