An interesting one this one - as it used to be one of my Friday evening, after work locals (there, you can see I'm showing you the best I have to offer now, all you who may have doubted...)
From the outside it looks like a normal pub, nothing too different from any other pub you might find of a certain era in London. But, hold on, have you seen those lights?
They are, as you can see, HUGE - and represent the Victorian era to which they, and the pub, belongs.
Inside the decor is of typical Victorian style - quite sparse, with a lot of wood - including the numerous chairs and panels dotted around. So what brings people here in their droves after work, and especially at weekends? Well this is probably to do with
Samuel Smith , a Yorkshire brewery well known in Central London for providing good ale at cheaper-than-your-foreign-brand prices. Ok, it doesn't necessarily explain why people flock to this pub still, as it is not the only one which stocks the aforementioned brews. It could actually be to do with its location, just off the beating heart of Oxford Street's Oxford Circus, but equally it may be the number of creatives whose agencies are around the area and pop in for a pint here before heading off into Central London.
You see, interesting things happen here as they don't provide entertainment - no bands, no dj's, no music - just booze, so therefore people have to make their own entertainment, which makes things interesting. It is alleged that the upstairs is a meeting place for the writer Danny Wallace's infamous
Karma Army, for example.
So, want a good pint in 'historic' surroundings for cheap prices, and the possibility of witnessing something strange? Come on, it's almost the blueprint for how a pub should be. See you at the bar, then...
