The Imperial, Leicester Square, WC2

Named in honour of Queen Victoria, the Imperial is situated just off the northern edge of Leicester Square and is a surprisingly secretive pub given the location. It doesn’t seem to attract the crowds that you would expect and that is probably one of its more positive aspects when planning a visit. The pub is enticing enough with its continental style pavement seats, pull down canopy and flower basket laden façade. The single room interior is attractive enough, a traditional pub style with decorative mirrors, chessboard tiling around the bar and original fireplaces albeit these days they are now gas. A few screens divide the seating to makie it a little more intimate. And overall it is a pleasant enough place. There is a TV on the wall at the far end and some unintrusive but quite bland background music. One little minor oddity I noted is that the till display flashes up high on the bar back. The pub did once have a half decent ale range but is now part of the Taylor Walker brand and the choices are now a bit more formulaic with just Sharps Doom Bar & Youngs London Gold available on my recent visit. At £3.55 the Doom Bar was somewhat overpriced even in this tourist stronghold. Service has always generally been fine although I have yet to visit when the staff hyave been under any pressure. For all its promise and potential the pub suffers from being part of a PubCo that stifles any freedom of choice when it comes to its product range and there is nothing here you won’t find in another pub within 200 yards. Apart from the fact that you can generally get a seat, it just doesn’t have enough pulling power to warrant regular visits for the discerning drinker hence tourists and after work casuals will find it more appealing.

Visited many times since, despite its proximity to Leicester Square, the tourists tend to miss it. Quite nice traditional interior although decidedly grubby and could do with a bloody good clean, beer (4 pumps) is usually good which makes up somewhat for the very mediocre and expensive food. The staff are a waste of time and prefer to natter than to serve customers. On the whole, average.