Help - decent pubs / restaurants round Charing Cross?

MrBlond

Giot some friends over from the US next week and (for reasons that escape me) they want to go to the Sherlock Holmes pub on Northumberland Street.

Been at least 10 years since I last went there, but reviews on 'beerintheevening' suggest it's just as much of a tourist hell hole as it ever was, so I'm not planning on being there long, and I'm sure as hell not eating there.

Any suggestions for decent pubs in the area and / or restaurants gratefully received!

Thanks

MrBlond

"Got", even

Clever Pun

there's a great little wine bar by north entrance to embankment called Gordons

http://www.gordonswinebar.com/default.php

Pubwise it's a little sparse for real quality

il_principe

Ok, so no beer, but Gordon's is something of an institution: http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/89/896/Gordons_Wine_Bar/Charing_Cross

The Lamb and Flag is a quirky little boozer as well, sure the Yanks would appreciate it:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&expIds=17259,26696,27464,27640&xhr=t&q=floral+street&cp=10&client=safari&rls=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

Alphabet

haha. I'm there most Friday nights actually (next door to my old company that i tend to still get drunk with) and yes, it is still full of bloody tourists. The silver cross round the corner is a bit nicer, as is the Ship and Shovel, but if you like wine, it HAS to be Gordon's - forrin people tend to love it there too.

Alphabet

ooh, three votes for gordon's at the same time.

il_principe

Doh, too slow!

Clever Pun

8)

Headhuunter

You could try the Tattershall Castle for something a b it different. It's an old boat moored on the Thames, I think it's fairly close to Ch X. Better in the summer though when you can sit out on the deck supping a beer...
http://www.thetattershallcastle.co.uk/

You could try The Coal Hole on The Strand, haven't been for ages but it's traditional and very old London. Good for the tourists
http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/thecoal ... andlondon/
http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/ ... ole/Strand

Wallace1492

Take it this is Charing Cross in LONDON, rather than the one in Norwich, St Helier or Glasgow.

I know some pubs in Glasgow at Charing X...... Nice N Sleazy.....

ketsbaia

Best pub round there is the Harp on Chandos Place. Seriously. It's reasonably small, but you should be able to find room to perch. More seating upstairs. Eight proper beers on draft, plus a nice range of whiskies. Honestly, if you like pubs, go there.

Gordons is good, but no beer and almost impossible to get a seat. Nice cheese, though.

If for some insane reason you don't fancy the Harp, the Ship & Shovell on Craven Passage is worth a visit. It's two pubs across an alleyway, both of which sell good ales.

Alphabet

the tattershall is nice, but defo better in summer - inside it feel a bit like a ferry. takes ages to get served too.

spen666

Personally, I like the Chandos at the bottom of St Martin's lane, but upstairs only.

£1.99 a pint still and real ale on tap

MrBlond

Many thanks all, some good suggestions there, places I had forgotten (worked on Aldwych 10 years ago).

Had thought of Gordons as an 'experience' but I think that's out (correct me if I'm wrong) as one of my mates is in a wheelchair, small detail I forgot to mention in the OP :-/

Ta

_Brun_

Wallace1492 wrote:

Take it this is Charing Cross in LONDON, rather than the one in Norwich, St Helier or Glasgow.

I know some pubs in Glasgow at Charing X...... Nice N Sleazy.....

Never been the same since the demise of the Jedi Bar.

Alphabet

MrBlond wrote:

Many thanks all, some good suggestions there, places I had forgotten (worked on Aldwych 10 years ago).

Had thought of Gordons as an 'experience' but I think that's out (correct me if I'm wrong) as one of my mates is in a wheelchair, small detail I forgot to mention in the OP :-/

Ta

well, you can still do the outside seating at a push (they've now got a grill out there too) but it might be a bit parky. saying that, i used to meet a mate there once a week on Mondays and sat outside the whole way through winter. but then i just drank lots of wine to compensate.

bigmat

I like the Chandos, reminds me of home! (local brew)

Not sure about restaurants, there's a nice Thai place (Manoram?) and lots of places of quick eats towards Covent Garden - Wahace, Fire & Stone etc. Depends how fancy you fancy.

il_principe

Eats wise I can highly highly recommend Wahaca http://www.wahaca.co.uk/html/1_restaurant1.html

Sewinman

Not many good pubs around there and very busy. I would take a little walk down the Mall, look at the palaces and then go to the Red Lion off Pall Mall. It is v old school and in a Dickensian alley way.

http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/65/659/

Yanks should love it.

