“worse than the dickins? Really?”
The Founders Arms. As already mentioned, it’s a truly awful tourist trap. Once was enough to convince me it wasn’t worth revisiting.
“I used to love the Princess Louise when they sold Young’s beer and you could drink on the pavement. “
It was awful back then! It’s much better since it’s Sam Smiths takeover and revamp. Youngs seem to take over good pubs, and ruin them, in my opinion.
There’s some good mentions on here,but for future visits, it might be worthwhile venturing away from the centre, and trying out some pubs in the outer zones. Greenwich has a few nice pubs, and there are a couple of reasonable ones in Hammersmith/Chiswick. The Grapes as mentioned, is very good, although it can get really crowded with awful braying city types. Very good food there. The Prospect of Whitby, a bit closer to the city, has gone way down in my opinion. The Narrow is awful; Gordon Ramsey took it over and ruined it. Overpriced, mediocre food and always horribly crowded. Shame, as it was quite a nice pub previously.