November is a quite awful month of dampness and decaying leaves. However Avril and I braved all of this so that we could go drinking with Richard Bradshaw one early November Sunday. A crawl in Bayswater then moving to Notting Hill was chosen and to kick off proceedings Avril and I decided to meet Rich at the Prince Alfred. This was actually not a pub that we enjoyed at all - pretty bland interior, bland beer (Courage best and Directors) and bland bloody Mary served by a crew from overseas who didn't quite get what it was supposed to be all about. Inoffensive and pleasant enough Ember inns style interior, but we could not bear to be perched on those high stools and drank up before Rich arrived, so that we could meet him in the King's Head just around the corner.

Being a Taylor Walker establishment this is a much lower class of offering, but yet seemed more authentic with a pretty cosy interior and a pretty solid array of quite interesting beers (Cumberland, Plain Ales Rugby, London Pride, Old Peculier, Black Sheep). There were a few people in there watching the South Wales derby but not enough to make it unpleasant. We remarked that a family who had taken their young children to dine in there at 4pm would have been feeding them a meal that would neither be lunch nor dinner and that such actions were highly confusing and not recommended.

The Prince Edward describes itself as a traditional pub, and also a pub and kitchen on its website. That last term suggests gastro to me but as we had walked for a short distance and were feeling a bit peckish, we got a bit of food to tide us over and it was actually very good, washed down with Badger products Hopeful Hop, Badger and Tanglefoot and Old Rosie for the cider fan. Not a bad pub as it goes, spotlessly clean and very grand inside with slightly quirky decor including a sign in the style of a London Tube station sign. Very pleasant and, because it was quiet and hipster free, it left the impression of a pub that we might like to visit again.

The Sunday vibe was certainly in full swing at the Champion at Notting Hill Gate, but despite this it has slightly more traditional fixtures and fittings and there were not that many roast dinners being consumed and we managed to get an excellent table on the way out to the garden, which we did not visit but is apparently small and beautifully formed. Anyway, our table was excellent and we used it to spread out and read our USA guidebooks for a forthcoming trip, and generally thought this pub to be the best of the day. As you would expect, beer was excellent and varied: Fruli, Adnams Lighthouse, Mole Catcher, Bragging Rights, Windsor and Eton Knights of the Garter.

The Mall Tavern is on the corner some sort of half arsed one way system in Notting Hill and it was pissing it down when we got there. Although seemingly not that big, it is still quite a grand traditional boozer though Sunday evening meal service was in full swing on our arrival and we were quite lucky to get a table for liquids only. The layout is sensible, with a long bar and tables along the window, and we enjoyed some pretty good beer here with Otter and two others available. There is a toilet upstairs which, if I remember correctly, also has a very old radio piping music in whilst one urinates.

Talking of urine, it was still pissing down outside as we made our way to yet another pub with Sunday dinner service in full swing, the Ladbroke Arms, down some back street. This is geared more closely to the eater, in such a way that the tables are not really laid out like in a pub but more cramped in like a restaurant, just the place for people to then encroach upon one another while spreading the Sunday papers out. Also a little but too light in interior for my liking with but a small bar space, but at least decent beer was on - Landlady and Sambrook's Rye - which went a long way for making up for the aforementioned shortcomings. Better tables are available at the side of the bar. The outside seating would also have been used on a more clement evening.

Back on the main road and to the much more spacious, but slightly soulless Mitre which proclaims to be a brasserie, although is part of the same group as the Ladbroke. Being a brasserie, this means that one part of the pub is done up with booths and set with knives and forks. Although you wouldn't necessarily know it from their website, it is also possible to get a drink there as they have deemed drinking important enough to merit some floor space, and there is a selection of reasonable ales (Itchen Valley plus two others on our visit), meaning that it is still worth stopping in, especially if you fancy a meal.

Final pub of the day, still raining, was the Castle just by Holland Park tube, and was a welcome change of sorts from our run of gastro stops. For a start it looks like a proper pub with a classic yellow tiled exterior and classic, ornate fixtures and fittings within. There is a bit of a gothic boudoir theme going on with red lampshades, comfy sofas and patterned flock wallpaper plus obligatory mis-matching furniture sourced from schools/churches. Of course there is space for diners though, but much more circulation room for drinkers and indeed you'd quite like to get to the bar given the interesting range available - Southwold, W&E Knights of the Garter and Bath Hoppy.

It was time to go and instead of just heading out we debated what the best way to reach Marylebone was for our train rather than just getting out there. By the time we had reached a conclusion, it turned out that a 20 quid taxi ride was best...