West Brompton- The Atlas

Saturday 3rd June 2023

Famously when the weather is warm it is important to ensure that you consume lots of fluid. Granted, that doesn't usually mean alcohol with all its dehydrating qualities but seeing as this blog is about visiting pubs and not juice bars at every tube station there was only really option available to me.

Lying on the border of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the lowly common Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, West Brompton is served by Overground, National Rail and District Line services. The station, now Grade II listed, first opened in 1866 and has been a stopping point on the District Line since 1869. This station was previously the primary access for the now demolished Earls Court Exhibition Centre and will no doubt play host to a great deal more passengers when development proposals for 4,000 new homes, 12,000 new jobs and 300,000 sqft of new retail space come to fruition on the site.

The platforms are exposed to the open air, with the main station building accessed via a green and red iron staircase. The building sits on a bridge over the railway and if you visit in need of a watering hole turning left is your best option with several pubs on or just off the Old Brompton Road.

The Atlas may not be the closest of all of these, although suitably within a five minute walk, but beautifully covered in ivy above a burgundy facade and with lush hanging baskets and flower pot displays on the windowsills it was difficult not be enticed towards it.

Devon had already secured us a table at the lower level of a delightful walled garden off to the side of the pub. Here too there was an immense display of planting in amongst the stone tiling. This was an outdoor area done right with no screens, and tables nicely spaced avoiding the sense of overcrowding you often get with pub gardens at this time of year.

At the oak bar a blackboard stares back at you with the bold claim from Josh and George that The Atlas served the best Guinness in London. I'm none the wiser to who Josh and George are, or whether they've frequented The Swan in Sudbury Town but when temperatures hit the high twenties, even with such glowing reviews from supposed Guinness aficionados, it doesn't feel right to have a pint of the black stuff. Instead I opted for a Neck Oil, Devon a Pravha which came to £13.50.

The pub was a baby hotspot for West London's newest parents to assemble both inside and out, with two couples eventually turning up for a booking at our table. We relocated out front where fortunately there were more tables as well as Mind the Tap's first celebrity spot with BBC Radio 1's Jordan North sat at the table behind us beside a burgundy gate accessing the garden.

Inside the burgundy theme continues with walls throughout painted in the colour. These are dotted with vintage travel posters and maps as well as photographs of the pub in black and white. There are also several wooden booths, largely unoccupied in the glorious sunshine, and a fireplace, unsurprisingly not in use, atop which sat several enormous wine bottles. They also advertise a room available for hire upstairs but in weather like this you wouldn't want to be anywhere else than The Atlas's Garden.