Uk Barblog

Marquess of Anglesey (Covent Garden - London)

Marquess of Anglesey

A busy busy pub in a busy busy location packing with the popular and the plenty. The place is well kept - not huge but it keeps its own capcity well with burly bouncers but with staff that cant seem to serve the crowd with much haste. The place feels a little rowdy though of a weekend evening, its during the day that it feels like a quality establishment worth visiting. The heavy bar runs along the back wall but is not as well topped up as you would expect in terms of a good variety drinks and the prices are as expensive as the rest of covent garden.

Overall a popular nest that you would be glad to take a group of lads - steer clear if you have women or children or if you want a quiet beverage - covent garden has loads of other outlets of the latter - 4/10

The Chandos (Trafalgar Square - London)

The Chandos

Yet another of these independently run pubs on the cuff of Covent Garden, barely looking into Trafalgar square but with enough proximity to pull in flocks of tourists and thats pretty much all you can expect from this place. The venue is not overcrowded however as many drinkers are not fond of the own-brand cola, beer, cider and you are left with an old wash-house tiled quite big room, with tiny tiny windows surrounding and all the available tables taken up with curious chatty american tourists, eager to understand the best way to consume an entire pint.

Overall not the best idea for either tourist or regular since the variety in the same area is dramatic but for that spice of independence, it fits as long as you don't mind the contast chatter of texan inquisition over your shoulder and waiting for twenty minutes at the bar for a cool one - 4/10

Part of the Official MONOPOLY PUB CRAWL

The Wellington (Covent Garden - London)

The Wellington

The Wellington has long served as the theatre-goers traditional pub right in the middle of the action where the strand meets covent garden. Inside the squared-off bar dominates the room which is designed in an L shape. Service is quite slow despite a good helping of bar assistance and the selection is rather more disappointing that you would expect. There is plenty of room to accommodate punters on the street outside with their pints, however. Shots cost around £2.30 each and the corwd is much older- which may explain why they looked baffled when we asked for said shots.

To be fair it is a bit small for its supreme location and one would expect mroe from what has clearly been a pillar in the area for some time, still its worth the pint on a quieter weekday evening - 5/10

Part of the Official MONOPOLY PUB CRAWL

Tuttons Cafe and Bar (Covent Garden - London)

Tuttons Cafe and Bar

A Cafe Bar on the corner of covent garden square pulling in large crowds of toursits in the day time and right into the vening while around the side there is another more discrete entrance with which to access the bar away from the less admirable frontage of the cafe. The bar caters for the odd well dressed city type with smart waiting staff manning the bar which is hideen from view from the rest of the cafe. The bar is slightly darker and has a fine but expensive sleection of beverages. It feels somewhat older in class than the spritely young disco of an upmarket bar of Dirty Martini down the road.

Overall the bar is more up market and well dressed but to couple it with a cafe in this fashion puts out an image of greed amongst the toursits on behlaf of the owner, the place is left with littel character or dignity to serve up fine champagne as it appears to want to - 4/10

The Maple Leaf (Covent Garden - London)

The Maple Leaf (Canadian Bar)

Complete well matured Canadian cheese. This bar is literally a hostel for Canadian memorabelia ranging from large stuffed bear to mounty outfit, fake fireplace and of course a whole heap for london resident canadian folk. I would claim that the place is primarily a themed bar followed by a sports bar with its sport playing on widescreens at eye level throughout the day. The bar is actually quite hidden in the depths of covent garden but once inside it is just a parade of tables, booths towards the back and a simple bar to the right. Service is relatively slow and drinks are of average price. I hope that the canadians are somewhat ashamed of this tribute to (what I have learned) is a wholly powerful nation.

Overall a bit of a depressing place to end up in of an evening, the fads wear off quickly and then all you are left with is a home-from-home, certainly not the best location for londoners to try to get any kind of groove on in but it certainly stocks candian drinks and food is available - 5/10

Jewel Bar (Covent Garden - London)

Jewel Bar

A small but very up-market bar in the corner of a very cramped Covent garden. I count four bars in total across 3 floors opposite the larger venue of Porterhouse. Jewel enjoys a queue out front for entry, private areas for private parties and the place is engorged in a blue lighting system alongside heavy chandeliers and mastery decor. The bottom floor of the place is of Moroccan theme and the rest can only be classed as ballroom-meets nightclub as the place is literally a transformation of upper-class middle england to the modern era. The crowd however is stuck-up, sleaze in suits is rife and the prices for drinks begin at £7 a cocktail upward.

