please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
We went here this week for a team event and had an excellent evening. No tears! Unspoiled pub with a pleasant upstairs dining room and bare boards throughout. The service was very good and the food and ale were fine.
Don't expect to have anything other than a pie here (choice of about 10) - there is nothing else on the menu. Puddings were equally filling - a selection of the best in English stodge. Very tasty too!
Beers were Black Sheep and London Pride (the Adnams I had last time was no longer on offer) and the Sheep I had was in very good condition.
Overall, good English fayre in good English surroundings. It does exactly what it says on the tin.
Footnote:
For "pie" read: "oval bowl of very tasty stew with an inflated puff pastry lid." I argue strongly that a pie should be made with shortcrust pastry, having a base and sides as well as a lid!! Especially in a pub that sells itself as a "Pie Pub."
Is there a Campaign for Real Pies? There should be!
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Do not, under any circumstances, think of hiring the upstairs pie room for a private party. It will end in tears, ours did thanks to the incompetence and rudeness of the management.
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Been trying to visit for months but it never seems to be open.
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Strangely, given its location, it was closed last Saturday afternoon on Six Nations weekend.
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Good friendly waterhole away from Tottenham Court Road / Oxford Street. I had a perfectly acceptable pint of Adnams (a bit steep at £3) and London Pride also on offer. Small downstairs bar with scrub floor and tables and a dining room upstairs. Good to see they specialise in pies (several to choose from) and you can still get a cheese or ham toastie for £1.50.
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I visited the Newman Arms on a recommendation of a friend. I was told to book ahead and after my meal I knew why. We had dinner upstairs in the pie room, an interior which seems to have managed to escape the gastro wave. Traditional English character filled the room, with "Players Cards" and butterflies hanging on the wall. I had the gammon and my partner the lamb and rosemary pie. The order took 15 min to arrive and was absolutely delicious! We took a punt on a bottle of Merlot from Montenegro and were so surprised by the quality we decided to buy another bottle to take home with us. On our way out we stopped off downstairs at the bar for a cigarette and were pleasantly surprised to see the staff spoke English and could pour a good pint. Highly recommended!
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What depressing reading these reviews make. This was one of my favourite haunts when I worked in St Giles High St and and I wanted to go to a pub where there was no risk of meeting anyone from the office. In the words of the song "Another one hits the dust".
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First time visit here last night and was a trifle disappointed. No soul to the place and fairly miserable Aussie barstaff (yet they won The Ashes today!).
Plenty more great pubs up Charlotte St to try.
anonymous - 19 Dec 2006 15:35 |
Why Why Why??????? Destroyed - a beautiful dark scruffy atmospheric pub. Used to vie for 10/10. Now a wannabee trendy souless hollow shell complete with faux distressed painted wooden surfaces - very 1984. Anyone who loved this pub, DON'T GO AGAIN. Better to remember it as it was.
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A dreadful refurbishment - this pub is no longer worth bothering with. All in all it's a crying shame what's been done here in the name of so - called "improvements"
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Oh dear. What on earth have they done to the once-wonderful Newman Arms? Where other pubs are installing faux oak panelling this pub has taken the brave step of ripping their magnificent interior out. I've been going to this pub for years but will give it a miss now they've ruined it.
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What a crying shame! This was a very lovely pub full of character and characters. Now an ill advised refurb has ripped the still beating heart from this pub's smoky, mahogany history filled chest. Everything that was great about it - the battered exterior, pannelled walls, dodgy toilets and the sensation of drinking on board a cramped ship have been chucked in the skip. Now we have bright lights, gastro pub detailing, neon lights everywhere and music playing "hip" tunes. It's criminal. George Orwell, a regular drinker and who immortalised the pub in 1984 as an example of the great "common man" boozer, will be turning in his grave. It tragically goes into my Room 101.
anonymous - 17 Oct 2005 09:03 |
I was always tremendously curious about this place when I went past it but found it closed. It looked like a place with an intersting history, and sure enough I've since found out that it's always been a popular location for photographers and film makers, both internally and externally.
Perhaps, somehow, it was inevitable that when I finally found it open one day it was a tremendous disappointment, and I would wholeheartedly endorse comments made in previous postings to the effect that the management(or at least those in place at the time)were disagreeable racist scum. If anything, the customers were even more obnoxious. All a shame, but then again not that much of a shame since there was nothing worth drinking in there either.
