please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Good choice of ale (Youngs Bitter, Special, Winter Warmer & St Austell Tribute) on excellent form. Food is not great value though.
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Great pub - great beer. One of London's finest.
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It don’t get better than this. This is what a proper pub is & what the other London pubs should aspire to.
Love the snobbery boards & the black and white pictures of the Victorian prostitutes (according to the guv’nor) around the walls.
Nice to know that my old grandfather drank here in the mid 30’s but don’t know if it was a young’s house back then.
Well done to Young’s - keep this pub how it is.
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arguably the finest pub in london. i've been to most decent london pubs and i can honestly say this is one of the best. no poncy idiots in skinny jeans and fin hair. just excellent beers in the type of surroundings that only a proper english pbu can manage. seriously, if you like proper boozers, this place cannot be beaten
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A very fine London boozer. Ten years in the capital and I have found few better - possibly none better. I'm not a massive fan of Young's, but their bottled beers are good, and everything is well kept here. The staff are generally excellent, and while I would generally go along with comments about pubs being "made up" to look the part, it seems Dickens may actually have drank here (and nearly everywhere else); but Fred Basnett, author of "Travels of a Capitalist Lackey" definately started out from here to Moscow. Seriously underrated book. Properly rated pub.
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Vistited on a very quiet Tuesday afternoon around 3pm, decent enough beer range, although nothing out of the ordinary. Lovely interior, excellent to see a full set of snob screens still in situ. Somehow actually seemed almost too pristine, almost like a reproduction rather than the original we know it to be.
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Lovely place, great beer. I hope they don't tamper with this pub, as it's a little beauty!
It would be full of "suits" on a Friday, it's in the City! And since many of them are working class lads made good, your not really a poshpeoplehater are you mate?
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It doesn't get any better around here, indeed it doesn't get much better anywhere. Let's just hope Young's bean counters and refurbishers can keep themselves away.
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Should be slob screens to keep out poshpplhaters.
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A really handsome Young's pub packed with very interesting and attractive decor and artefacts. It was good to be able to sit down during an afternoon and hear an even and contented background of chat, interrupted only by slightly squeaky handpumps.
There's a little partitioned-off area which looks a bit like a miniature Western saloon without the piano player and a bar brawl.
Very much worth a visit.
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aint my sorta thing...too many suits basically.
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A traditional Young’s house that I have been using since the early 1970s. It was one of the few places that you could find real ale in those days. Perhaps more importantly, it has what appears to be a set of original Victorian snob screens set at around head height, which were intended to allow drinkers to maintain at least a degree of anonymity. A really great pub that is definitely worth seeking out.
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Really? Seems improbable.
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Great pub. Great selection of Fuller's ales.
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Good atmosphere for chatting with a couple of friends, can usually get a table in the evenings.
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This should be, and in many ways is, a Rolls Royce among pubs. Visited Sunday lunchtime and enjoyed the excellent Bombardiers. Food was average to good.
I tend to agree with the previous reviewer who will be pleased to know that his beer fly is alive and kicking. The place was worryingly quiet though which was great for the lone males who were able to spread out their Sunday papers. Granted it was a beautiful day, enabling the fagashes and the alfresco maniacs to bask elsewhere in the sun, but can't help feeling it should have been busier.
There were 2 pretty efficient and pleasant barmen but no sign of any landlord which used to be de rigeur in the halcyon days. Maybe, only maybe, that's the problem.
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This pub is clearly on the 'at risk' register. Excellent decor with a theatre theme. Youngs range of beer, reasonably priced for the area. Still partially compartmentalised and with a three-quarters accessible central bar. Wide clientele including theatre people and local residents. When I visited recently, it was warm enough for a beer fly to have survived the winter to trouble my face.
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Traditional with a capital 'T'. I just hope it doesn't get poncified like so many of Young's once excellent estate.
Agree abot the Young's beer though, totally unrecognisable from its Wandsworth brewed heyday. Now simply brown, wet and er... that's about it.
