The Chequers Tavern, St James's, SW1

"Normal pub" in a rather swish area. 3 real ales and hot food. Precarious steps down to the toilet.

In this fairly upmarket part of St James’, the last thing I expected to find was a down to earth local’s boozer, but the Chequers Tavern appears to be exactly that. Like many pubs in the area, it’s a fairly compact single room affair, although a break in the servery halfway into the room suggests a previous two bar layout. The front section has some decent seating to the right of the door including a nice padded button backed banquette which stands beneath a TV screen, showing Champions League football on my mid-week visit. The front windows are nicely decorated with frosted panes, as is the entrance door. The servery runs down the right hand wall, with a tongue and groove counter and bar back in dark wood and a pleasant stained glass canopy. A regimented pump clip collection has been neatly arranged on the bar back and some numbered bulldog clips are positioned to take food orders. The rear of the room has a drinking ledge and a short padded banquette underneath pictures of various black and white era movie stars. An old TV screen back here was also showing the football. The whole pub has been carpeted and there are dark beams crisscrossing the ceiling and a nice floral display in the front window, lending the place a traditional and comparatively cosy feel. A boisterous bunch of regulars propped up the far end of the bar in an area signposted as ‘Bullshit Corner’, close to the staircase leading down to the toilets which, in typical London style, was at a perilously steep angle. There were three ales on the bar – Fullers London Pride and Caledonian Deuchars IPA and Autumn Red. The latter was a pretty well kept seasonal brew and I found it nice and relaxing supping my pint from a comfy banquette whilst reading my paper. This pub feels a bit out of place, especially if you’ve previously visited some of the well heeled pubs in the immediate vicinity, but I liked it for its down to earth feel and well kept beer. If you like good, honest pubs, this isn’t a bad bet for this part of town.