Recommend me a decent Soho/West End pub/bar

[editor]

Meeting someone in Soho tonight but since the demise of the Intrepid Fox I've no idea of where to go.

Ideally I want somewhere that's non corporate, non trendy and where alt/rock/indie/strange people gather and isn't deafeningly loud.

There's The Ship in Wardour St, the Spice of Life, Bradleys Spanish Bar (perhaps a bit too small) and the Arts Theatre Club but I haven't been to these places for years.

Recommendations please!

 

[editor]

Oh and somewhere that serves pints!

 

[Sue]

The White Horse in Rupert St is generally quite quiet. Sam Smith's though so cheapish but not the best beer.

 

[editor]

A friend of mine is doing a jam session in this venue and it looks rather interesting so maybe one for later

Below Stone Nest

www.stonenest.org

 

[surreybrowncap]

The Toucan Bar in Carlisle Street (if you like Guinness)
Or The Pillars of Hercules that is close to that….

 

[editor]

This has just been recommended too

Home | Vaulty Towers

www.vaultytowers.london

 

[Winot]

A friend of mins is doing a jam session in this venue and it looks rather interesting so maybe one for later

Below Stone Nest

www.stonenest.org

It’s very good - my favourite London bar. Not alt/rock/indie/strange, a bit ‘cooler’ but proper cool not posing. Reminds me of Shoreditch in late 1990s eg Foundry. Also cheap.

 

[surreybrowncap]

This has just been recommended too

Home | Vaulty Towers

www.vaultytowers.london

Means crossing over the bridge to Waterloo / Lambeth North…

 

[editor]

Or The Pillars of Hercules that is close to that….

I've just learnt that it closed in 2018 and reopened as Bar Hercules under new owners Be At One.

Pillars of Hercules, Soho - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Pickman's model]

French house
Spice of life
Coach and horses

 

[AverageJoe]

Sun and Thirteen Cantons in Beak St?

The Sun & 13 Cantons - Fuller's Pub and Restaurant in Soho

Visit The Sun & 13 Cantons Pub and Restaurant in Soho, home of outstanding beer & cider, great wines, mouth-watering fresh food and exceptional service.

www.sunand13cantons.co.uk

I went to The Ship the other week when I was in town. It's been poshed up a bit.

 

[spitfire]

Garlic and shots.

 

[spitfire]

Blue posts Berwick st.

 

[Sue]

The Toucan Bar in Carlisle Street (if you like Guinness)
Or The Pillars of Hercules that is close to that….

That's one of those sticky Simmons places these days.

 

[spitfire]

Sun and Thirteen Cantons in Beak St?

The Sun & 13 Cantons - Fuller's Pub and Restaurant in Soho

Visit The Sun & 13 Cantons Pub and Restaurant in Soho, home of outstanding beer & cider, great wines, mouth-watering fresh food and exceptional service.

www.sunand13cantons.co.uk

I went to The Ship the other week when I was in town. It's been poshed up a bit.

Had some big nights in there.

 

[AverageJoe]

We were probably there at the same time if it was 1996-2002ish.

 

[Sue]

The Shaston Arms (Broadwick St ish) used to be decent. (Packed right after work but thinned out a bit later, lots of space to stand outside, no idea how the whole WFH thing has affected it though.)

 

[Numbers]

The Toucan Bar in Carlisle Street (if you like Guinness)
Or The Pillars of Hercules that is close to that….

Toucan is far too small IMO. We tend to go to the Nelly Dean if we're up those ends and fancy a cpl of sharp ones.

 

[editor]

Garlic and shots.

Love the place but that's more of a "it's late, we're smashed, where can we go next?" kind of place.

 

[editor]

I might pop into the Coach & Horses

here were two dead hours in the afternoon when the pub closed, during which time the customers wandered Soho like lost souls, decamping either to the Colony Club or one of the even less salubrious dives which were the only way to be served alcohol in the afternoon. Around six o’clock those still able to walk went back to the Coach, so they could be insulted by Jeffrey Bernard; or, indeed, Balon. I was hooked. A gallery of wastrels, among whom I felt immediately at home: ne’er-do-wells living between irregular paycheques, chancey loans or, rarely, but not for want of trying, gambling winnings.

How Jeffrey Bernard led me to London’s rudest landlord

On a recent Sunday evening, the Shaftesbury Theatre in Soho was packed to the gills with a crowd celebrating a dramatic tribute to a landlord: the best kind of landlord, the landlord of a pub. And not just any old pub, but the pub he ruled with an iron fist for 63 years until his retirement

www.spectator.co.uk

 

[spitfire]

I might pop into the Coach & Horses

How Jeffrey Bernard led me to London’s rudest landlord

On a recent Sunday evening, the Shaftesbury Theatre in Soho was packed to the gills with a crowd celebrating a dramatic tribute to a landlord: the best kind of landlord, the landlord of a pub. And not just any old pub, but the pub he ruled with an iron fist for 63 years until his retirement

www.spectator.co.uk

Also as Pickman's said, French House. Dave the Hat hangs out there a fair bit.

 

[Sue]

Also as Pickman's said, French House. Dave the Hat hangs out there a fair bit.

Oh and somewhere that serves pints!

 

[spitfire]

I think they do pints now, they certainly did after The Big Lurgy.

 

[ouirdeaux]

Nobody's mentioned the Harp in Chandos Place, so I will. Can get crowded though. There's a small sanctuary upstairs.