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The Lamb is one of those iconic Young's pubs whose days are clearly numbered, like all the rest of these pubs under the new regime (look what they did to the Flask in Hampstead!) One of the pubs I have known and loved for decades. The Young's Special is just about recognizable - but is it my imagination or has it lost its edge?
The food is over priced. I remember we used to eat here when we were students at the Central School of Art around the corner. You would not do that now!
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truely a fantastic pub , not a big fan of youngs/wells , but i will always visit.
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O how do i sum up the Lamb???
Well you cant this pub is unspoilt and orginal not just because of the snob skins or the polyphone which you can have played for a small contribution to a charity.
The beer is still great even many people have said its changed since wells took over. I tend to disagree on that the beer at the Lamb is still clear and crisp just like usual.
And if you do have a pleasure to visit this excellent pub in the heart of bloomsbury please try the food!!! If your expecting the Ritz dont go!!! This a tradional pub with home cooked food which is heartyand good, from choices like sausage and mash to fresh tasty salads and not to forget the 1729 pie which is yummy and great value for money seeing its in the centre of london!!!!!
After visting the lamb many times when in london i got to no the staff they are friendly and always ready to serve you even on a busy friday night, they are polite and no what they are doing even under pressure!!!
People can think what they like of the lamb but if you want a good pub in a good area with good food and good drink and great service give it a go and you will not be disserpointed and will end up coming back time after time
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agree with Simon the editor, if you go for a walk in this area and I recommend you do, stop off for a couple. I do love those snob screens.
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Still a great pub keeping a fine pint of beer, and definitely well worth a visit. However, for heaven's sake, don't eat here. The food is expensive and pretty ordinary - despite a fancy menu which is supposed to change daily. And when I was there on a recent Saturday lunchtime there was only one member of staff on, so service was very slow.
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Visited recently and the service was excellent and friendly- can't fault it. However, the food and beer were a disappointment compared with a visit 6 months ago. All the beer tasted like Charles Wells (this is the first time I've tasted Youngs from the new brewery) and the food was very poor value even for London. A small piece of flan for seven and a half notes has got to be a rip off. The sausage and mash was dreadful compared with the same dish on a previous visit - 'Happy Shopper' sausages and lumpy mash for £8.50! Will probably find another pub to frequent from now on, which is a shame.
anonymous - 3 Jul 2007 07:24 |
I continue to love this place and everything about it. I've never had a bad pint in 20 years, I've never encountered rude or incompetent service; I've never eaten there, so I've never felt overcharged for food.
So I've been lucky, and it's still my favourite pub in London.
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This is a belting pub. I've come here on and off for 30 years and it remains a classic. A remarkable Edwardian interior, in good nick but largely unspoilt, which is worth a visit on its own; and decent, well-kept Youngs ale.
It's true that it gets crowded. That tends to happen with nice places. It's also true that the food is unremarkable and expensive. But this is a jewel among traditional pubs and should be on anyone's list of the top ten in London.
chasm - 15 May 2007 12:36 |
The most striking thing about this pub is its interior, especially the snob screens. That alone sets it apart from other pubs in the locality, making it worth meeting here for a drink rather than somewhere else.
Once one has managed to get a table in this bustling pub, it's worth staying for the duration. The food is reasonable: solid, if unexciting, pub grub.
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Good beer. Food *not* good value (£7.50 for a really bad burger with small portion of chips). Small patio area out the back, which is useful when the weather is warm because indoors gets *really* smoky. Smokers smoke in the 'no smoking' section and the staff don't care. Best when it's not crowded and smoky.
anonymous - 15 Apr 2007 19:09 |
A lovely pub, this - named after William Lamb who made arrangements for cleaner water to be brought to this part of the city from Holborn - hence the name of the street on which the pub sits. The bar staff still make use of the Victorian snob screens (originally intended to spare the upper classes from having to look at the lower classes) when punters get too annoying.
