please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Popped in on a mid-week lunchtime, and stayed for just the one (pt of Redcar). Selection the same as per danrkelly's post, and prices sat £3 or £3.15/pint.
I don't know Red Car's full workings and, whilst my understanding is that this is one of theirs, there is a very recent (Apr 08) notice of planning application from Enterprise Inns on the outside. It includes a first floor bar, new kitchen, extended dining area, and a new ladies'. So keep yer eyes open.
The Red Car pint was Ok, but nothing great. A decent enough city boozer, but wouldn't feature as one of my favourites.
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A proper pub in a sea of bars tucked underneath office blocks. Wouldn't need much alteration to appear in an episode of 'Ashes to Ashes'. Good range of ales on including Red Car Bitter, Youngs Bitter, Courage Best, Harvey's Sussex and Tim Taylor Landlord. I can certainly vouch for the landlord. Friendly service only really let down by the prices hovering around £3 a pint.
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Small traditional pub within spitting distance of Cannon Street station. Retains signs of its former status as a Courage Pub , but its now owned by the Red Car pub company ( a small chain of 5 public houses in London ).
It's had a minor refurb over the years - the gantry over the bar has gone and so has the carpet, but it's still one of the better traditional pubs of its genre
Note the information panel inside which tells us that, in days of old, this used to be a riverside pub - its not any more !
Yes, the beer is expensive ( Harveys - £ 3.05p), but this pub is well worth calling in on.
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The Bell has become a regular calling point when I'm having a "wander" round London - the beer is good, but the pub itself has a certain charm to it as well. Yes, it could be said that the drinks are expensive, but then again it is the City so you'd kind of expect that anyway. It almost feels out of place where it is, however in my opinion is much the better for it as it adds to it's appeal. Definitely worth a visit.
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Called in for a pint as there was a power cut at Cannon St station and chaos everywhere. Power cut had hit the Bell as well but the soldiered on with candles and emergency lights! Just like the blitz, excellent!
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Wonderful as always
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Paid another visit yesterday and although the beer (as mentioned in the previous comment) was expensive, it was quite acceptable. A nice little place that's a welcome retreat from the City streets.
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What a nice little pub. Must be one of the better ones in the City. Fairly small one-room pub; plenty of dark wood gives it an olde worlde atmosphere. Lots of bric-a-brac on the beams. About five real ales on. Expensive though - the Summer Lightning and Landlord were both £3.05 a pint. But that's the City for you. Definitely worth a visit if you're in the are.
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Very nice little pub. It almost feels like a 'secret pub'. Very good sized sanwiches at lunch too for under £5.
Girls loos are a bit of a journey though down a dodgy staircase. Why is it that the men's toilet are always nearer?
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This is a great little one-room old fashioned city boozer. Traditional 'wooden' feel with bits of the pub history and list of the landlords since 1668 or so is on the wall - apparently records for prior to then where destroyed in the Great Fire. TT's Landlord was absolute nectar last night, they also had Deuchars, Youngs Ordinary, Woodford's Wherry (and the farcically named Courage 'Best'). Staff friendly, not too rammed (even after work on a Thursday) - simply excellent stuff
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My first time here. Not too crowded though it was lunch time.This pub apparently escaped the Great Fire though it does smell of a refurb. However, it was small and pleasant. There are some real ales on and the Aussie barman who served me was very friendly.
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great pub, and just a great atmosphere to have a drink.
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I love this small but friendly little pub. Linda behind the bar is a true Landlady, flirty and always checking if "you are ok darlings", just what you need after a long day at the office.
Good ale and a traditional welcome. What more can you ask for.
Dejaz - 22 Feb 2007 15:07 |
Small, and thus very crowded after work, but easily the best of a bad lot (The Banker excepted) around Cannon Street station.
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It's been a while since my last visit, but from what I remember I had a good pint of Deuchar's IPA whilst I was there. To me it seemed like the sort of place where you wouldn't know you were in the middle of a city until you stepped outside. Will have to visit again soon and check it out.
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Revisited recently for the first time since the mini-refit. Although the refurb was relatively sympathetic, much of the character seems to have been lost. Many of the old regulars seem to have gone (as do the pickled eggs and pickled walnuts). They ditch the eccentric staff too. Generic antipodean staff have replaced the 'Open University Maths Lecturer' types that used to run the place.
Cracking pint of IPA though. And despite my moans about the onset of progress, still one of the better pubs in the area.
anonymous - 6 Sep 2006 11:05 |
great little gem of a place, very small and homely, simon the landlord is brilliant and loves a chat. well worth a visit
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Rammo to the max apres travaille. No chance Jose, if you are after quick service you have fat way!
