The Hansom Cab, Earls Court, London

Nestled between Earl’s court and Kensington, The Hansom Cab is a cracking little find. Good selection of beers, it’s far enough away from offices and the tube stations to ever be too busy at lunch time - though it has been known on the occasional Friday night.

The food is served promptly and with a smile, it’s good value for money. I wouldn’t recommend a long trek here, but if you happen to be in the area it’s worth a visit.

This pub is a great little find. Off the beaten path from Earls Court Rd, it has never been too busy to sit down and have a quiet drink whenever I’ve been to this establishment. As my parents have stayed in the local area when visiting it has been a nice place to retreat to afterwards for that calming glass of wine. The service is generally welcoming and friendly and the decour is attractive in that nice independent-type of pub sense without being garish.

It’s a while since we’ve been into the Hansom Cab. When we last visited, it was full of ageing (but pleasant) locals, and had a real Hansom Cab suspended, rather perilously from the ceiling.

Since then, it’s been thoroughly made over (albeit a while back - in fact, the whole interior looks somewhat scruffy, and I understand another makeover is in the offing). The paintwork has been re-done in that fashionable ‘muddy brown’ colour, the Hansom Cab has gone, and lots of old furniture has been moved in, along with lots of mirrors. There’s some limited outdoor pavement seating in summer.

Essentially, there’s a front bar wrapped around an island counter, and a long room running across the rear: the front area has a few tables and standing room, whereas the back has lots of big, rather scruffy sofas - the sort you might expect to see in digs in ‘Withnail and I’. The bar itself is a very impressive piece of internal architecture: pairs of dark wood columns with Composite (Corinthian/Ionic) capitals and decorative glass inlay rise right up to a canopy at ceiling height - as if a small Greek temple had been dropped from above.

The punters seem to be a very mixed crowd of locals and a few visitors, and it all feels very unpretentious and cheerfully laid back - something of an achievement in this part of Kensington. The bar staff are similarly very friendly and helpful.

They do several real ales - Black Sheep Bitter, Hog’s Back TEA (Traditional English Ale), Doom Bar Bitter and occasionally Fuller’s Bitter (though we were told this had been off for a while). It sounds very odd asking for a pint of ‘TEA’! There’s also a decent wine list, and they serve ‘posh pub’ food which has a good reputation, although we’ve not eaten here. On Wednesdays there’s a quiz and on Tuesdays a Curry + Tiger Beer offer for £6.50.

I’m hovering between three and four stars: the only downer (but one that really gets under my skin) is that the music was too loud, and the choice - tracks from films such as Mission Impossible, Kill Bill, Reservoir Dogs, etc - slightly unnerving. Quieter music and a bit of tarting up, and it would happily deserve four stars, as a nice local boozer. So, for now, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for having nice staff!

After a rousing few hours at the Famous Three Kings watching Wales overcome Italy (in rugby, rather than land or politics) we wandered down Talgarth Road to enjoy a quite one and to savour the highlights of the past few hours.

We strolled into the Hansom Cab which was a far cry from the atmosphere at the F3K. There were only a few punters, it was calm and quiet and there were only a couple of small screens showing the Scotland V England match.

It was ideal for us to sit down and unwind after the madness of being rammed in with inumerable Welsh people in strong voice. We relaxed. Read the newspaper. Doodled on an envelope. Said things like, “Triple Crown? Yes please.”

“That tackle…”

“Tremendous effort. Broody.”

Owain had a steak sandwich.

We watched England fritter away any credulity as a rugby nation as they lost to a determined Scotland.

A great day.

GATLAND!