The Tav Bar, Bloomsbury - pub details
Address: Tavistock Hotel, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9EU [map] [gmap]
Tel: 020 7636 8383
Russell Square (0.2 miles), Euston (0.4 miles), Goodge Street (0.4 miles)
London St Pancras (0.5 miles), London Kings Cross - Thameslink (0.5 miles), London Euston (0.5 miles)
Pub suggested by RogerB on 17 Aug 2006
NB: Information about this pub is incomplete as it has not been visited by a member of the beerintheevening.com team and is not currently registered.
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> Current user rating: 4.3/10 (rated by 7 users)
> Local guides: London pub guide, Central London pub guide
other pubs nearby:
London Pub, Bloomsbury (0.1 miles), Marquis of Cornwallis, Bloomsbury (0.1 miles), Callaghans, Russell Square (0.1 miles), Lord John Russell, Russell Square (0.2 miles), Institute of Education, Russell Square (0.2 miles) - see more nearby pubs
user reviews of the Tav Bar, Bloomsbury
please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
| The reviews below talk about the hotel bar upstairs but don';t mention the much better bar downstairs, at the "Blomsbury bowling lanes" OK, this isn't a pub, its a bowling alley in a converted basement car park underneath a midprice tourist hotel. But the bar is open to non-bowlers and the beer is cheap and its actually a really nice place for a quiet drink and a chat with your mates. And there are some really very cute barmaids. In the evening it gets crowded and becomes more of a club atmosphere, dancing, karaoke, whatever but in the afternoon its comparatively empty, its cool (in both senses) there is a smoking area and unbelievably the beer is almost cheap - 2.80 to 3.00 a pint, which is less than most pubs round here, never mind clubs. The line up changes but it tends to be posh lager - last week it was Mean Time from Greenwich, Bitburger (a decent default German pilsner) and Bernard - an unpasteurised hoppy Czeck Pilsner which is actually really rather nice. The decor and atmosphere is quite strange - a huge barn of a room with visible ducts that looks like a cross between an underground garage and a night club (that's because it IS and underground garage that has been retrofitted as a club). Much of it is retro American vaguely early 60s - but its not so much what we think of as "60s" nowadays as the sort of 60s America that wore short-sleeve shirts and slacks and had crew-cuts and voted for Nixon rather than Kennedy. I'm no expert but it looks as if the bowling equipment is old 1960s American stuff refurbished. And there are odd little areas laid out like diners in a couple of places, comfy sofas in another, and a sort of platform with flying ducks on the wall like a living room and even what looks like a tiny 20-seater cinema. None of which is in use in the afternoon. Staff had a reputation for being a bit grumpy but I never noticed. They were pleasant, polite, and open to some friendly chat. chat. Maybe they have different people on at night or maybe they just get overworked. But every time I've been here in the afternoon they were fine. And did I say that they were mostly very, very cute? bob_brown - 14 Aug 2008 20:07 |
| Its not a pub, just a hotel bar, and i would tend to class the hotel as a commercial travellers hotel or a cheap tourist hotel. Usually filled with a mixture of tourists, construction workers etc. Good service behind the bar if Tony is working with no complaints about the limited choice of beers. Yes the management are trying to tempt the people off the streets but the bar is only open in the evenings. Lanes bowling alley is situated on the next floor down, but noise isnt excessive from the bowling, just the clientele coming and going plus the music Can be heaving some nights and barren on others. My tip.......there is also a wine bar in this hotel....Jaques, which has a good selection of food, and an excellent ever changinging wine list. Give it a try MX321 - 13 Dec 2007 04:57 |
| This is basically the bar for the Tavistock Hotel but it is very accessible and open to anyone just like a normal pub. In fact they have several signs outside to tempt people in from the street. It is probably one of the best examples of an Art Deco bar in London, well maintained and largely untouched by the passage of time. The only concessions to the 21st century are the out of place plasma screen and the noise from the bowling lanes in the basement below (especially when they have the occasional rock concerts there). The beer selection is admittedly not very adventurous (the ubiquitous Greene King IPA & Abbot) but they come surprisingly cheap and are certainly of drinkable quality. The bow tied barmen give the bar a touch a class and it is not difficult to settle into one of the comfortable sofas and transport yourself back the 20’s and 30’s when this hotel would have been state of the art. It will not be everyone’s taste but fans of the period will adore it and it is certainly one of the most pleasant discoveries on the central London pub circuit I have come across for some time, especially given the lack of decent pubs in the immediate area. It is well worth the walk round the back streets from Tottenham Court Road to find if Art Deco is your thing and is especially handy for gigs at the ULU, just down the road. RogerB - 17 Aug 2006 16:06 |
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