Overall it is a truly immaculate place, could do with more space and a more elite corner of London but it does well to pull in the crowd of its intentions and all the while hitting the poorer man in the pocket. Still, its very pretty to look at; 7/10

Quick Guide to: Avoiding the Smoking Ban in Covent Garden

Quick Guide to: Avoiding the Smoking Ban in Covent Garden

So the smoking ban is in full force from 1st July 2007 across the UK. Londoners in particular - crammed into one of the worlds busiest and most expensive cities have now been left leaning out of balcony windows and hanging around at bus-stops to take a desperate drag on that oh-so-precious nicotine escape. However there are a number of places which will cleverly avoid the smoking ban entirely and in covent garden these are more numerous than you might think.

Neils Yard & Souk Medina

You would't belive how many londoners are unaware of Neils Yard- a backstreet vegetarian haven situated behind Souk Medina - the shisha bar. They were decieved however into thinking that by placing a large number of bongs in what is essentially a public walkway it would be a location to avoid the ban but they were wrong- I recently investigated and found the only spot in Covent Garden to still enjoy shisha is outside the front of its sister bar - Souk Bazaar. Neils yard itself consists of a few small vegetarian and vegan eateries and cafe's but i am sure it wont be too long before these are all made into venues which avoid the msoking ban. (Neils Yard is pictures above)

The Crown (The Seven Dials - London)

The Crown

A heaving gang of people stand outside this pub on a friday night. The place itself is so small it would never hold such a stronghold of city media types. A bouncer stands around policing the crowd to snuggley fit on the pavement behind an invisible line - where, once past you cannot locomote with pint in hand. The actual venue is a cramped bar with traditional-low ceiling drinks dispensery to the left hand side on the way in. Around it is a spread of small chairs and tables with toilets at the end. The place is simplistic but apprently is only popular due to location, which is is no direct sight of any public transport although is easy enough to get to if you know where you are going.

Without the crowd its quiet, old and small and offers nothing but as a drinking establishment by a landmark to make it special and with covent garden prices its not the first place or even the 100th you normally consider for that night out - 3/10

O' Neill's (Holborn - London)

O' Neill's

Although not strictly in Holborn this O Neil's is slyly sandwiched between Holborn and Covent Garden. It is a double entrance chain Irish pub with a route inside that brings you down the passage from one door, past the bar to the back of the pub with its bottom-of-the-range leather chairs and then U-turns around back up the other side of the pub, back behind the bar, passing very cramped looking diners tucking into battered cod suppers and then back out of the second entrance onto the streets outside. The bar itself appears to be served by an excess of staff but then service is quite fast and the staff are polite. The problem here is that the tables seat a maximum of three people so its the furthest cry from comfortable and unfortunately only a "Ye-Olde" traditional pub can get away with such child-like size.

Overall the place is a bustling chain pub squeezed into a plot the size of a thimble and it doesn't work, once over crowded with the elderly this just feels too far from the core of Covent garden to be trendy- 3/10

Dirty Martini (Covent Garden - London)

Dirty Martini

Dirty Martini is another of these basement bars which populate the lively London area of Covent Garden. It tries to pass itself off as another very private very exclusive bar displaying black banners outside and burly bouncers to ward off the "Riff Raff" of which there is none in Covent Garden. And passes you down into the depths below to a small set of doors to the right which lead into the bar. The bar istelf is styled with an industrial warehouse style ceilign but the palce itself is bathed in soft crisp lighting and proves to be very inviting until you realise how very small it is. The bar is small that only half of it is used for servcie and the other end must be used for the purposes of seating. There is not the variety of seating they would have you belive in the photo displayed above but a floor crowded by about ten individuals forcing those at the bar and around to peer into the middle of the venue as if there was some event of interest abotu to take place in the middle of the room.

Having said all this the place tries hard to be beautiful, the cocktail are amazing - if a little expensive at 7 pounds each and there are fresh flowers on display at the bar. Overall the place is a tiny exhibition of how beautiful a london bar can be in such a small space but its totally impractical for any crowd larger than one - 5/10

Bok South African Bar (Covent Garden - London)

Bok South African Bar

There is a small den in Covent Garden for Saffas they may have wandered this way and it come int he form of a bar named "Bok". It truely is a South African dream bar with flags, cricket stumps, foreign currency on the walls and zebra print stools around a few small tables, booths and open wooded basement which makes up this venue. The staff are very friendly and despite the fact that it gets crowded during South African matches it doesnt open late and can be quiet at the weekends. In fact few have ever noticed its existence due to the pigeon-hole entrance which lets the customer decsend down into its abyss which indeed is windy and spacious. At the end the venue snakes around a second bar and hits a pool table.The toilets however were a litle dank and the bar service was slow and expensive.