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Giantelf, very few pubs are open in the area at the weekend. Nobody around, y'see. In fact, I think even Cannon Street station closes.
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According to CAMRA's 'London Pub Walks' this pub is closed Saturday and Sunday. Is this true?
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As Roger says ( 23 December 2005 ), this pub has lost quite a bit of its character recently - and the beer is expensive - but still worth popping in if in the area. Just dont expect the old style warm welcome that you used to get in the old days. Somewhat disappointing when compared to what it used to be like, but this is "progress", I suppose. Rather bored looking foreign bar staff now in situ as well, unfortunately
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Just Great. I've wanted to try this spot for ages, and I wasn't disappointed. Nice old exterior wonderfully bare of cr@p special offer posters and faux-handwritten blackboard shitery. Interior is a happy mix of 50s (?) Olde Worlde refit (check out the sign above the bar) and creaky original features. Beer's excellent... I only had the Young's but it was just as it should be. Bar staff were a bit David Lynch-ian (but in a good way). Want a City pub with a history and a soul? This is it.
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Couldn't agree more, what a great pub-they just don't make 'em like this anymore. Great atmoshere and a perfect pint of Doombar bitter.Long may it continue.
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An absolutely ragged gem of a pub. It sells pickled walnuts..... winner every time. Its a place time forgot populated by eccentric city characters with handbar taches, bowler hats and the boldest of pinstripes.
All the beers are very well kept.
One of the best pubs in the City.
anonymous - 26 Jan 2006 14:07 |
The Bell claims to be a survivor from the Great Fire of London and whilst it is undoubtedly old, it has undergone several refurbishments. If the first impressions are that it is cramped, note the old building plans on the wall that show the pub divided into even smaller rooms. Most of what can be seen probably dates from the sixties when the previous owner took over. She recently retired and the current incumbents have given the pub a more modern approach with the addition of 2 small plasma screens and even doing a small food menu – unheard of during the previous regime. Some of the old character has now gone - the old “clink, clink, kerching” till has been updated by a faceless plastic bleepy thing and the old bar frame removed. The previously charismatic bar staff who had all been there for the best part of 20 years have been replaced by the ever increasing band of overseas labour and this will no doubt lead to a high turnover of bar staff. One of the Bell's main assets was always the familiar, knowledgeable (and sometimes extremely rude) staff and without them the pub has become a bit faceless. The beers are still top notch but they are among the most expensive I have come across in the City. They do basic food but this place is really for the after work city suits. At least the toilets still resemble a plague pit. The last trains leave the adjacent Cannon Street station around 8.00pm and after this, the pub starts to shuts down, not unlike most of the City. Worth a visit but you will have to battle your way to the bar as it gets crammed to the rafters by 5.00pm. 7/10 23/12
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Now under new management.
They have made subtle changes, slowly, which has lessened the impact on the pub character.
It now has wooden floors and a real fire. Ironic really, when you think that one of it's claims to fame is that it survived the great fire of London!
Beer is just the same and the pub has grown on me.
Good work.
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This is a small, one room and very old pub, just round the corner from cannon street station.
Very basic with wood floor boards etc. The beer is excellent, though the prices are high. The staff are friendly and unpretentious.
Well worth a visit if you are in the area
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owned by barter inns
anonymous - 15 Oct 2004 08:24 |
One of the best, and few authentic pubs in the city. I can't understand anyone not liking this pub.
Dave - 23 Aug 2004 14:56 |
Something about this place made my flesh creep. I like a real ale as much as the next man, but I found this pub small, claustrophobic, and dirty. I took my pint outside, drank if very quickly, and went elsewhere.
Simon - 8 Apr 2004 17:20 |
Good, traditional boozer. Fosters price is a little inflated - £2.90. Bar staff are curiously short (remember the Umpa Lumpas?), but then, the ceilings are kind of low. If you are lucky you might run in to Alan Fedarb who has been a regular since the early 1500's.
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perfect original City boozer.
Cliff - 15 Mar 2004 10:55 |
A proper pub with a good choice of well kept beer and friendly bar staff. Long may it keep its current ways, it survived the Great Fire so lets hold on to this as long as possible.
Jim McCullough - 18 Dec 2003 11:41 |
Really worth finding - a cosy little pub tucked away beside the station. Good beer and a real pub atmosphere (expensive crisps though!!)
Charles - 31 Oct 2003 07:15 |
Bit of a timewarp with fantastic beer. All pubs should be like this.
Steve Brooks - 15 Jul 2003 10:04 |
A real gem in the heart of the city. Great beer, no music, no gaming machines, just well kept beer.
Neil Whiley - 29 Nov 2002 20:08 |
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