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The Lyric, Soho, W1
W1
W1D 7LT
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Danny O'Revey left this review about The Lyric
Small, basic bar, wood floor, curved window to the street, lots of pastel colouring, nice feel
On 25th November 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1456 recommendations about 1434 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about The Lyric
The pub was extremely packed on our visit, as the footy was showing. There were seven ales on handpump and ten on draught. I managed to get served at the corner of the bar and see their ale choice, which was lucky. The rest of the bar was obstructed with people watching the match and at the end of the bar, three blokes were using it as a table to eat their meals. I will call again, maybe mid week in the afternoon, hopefully it should be less busy then. My Brewsters Hop A Doodle Doo was excellent, so too was the Haresfoot Lockkeepers. I liked this pub for it's choice of beer and their prices at £3.80 a pint for central London. The pub does have a certain charm to it.
On 8th February 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
paulof horsham left this review about The Lyric
Thought I'd pay a quick visit, as this is apparently a 'top craft beer pub'. Certainly had a row of keg offerings, including Jaipur and beers from Harbour and Camden among other. Half a dozen or so handpumps, all clipped with stuff from the interesting end of the spectrum; Dark Star APA for example and Salopian 'Spiral', which was pretty good.
As for the pub, well, it's not a large room. There's high stools around the perimeter and a few seats and tables at the back. There's space in the middle for vertical drinking, and I imagine that this can get pretty packed after work and before theatre. The gents is accessed by a precipitous, narrow, staircase in the corner (ladies upstairs, where there's also a dining room).
The main problem inside, though, is the row of stools lined up at the bar, the occupants blocking sight of the pump clips and collection of beer from the staff. This is a particular problem with the keg fonts which are inconspicuously labelled.
Why do pubs do this? It's a busy pub - the barman's not going to be lonely. I'd give the pub an extra mark if it wasn't for this.
On 27th April 2014
- rating: 6
[User has posted 453 recommendations about 425 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Mark Davey left this review about The Lyric
Popped in here for a quick pre dinner pint. Good range of beers on the bar including 2 brown beers as opposed to the raft of yellow beers you tend to get at the moment. We were in on a Saturday and the place was packed with a 30th birthday, however nobody seemed to be drinking, including the 3 girls propping up the bar and playing with mobile phones! Landlords need to grow some and ask these people to leave so that drinkers can have a seat. We left after 1, even though we had time for a second. Standing up drinking is OK when you are on a crawl, but pre dinner, it is nice to relax with your significant others.
On 12th November 2013
- rating: 6
[User has posted 292 recommendations about 276 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Lyric
Recently reopened by the people responsible for the excellent North Pole in N1, this is a small, single room West End pub, easily reached from Piccadilly Circus. You enter through a striking green tiled porch, past some fine etched glass front windows, into a compact wooden floored room with the servery on the left hand side. There is a tiny recess between the front wall and the bar, with room for a couple of people to stand along a drinking shelf, which sets the tone for the rest of the cramped room. Bar stools run along the servery, several drinking ledges and around a centrally positioned barrel/table. Meanwhile, low stools and pews have been arranged along the back wall, breaking only for a lit fireplace in the back corner, above which hung a TV screen which was turned off in favour of music playing at a sensible volume. A high shelf was lined with a few bits of silverware, but otherwise there was little of interest to note, although a formative pump clip collection was already taking shape behind the bar. Signs pointed to an upstairs dining room, but I didn’t get round to visiting.
On the bar, several hand pumps were offering Dark Star Summer Solstice, Moorhouse Black Cat, Great Heck Navigator and Harbour Brewing Pale Ale, which went off when I ordered it, so I had to settle for a pint of the Summer Solstice instead, which was in good shape. A strong keg line up included offerings from Dark Star, Black Jack, Magic Rock, Titanic, Camden and Thornbridge, whilst a small but interesting bottled selection was visible in the fridges.
The compact, uncomfortable layout and furnishings in this pub made it difficult to get settled and as such, I found myself rushing my pint in order to move on. That said, it has a good beer range for this part of town which makes it well worth a look, especially if you can bag a decent seat.
On 1st September 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john gray left this review about The Lyric
Newly opened with new owners.Small downstairs bar with 6 handpumps and about 10 craft keg beers.I dont think they have changed the pub much other than a coat of paint.Upstairs dining room.Probably the best selection of beers in the area but its going to get crowded.Not cheap for the beer but its the Westend so one wouldn,t expect anything else.Not my sort of pub but my sort of beers.
On 4th May 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
hondo . left this review about The Lyric
3 real ales and an upstairs dining area.
On 13th March 2012
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2883 recommendations about 2820 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about The Lyric
This was my first visit to the Lyric since it closed for a couple of years and was seemingly lost for ever until reopening in 2008. The attractive curved frontage and tiled porchway remains but the interior has from memory had a bit of a knockabout in the intervening years. Despite recently refurbishments, it currently appears very shabby and worn in with well trodden bare floor boards and simple but sparse furnishings that consist of 3 small tables at the rear, a large barrel in the centre of the floor and a few drinking ledges. The décor is quite plain décor with cream tongue and groove walls and not much on display other than a photo of a local strip joint. A fireplace in one corner has a flat screen TV above (I recall that in the old days this was Soho’s prime destination if you wanted to watch Scottish football and Gaelic sports). The music was quite intrusive music and invites a few raised voices among the patrons.
There were 3 ales, Landlord, Pride and the pub’s own Old Tart which was a pretty decent pint although I am assuming it is a rebadge of something. My pint was a bit short but at £2.20 as good a value as you will find in the West End. There is a small restaurant on the first floor but I didn’t take note of any food details.
The place is certainly not as cosy as I remembered it but it does has its own intrinsic character and it’s worth a visit just to say you had an Old Tart in Soho for a couple of quid. I detect a t-shirt idea coming on.
On 4th October 2011
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Lyric Tavern
They had Pride and Landlord on; the Pride was distinctly average. I did not find anything really worth mentioning about this pub – it seemed pretty run-of-the-mill to me, but is possibly better than some other pubs in this area. The only seating is high stools (no normal tables and chairs) that I do not like. Not worth going out of your way to visit, but you could do worse.
On 2nd December 2008
- rating: 4
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]