The Porcupine, Leicester Square, WC2

This compact Nicholson's pub is situated right outside Leicester Square tube station, making it a pretty unappealing prospect to anyone familiar with the area, but I recently popped in just before closing time on a mid week evening and was pleasantly surprised with what I found. The pub has a single room layout in a broad wedge shape thanks to its street corner position, with bare floorboards throughout and a dark wood servery to the rear. Seating is pretty limited - just a button backed banquette to the right of the front door and some low stools to the left plus one high table and stools next to the bar - but there is a good deal of standing room for the peak tourist/pre-theatre/post-work periods. There is plenty of dark wood panelling around the room, brightened by a number of gold chandeliers and light fixtures. Several theatrical themed portraits can be found dotted around the place, not uncommon in this part of town, and there is a sign on one wall reminding us of Charing Cross' famous book shops. A few pillars break the room up a bit, including one rather unusually sited behind the bar. The bar back has some modern looking floral patterned tiles around a nice etched mirror, lots of dark wood and a small section of the original bar gantry with frosted glass and a pump clip collection. A TV screen was showing a muted 24 hour news channel whilst music played at a sensible level in the background. Should the main bar get too busy, there is a theatre bar upstairs which looks smart but pretty small, whilst a section of pavement is roped off and offers a few tables to watch the world rush by. The Nicholson's brand can normally be relied upon to provide a decent ale range and I thought the options on this visit were pretty good, comprising Nicholson's Pale Ale, Sharp's Doom Bar, Stewart Brewing Dakota, Moles Mole Catcher and Roosters Yankee, with Truman's Runner not quite ready to come on. A 'Coming Soon' board lists future ale options in the hope of luring you back. The staff were really friendly which was the last thing I expected in this part of town and there was nothing wrong with my pint of Dakota. I can imagine that a visit to this pub on a different day and at a different time could well have left me with a less favourable impression, but I enjoyed a good pint in a pleasant interior with excellent service. Plan your visit well and you should find this is a very well run pub.

This Nicholson's pub is well situated for Leicester Square and Theatreland and occupies a corner site which has hosted a pub business since 1725. Currently, the floors are stripped back to wooden floorboards and the décor is the standard Nicholson's livery. The single ground floor bar was busy, full of drinkers, while an upstairs bar was occupied by diners. Four ales on: I had a pint of Broughton's Oatmeal Stout, which was very pleasant, but I felt it was a little too cool for the genre. Well worth including on a crawl, but lack of space makes it difficult to sustain a whole evening here.

Tiny corner pub that is handily placed for Leicester Square tube. A Nicholsons outlet, it’s less obviously attractive than a number of their other London pubs but still has a few points of interest and has a bit of history - according the plaque outside a pub called the Porcupine has stood in the site since 1729. Four handpumps for ale – usually Doombar and Pride plus to guests. The interior is designed mainly for vertical drinking and clearly caters for a fairly transient market. Apparently there is also a room upstairs but I’ve never got that far, the place often being rammed when I end up in the area. In the greater scheme of things this is nothing special but is a useful stop-gap and a good meeting-point for theatreland.