The Angel, St Giles, WC2

This pub is essentially unchanged since it was one of my regular haunts when I worked opposite in the now demolished and unlamented St Giles Court. It’s now a Sam Smith’s pub having been bought from Courage in the 90s. It still has two separate main bars accessed by their own doors from the street, the public bar on the left having been a later addition to the original Victorian pub (now the saloon bar) on the right. The saloon bar used to be a larger room, but the Angel was something of a forerunner to the nearby Princess Louise in Sam Smith’s style of restoration as they replaced some of the Victorian screening to re-create the snug at the back on the right. The saloon is carpeted, furnished with normal tables and chairs, and is a comfortable room in which to while away an hour or so. There’s a few tables in an outside area at the back; on the right there’s a covered carriageway, complete with some rather impressive tiling, that usually contains more tables and chairs but which seemed to be used as a storeroom during my recent visit. Back in the days of public executions at Tyburn there used to be a pub on the site called “The Bowl”, and as it was roughly the mid-point between Newgate and Tyburn condemned prisoners could stop here for a last bowl of ale in this world. They would be accompanied into the pub by their guards, except for the unlucky one who didn’t get to drink as he had to stay outside to ensure the security of their transport. Hence the expression “on the wagon”. Being a Sam Smith’s pub, albeit still with the handpump version of Old Brewery Bitter, the ale choice is certainly limited, but it is cheap.