The Princess Royal

A Notting Hill Pub Taken Seriously

The London dining pub occupies a particular niche in the city's eating culture: too informal to compete directly with neighbourhood restaurants, too ambitious in the kitchen to be dismissed as gastropub territory. Cubitt House, which operates several of these sites across central and west London, has refined that model over successive openings. At 47 Hereford Road in Notting Hill, that refinement reaches its clearest expression. The Princess Royal is the group's most accomplished site, according to inspector records, and the renovation makes the case visually before you've ordered a drink.

The exterior is painted in British racing green, a considered choice that reads as both traditional and deliberate. Inside, bare brick walls, marble-topped tables, and potted plants create the kind of layered rusticity that takes effort to achieve without looking forced. The room works in distinct zones: a counter alongside the raw bar for those who want to watch food being prepared; a rear dining room furnished with black leather chesterfields for something closer to a formal sit-down; and a light-filled conservatory with sofa seating that connects directly to a large back garden. The dog-friendly policy fits the Notting Hill demographic without being made a fuss of. Service is described as laid-back and pleasant without tipping into over-familiarity, a calibration that is harder to sustain than it sounds.

Where the Kitchen, Floor, and Wine List Pull Together

Editorial angle here is collaboration rather than hierarchy. Mediterranean cooking of the kind Ben Tish has built a reputation for, through earlier tenures at Norma and the Game Bird, requires a front-of-house team willing to explain ingredient provenance without lecturing, and a wine program broad enough to support dishes that move between the light acidity of crudo and the weight of salt marsh lamb. At The Princess Royal, those three components appear to be aligned.

Tish's menu is organised as snacks, small plates, large plates, and salads, a format that suits the Mediterranean register and allows the kitchen to show range without overextending. The raw bar functions as both a selling point and an editorial statement about ingredient quality. An inspector's note on the hand-dived scallop crudo is instructive: the dish used carosello cucumber, lemon dressing, dill, chilli, and marjoram, and the verdict was that it was not the sort of dish you find in most pubs. That observation carries weight because it comes from someone whose job is to benchmark against a wide field.

The small plates extend the Mediterranean logic into more complex territory. Three cheese pizzette fritti, served with burrata, mascarpone, Fontina, and spring truffle, is a dish that requires the kitchen to balance richness against restraint. The salt marsh lamb, paired with French beans, peas, courgettes, and ricotta, with rose harissa providing the through-note, is the kind of large plate that anchors a menu: a recognisable main format taken somewhere specific by the seasoning choices. Dessert recorded as doughnuts with raspberry jam and Marsala custard drew a positive response from the same inspector. Neal's Yard cheeses are also available, which points toward the wine list rather than away from it.

The wine selection is described as broad-minded, a term that in a pub context usually means the list has been assembled with genuine curiosity rather than ticking supplier defaults. Bottles start at £29, with plentiful options by the glass and coverage across most price points. In a neighbourhood where the surrounding restaurant scene is competitive, a wine list that rewards exploration rather than defaulting to the obvious becomes a meaningful differentiator. The floor team's ability to navigate that list for guests, matching glass pours to a succession of small plates, is where front-of-house work becomes as relevant as kitchen output.

The Notting Hill Context

Hereford Road sits in the quieter residential stretch of Notting Hill, away from Portobello Road's weekend crowds. The neighbourhood has supported serious cooking for decades, partly because the local population expects it and partly because rents on secondary streets allow kitchens to take more considered approaches than they might in higher-footfall areas. The dining pub format suits this context: it absorbs solo diners at the bar, couples in the conservatory, and larger groups in the rear room without requiring any of them to feel like they've walked into the wrong version of the space.

For visitors arriving from central London, Bayswater and Notting Hill Gate stations place the address within direct walking distance. Westbourne Park is also within range for those coming from the north. The area is well served by buses on the Westbourne Grove corridor.

Cubitt House's other sites are spread across Marylebone and Belgravia, and the group's reputation for investing properly in the physical fabric of its buildings is consistent across those addresses. What distinguishes The Princess Royal is the kitchen appointment. Tish's Mediterranean approach brings a specificity to the food that the pub format often lacks, and the raw bar is a structural commitment to ingredient-led cooking that goes beyond menu language.

Planning a Visit

The multi-zone layout means the experience differs meaningfully depending on where you sit. The raw bar counter suits single diners or pairs who want to engage with what's being prepared. The conservatory and garden-adjacent seating works better for longer, more relaxed meals. The rear chesterfield room is the most insulated from the pub noise and suits those who want the dining room experience within the pub shell. Given that the venue has received documented inspector attention and sits within the Cubitt House group's promoted portfolio, booking ahead for dinner is advisable, particularly on weekends when the Notting Hill neighbourhood draws visitors alongside locals.

Wine by the glass across a broad list, bottles from £29, and a menu structured around sharing plates means a meal here can be calibrated to most spending levels without the format forcing a particular spend. That flexibility, combined with a kitchen operating at a level above its category, is the practical case for the address.

For more on where to eat, drink, and stay across the city, see our full London restaurants guide, full London bars guide, full London hotels guide, full London wineries guide, and full London experiences guide. If you're building a longer itinerary around serious drinking, London's bar scene includes technically focused rooms such as 69 Colebrooke Row, A Bar with Shapes For a Name, Academy, and Amaro. Beyond London, comparable attention to craft and hospitality can be found at Bar Kismet in Halifax, Bramble in Edinburgh, and Bar Leather Apron in Honolulu.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the general vibe at The Princess Royal?

The atmosphere is relaxed without being careless. The dog-friendly policy, laid-back service, and multi-zone layout, from bar counter to leather chesterfields to a conservatory and back garden, produce a setting that works equally for a quick drink and a considered dinner. In Notting Hill, where the surrounding options are competitive, it sits closer to the neighbourhood restaurant end of the pub spectrum than the traditional boozer end. Wine by the glass and bottles from £29 keep the tone accessible rather than precious.

What do regulars order at The Princess Royal?

The raw bar is where the kitchen signals its intent most clearly. The hand-dived scallop crudo, noted by an inspector as the kind of dish not typically found in pubs, is the reference point for what the kitchen is doing at the leading of the menu. The salt marsh lamb with rose harissa anchors the larger plates. For those who want to continue through the wine list, the Neal's Yard cheese selection is a considered way to close a meal.

What makes The Princess Royal worth visiting?

It represents a specific convergence: a Victorian pub fabric that has been seriously renovated, a kitchen appointment (Ben Tish, formerly of Norma and the Game Bird) that operates above pub-category expectations, and a wine list assembled with genuine breadth rather than formula. Cubitt House's inspector record rates it as the strongest site in the group. The combination of a raw bar, Mediterranean small plates, and a wine list starting at £29 a bottle makes it a usable address across different occasions rather than a single-format destination.

Is The Princess Royal reservation-only?

The venue operates as a pub with a serious dining component, which typically means walk-ins are possible for drinks and bar seating while the dining rooms benefit from a booking. Given its documented recognition and location in a high-footfall residential neighbourhood, securing a table for weekend dinner in advance is the practical approach. Check current booking availability directly through the venue, as specific policies are not confirmed in our current data.