Overall the friendliness of the staff boasted through to deliver a showroom of South Africa and it really is the closest thing to an embassy one will find in these parts. Overall 6/10 and typical to Covent garden - hard to find!

More information on Map, Location and Facilities

Roadhouse (Covent Garden - London)

Roadhouse

Roadhouse is easily missed or walked by. Its tucked in a tight corner on the edge of covent garden market and its quite literally a basement bar restaurant club almost like an adult TGI fridays with lashings of light and colour. The bars inside are a little scattered about on different levels with decor of big signs, sign posts and images of vechicles all over the place . Although it is a basement establishmnet it does have size as an advantage in a part of town which truely lacks it. There are quite large booths to eat in and chairs which get moved to create a dancefloor later on . Pop and funk music are played throughout the night and the master centrepiece is a motorbike on the centre bar.

Overall the prices are very good early on (4 cocktails for £12 before 7.30) although then and the drinks double in price. After nine its £10 to get in but a great place to head on a night out and even better straight after work if you happen to be in or around covent garden - 8/10

Souk Bazaar (Covent Garden - London)

Souk Bazaar

Three pigeon steps from the infamous Ivy bar and restuarant in Covent Garden sits this rather small shisha bar. In fact you wouldnt even realise this coktail bar and restaurant was here, within a nose of Shaftesbury Avenue. the venue is suitable for couples and small groups of no more than 4 friends sitting among beanbags and straw seating. Its exactly like being in a middle eastern cave and as such i found the ground floor to be a bit uncomfortable but there is a lower level as well. The table service is slow and relaxed and despite the size of the place there is a huge selection of interesting cockltails to choose from and there arent overpriced. The selection of Shisha tobacco in here is limited and around £750 for a small shisha or £10.00 for a large which gets continually refilled for as long as you can smoke it.

Overall this location is not as large as the Souk brother bar restuarant combo down the road but it does offer a quiet and mystic setting for a smoke only down the road from the action in the city centre at the weekend - 6/10

Walkabout Bar (Covent Garden - London)

Walkabout Bar

This bar is accessible from two entrances in Covent Garden and the place is made up for 3 different bars. The from bar is a long narrow room witha  dancefloor at the front which requires complex weaving through persosn ready to start fights to get to the bar which serves up several tired yet friendly bar persosn with a good selection of drinks. A pint of Cider costs £3.10 so we are looking at average London prices. At the back is a surprising quiet area where the noise and music does not really penetrate where one can sit down and actaully have a conversation. There is also a bar downstairs which can be hired for private events and is once again not on the big side.

Overall they have managed to squeeze a not-too-bad version of this chain bar in a fairly small smpace in Covent garden and they succeed in created a varied atmosphere with scope- the crowd could be nicer but then this is not the fault of the venue but the chain..6/10 for the effort the staff put in to keep those that can keep their head front of mind even in a crowded environment as this.

All Bar One (Covent Garden - London)

All Bar One

A totally exposed greenhouse of bar tall bar faces the door with seating curtailing off either side into the glass-walled corners. The staff are rather unfriendly and the place does not lend itself well to the prospect of any character although there is a spice of atmosphere generated by the 20 something couples occupying the place. It never really gets overcrowded but then with a thousand of these chain bars within earshot why would this pull the punters any more than the others?

Overall a semi-comfortable wine bar with a good selection of drink available but no surprises to be had in here- not when you can see the bare skeleton of the pub all over covent garden - 4/10

The White Lion (Covent Garden - London)

The White Lion

This over-populated pub is located next to Covent Garden tube station for maximum overcrowding. Its location means that not only is it difficult to get to the bar among the maze of clueless tourists and drunk city types standing outside pint-in-hand but it is also extortionate for its beer and too small to handle any kind of internal capacity. There are small booths seated under the windows to the left and a small bar to right. This place does offer food but since there is so little seating there is not much point in ordering any.

Unfortunately because it is so so busy and far too small for it it doesn't have any kind of atmosphere and sadly becomes to pub image of london that tourists take home with them of some drunken battalion of suited englishmen fighting to get served by a slowly dying barman - still its convient for tube proximity - 3/10

Be at One - B@1 (Covent Garden - London)

Be at One - B@1

I'm not a lazy author but I will be honest and tell you that i'm not awfully happy about writing this post- why? you might ask, well this morning I am carrying the mother of all hangovers and the cause is covent garden's finest. Be at 1 is a nice place but it is totally evil. If you are after cocktails from every corner of the shelves behind the bar this place does it, rum-based, champagne-based, vodka-based and the list goes on. The place itself is a small bar with in excess of four barmen and it gets popular pretty quickly. The selling point is the 2 for 1 deal on all drinks Monday to wednesday and at happy hour (5-8pm) the rest of the week. Ok its £5.90 a cocktail but for two?? I totally recommend the mango dacorii and the beverly hills ice tea is just special.

