Very much a restaurant/gastropub
Following various ups and downs (see the Historic Interest section) this site reopened in late 2019 as Hunter's Moon, the debut site of the Lunar Pub Company. The interiors are rustic-chic, featuring oak and vintage tile flooring, textured walls and ceilings, leather seating, pendant lighting and antique mirrors. There is a dining room at the back seating 48 and a small pub at the front seating 25. Pub grub at the front includes scotch eggs, sausage rolls and courgette and ricotta croquettes plus oysters and charcuterie. The dining room offers a modern European menu changing daily, and the venue is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner including Saturday brunch and Sunday roasts. The restaurant has attracted good reviews since opening and its prices reflect the local area.
Two cask ales are reported to be on offer including, very unusually for London, Butty Bach from Wye Valley Brewery.
Historic Interest
Back in 1996:- this pub reopened and was renamed CACTUS BLUE. All our worst fears have come true. The former Fullers pub which featured for many years in the Good Beer Guide and dating from 1854, but unfortunately not protected by listing, has been stripped by its new owners of all its decorative features, including the tiled former corridor, screens etc. The unique facade with its twin side entrances has been butchered with the front bay knocked through to form a single central entrance and lobby. If ever there was a case for stronger legislation to protect pubs of character, this is it. Fullers, who surrendered the lease early to the new owners; Kensington & Chelsea Council who presumably granted planning permission for the alterations and the hospital authority as the freeholders anxious to maximise returns with precious little regard for local heritage must all share some responsibility for the end result - a disaster.
A 2015 heritage statement about this terrace, including historic maps, is to be found via the link https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/idoxWAM/doc/Other-1557150.pdf?extension=.pdf&id=1557150&location=Volume2&contentType=application/pdf&pageCount=1
This Pub serves no changing beers and 2 regular beers.
Hunter's Moon, Chelsea