The Angel, St Giles, WC2

An upmarket Sam Smith. Split into a three roomed pub in 2000 from what was a single room place with a tiled entrance corridor to all three areas. The main bar has swirly gold and black carpet, large windows with heavy drape curtains, brown flock wallpaper and an impressive lincrusta ceiling. To the right rear is a wood panelled snug room. Nice mix of punters from the theatre types to manual labourers via office types on a liquid lunch. Dart board in situ and there’s also a rear garden, a central London rarity. Cask OBB available. Went for the Taddy Lager, which was fine. I rather liked this one and could have settled in for a session.

Really nice 3 roomed Samuel Smith pub. Can be entered from the Main Street or via an old carriageway at the side. It's SS so you know what your getting beer wise and the interior is well worth a look. Felt like going back in time away from the modern buildings and construction work in the area.

Never been convinced about Sams pubs. The beer is not my style, I'm afraid. But as it's here, it has to be done. The Americans and Irish in here also put me off - way too noisy.

This is an attractive pub which apparently has modern internal divisions, which for a Smith's outlet doesn't surprise me at all. This was our second SS's pub in a row, the previous one being The Crown next door. Oddly, the Old Brewery here was on cask at £1.55 a half and yet it's on keg at The Crown for slightly more at £1.58. The current layout is multi-roomed, carpeted, a nice ceiling and traditional furniture. A pool table is to the rear. Clients here seem a little 'eccentric' and also in attendance was the odd lost tourist. I think this could be a great pub with a decent ale selection, but at present it's little more than an odd curiosity, especially given that not all rooms give direct access to the lavs - you have to exit the pub and enter it again via a different room, but I suppose that's part of the charm.

This is a proper old style traditional pub with separate rooms, requiring individual access to each from outside. So it was a bit of a surprise to learn that the internal divisions are relatively recent and that the pub was at one time a single room. The public bar is accessed off St Giles High Street and is an old style bar with a lino floor and a dartboard although the row of theatre flyers on the side wall seemed a bit incongruous. The other rooms are off a splendidly tiled side alley which may once have led to stables. The larger front room is a saloon type bar, carpeted and with an attractive moulded ceiling based on hexagonal patterns. Lots of dark polished wood in here, etched windows and framed prints and notices of historical interest. Seating is of the traditional type with small stools at round tables. Out into the side passage again and through another door is a small and cosy snug from where stairs lead up to another lounge which remains unvisited by myself. A fairly grotty looking paved yard at the rear claims to be a beer "garden" but it didn't look very appealing. A sign says this must be vacated by 5:15pm, I assume the neighbours have complained. The Sam Smiths beers are cheap, still £2.90 for handpulled OBB; I liked the pub a lot but the beer offering is rather mundane.

I spent many an hour playing darts in this pub thirty or more years ago . It was a Courage pub then consisting of a single bar, although I'm fairly sure there would once have been Public and Saloon Bars. I was very keen to see what Sam Smith's had done to what was essentially a basic boozer that did fairly standard pub grub at lunchtimes. What they have done is something I don't believe I've ever seen before, in that they have built a wall across making two completely separate bars which only have access between them by leaving the pub or walking through the serving area. Other than that the furnishings are a lot more inviting than I remember but the wallpaper looked like it had been chosen by someone high as a kite on drugs. I went into the "Public" bar on the East side of the building, which is now fairly small and narrow. It was good to see the dart board there but on the opposite wall as the original one now has an operational fireplace which I assume the current brewery discovered when it was renovated. The Gent's toilet at the end has been converted to small separate Ladies and Gents. There are Theatreland posters adorning the walls, which didn't really do much for me. I believe that one or more of the previously private first floor rooms are now in use. To describe the tiny paved rear patio as a "beer garden" is a bit steep. I had a pint of the Old Brewery Bitter (£2.90) which was in good condition, and probably the cheapest pint in Central London. If this place stocked some decent real ales then I would give it an extra two points, but OBB is not worth making an effort to find.