Imposing pub with wood-panelled interior and a narrow central section. The pub, with its white painted stucco exterior, dates from 1837/8 and is grade II listed. This is one of Britain's Real Heritage Pubs with ornately gilded mirrors above a crescent-shaped bar, painted tiles in wall niches and numerous portraits of Queen Victoria. The fittings from the mid-Victorian period are now very rare as so many pubs were renovated at the end of the nineteenth century. The multiple outside doors hint at the bar separation that would have been in place in Victorian times.

The walls now display cartoons, paperweights and a Silver Jubilee plate. A recessed area at the back is furnished with a leather bench seat. Upstairs, via a spiral staircase, there is a library and theatre bar available for public use; the fittings were imported from the Gaiety Theatre in the 1950s. A few years later in 1966 David Bowie had a live gig here to launch a record.

The Ladies WC is upstairs. but the Gents is downstairs and, in quiet moments, the rumble of Elizabeth Line trains may be heard in the tunnels beneath as they swing east towards Bond Street.

Tuesday is quiz night. This was Fuller's Pub of the Year in 2007 & 2009, and since 2016 had been five times voted runner-up in the CAMRA West London branch Pub of the Year competition, before finally winning 1st place in 2024. Our photo shows Chris Cochran, manager, receiving the certificate from branch chair Wanda Piontek.