The Wellington, WC2

Part of the Nicholsons chain, who are putting a lot of effort in towards promoting real ales. A well run pub with a good choice of ales. Will return.

With seven well-kept ales usually on, the Wellington often features in our London crawls. Indeed on more than one occasion we've stayed all evening and worked our way along the pumps. Never actually eaten here so can't comment although the menu doesn't look that spectacular. Well above average.

Extremely and helpful, friendly apporach from all staff makes this pub a joy to enter, and the food and drink keep that pleasure flowing. Bar food is uninteresting but a bit expensive for what it is - but then it is in the heart of Touristland. The atmosphere was relaxing and calm, and it wasn't at all ruined by the noise from some irritating idiots at the far end of the bar. Upstairs is billed as a restaurant, but as I didn't go up there I can't comment. The real strength of this pub is its ales - 7 on tap this visit, and I had a beautifully kept pint of Thornbridge's jaipur IPA. I was impressed by the "Sip before you sup" policy, a rare but much welcomed attraction. Highly recommended for lunch and for inclusion in a local crawl.

Occupying a prominent street corner position on The Strand and next door to the Lyceum Theatre is The Wellington, a large Nicholson's pub. Outside, we learn that the pub dates back to 1903. Note the fine corbels high up on the external walls. Inside, as we might expect, it's a fairly standard typical Nicholson's interior with much polished woodwork and a fine ornate bar back. It's quite a narrow interior in places, which makes it seem more crowded than it actually is, but seating on the pavement outside relieves the crush and imbues something of a continental café feel to the place. There's the obligatory Wellington memorabilia. An upstairs dining room, called imaginatively The Dukes Bar, caters for the hordes of tourists who overrun the area, particularly in summer. I've had decent pints of Leeds Best and other beers from the wide Nicholson's portfolio list in here recently. This pub is worth including in any crawl of the immediate area.

Long narrow pub off Covent Garden.Had a very good selection of real ales and the ones that I tried were in good condition.Outside seating area.Can get very busy lunch time.Don't know about the food as this is a pub,not a cafe.

Just to redress the balance a bit, was here mid-evening on a Wednesday and everything was working well. Busy but not too bad, staff attentive, good selection of beers in good nick. Might be a question of luck or timing, but would be happy to return.

This is the worst place I have ever visited in London. I've never complained about food before and I hate to complain but after waiting about 30 mintues for some-one to take our order and 1 hour for the food it came along so rock hard i couldn't even get my knife into the chicken. The staff left dirty plates on other tables and seemed to busy talking to care. I couldn't eat my food and I was very upset, i was offered something else but after waiting a good two hours I didn't fancy another long waite, so i left and got a sandwitch from tesco which i should have done to begin with. Really awful place, I've seen on some websites the staff defending themselves and blaming customers for being rude, i wasn't rude, but being treated in such a way will make anybody upset, and i can understand why some people would be rude, i felt really upset i feel bad for not being able to eat my food because i don't believe in waste, but this was an extreme case, which is why i feel its important to warn others. I work in customer service and i would never dream of treating our customers like this, they were complaining about customers demanding too much? but the staff were just standing around talking and not doing alot, maybe if they worked together and harder as a team they might improve the turn over time of their business, sadly i think this place is lacking any customer service skills and will probably close down soon along with most other pubs. What an awful experience, stay away people.