The downside is that it gets very busy in the early evening. My recommendation is to go there for lunch (get one of the tables without a brass railing - you'll see why) and stay until the crowds become too much for you.
There's a good chance that Dickens would have drunk in here which adds to the charm.
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A decent pub, but hardly the best in London.
anonymous - 28 Mar 2007 21:41 |
Visited on Friday and although it was heaving, well worth the trip.
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Wonderful pub,great interior,good beer,good food. Well worth a visit.
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worth it for the opportunity of a ramrod special alone if you ask me...
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Great looking pub in a quiet part of Bloomsbury. Beautiful on the inside. I was elated when I found the Winter Warmer was on cask, but soon disappointed when it didn't meet my expectations. I had had the warmer five years ago in London and my wife and I couldn't get enough of it. This time it was bland and tasted as if they put some caramel into the Youngs regular bitter. What a shame. Might have to do with the merger with Wells. Still worth a look see.
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I have to agree with Stonch's remarks regarding the quality of the ale since Youngs decamped to Bedford but I think his views can be applied across the whole range of Youngs ales and not just the Winter Warmer.
Pub is magnificent however. Reminds me somewhat of The Kenilworth in Edinburgh what with the snob screens and the way the seating is arrayed around the wall.
Didn't encounter any surliness from the staff.
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This has been one of the great pubs in London for years. Definitely worth a visit for anyone interested in good pubs.
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Excellent unspoilt interior and a good choice of Youngs beers (both the usual pumps plus a good range of bottles). Agree with the last comment though as the Winter Warmer I had wasn't quite the best kept I've had.
Never the less a fine pub and essential stop off if you're in the area.
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Nice seeing some snob screens. The service was average. The Youngs, Youngs Special and Bombardier were all solid enough.
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Seriously good beer here. Been using the pub for years when in this part of london. Good place to go for a relaxing quality pint.
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A very pretty heritage pub well worth a stop for pint, and it's Young's so expect something familiar.
That's about it, I didn't get the round in so I can't comment on the barstaffs customer service skills.
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Looks like a decent old boozer, and I suppose we should be grateful for that, but when I popped in here for a quick half recently I just found it a bit depressing to be honest. Four oclock on a Friday afternoon in Bloomsbury and the only customers looked like they'd just washed up there some hours ago and had nowhere better to go. I was the only customer standing at the bar to be served but the bored-looking woman behind the bar affected not to notice me while she polished a few glasses. When she did deign to serve me she did so in a manner just this side of rude.
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A beautiful looking pub that harks back to the good old days of real ale establishments. Blighted recently by poor management from a 12 year old listening to his iPod whilst serving customers. Idiot.
Hopefully Youngs won't let another of their great pubs get run into the ground.
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Haven't noticed the staff being rude, personally. The posh woman I always take to be the landlady is very charming. And I don't normally like overtly posh people so that's going some.
Finally I've managed to have my first pint of this year's Winter Warmer, in here today. Not as good as it was last year - thinner body, flavour a bit more subdued. That was disappointing, as was the fact Wells Bombardier and now wastes space at the bar and moreover lots of people were drinking it - perhaps attracted by the "patriotic" / "pathetic" St George's Cross pumpclip design.
Still like this pub, but I'm disinterested in the "Young's" beers now brewed in Bedford.
anonymous - 5 Nov 2006 00:15 |
I did quite like this place, even if the beer isn't that great. Recently, the staff seem to developed a taste for rudeness - to the point where I'm never going back.
When there are so many good pubs in London, why pay hard earned cash to be treated like cr@p?
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Very quaint pub far enough off the main streets not to be full of tourists! Reasonable food at lunchtimes only spoilt by being a Youngs Pub and hence serving the most insipid ale in London.
