Not already a member?
Join our community and
- Rate & review pubs
- Upload pictures
- Add events
JOIN for free NOW
Chat about:
Random news of the day with Real Ale Ray
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
Glasshouse Stores, Soho, W1
W1
W1F 9UJ
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about Glasshouse Stores
This is a rather nice Sam Smiths pub in a back street. It has a number of rooms, with the back room having a lovely, slightly bowed window. The next room to the side has a bar billiards table. The bar has the usual Sam's beers with the exception of any real ale. The keg version of Old Brewery Bitter was cold but just about OK. There's an additional bar downstairs for busier times.
Date of visit: 15th September 2022
On 25th April 2023
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3745 recommendations about 3482 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about Glasshouse Stores
This was the Coach & Horses on inception in 1730, but given the current name in 1876, when I suspect this pub was rebuilt. Confusingly, there’s the Glassblower near here, along with another Sam's pub, the Duke of Argyll.
I agree with two of the previous reviewers in that this place must have had a refurb, as the tattiness mentioned isn’t in evidence. Wood is good and suitably Victorian, with much etched and cut glass. There’s what I’d call something amounting to a secular rood screen to the rear room, which does feature glass with the trademark Sam Smith’s Yorkshire rose motif. The walls and ceiling are covered with magnolia Anaglypta and furnishings were in good condition, as was the nice deep red lino floor; décor comes from framed prints. Customers seemed local, were at the bar chatting with the very friendly young barmaid; indeed, they all seemed a friendly bunch, though few in number, certainly when compared with neighbouring pubs.
Ales: sadly, no OB on pump, just Sovereign and OB keg, which always disagrees with me; why I drank it, I don’t know.
This is an attractive pub and lightyears away from other Soho pubs; it’s neither touristy, Greene King, gay or sport orientated. It’s a great little boozer; if only they’d serve something worth drinking, I'd give it an '8'.
On 19th October 2021
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1985 recommendations about 1951 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Brainy Pool left this review about Glasshouse Stores
whatever you think of their beer or their boss , credit has to go to Sam Smiths for keeping the traditional conversational pub alive in central London. this one has a lovely interior though it’s tatty with ripped seats and very tired looking wood. However it was friendly, atmospheric and a haven for good natured banter amongst the regulars on a Monday lunchtime. No tourist trapping, fish and chip smells etc- it felt like an old school local. Well worth a visit.
On 17th February 2020
- rating: 9
[User has posted 1058 recommendations about 1023 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Glasshouse Stores
Unless there’s been a full-scale refurbishment taking it back to late Victorian times, you can always assume that there’ll be little change in the intervening years at any Sam Smith pub. And it’s true here. However the place feels really scruffy these days so I wouldn’t be surprised if gets a full-scale facelift before long. Had a pint of the Organic Wheat Beer, which was decent. Same beer I had last time I was here, oddly enough. Still no cask OBB though.
May 2012
Tucked away down Brewer Street in Soho and a short stroll (but mercifully free from the madness of) Piccadilly Circus, the Glasshouse is a Sam Smiths pub. Featuring the usual Sam’s features – own brand drinks, cheap prices and a nice characterful ambience – we popped in on a quiet Sunday evening. Roger sums up the interior well below so I won’t try and reinvent the wheel here, suffice to say that it’s much bigger than it looks from the outside and is a bit of a rabbit warren; once you get past the narrow bar area at the front there are nooks and crannies to the rear which provide a nice bit of atmosphere (as well as a cellar bar open at peak times). It’s very Victorian in style with etched glass mirrors, (presumed) mahogany wood panelling and some old theatre and music hall pictures. Despite the lack of OBB (Sam’s only cask ale) the fridges were fully stocked and the usual keg fonts were all active so I was happy with a pint of their wheat beer, the curved conical glass in which it was served seemingly their only concession to unnecessary expense. Service at the bar was good, the young lad a cut above what I’d expect in central London. We initially settled into the small half-hexagon banquette seating at the small front section of the pub, taking advantage of the large window being fully open letting in a gentle cooling breeze and allowing us to observe the Diamond Jubilee theme in the pub which took the form of hand-drawn pictures of various Royal by the locals strung across the bar – “irreverent” being the best word to sum them up. We saw a sign for bar billiards and darts so headed to the rear section to give the BB a go (deposit needed for pegs kept behind the bar). The Bar Billiards table, whilst welcome, was a bit of a sad sight and desperately needs an MOT – scruffy top, broken timer and the scoreboard has most of the numbers rubbed off on the 10’s. It also had a tendency to veer balls off to the right. Still, at least it was there and had the full complement of said balls. The rear section of the pub is painted in some god-awful nicotine stain/snot yellow colour and really does need a little brightening up. Board games (of the long-winded variety) are available from behind the bar if you’re planning on making an afternoon of it. Toilets were, as is the norm in central London, smelly and dank. Whilst not being without its faults there was enough here to make me think I’ll call in again sometime. With a few quid spent and OBB available, it really could be a winner. Rated 7
On 11th February 2020
- rating: 6
[User has posted 5097 recommendations about 5080 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Glasshouse Stores
Traditional, if rather plain, pub with a 'L'-shaped main bar and a Cellar Bar open at lunch-times and in the evenings. Variety of seating areas beside the main bar and in several partly opened-out rooms to the rear, one with a bar-billiards table, and an alcove housing the dartboard. Annoyingly, still no OBB on handpump, but it's a decent enough place and there are worse things in to do in central London than spending a little time with some Extra Stout (£1.80, half, on this brief visit).
