Pub of the year - it's your shout

10 April 2012

Ask any thirsty tourist, ask any life-long Londoner, ask any passing Prince of Wales: the pub is the hub of London's densely packed pudding of villages, just as it is of rural communities throughout the nation. Being London, of course, we have bars, too; indeed bar culture has never crackled as incandescently as it does at the moment.

The Evening Standard's moist spies have been whittling their way through another long list of possible contenders for the 2002 Pub and Bar of the Year competition.

Here are the candidates. Andrew Jefford samples the pubs, while Edward Sullivan surveys the bars. The finalists will be announced on 8 February

Pubs

Atlas , 16 Seagrave Road, SW6 (020 7385 9129)

The restrained fidelity with which this old, wood-panelled Truman's interior has been scrubbed and wiped clean but left uncorrupted is one reason to visit the Atlas. Mostly, though, the youthful locals and savvy Earl's Court attendees are here to mop up the well-kept cask ales, a genuinely thoughtful wine list, warm bread and a range of dishes altogether more gastro than grub.

Barley Mow , 44 Narrow Street, E14 (020 7265 8931)

This is one of the least wellknown of London's various Barley Mows; one look at its situation, though, and you're no more likely to forget it than were any of the dockmasters who lived here. There are few prospects which bring greater ease to the soul than the languid Thames viewed from this turn, a pint of Bass, Burton Ale or Greene King IPA to hand - even in winter, when the wide river terrace sends all but the hardiest inside.

The Bedford , 77 Bedford Hill, SW12 (020 8673 1756)

The Moby Dick of Balham, ironically now owned by an outfit called Pocket Pubs, goes from strength to strength. Not so much a pub as a singlevenue community centre and entertainment complex, this big, rangy hostelry can be pleasingly scruffy, open-fire cosy and glam-dram by turn. Live funk, blues, rock, jazz and plain piano, comedy and cabaret, DJs, footie - and a quiet pint if you want that, too. It's hard to be more inclusive than The Bedford. (And the view of Sainsbury's is to die for.)

The Lamb , 94 Lamb's Conduit Street, WC1 (020 7405 0713)

The gentle Lamb continues to charm. No lap-dancing here: the pin-ups on the wall feature the likes of Miss Lettice Fairfax, Miss Ritchie and Miss McCarthy - music-hall stars who have long since warbled their last. The large, horseshoe-shaped bar, equipped with nowmysterious snob screens (originally to occlude the gaze of those in the public bar from their lounge superiors), is a masterpiece of pub feng shui. Service, ales, wines and ham off the bone in this Youngs house are all impeccable.

The Market Porter , 9 Stoney Street, SE1 (020 7407 2495)

When does the cleaner get in? The Market Porter has at least four different clienteles: working men from Borough Market who need its early licence; local office folk sliding in for twice-daily congeniality; foodies on pilgrimage for the Friday and Saturday Farmers' Market next door; and Real Ale tickers keen to put the claim of "120 a week" to the test. None, I'm happy to say, dominates: this remains a much-loved and much-used local which just happens to try harder than most.

The Nag's Head , 53 Kinnerton Street, SW1 (020 7235 1135)

Is your pub ideal founded on the epiphanic memory of a quiet local deep in the Dorset or Northumberland countryside where you drank your first pint some 30 years ago? Do you doubt that you will ever see its like in London? Is the idea that you might find a simulacrum in the most exquisite street in Knightsbridge, within shrieking distance of Harvey Nicks and Vong, plain ludicrous? If so, bend your steps to The Nag's Head. It exists. Here you will find peace and perfection - and the best Adnams west of Southwold.

The Northgate , 113 Southgate Road, N1 (020 7359 7392)

Where Northchurch Road meets Southgate Road stands the Northgate, much changed since its days as the Dog and Dumplings. Jacky Kitching and Christopher Leech, both of them ex-Belgo workers, have returned to their roots with this peaceable, civilised and refined gastro-pub (open evenings only during the week). Coniston Bluebird, Adnams and London Pride, plus a well-considered wine list, lubricate chef Robert Greenway's dishes, fine enough to have caught the eye of Michelin inspectors.

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese , Wine Office Court, 145 Fleet Street, EC4 (020 7353 6170)

We searched and we struggled and we ransacked: no, no one could remember the Cheshire Cheese ever featuring as a previous Pub of the Year contender. Perhaps familiarity bred contempt back in Fleet Street days. Whatever the truth, it has been gross neglect. If one building in our city is capable of expressing four centuries of eating, drinking, talking, arguing, smoking and roistering in its time-cured timbers, it is this seven-bar wonder, more Swiss cheese than Cheshire. Pity the poor plumber; alas for the electrician. For drinkers, though, this mansion of many rooms, now owned by Sam Smiths, is a delight.