Edit - You could then have a steak on Jermyn Street at Rowleys. Again, super trad. British style.

il_principe

Sewinman wrote:

Not many good pubs around there and very busy. I would take a little walk down the Mall, look at the palaces and then go to the Red Lion off Pall Mall. It is v old school and in a Dickensian alley way.

http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/65/659/

Yanks should love it.

Edit - You could then have a steak on Jermyn Street at Rowleys. Again, super trad. British style.

+1 to both.

lost_in_thought

Gordons is good, but you have to get there early to get a seat. The Chandos is where I tend to go, generally with aussie mates, it's cheap and cheerful and lots of seating.

The tattershall, I'm sorry, it's awful. It's fine when you can sit outdoors, but indoors it's overpriced, shoddy, and stinks.

DonDaddyD

Gordons.

Especially if you want to tap into a great London lifestyle institution.

Prefer it in the summer though.

Other than that, though a bit of a walk/bus, there are some great haunts by the high court usually occupied by lawyer types and there clerks. Ms DDD opened my eyes.

hatbeard

lost_in_thought wrote:

The Chandos is where I tend to go

+1 for any sam smiths pub purely for their prices and decent lager although when showing visitors around london I'd probably opt for somewhere else as they're not the most vibrant of places (they're cheap and cheerful but thankfully in a non weatherspoons kind of way)

spen666

hatbeard wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

The Chandos is where I tend to go

+1 for any sam smiths pub purely for their prices and decent lager although when showing visitors around london I'd probably opt for somewhere else as they're not the most vibrant of places (they're cheap and cheerful but thankfully in a non weatherspoons kind of way)

You saying the Chandos is not Vibrant? :shock: :shock: :shock:

spen666

hatbeard wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

The Chandos is where I tend to go

+1 for any sam smiths pub purely for their prices and decent lager although when showing visitors around london I'd probably opt for somewhere else as they're not the most vibrant of places (they're cheap and cheerful but thankfully in a non weatherspoons kind of way)

You saying the Chandos is not Vibrant? :shock: :shock: :shock:

secretsam

+1 for both the Chandos and the Harp, both decent and proper pubs, none of your poncy wine bars.

lost_in_thought

I have to say though, Hatbeard's right, were I trying to impress people I wouldn't take them to the Chandos.

Depends on the people.

Alphabet

Depends if they're impressed by cheap beer. I know I am.

hatbeard

Alphabet wrote:

Depends if they're impressed by cheap beer. I know I am.

and of course if they're buying

MrBlond

"Depends on the people"

Two restaurateurs, a magazine editor, and they want to go to the Sherlock Holmes place FFS ;-)

Thanks all

laughingboy

ketsbaia wrote:

Best pub round there is the Harp on Chandos Place. Seriously. It's reasonably small, but you should be able to find room to perch. More seating upstairs. Eight proper beers on draft, plus a nice range of whiskies. Honestly, if you like pubs, go there.

Gordons is good, but no beer and almost impossible to get a seat. Nice cheese, though.

If for some insane reason you don't fancy the Harp, the Ship & Shovell on Craven Passage is worth a visit. It's two pubs across an alleyway, both of which sell good ales.

Ah, The Harp.

Listen to the way it is calling you even now, past Rymans, past the Post Office, up the gentle incline into Elysium.

It is a fact universally acknowledged (at least by ketsbaia and me) that you would have to be actually clinically insane (or beer-hatingly hairshirt-wearingly self-loathing) not to go to the Harp. The Harp is a real pub selling real beer - often great beer - to real people with a flair for living. People with the good sense to damn everything to hell and celebrate the really stupendous gift of their time on earth.

It will not get you a better-paid job, a faster car, or a remortgage at a low, fixed rate. It will not hide those greys, strengthen those abs or whiten your teeth. But, by God, it will give you cause to raise a £20 note, flourish it proudly, and as an act of liberation - as if by so doing you were making reparation for the dullness of your workaday cares heretofore - declare 'Barlady, get me another round'. In this way, your evening will take care of itself.

Just to be clear there is nothing in that area better than The Harp.