Bradley's Spanish Bar

I love Bradley's. It's an old, cute Spanish bar on Hanway St, just off the chaos that is Oxford St. If that were all you needed to know to get you to go there, I would stop here, but it's not, is it?

For, if you walked down Hanway St and saw the crowd drinking outside you'd probably turn heel and walk away. It looks busy. It probably is but not as much as you think, they're the smokers, and in an indie crowd they are many.

Or if you went downstairs past the gents and down to the basement bar, the state of the carpet might offend you, or the tiny ladies toilet that may await you after a few drinks. Or that stale smell that lurks in so many pubs since the smoking ban came in...

But, what of the wonderful jukebox and the charisma of this pub? The friendly crowd, pints of Guinness and bottles of Rioja? The banter with the bar staff? This is a real pub and a perfect antidote to the chains ever present in London. It's one of my favourites and the only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is probably the smell from the gents... on occasion.