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Currently closed. Lots of building work going on.
anonymous - 31 Aug 2005 18:46 |
The pies really are fab, just don't expect a variety of veggie options, and booking is a must. Downstairs is absolutely tiny!
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The pie-room should be renamed the pie-cupboard. 25 people rammed in a room thats barely big enough for a half-dozen oompah lumpah's. The landlord needs to be careful, he's in serious danger of going O/D on those old tosser pills he must be taking. Cupboard and landlord aside, the pies are great, the prices are more in line with a local than a city-boy hangout and they do know how to pull a proper pint of guiness.
Selly - 19 Aug 2005 12:01 |
i saw this place on massivepubs.com,....imagine my disgust when....
Yeah the pies are good i hear
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A Group of our friends went to Newman Arms on St Patricks day because they serve a great pint of Guiness. We were really enjoying ourselves and our Irish friend sang a lovely sweet irish song and we clapped and cheered when she finished. We were all seated and by no means rowdy. The elderly owner actually cursed at us and made a number of racist comments. We were so shocked and offended that we all got up and left. I will never go here again. No good pie or pint of Guiness can justify racist comments.
anonymous - 18 Mar 2005 17:11 |
It was my local for two years and I loved it! Had to move back to Canada though :-(
The landlord, although grumpy at times, treated his regulars very well.
Plus the pies were to die for.
Whoever works in the area should definitely make this their regular spot.
The Canadian - 19 Sep 2004 03:54 |
I love this pub. As pubs go it is not all that lively or flashy. Instead, it has a well-loved, cozy feel.
Greg is right, the pies are fantastic (that is usually why I go there.) Shame it isn't open weekends.
The owner is a highly entertaining and very personable old man, so long as you don't get too crazy at which point he becomes rather cantankerous. Just know that that bar is his pride and joy. The barman is great and the pie-room staff are also charming.
You get what you see. Family establishment with cast of regulars and stick-to-your-bones/warm-your-heart-and-soul food (though the stuff behind the bar downstairs will take care of the latter part of this description). Not a people-magnet like the Marquis of Granby down the street.
Jonathan - 28 Apr 2004 18:35 |
I love the single-mindedness of the menu - pies only.
Richard - 24 Mar 2004 17:58 |
It seems so Matt. Never known it be open. No fat media slags to buy lunch there. Not worth opening!
;-)
Greg - 23 Sep 2003 16:16 |
The grumpy elderly landlord is fiercely protective of his grumpy elderly regulars and doesn't take kindly to people stomping in and demanding to buy alcohol.
I once fell down the narrow stairs to the khazi.
Mind you, that explains a lot.
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Is it always shut at the weekends then Greg, you (media) slag!?
Matt Le Ross - 18 Jun 2003 16:11 |
"Media slags"...? Oh. That'd be me. We're obviously just quicker dialers!
There is a reason why the pie room is always booked up. The pies are bloody fantastic!
And even though it's teeny, it never seems too crowded in the pub. I think it's a top little place. (Except the landlord was getting a little lairy last time we were in there. But we'll let him off... it wasn't aimed at us!)
Greg - 16 Jun 2003 16:59 |
I meant to say the pub was shut byt the way...
Matt Le Ross - 29 Apr 2003 13:24 |
Was shit on Saturday - therefore scuppering the route of the TANNERS crawl. Poor show!
Matt Le Ross - 28 Apr 2003 12:26 |
always god-damned booked up by media slags and brown-nosers... review the policy or boycott the pub!
howard - 25 Apr 2003 11:46 |
Seriously, the pies are the best in london. Not posh nosh obviously, but the best pub grub in London that I have found.
Kit - 14 Feb 2003 16:07 |
Years ago I met Brian, Sheila and Debbie in Antigua (Caribbean) and they owned a pub called Newman Arms. Is this the same establishment? If so, please have them EMail Roselyn Pierce at rpierce3@houston.rr.com. Thanks!
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The pies are a must. You'll need to book though
Steve - 23 Dec 2002 16:03 |
There's an upstairs pie room according to the sign.
Techno - 25 Nov 2002 10:23 |
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