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A nice pub, full of quite odd people (escaped exhibits from the British Museum?). The beer is good, it is comfortable, and the staff are ok. Not a "must see" pub, but recommended if you are in the area.
anonymous - 18 Aug 2006 00:30 |
Vastly overrated. A substandard Young's pub, it's only redeeming feature is the "snob shutters", which are fascinating for.....oh.....two seconds, and then just become irritating when you're trying to get the barman's attention. If I was in the neigbourhood and desperately wanted a Young's beer, I'd jump in a cab and head to one of the options in Clerkenwell.
Very disappointed I broke my Young's boycott for this place last week.
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Glad to see this pub has kept its character over the years - first found it after an exam nearby many years ago. Excellent place to recover with good beer good company and good service
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The classic Young's pub. Enjoy the Golden Zest in the summer.
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Fantastic little place. Nice selection of beers of course. Good decor. Nice staff in contrast to the W£$$££$$£ in the Perserverance!! What's the score with upstairs.
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Definitely a fan of this place. Lots of the original fittings still intact, excellent Young's beer and friendly staff. Best of all is that even at the busiest times you seem to be guaranteed a seat as the non-smoking area is always spookily deserted. Hahaha.
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Went there the other day and food and beer was bad with also very slow staff. Will not be returning there again!!!!!!!!
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A very good pub, although they seem to struggle with clearing tables when it gets busy and the toilets are basic.
Still, the best pub in WC1 and you'd have to go a long way to get better.
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Came here last night after reading the reviews on this site. It's a marvellous place - great guinness, friendly barstaff and laid back customers. Can't comment on the "best pub in London" debate as it was a nice night so we were all outside, but based on my few trips to the bar, the place looked excellent.
anonymous - 3 Jun 2006 18:16 |
It was relief to walk in here after the horror of being in the Perseverance across the road. Fantastic little beer garden out back, good beer and hard not to stay all night in the (early) summer...
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Not the best pub in London - however it is the best poub in Bloomsbury and probably one of the top 10 in central London. Certainly a favourite of mine.
Beers are very well kept indeed here. I have never had anything but a great pint. They also deserve praise for having the full range of Young's bottles in the fridge, If you want to try something a bit different.
anonymous - 20 May 2006 13:31 |
No way is this anything like the best pub in London. It is an interesting design, but running a good pub is much more than just owning something pretty. The Youngs beers served in a mediocre fashion,
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Simply the best pub in London, and probably in the world
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Took missus here for a little drink, she loved it, so did I. Totally, 100% unspoiled pub perfection. Sometimes the best things in life are slightly subtle.
anonymous - 11 Apr 2006 12:01 |
i'd heard so many things about this pub and was surprised how unspectacular it was , it was more unique. smaller than i imagined and much sleepier , still interesting though .
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Like being in a country pub in the middle of london, fab
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Love this pub and have visited several times....but...had the odd experience last Sunday of walking in the place w/a friend around 7PM....and the place was completely empty, including bar staff! We walked around and surveyed the place a bit..thought about pulling one for ourself, then thought better (gotta be a CCTV in the Lamb) of it and went next door to an Italian Rest for dinner (so so: good food, terrible service). Tried going back after dinner but the door was locked. Headed down the street to the Calthrope Arms (another good Youngs pub) and had a nice experience: check it out if you are in the area.
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One of the very best pubs I have been to in London. Great Young's beers - they really do have the full range, and do offsales (four bottles for a fiver - bargain). Good friendly staff, good mix of people, lovely area. The Ram at its best!
One small gripe is that the food tends to be slow coming and a touch disappointing when it does - though if you are on a session here - and you will want to be, with beer this good - it fills a hole.
anonymous - 14 Dec 2005 14:42 |
Well Mr Silk Tok, this pub is "dull and ordinary" is it?
Please keep on walking past and leave this pub to people who appreciate it for what it is - one of London's classic traditional unspoilt pubs. Long may it remain so !