Overall the place is way too small to bring a crowd but if a couple of you are after and wickedly drunked evening in covent garden heres the place to start - 8/10

Fire & Stone Bar and Restaurant (Covent Garden - London)

Fire & Stone

Fire and Stone is an awesome, donkeypunch of a restaurant in Covent garden offering the most exotic pizzas you can imagine. From the traditional to the outragious and themed by cuisine & global location thai, austalian, german, new yorker and christmas are all on the menu. But this is a review of the bar. The whole place is divided into a top floor for drinkers and the basement for eaters. Without a booking having a few drinks in the bar is essential so we make our way there slapping our heads for not booking in advance. The bar is very busy and despite being a a collective of tables and bustling but small bar the room is a caravan-grade fashion show of coated customers awaiting a table in angry grumbling mannerisms sipping Gin and Tonic while glancing over heads to see the gesture from the head waitress that their table is ready. A constant feeling of waiting over-shadows the kind attempt of the restaurant to try to make its waiting guests comfortable, but it fails miserabley.

The lesson here? Bend over and take it like the no-good-forgot-to-book man that you are and realise that your gonna get to have a quite expensive bottled beer (no taps) while your date has a go at you for not making reservations. 2/10

Bank Bar & Restaurant (Aldwych - London)

Bank Bar & Restaurant

Okay so more a restaurant than a bar officially but there is a bar in here as demonstrated in the image shown and apart from fine wines there are well mixed cocktails on offer, all at prices fixed to "stun". I never particularly like the idea of sitting at a bar inward looking at all the other people round the bar than actually at your date or party but its a popular effect. So apart from the scattered gay couples and up-market business meets this was close to empty. The rest of the restaurant is a musing of interesting styled tables- an open kitchen and an array of some real delicacies that make this place one of the nicest restaurants in the area.

Overall it is a sheek bar but prodominantly a restaurant, don't stop in here for a drink unless you are trying to impress a client or new partner, its not an evening out in itslef unless it leads to dinner. Overall not great as a bar but excellent for dinner- 4/10

The Coal Hole (Strand - London)

The Coal Hole

A traditional coal outpost-turned pub by the savoy hotel with 1900 decor, traditional sprinklings of authentic dust, friendly female bar staff and a very well established character. Never really over crowded this bar is infamous for its serving of good old hearty pies which are excellent for the kind of lunch everyone dreams of in a large dramatic old style bar. There is an excellent selection of ales with a stiarcase at the far end leading up to a galley with good sized seating looking out on the big windows which stem from from shoulder level to a very high ceiling. There are elaborate al-freso designs at the top of the ceiling in white, and slave-like characters from old america way above the bar. Even the old style grate designs over the windows are equipped with crests and the menus sport signs of the ancient history of this place.

Overall a good location, with average prices for the area and definitely one to drink in if you fancy a bit of london culture for lunch i see no problems- 7/10

Fuel Bar (Covent Garden - London)

Fuel Bar

Probably one of the most difficult venues to locate in covent garden Fuel bar has a distracting cafe restaurant combo downstairs in covent garden square but the bar and subsequent club is upstairs through a narrow door. It is essentially a red lit bar with slick leather chairs making it feel quite dark hot and exclusive but round a corner or two and you find that its a dead end, half of the "club" is a one walled mirror and the bar itself is very small. Come summer you have two balconys open up onto the quare, only one of which can accomodate more that one group of people at a time. The drinks are a great deal during happy hour but miss it by a nose and you are paying in excess fo five pounds a cocktail. The music is of the urban genre with the poor dj crammed into the smallest booth I have ever seen. WOuld definitely be much nicer if everything was lit up in red.

Overall its very hard to see how a crowd could enjoy themselves in here but if you wanted to hit a popular and groovy bar on a date this might be the sort of semi-intimate, small location you'd choose and for that it gets 6/10.

