This pub is not only a grade II listed building, it is also a Three Star pub on the Campaign for Real Ale’s (CAMRA) National Inventory with an interior of outstanding national historic importance, and the description is as follows: “Between Paddington Station and Hyde Park, this Fuller’s-owned corner-site pub has some very early and spectacular fittings. Such was the amount of pub renovation at the end of the 19th century and since, that any fittings before the late-Victorian era are incredibly rare. Those at the Victoria are stylistically mid-Victorian and a precise date – 1864 – is suggested by the date on a clock in the bar-back fitting. This, and a side wall, have large mirrors with intricate gilding and coloured decoration, each panel being separated from the others by detached columns with lozenge and Fleur-de-Lys decoration. This may be the oldest surviving bar back in the country, with the other possible contenders being the Kings Head, Bristol dating from c. 1865 and the Red Cow, Richmond. In the angle of the building is a delicate Regency-style fireplace containing a print of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their numerous progeny. The counter is no doubt a piece from 1864 with panelled bays divided by fluted pilasters. It still retains a brass water-dispenser for diluting spirits – still fully functioning. Mounted on the long wall are coloured prints of soldiers in wooden frames but these are most probably a relatively modern (though now smoke-stained) addition. There are several outside doors and these would have led originally to a series of internal drinking areas, separated by screenwork. Upstairs the Theatre Bar has ornate fittings imported from the Gaiety Theatre about 1958.”

The listing description is as follows: “Public House, c.1840-50, the interior much remodelled c.1897-8, with embellishment 1955-8 particularly to upper rooms perhaps by Bryan and Nonnan Westwood. Stuccoed brick, slate roofs. Rounded frontage on acutely angled corner site, four storeys high plus basement, with two further bays to Strathearn Place and one to Sussex Place. The exterior with high parapet and moulded bands. The upper floors have twelve-light glazing bar sashes in moulded architrave surrounds, save for that in the first-floor bow, which is tripartite with brackets and an ironwork balcony. Similar style windows to ground-floor bars. Cast-iron spearhead railings. INTERIORS: The long, narrow bar was originally divided into a corner snug at its Sussex Place end, of which partition a fragment remains. The other areas formed two semi-defined lounges, all set around a long counter with original pilastered front, frieze (painted with scenes of Queen Victoria's life, including her Diamond Jubilee) supported on columns. Bar back with columns and cornice, continued on former public side as walling with elaborate decorative glass. Other walls with dado panelling, inset above which are prints and tiles. Saloon on Stratheam Place side with corner cupboards either side of elaborate fireplace and overrmantle mirror with foliate decoration. Corner area adapted as Saloon 1955, when neo-Adamesque fireplace installed. On the first floor, Theatre Bar installed c.1958 from Shaw, Runtz and Ford's Gaiety Theatre (1902-3, demolished). Balcony fronts supported on Corinthian columns line the walls. Cornr counter set with boards from the shows, one signed Westwood Brothers suggesting that Bryan and Nonnan Westwood (working nearby at the time) may have been the architects for the installation. Bar back depicts the Gaiety. Two small box fronts in corners. Dining room adapted after 1955 in neo-Queen Anne style, with panelling, fireplace and corner cupboards decorated with swags. These fittings may well also come from the Gaiety. The Victoria, Strathearn Place is of interest as a remarkably complete public house interior of the 1890s, to which the identified embellishments from the much lamented Gaiety Theatre add interest, both in their own right and as a rare surviving indication of the interest in Victoriana, particularly as expressed in pub interiors, that was beginning to emerge in the late 1950s.”

The WhatPub link is here: WhatPub/Victoria

The PHG link is here: PHG/Victoria

The Victoria featured on the Evening Crawl of West London on 1 August 2005, the Evening Crawl of Maida Vale and Bayswater on 7 December 2005, the Daytime Crawl of Notting Hill, Kensington and Bayswater on 16 February 2008, the Buzzing About: Evening Crawl of Bayswater on 10 December 2014, and the Grand Pubs Near the Grand Union Canal: Evening Pub Tour of Maida Vale, Tyburnia and Paddington on 6 December 2023.