On 21st October 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Moby Duck left this review about Glasshouse Stores
Typical Sam Smiths pub as described by Rex below, still no real ale but the keg Extra Stout was more than passable at £1.80 a half.
On 25th October 2016
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1872 recommendations about 1845 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Glasshouse Stores
There was no real ale on in here, just the usual Sam Smith's keg offerings. The beer's not good, but it is cheap - my half of Old Brewery Bitter was £1.45. The food's reasonable as well. A burger was around £8, and my cheese and pickle sandwich (including chips, in a little metal bucket of course) was £4.50. For a Soho pub that's not bad at all.
This pub is much bigger than it looks from the outside. As you enter the bar counter's on the left, with a couple of round metal framed tables with a bit of banquette seating and small round stools by the window. Past the bar counter is a room with some armchairs and normal tables and chairs. A doorway to the left of this room takes you into what might best be described as a sports room, as it contains a dartboard, and the rarely seen bar billiards. There's also a downstairs cavernous cellar bar.
Quite approriately there's a lot of glass around the place, mainly in the form of cut glass mirrors on the walls in the ground floor room. They look like modern replicas to me, which is in keeping with Sam Smith's policy of restoring their estate (in London anyway) to a semblence of its former glory. They usually do a pretty good job in that respect.
This pub is typical Sam Smith's - great pub, not so great beer. With a decent ale or two on this could be a real backstreet gem (OK, Brewer St is not really a backstreet, but it is in comparison to Shaftesbury Avenue around the corner). This seems to be somewhere for a quite drink - there were only three other customers in the main bar when I dropped in on Friday, but there were a few more downstairs in the cellar bar - as long as you're not fussed about ale choice or quality.
On 11th August 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about Glasshouse Stores
The Glasshouse Stores dates back to at least 1730 when it called the Coach and Horses, changing its name to the current title in 1876. It is now one of numerous Sam Smiths pubs that have found their way into central London.
At first glance it appears to be a simple long narrow pub with front and rear sections but closer inspection reveals that the interior is far more meandering than it initially appears. The front section has a couple of banquettes that are oddly at angles with each other and the rear has more standard furnishings and a games machine that takes up valuable space in the corner.
An entrance at the end of the bar opens into a separate room with additional seating and a recess housing a bar billiards table, virtually unheard of in central London. At the foot of a small set of stairs to the back door a single bench and table give a new meaning to making use of all available space. The décor contains plenty of random pictures and patterned mirrors as well as some old theatre / music hall displays. Explorers can continue the journey to the centre of the earth to the cellar bar although this was closed on my latest visit.
There is a full range of love ‘em or hate ‘em Sam Smiths beers at low (but not as low as they used to be) prices but all on keg, no hand pumps. The cellar bar had its own well stocked bar so it isn’t necessary to return to Middle Earth for a pint.
For all its shortcomings (no real ales and cramped when busy being the main two) the place does have a lot of character and I am surprised I haven’t made more use of it over the years.
On 23rd November 2011
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about The Glasshouse Stores
This is a Sam Smith's pub with no OBB on hand pump putting it off the radar for many drinkers. The staff were pleasant enough and it is a decent boozer with the usual range of cheap draught products, but I've been in better.
On 1st September 2009
- rating: 5
[User has posted 5251 recommendations about 5219 pubs]