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Proper old pub with very modern prices - presumably an anti-student premium. Undoubtedly worth a stop, even if it's just to twiddle the wonderful glass windows at the bar, but not worth remortaging or selling grandparents for.
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I've never quite got the reason for the excitement generated by this rather dull and ordinary Youngs pub. Youngs beers are good, and this place does the seasonals, but the condition is not great. And the pub itself is so ordinary as to be very dull. Walk into any pub at random and you'll find as good as or better than this place.
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Never quite managed to go here without spending the entire afternoon.
The food is exactly what I expected of a pub about ten years ago. Not sure if that's a good thing or not. It is a real pub, though - bizarrely inefficient central bar area, awkward tables &c. Sounds bad but is in fact good.
Good ales on tap and I can't normally be arsed with ale, so there you go.
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Cracking homemade food!
Proper old school boozer. One of those pubs that i hope never changes. Problem is that it's in a new media gastro revamp area but i have a feeling that this is a place that will stay untouched.
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Unless there's one I've somehow missed, there is not a single negative comment about this place in any of the postings to your site: is this a record?
Whatever, all the praise is thoroughly deserved. Like all the best Youngs pubs (an equally good example being the Spreadeagle in Camden Town) the key to its continued appeal is that it's never been tampered with. I could walk in now and struggle to identify any change since I first found it having arrived in London to start uni. What has, sadly, changed since then is the immediate area or at least its drinking potential: the Sun is now some fuckwit gastropub called the Perseverence and the Rugby Tavern has gone from a decent Fullers to a typically bland Shepherd Neame.
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Splendid place, wonderfully kept range of beer, and efficient staff. Great place for a relaxing (mid-week) evening pint. Small courtyard out the back.
anonymous - 30 Aug 2005 14:47 |
Great pub for an afternoon drink. Always call here on my travels from Cumbria. Great beer. Great looking pub.
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I really enjoyed visiting this pub. Quiet, cozy and great pints of Young's. Food was very good too and staff friendly. Worth seeking out for a quiet pint and conversation.
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I love the Lamb but the evening crowd can be a bit 'men in suits'. Great to go by yourself in the day as a single woman; avoid by night, unless someone on this site wants to invite me!
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Quite simply the perfect pub. Not a bar, club, watering hole - a pub. It has everything from outside front seating to a small beer garden. Great food, great beer and a lovely layout.
Must say it does seem to go through staff, though.
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Small, quiet, great decor and pretty much the full range of Young's bottled beers. The London Special Ale is highly recommended. Prices are very reasonable for the areas and, like other Young's pubs I've been to, the food is very good indeed. Overall an ideal venue for a drinking session.
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I like this pub. It's great to fall into after a long meeting nearby (yes, I'm a Doc). I like the quirky split-level setup, and the beer is v good. It scores highly on my places_to_get_pleasantly_pissed-o-meter.
jcraf - 10 Jun 2005 17:46 |
I rate The Lamb a solid 6/10. Lots of pub guides rate this place much higher than that; the Good Pub Guide actually puts it in the top 3 London pubs, which I must admit I don't understand. It's popular with surgeons and doctors from Great Ormond Street and nearby medical organisations. Victorian old-style London pub; quite an expensive pint as I recall. Nothing special but ok.
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Been coming to The Lamb on and off for 10 years. Being a South London boy the Youngs and the wide range of other beers is always welcome. Small, intimate place with a good bunch of punters of varying types and the staff are always friendly. Most of my friends who have visited like the place and some are real converts. Always give it a look in when I am in this part of town.
