The Coach & Horses, Soho, W1

Official site of The Coach & Horses - www.coachandhorsessoho.pub

I was there at the "closing" parties, where they hosted a live theatre event of Jeffry Bernard is unwell, performed by Robert Bathurst. I was convinced that would be the last time I saw it in the way I had come to love it. 7 months later and I find myself in London and checking it out. Furniture, bar back and general decor - all exactly as I remember. This is a great thing. Beers - far more choice - and London Pride in fine form. Fullers have not actually ruined this pub - which was the big fear when they ousted the last tenants. I am delighted.

Very basic and now called Normans Coach and Horses.Three cask beers Redemption -hopspur,Fullers -seafarers and a more than decent Fullers -esb.Quaint.

I was surprised I hadn't reviewed this pub before as I've been in it loads of times in the past.It is of course as Blackthorn describes earlier this year, it has a basic but pubby charm about it, the only slight detraction was the two wall mounted Tv screens, but it is the World Cup. My Redemption Hopspur was in excellent condition and was my favourite beer of the day. Nice pub.

An attractive looking street corner pub in the heart of Soho, it is quite dated internally and whilst certainly not unpleasant, it is much more basic than many London boozers and could perhaps do with a little TLC. That said, it is at least authentic I suppose, I can image that it hasn’t changed at all for many years. There was an old, and slightly tatty patterned carpet on the floors, whilst much of the walls were clad in light wood panelling. Elsewhere was pale yellow paintwork on both the walls and ceiling and large windows on two sides made it light and airy. A couple of unusual features were the old brewery names cut in to the woodwork behind the bar, such as Skol, Ind Coope and Double Diamond and there was also a small stone trough running along the base of the bar. A quick bit of internet research suggested that this may have had water running through it and was used as a spittoon by punters chewing tobacco. We didn’t study the menu, but did note that it was apparently all vegetarian. Beers on tap were Fuller’s ESB, Seafarer’s Ale and Redemption Hopspur. Ciders were well represented with Stowford Press, Old Rosie and Aspall’s Suffolk.