The Sun Tavern, Covent Garden, WC2

Two real ales not above 4.5% ABV. Cider expensive @ £2.75 a half. Very quiet and there were notices apologising for the stickiness of the table tops which they were addressing.

Quite a dark interior with a mixture of an old building and a modern bar interior. 3 real ales and continentaL keg.

It should be mentioned that there are two Sun’s in the vicinity, this one (the Sun Tavern) in Long Acre and another (minus the Tavern suffix) 200 yards away in Drury Lane. The Sun Tavern is quite an enticing pub with a traditional frontage containing a large arched window and twin doorways. The interior has been knocked into a single room that could be a bit shoeboxlike but the square angles are nicely softened by good use of curves from the shallow arc of the bar, the overhead arched light fittings and even the beer engines on the marble bar top. Large mirrors down one side make the place appear less cramped than it is and apart from a series of train carriage style seating down one side and a couple of tables at the front, it is mainly standing room only. The patterned ceilings and cornices hint at a former elegance. A modern staircase at the rear leads to the upstairs bar which I did have a quick peek at and found it to be reasonably spacious and less overcrowded. It also has its own bar so you don’t need to continuously negotiate the staircase every time. Talking of stairs, care should be taken on the Journey to the Centre of the Earth trip to the loos if you any taller than 4’6”. Beer wise, just 2 ales, Courage Directors and Thwaites Wainwright (doubled up on 2 pumps), the latter being very good but also pretty expensive at £3.60 although not a great surprise in this area. Food was quite reasonably priced with main courses around £7-9 plus some good value snacks under a fiver. There is a flat screen TV showing Sky Sports and piped music that wasn’t too intrusive and overall the atmosphere was bubbly without being boisterous. It’s certainly not the best pub around and I have only used it sporadically but I do quite like the place and can’t help feel that if it were not located where it is in the heart of touristville, it would stand out a little bit more than it does. A bigger ale choice wouldn’t go amiss either.

There were three ales on when I visited – Deuchars IPA, London Pride, and Adnam’s Bitter. I just had a half of the Pride, and at £1.80 (£3.60 a pint?) it seemed somewhat overpriced to me. An upstairs room with additional seating was advertised, but I didn’t visit it. There are still one or two signs of its Victorian past – mainly the ceiling and cornices. But it’s not now the pub it obviously once was. It’s got a standard West End issue bare-boarded floor; dark plastic covered banquettes, some small round tables and normal chairs; three high tables and high stools. One of the ledges under the large mirror on the left has a rack containing leaflets for tourists, and the wall above the banquettes on the right is covered entirely by mirrors. There’s quite an attractive painting (a print thereof presumably) of a Venice canal scene above the serving lift, but otherwise there’s not much going for it and there are better places to buy a much cheaper, and better, pint.