Bars & Pubs

The 180-year-old Anglesea was Dickens' and DH Lawrence's local (a photo on the wall shows the latter in Selwood Terrace on his wedding day in 1914) and where the Great Train Robbery was plotted. The ghost of a rather mysterious woman called Fifi, depicted in naked splendour in a painting on the wall, apparently roams the basement at night. Hoards of aristocratic etchings and late 19th-century London photographs adorn the dark, panelled wood walls, adding to the feel of a place lost in time. Real ales are the speciality here - Brakspear Oxford Gold, Hogs Back and Adnams among them - but there's Kirin and San Miguel on draught for the young 'uns. Food, served in a dining area with roaring fire, is traditional English; an outdoor terrace bedecked with hanging baskets completes the time warp in summer.

Time Out Bars, Pubs & Clubs Guide 2008/9