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A wonderful place - great Young's beer, the St George was on top form recently. There is an atmosphere here that has not changed in the 25 years of my occasional visits. One of the great London pubs to hideaway in: sample the beers & consider the history
mally - 16 Apr 2005 13:35 |
Walked into this pub on a recent 'snow day' to meet a mate and went from feeling chilled and damp to feeling upbeat and warm. The size of this pub gives it a very cosy atmosphere and the beautiful smell of freshly cooked food that greeted me will not be forgotten in a hurry. The staff were very friendly and the bitter was well kept. However, its the decor that is truly impressive. So good to see a traditional pub with lashings of wood panneling, comfy chairs and (most notably) tables with bars round them to stop your pint being knocked off. Puts the bland design and unwelcoming atmosphere of many chain pubs to shame
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Adore this pub. Have been almost every week for several years. Discovered it while at university in London. Me & my uni mates managed to single-handedly change its review in Time-Out to include a reference to student clientele (of which we were the only ones at the time). Since then, a few more students visit, but mostly a blend of blue-collar and city types of an evening. Excellent range of draught and bottled Young's range, usually of superb quality. The Special and Winter Warmer rule.
Great decor, although pub is quite small so between about 6:30 and 8:30 is packed most evenings.
But have now started serving food again after a couple of months without.
Still my favourite Young's pub.
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Been here a few times during my visits to the UK. Excellent ambiance and decent enough staff. Haven't had food as yet but theYoung's Bitter is all right with me. Recently had a fine old session last week. One of my favorites.
zubov - 27 Jan 2005 17:08 |
good solid pub, decent beer, rammed on a friday
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best pub in london, absolutely unchanged in the twenty-od years I've been visiting-apart from the appearance of seats out the front! Comfy, great decor, with no music or noisy bandit. Colourful characters abound, and we once met John Hurt in the bar, amongts the pseudo literati that flounce in from time to time! Excellent beer, and now a guarranteed meeting place for those from my part of the world when "in the city."
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This is the best pub in the whole of London. I had my Stag night in this pub, drinking lots of "Special". A Mixture of locals, students and people working nearby. I think what makes this pub is the beer, the interior and the seating arrangement. My idea of a perfect evening is getting to the Lamb at 5:15pm and staying till 11:00pm and watching the change of customers throughout the night.
Gareth - 6 Nov 2004 18:01 |
Love this pub so much its become our local even though we live nowhere near! Best selling point?- has to be the selection of Youngs ale (try waggledance you wont be sorry!. )If you cant bear to leave the ale behind come closing time they also do a carry out box of 4 bottles of youngs ale for a fiver. Great food, nice little outdoor area for summer time, a must visit in London!
Caroline - 16 Oct 2004 02:24 |
I love the Lamb. Food is very good, and atmosphere wonderful. On a summer evening the small outdoor space is great, in the winter the steamy indoors feels warm and comforting. Don't miss the dumb waiter!
sheila - 14 Sep 2004 23:04 |
a great favourite, with it's superb metropolitan atmosphere, generally good beers and wonderful victoriana. staff are inevitably australian, and very efficient. one or two oddball celebrities hang out - including alexei sayle. great place to earwig intellectual conversation, although expect the occasional drunk. can get drafty in winter and stifling in summer, but a great pub in the best part of central london
richard - 1 Jun 2004 13:24 |
A lovely pub. One of my favorites in central london.
As a bonus a superb Italian restaurant, Ciao Bella, is right next door.
Stuart - 15 Apr 2004 10:41 |
Simply sublime.
Jeff - 8 Oct 2003 00:18 |
Fantastic pub. An mhaith ar fhad!!
John - 22 Aug 2003 23:30 |
Great old school boozer. Worth a visit.
Darryl - 20 Jun 2003 00:33 |
What a cracker...if you can get in.
Dark wood, leather sofas, smoke-brown walls, sepia photographs and Victorian artefacts provide a bygone atmosphere.
Food is reasonably priced. Hot meals are available at lunchtimes, but only salads in the evenings. There is a carvery on Sundays.
The service is friendly and the Young's beers are invariably in top condition.
Steve - 17 Apr 2003 16:04 |
Ask for a pint of Ordinary - also nectar! A gem of a pub!
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poke your head round the snob screens and ask for a pint of triple A....nectar
jacmac - 22 Jan 2003 18:44 |
