It was Avril's birthday and Richard Bradshaw had sourced a new, swish and easy to reach part of London, so it was obvious that we should go there and sample. The area in question was Paddington Basin, between Paddington and Edgware Road stations, and an easy walk after alighting from the train at Marylebone station.

The first pub we saw, which is where we were to meet Richard, was the Draft House which, I understand, has become a Brew Dog establishment. Although Draft House is hardly a real ale of CAMRA shrine, it is still a damn sight better than Brew Dog. Nevertheless, this is still not going to be that bad and the surroundings are quite nice, so worth a visit. In its Draft House incarnation, we got there early and had the attention of the bar man in an empty pub with some interesting brews on. I could not be bothered to write them all down, but the Siren breakfast stout was very tasty.

Once Richard arrived, we had another pint, then skipped some Scandinavian thing to go to the Heist Bank which is set just back from the basin. This was in many respects quite a similar place to the Draft House, with mainly craft beers on, but even on a Saturday afternoon it was lively and the pizza was good and the selection not bad at all. I had a lager and a stout if I recall correctly. Industrial concrete vibes inside.

Traditional pub visitation then commenced at about 4pm with the Warwick Castle about a 5-10 minute walk away. There were lots of glum looking people who had overstuffed themselves on Christmas lunch in there and we nearly turned tail and left, but then I spotted something and suggested we didn't want to do that. Of all people Noel Gallacher was in there with Matt Smith at the bar. They were just leaving, so Avril greeted Noel on his way out. Space at the bar had consequently opened up and we stood there to make our orders. Decent old school pub and some beer on proper pump finally: Truman Swift, Sambrook Pale, Greene King IPA, Abbot.

Backtracking, we ignored the Bridge House and came down the other side of the basin, ignoring the Grand Union also, deciding to stop in Smith's. This was the sort of place that post work individuals would have gone to let their hair down on a Friday - on a Saturday it didn't really have so much purpose, but good for us, it was empty. Mainly cocktails, and a few were had, but there were a couple of beers on, one of which was some passable Whitstable Bay.

A further walk back to the starting point followed, past St Mary's Hospital, no pubs there, so we tried the Royal Exchange. It was busy, cramped and not quite what we were hoping for, so back over the road and to the Draft House for the last one or two and back to Marylebone, this time by taxi.