The Coach & Horses, Soho, W1

This is quite a smart Soho boozer that retains vestiges of its former three bar layout and has a growing reputation for good ale. You enter to a carpeted front bar with the servery down the left-hand wall as it passes through all three sections of the pub. A banquette runs along the front wall under frosted window panes, with lots of standard chairs in support. You pass through a wide, wood panelled archway through to the very small mid-section, where all the handpulls can be found, but seating is minimal to say the least. Moving on again, you reach a stone floored rear room with three-quarter height wall panels, high bench and stool seating and a dumb waiter on the back wall, in what might have been an old chimney breast. The bar has a nice curved counter and a lovely period bar back with old Ind Coope, Skol and Double Diamond signage still intact. Lots of old paintings, photos and especially cartoons, have been dotted around the walls, which help give the place some extra character. I arrived quite late in the evening to find the place still very busy with a lively post-work crowd, including some healthy pavement spillage, as is standard for Central London boozers. The ale range is up there with anything you'll find in and around Soho these days, and on this visit it comprised Fullers London Pride, Gales Seafarers, Dark Star Hophead, Anarchy Blonde Star, Lost and Grounded Spring Protaganist and Three Acre Centenial Haze. The Spring Protaganist was in fine shape and the staff were pleasant and efficient, although the busy crowd made it impossible to get a seat, so I had to stand awkwardly in a corner near the rear entrance. I rarely drink in this part of town but have had a couple of nights out here recently and this was easily the pick of the pubs I tried. This is clearly a popular place doing the right thing on the ale front and whilst it doesn't quite feel like a destination pub, it's definitely somewhere I'd earmark for future return visits. Date of visit - 2nd May 2024

There are three pubs called the Coach & Horses in Soho, and having visited this one in January and forgotten to write up my review, I had a struggle to remember which one it was. Luckily I didn't have to walk the streets looking for it: the fact that it is listed on Camra's national inventory of historic interiors is enough to identify this one. (A full description can be read by following the link below.) The astonishing piece of preservation is the trough at the foot of the substantial bar counter, into which customers could expectorate. Also well preserved is the 1960s bar back which features the names of Ind Coope's Double Diamond and Skol lager. Returning to the present day, there were six beers on hand pulls at the time of my visit; I went for Verdant's Lamanva, a 4% best bitter that was in very good condition (NBSS 3.5 or 4) Date of visit: 25th January 2023

Date of review: 8th October 2021. I had thought I'd been here before over 30 years ago, as I'd seen Jeffrey Bernard in a Soho pub, but obviously not this one as I'd definitely not been in here before, or perhaps I can't remember it, my former Soho drinking days being more enthusiastic than now. The alternative name of Norman's, relates to Norman Balon - retired 2006 - who had the unenviable reputation of being London's rudest landlord; he must have been incredibly rude indeed. The interior can be seen on CAMRA's website, for this has an interior of National Importance, though the paint job above the picture rail is now duck egg blue which looks less impressive than the former sage green. The retention of the Double Diamond, Ind Coope and Skol lettering to the backlit bar back are is a nice touch, as are the exterior Taylor Walker lanterns and Taylor Walker mirror to the right bar; the stone spittoon running below the bar seemed unused. The left side of the bar is carpeted, the right being chequered lino. There's an upright piano for Wednesday and Saturday knees-ups; no background music seemed to be playing. Otherwise, décor seemed to be confined to framed cartoons, which I suspect may relate to the pub's history, along with a flyer for the play Jeffrey Barnard is Unwell, with Peter O'Toole in the titular role. Ales: Fuller's but just Pride and Oliver's Island. Then, Kirkstall's Dissolution IPA and Hophead at £5.20; not bad considering the area. This is a classic unspoilt must-visit London boozer, making for a great crawl when seeking out other quality hostelries in the area.