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Smugglers Tavern, Fitzrovia, W1

28 Warren Street
W1
W1T 5ND
Phone: 02073888686

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Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6 of 10) Add Review see review guidelines


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Will Larter left this review about Smugglers Tavern

A mid-terrace back-street pub which feels like it could be miles away from the horrors of Euston Road, though in fact it's barely a stone's throw. Once inside, on a quiet Monday evening, this felt like a well-loved locals pub, with no more than a dozen people in, most of them in their 20s. On the bar, the three hand pumps had only two beers on, but the styles did not seem likely to be to my taste so I had a look at the keg offerings. There are two sets of six fonts, with five of them nationally known brands including a cider, the other seven being more like "craft". I went for Lost & Grounded Keller Pils, which was quite an interesting beer, though far too cold and fizzy for me to fully appreciate. While waiting for it to warm up and lose some of its CO2, a had a close look at some of the ship pictures (some of them on trays affixed to the wall) and maps. The background music during my stay was not so loud as to turn conversations into shouting matches, and really quite tolerable until Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits came on, at which point I quickly drank up and left.

On 15th January 2020 - rating: 6
[User has posted 3699 recommendations about 3440 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Bucking Fastard left this review about Smugglers Tavern

A fantastic PSM review requires little addition from me.The nautical theme and a large banquette under the front window are of note in this modest interior and I was impressed by the effort made to serve interesting beer.The fridges contained lots of craft cans,and although the 12 keg taps did include doubled up multinational dross ,there were some craft options including Delerium Tremens,while the three handpumps were offering 2 real ales in Reunion Beard Tongue and Moor Porter (NBSS 3,£2.50 half).
The food option is upmarket burgers ,some smaller bite dishes and the like and my £8 cheeseburger from Le Bun was american themed and decent.
Worth a visit,the muzak was not too loud and very good but I failed to explore upstairs as it was reserved for a function.Popular with a younger audience.

On 13th December 2019 - rating: 7
[User has posted 2709 recommendations about 2709 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Pub SignMan left this review about Smugglers Tavern

This is a typically compact Central London pub, just a short walk from Warren Street station, with a smuggling/nautical theme, which isn’t something you see all that often around the capital once you’re away from the river. Passing the roped off pavement area which was jam packed with far more people than were actually inside the pub, you enter into a bare boarded room with a good mix of chairs, low and high stools, pews and banquettes, mainly down either side of the room with a couple more tables and a good degree of standing room through the centre. The walls have a dark painted or lincrusta lower halves with plain uppers decorated with seafaring pictures, maps, a large pub mirror a ship’s wheel and bits of breweriana including large beer bottles with flowers in them on a shelf and a selection of brewery and spirit company mirrors. A couple of pillars partly block the view of the servery, which in on the rear wall, from the rest of the room. The bar has a typical dark wood counter with nice brass rails and a chunky bar back. A map-lined staircase to the right leads up to an unexplored first floor overspill seating area, whilst stairs to the left head down to the toilets. Indie music was playing in the background, but this was fairly easily drowned out by the smattering of customers within this loud room.
Just the one cask ale available on this visit – the improbably named Reunion Isotonic Gentleman’s Sports Drink – alongside an Orchard Pig cider and an unused hand pump. The Reunion beer was in reasonable condition and the barman was very friendly, offering customers tasters and advice on the beers they might enjoy.
This place doesn’t really stand out all that much from your average central London boozer, despite efforts to the contrary with the nautical theme, but I nevertheless found it a pleasant place to spend a bit of time before moving on again and wouldn’t mind popping in again sometime in the future.

On 11th November 2019 - rating: 7
[User has posted 3102 recommendations about 3102 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Smugglers Tavern

Odd place - looks like a traditional pub from the road, but the interior is more like a new-fangled bar with its basic modern(ish) mix of furniture and relatively sparse decor. Also has a much more old-school room at first-floor level and some bench seating out front. Features two handpumps on the counter, dispensing Butcombe Gold and Trumans Runner on this visit.

On 20th May 2017 - rating: 6
[User has posted 8066 recommendations about 8066 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Tris C left this review about Smugglers Tavern

A first visit to this pub which until 1966 was called the Marquis Cornwallis and before that, the Lord Cornwallis when it was built in 1798.

As described below with a young fashionable crowd and muted music. On offer, East London Brewing Co's Pale Ale and St. Austell's Proper Job at £4.60 was in fine form and so it should be at this scorching price.

Not a bad pub at all, bar the prices, and probably the nicest in the immediate vicinity - certainly better than The Grafton around the corner.

On 30th March 2016 - rating: 5
[User has posted 1956 recommendations about 1923 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Quinno _ left this review about Smugglers Tavern

Quiet backstreet pub, noticeable for the life-sized smuggler figurehead peering down at you from the front of the building. Quite a nice interior, small and rectangular with a tasteful half wall aquamarine and white colour scheme. Plenty of nautical ephemera on the walls including a ships wheel, maps and charts. Decent set of tunes being piped through the speakers. Bar at rear, dispensing two ales on my visit - a muted and hazy Purity UBU Gold and ELB Foundation at a preposterous £2.30 a half. Plenty of craft bottles also available but Lord knows how much you’d get fleeced for one. It's a pleasant pub but the beer quality and prices preclude a revisit.

On 22nd March 2016 - rating: 6
[User has posted 5043 recommendations about 5026 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Rex Rattus left this review about Smugglers Tavern

Hogsback TEA and Purity Mad Goose were available here – a pint of the Mad Goose and a coffee came to £7.10, which seems a tad expensive to me, but the MG was in good shape. There were no menus on tables at the tail end of lunchtime on Thursday, but the aroma of food was in the air so I guess it must be available. Table service is available, but obviously I eschewed this in favour of a personal trip to the bar.

This is a basic single-room pub. The walls and pillars are painted a sort of nautical light blue aquamarine colour. As you might expect with a pub called the Smugglers Tavern there’s a bit of a nautical theme here with a ship’s wheel and masses of framed maps and charts on the walls. Furnishings are fairly basic, with mainly normal tables and chairs and some small round stools, plus tall stools at ledges around the sides.

There was the inevitable World Cup flag bunting, and of course some music playing, but admittedly not too loudly. This is a fairly straifghtforward bar – nothing exceptional but OK. The staff were friendly, and the beer was in good shape, so a couple of pluses there, but it’s not really somewhere to which I would choose to make regular visits.

On 15th July 2014 - rating: 5
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Steve C left this review about Smugglers Tavern

I thought that this place had more of a bar feel than pub and although barmaid was nice enough my pint of Pride had seen better days. Along with the two Pride, there are two Greene King IPA hand pumps, which were both off during my visit, and a limited selection of standard and premium lagers.

There is a large plasma screen on the front window and the pub shows both Sky Sports and Setanta. There was no sport on during my visit, but there was some nice chilled out music playing at an unimposing volume.

The pub is very small, as is the bar on the back wall, but it is laid out nicely and the three picnic tables on the path outside add some much welcomed drinking space.

It is a shame that my pint wasn't great as I would have probably stayed for another. I'll have to try this place again to see if I have more luck next time.

On 18th June 2009 - rating: 6
[User has posted 5179 recommendations about 5148 pubs]