The Barley Mow, Mayfair
Drink downstairs, eat upstairs. Harden's reporters are blunt that the first-floor dining room is where the cooking happens.1
Why go
Cubitt House bought the pub in 2022 and restored it, leaving parquet floors and white Edwardian-style tiling behind the bar. The group also runs the Alfred Tennyson in Knightsbridge and the Princess Royal in Notting Hill.1
The split is the thing to know. Survey reporters: the ground floor bar is fine for beer and pub snacks, but it is the more cosy upstairs dining room where the menu showcases seasonal British dishes
with a decadent French
twist.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: upstairs, off the seasonal menu.1
- Avoid: judging the kitchen from the ground-floor bar snacks. That is not what they are for.1
What locals & experts say
- Harden's survey:
this Mayfair boozer has undergone a fine restoration by the Cubitt House group
, and it is worth rememberingfor a civilised pub meal in a pricey bit of town
.1 - No dish has been named by any source this entry reached, and the chef the survey credits is not named in the text read.
Good to know
- Where: 82 Duke Street W1K 6JG, between Oxford Street and Grosvenor Square. Bond Street is five minutes.
- Two floors: bar on the ground, dining room on the first. Book the first.1
- Operator: Cubitt House, since 2022.1
Verdict
could-visit — Cubitt House bought this in 2022 and split the job across two floors. Downstairs is parquet, white Edwardian tiling behind the bar, and Harden's reporters say plainly it is 'fine for beer and pub snacks'. Upstairs is the reason to book: 'the more cosy upstairs dining room where the menu showcases seasonal British dishes' with a 'decadent French' twist. That is a clear instruction and it is the whole recommendation. It sits mid-ladder because no dish has been named anywhere in reach, the chef the survey credits is not named in the text I could read, and a well-restored Mayfair pub with a good upstairs is a category rather than a destination.