The Bird in Hand is a local pub by location but not by quality. The true test of a local pub is people still visiting after moving away – and The Bird is the kind of pub you'd miss.
The décor is nice enough, an eclectic miss-mash of chairs, tables and benches rescued from the manor houses of landed gentry, and the lighting is just right. The wine list is sparse but fine for a local pub and they have all the right beers, spirits and mixers. But what will draw people across London, and down several side streets - apart from the free wifi, the lovely locals who bring their pets, and the board games – is the food. It's far better than what you'd get from your average local pub.
It's pub grub, but of the highest calibre, on a menu that changes daily. If they're serving fish pie you should definitely order it, coming as it does in a bowl topped with cheese mash and veggies on the side. Their veggie lasagne, fish and chips and bangers and mash are also worth experiencing.
So many pubs serve up grub that you know they've bought frozen, so anywhere you can find a chip cut from a potato on premises is worthy of praise and return visits, but The Bird does a lot more with food than just hand cut their own chips.
This is the kind of pub that you can come to on your own with a book or a newspaper, or bring you laptop to and work at if you're a nerd (but not a nerd who likes to stay in).
