The Lyric, Soho, W1

Lots of interesting beers - I went for a Harbour Brewery Amber Ale - in fine nick. With the exception of the beer quality, this is a typical London Pub. Worth checking out. Photos at my blog - http://bit.ly/2dAN8k3

Small, basic bar, wood floor, curved window to the street, lots of pastel colouring, nice feel

Official site of The Lyric - www.lyricsoho.co.uk

Official site of The Lyric - www.lyricsoho.co.uk

Popped in here for a quick pre dinner pint. Good range of beers on the bar including 2 brown beers as opposed to the raft of yellow beers you tend to get at the moment. We were in on a Saturday and the place was packed with a 30th birthday, however nobody seemed to be drinking, including the 3 girls propping up the bar and playing with mobile phones! Landlords need to grow some and ask these people to leave so that drinkers can have a seat. We left after 1, even though we had time for a second. Standing up drinking is OK when you are on a crawl, but pre dinner, it is nice to relax with your significant others.

Recently reopened by the people responsible for the excellent North Pole in N1, this is a small, single room West End pub, easily reached from Piccadilly Circus. You enter through a striking green tiled porch, past some fine etched glass front windows, into a compact wooden floored room with the servery on the left hand side. There is a tiny recess between the front wall and the bar, with room for a couple of people to stand along a drinking shelf, which sets the tone for the rest of the cramped room. Bar stools run along the servery, several drinking ledges and around a centrally positioned barrel/table. Meanwhile, low stools and pews have been arranged along the back wall, breaking only for a lit fireplace in the back corner, above which hung a TV screen which was turned off in favour of music playing at a sensible volume. A high shelf was lined with a few bits of silverware, but otherwise there was little of interest to note, although a formative pump clip collection was already taking shape behind the bar. Signs pointed to an upstairs dining room, but I didn’t get round to visiting. On the bar, several hand pumps were offering Dark Star Summer Solstice, Moorhouse Black Cat, Great Heck Navigator and Harbour Brewing Pale Ale, which went off when I ordered it, so I had to settle for a pint of the Summer Solstice instead, which was in good shape. A strong keg line up included offerings from Dark Star, Black Jack, Magic Rock, Titanic, Camden and Thornbridge, whilst a small but interesting bottled selection was visible in the fridges. The compact, uncomfortable layout and furnishings in this pub made it difficult to get settled and as such, I found myself rushing my pint in order to move on. That said, it has a good beer range for this part of town which makes it well worth a look, especially if you can bag a decent seat.