Portobello Gold, 95 Portobello Road, W11 (020 7460 4900)

A Pub of the Year, it goes without saying, should be singular, and Portobello Gold is certainly that. During the day, it's a sort of internet pub, with terminals in the bar. The restaurant at the back is blue lagoonish, semi-tropical; oysters a speciality. Chess and backgammon players are welcome; there are papers for the solitary, and pork scratchings for them as likes 'em. The multi-faceted wine list is partnered by a cigar list; the beers, meanwhile, work hard in the cause of Anglo-Belgian friendship. (It's been 17 years since Michael Bell chucked out the Hell's Angels by alienating them with courtesy and fresh flowers - doesn't time fly?)

The Royal Oak, 44 Tabard Street, SE1 (020 7357 7173)

Neat, tidy, freshly painted, with lacy net curtains and beautifully engraved glass, with political biographies in place of raucous music and flashing fruit machines, this is Harvey's only London pub - and it's one of exquisite classicism. A full range of Harveys' beers on tap and impeccably served provides, of course, the backbone of pleasure here.

Bars

Akbar, 77 Dean Street, W1 (020 7437 2115)

It's cocktails all the way at Amin Ali's oh-so-smart Indian-style bar in the basement of the Red Fort restaurant. All furnishings and fittings were sourced from the subcontinent to bring a flavour of Indian chic to the heart of the West End. The eclectic cocktail list has been cleverly collated by Douglas Ankrah from the Lab bar in nearby Old Compton Street and represents very good value for money.

Babushka House , 648 King's Road, SW6 (020 7736 4501)

Nick House, bon viveur and one of London's more empirical club promoters, has transcended his role as social butterfly and now has a house he can call home. In this joint collaboration with Babushka vodka bars, DJs spin funk, disco and party music in an environment that is, well, just a tad on the kitsch side, with dÈcor reflecting a throwback to a Seventies suburban home.

Baltic , 74 Blackfriars Road, SE1 (020 7928 1111)

Blackfriars Road seems to have come out from the cultural wilderness since the arrival of Southwark Tube station. And fast on the rails behind this significant arrival came Baltic, the creation of Jan Woroniecki, whose sistervenue, Wodka, has been lifting the spirits of Kensington folk for as long as they can remember. Baltic is a dramatically modern bar and restaurant dedicated to the finest gastronomic and libational delights of the Balkan States.

Corney & Barrow , Broadgate Circle, EC4 (020-7628 1251)

It was as recently as last month that the builders' hoardings came down to reveal a splendidly modern glass structure stretching the entire length of the upper level of Broadgate Circle. Smart and efficient staff offer a quality wine list with a choice of more than 50 available by the glass. A top spot to unwind at the end of the day and watch the shenanigans on the ice rink below.

Eclipse , Walton Street, SW3 (020 7581 0123)

Eclipse doubled its size last summer by bashing through into a neighbouring unit. The new room, with its own small bar, contains louche, clandestine-looking booths and has the distinct air of an upmarket Moroccan souk bar. Bartenders of some pedigree prepare quality cocktails, and there's a small but decent enough wine offering and a sophisticated champagne list for the braying Sloanes.

Hakkasan , Hanway Place, W1 (020 7907 1888)

Hakkasan, a former underground car park on scary Hanway Place, is today a ravishing, subterranean den of opulence and style that is so drop-dead-gorgeous it would make a supermodel weep. It is brought to us by Alan Yau, the founding father of Wagamama. Cocktails are the order of the day here - not cheap, but boy do you get what you pay for.

Lowlander , 36 Drury Lane, WC2 (020 7379 7446)

This new bar in the far-flung reaches of Covent Garden brings together the very best of food and drink offerings from the Low Countries of Belgium and the Netherlands. There's a sparkling parade of 15 beer fonts currently dispensing 13 styles of draught beers, with a further 30 in bottles behind the bar. Food ranges from excellent snacks to a full-blown a la carte menu.

Nylon, 1 Addle Street, EC2 (020 7600 7771)

Ten years ago you'd have been hard pushed to get a drink after 9pm from any hostelry in the City. Today, at Nylon, the fun now lasts until 2am on Friday nights. A sober enough restaurant by day, many of the tables are removed in the evening to make way for the madding crowds who come here for the cheesy retrostyle glam with Seventies music.

Positively 4th Street , 119 Hampstead Road, NW1 (020 7388 5380)

The curious name of this bar comes from the title of a Bob Dylan song that he penned back in the Sixties. This is an Art Deco-style bar that you'd expect to find in downtown Manhattan, but it has adopted many Oriental influences both in design and in the food-anddrinkoffering. This is a relaxed, deliberately unpretentious bar where you can kick back and relax to the music of Dylan and Gershwin.

The Rockwell Bar, Trafalgar Hotel, Spring Gardens, SW1 (020 7870 2900)

Minimalism is the new chic, of course, and The Rockwell bar that is the lobby of the Trafalgar Hotel is a classic example of the modern genre. The bar focuses almost entirely on the wonderfully encapsulating world of bourbon with around 100 different styles on offer. Food on the menu includes delicious bite-size snacks of fish and chips, burgers and sandwiches.

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