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Pub Of The Month - 2024 with Mobyduck
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Detail Pages
The Devereux, Temple, WC2
The Strand
WC2
WC2R 3JJ
Pub Type
Taylor Walker (Spirit Pubs)Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about The Devereux
Named after Robert Devereaux, the Earl of Essex and occasional pal of Elizabeth I, whose bust can be found perched high on the exterior wall, the Devereaux dates back to 1676 and was originally a coffee house. The interior sadly offers few reminders of its history and comes across as a rather typical, bland and faceless place. A couple of screens and partitions offer a few intimate areas and there is a widescreen TV for sport but on the whole there is very little that attracts the attention. There is a second bar upstairs bar that I have not been to but seems to be more of a function room.
Since my previous visit, the pub has become part of the resurrected Taylor Walker brand that, for me, generally stands out for being mundane and very run of the mill. The ale range consisted of a corporate selection of Greene King IPA, Doom Bar, Youngs London Gold, Bombardier and Adnams Lighthouse which at £3.50 for a 3.4 beer is quite outrageous even for this prime slot of London Real Estate. A glance at the forthcoming beers (London Pride, Courage Directors, Tribute and Spitfire) suggests that an adventurous ale policy is hardly a major priority. The food was equally predictable with a general pub grub menu, main courses around £8-£10.
Overall, there is nothing particularly wrong with the pub but it feels too much like a place for tourists in a back street that tourists wouldn’t generally venture. Pleasant enough as it is, with 3 or 4 other pubs within close proximity, I generally find myself using the Devereaux as little more than a tick box pub.
On 3rd August 2011
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about The Devereux
A fairly large single room with a central bar, the room continues back further on the right hand side. This is undoubtedly an old building but inside little if anything at all remains of the original fittings and fixtures. The room has a wooden floor with carpeted edges where most of the seating is, this being of a variety of types, some traditional but a few high tables; a large heavy looking curtain suggests part of the bar area can be separated off if the need arises. There is another function room elsewhere available for private hire.
As a space it is pretty underwhelming inside, especially considering that there are some good examples of historic pubs in the vicinity, but the beer selection was pretty good, and the service polite and efficient. Five handpumps were serving Well's Banana Bread Beer, Daleside Spring Frenzy, Young's London Gold, Rudgate Viking Bitter and Wharfbank Brewery Slingers Gold.
Not a destination pub but certainly a good inclusion in a crawl of the area and a good beer selection to add to that in the Edgar Wallace next door.
On 1st April 2011
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1708 recommendations about 1681 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about The Devereux
I have a bit of a soft spot for The Devereux, mainly because I usually tend to find that it is one of the queter pubs at this end of The Strand and i usually get a seat. As mentioned by previous reviewers it’s a fairly good looking historic building but nothing really special when you get inside. But there are 5 Hand pumps on the front facing bar which included Youngs Special, Sharps Doombar and a couple of Xmas ales when I visited before Christmas.
The Xmas Ale I had (cannot remember what it was now) was decent enough and once again I managed to bag a seat.
Apparently the upper floor is a restaurant, but I’ve only been here for a quick beer and will continue to pop in when in the area.
On 10th January 2011
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2129 recommendations about 2004 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about The Devereux
This is a decent sized L-shaped pub that had Pride, Greene King IPA and Broadside all available during my visit alongside three guest ales. There is also a standard draught range and my Guinness was well served.
There was no background music and the plasma was showing Sky News, which was muted.
I thought that the staff were friendly and that this is a good pub.
On 8th October 2009
- rating: 7
[User has posted 5268 recommendations about 5236 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
ROB Camra left this review about The Devereux
Many years ago (about 1844) this pub was converted from part of the Grecian Coffee House. It's a good looking wood panelled pub, but apart from that there's very little to show its age, although it is Grade II listed. There's a separate restaurant area upstair which is used as a function room. I call in here fairly regularly on my "Get Off At Temple" pub crawl, but it's rare I stay for more than one. The main reason is that the cask ales are usually very mainstream with beers from GK, Marston's and Sharps Doombar featuring regularly. I usually call in for one, have a go on the quiz machine and then head to the next port of call. I quite like the pub though.
On 23rd February 2009
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3224 recommendations about 3135 pubs]