Souk Medina - Shisha Bar (Covent Garden - London)

Souk Medina

Shisha/Hukka bars are few and far between in central london so I was shown this gem by a friend who had been before. As we approached the place is looked like a small morroccan restaurant and the gentleman at the door with a fez showed us in. We took the stroll down the network of caverns lined with pottery and slippers first to a room lined with couches and comfortable sit-ons and then into a larger area beside a bar to our low seated table. It had a great eastern atmosphere about it- fancy artwork and scribing on everything and I noticed the place descended up to a restaurant area and had a basement down to another. The shisha we had cost £7.50 for a small which suited 3 people for half an hour rather well. THe place was highly relaxing and we were offered cocktails at £5.95 each which would amazing also. The customer service could not be matched by anything I've seen in this country before we were totally comfortable and had a great time. We even bought a fez for a fiver on the way out. The only downside was that my Shisha got a bit harsh rather quickly but the range of flavours including lemon-which we had, just made this a great evening out.

Overall a fab 8/10, great time and killer atmosphere.

More info

Langley's Nightclub (Covent Garden - London)

Langley's Nightclub

This secret club, like most venues in covent garden, is underground and is situated in the alley next to marks and spencers. The entry steps ride down into a room with sofas and coffee tables and a long coktail bar. The room opens into a much larger club on the left along with another bar. The place is quite busy and cocktails are the drink of everyday priced fairly expensively but unavoidabley delicious. The serving times are fast and the bar staff frioendly. the toilets are a maze of modern art where it can be difficult to locate the flusher. The only down points were that it was costly to gain entrance after 10pm and that while we were there there was some kind of gas leak because the place stank.

Aside from such troubles its was a very nice place to spend an evening and as such deserves a 7/10

The Roundhouse (Covent Garden - London)

The Roundhouse

As large as this venue looks do not be fooled as I was, it is in fact very small. The entire front of the pub is just window space in which stand businessmen of all walks, packed into this tiny but expensive venue. The bar takes forever to get served at and with other peoples elbows in your drinks it doesnt seem worth paying £3 odd per pint. The toilets are down stairs in a basement and as quite horrid. Whilepondering all we could conclude was that the pub was "well heated", boiling, in fact and with that we downed beers and promptly left leaving sardine-punters behind.

Overall a cramped 2/10

O Neill's (Covent Garden - London)

O Neill's

If you looking for a large socialite pub, this certainly isnt it. I mean bearing the name oneils out the front means a lot to me having been to many in the past but this particualr venue was cramped and more like a back-street old-mans pub than the youthful attraction that its brand name provides. Had a drink but the prices were hiked- it being middle-of-london and all so we didnt stay and wasn't impressed by the bouncers need to ID ever entrant. Disappointing even for an oneils.

Overall a dis-heartening 2/10.

Belushis (Covent Garden - London)

Belushis

Aside from having to stand outside on one sunny day with plastic cup in hand, the place plays some good music and provides a friendly crowd. The place itself is rather small for a big night. You can cram in but apparently its not worth going along unless you can get in for the Happy hour because afterwards prices are just like the rest of Covent Garden- extortionate! Fast serving times and no-where to site but pretty wallpaper, who can deny that enticement.

Glory Glory 5/10 rating. March onward...

Punch and Judy (Covent Garden - London)

Punch and Judy

Balcony Bar or basement bar? Well theres no seating in either and the entrance to the place is hard to find (hint: wander round underneath the visible balcony) eventually whebn you do find it you find a cosy but expensive pub with good music and food. The toilets are cold and dank and the bouncers unfriendly, oh, and dont try to jump off of the balcony that overlooks covent garden square cos its qutie the drop. I'll go abck in the summer and see what its like then but overcrowding this early in the night is never a good sign. No drink deals either.

Overall a yawnable 3/10.

The Nags Head (Covent Garden - London)

The Nags Head

A comfortable pub with lots of light from big windows looking out onto covent garden tube station. Not very many places to sit but while standing tap your feet to the tune of the night. Unbelieavably packed on this friday afternoon and shocked was I. More so by the damn prices of the booze. It £3.50 for a bottle of corona, who would be having a good time, and I felt like a damn nag, humdrumming to poor pop hits and sighing at the misable turnout of trout. Who can review a pub in ten short minutes. Well thats all it took for me to dash out the door, never to return.

A dirty 'orrible old 3/10.

The Porterhouse (Covent Garden - London)

The Porterhouse

Legend has it that Porter house was once an amazing place. This is probably what draws the massive crowds outside and leaves you walking down a long carpet to get into this place. Its like an old rustic townhouse in a random location near the market in Covent Garden and impossible to find. The Bar is based on two floors and downstairs you get a stage with a live band playign behind the bar. The drinks are well overpriced and not very strong and it is generally too noisy. The worst part is navigating your way around old wooden tables that are too crammed together to move.

I bet you can guess that I wasnt a fan of this place or its Jazz-rock. Overall 3/10.


NB: If your after a bite to eat in the area, Fire & Stone is literally opposite this pub and is great value, and is awesome if your into Pizza