DJ Greg James and a Lucky Saint promo picture released this week

NOT too busy, not too lonely, one of the best spots to sit down for a beer in London must surely be the pubs around Portland Place and the streets a glance north of Oxford Street.

They all seem to be faithfully wooden, with stencilled glass that looks older than it is.

No overly comfy couches or £24.99 roast dinners, the curious Samuel Smith’s brewery seem to own a lot of them and still pump out Alpine lager and stout to anybody looking for some slightly cheaper central London hydration.

A tour of these backstreet, dimly-lit havens is a post deadline guilty pleasure, and it’s hard to walk past the lanterns of the Horse and Groom without stopping in for at least a bitter lemon.

The best of the lot in this neighbourhood was probably the Masons Arms in Devonshire Street, closer to Great Portland Street tube station. Not in the Sam Smith’s portfolio but it still had all the oaky charm needed for a round of after-work drinks which turned into two and maybe even three.

On those warmer evenings, you wanted to be naughty and crowd the pavement with a glass in hand, so you could take in how this corner pub was impressively drowning in flowers without its nameplate falling down.

I imagine some irritating people who insist on organised “softball” fun in nearby Regent’s Park used to come in. There was the occasional famous face up from the BBC Radio studios too; one I didn’t like too much because he was as much of an oaf in real life as he was on the airwaves.

The Masons Arms, nevertheless, always felt like your local “in town”.

Things change though. When I stopped working close by (my office didn’t play softball btw), my visits to the bar became less frequent.

Everybody has a favourite pub for a certain time in their life and the Masons for me spelt the late 1990s.

So I felt like a very bad friend then, when I walked past a year or so ago and saw it had clearly been closed for a while – certainly since before lockdown.

Please don’t let it be a Pret A Manger is my natural reaction to a sight like this, but I think they already have five branches nearby.

BBC Radio One breakfast show host Greg James – certainly not an oaf, btw – seemed to have a similar lament when he posted the building looking unloved to social media last summer.

What happens next to the old place can go either of two ways.

I’ll admit sometimes I worry about overly chirpy new brewery types. They talk so fast and seem so happy. Everything is awesome.

Harrington must put such reservations to one side with news that the low-to-no alcohol beermakers Lucky Saint have bought it and plan to open a new bar christened with the company’s name.

The doors open in March and the florid promo lines went online this week from owner Luke Boase, who said Greg James’s post had asked for somebody to bring it back to life and “emotion kicked in – the rest is history”. And breathe.

Of course, I will have to go back and see what they’ve done. We are promised a “few Lucky Saint twists” and that it will be a “pub for our times”.

It’s probably too much to ask that it might have prices for our times… as even a pint can feel like an extravagant expense amid the bills crisis.

In my mind, I want the Masons Arms back the way it was – not a petal out of place – but then I hadn’t supported it with my custom for so long. The old phrase “use it or lose it” rings true with so many of the businesses we hold dear.

Best of luck to its new owners.