The White Horse, Soho, W1

Sam Smiths pub but more basic and workaday than a number of their other central London offerings. Island bar serves three drinking areas which are separated and is ostensibly a U shaped bar. The usual dark wood fittings in situ. I went for a pint of the Stout, one of the better Sam’s keg offerings. Cask OBB is available, must be relatively recent based on reviews below and elsewhere. Crawl fodder only I think.

A typical Sam Smiths London pub, no real ale in this one but I'm ok with their keg stuff for a quick stop.

No handpumps, no sale.

This is a Sam Smith's pub so you won't be expecting a selection of ales. And your low expectations will be met fully here with not even the handpump version of Old Brewery Bitter available. The keg version was £1.45 a half, thus quite cheap - some consolation I suppose. Food was available when I dropped in on Thursday lunchtime with a typically pub grub menu offered. Prices are reasonable too, with the rarely seen liver & onions at £6.95, steak and ale pie at £8.15, and bangers & mash at £5.95. The interior of this pub is typical Sam smith's with dark wood panelling everywhere. There is traditional screening between bars, which may or may not be original, as Sam Smith's do such a good job of restoring their pubs' original features. There is a central island bar now, and the bar counter looks like an original piece. At the back there's an attractive fireplace (with a real wood fire alight) with an impressive carved wood mantlepiece with an ancient looking clock set into its centre. Furnishings are standard issue banquettes, normal tables and chairs, small stools, plus some tall stools at the bar and at a ledge by the windows. An upstairs lounge was roped off when I was in. This is a great little pub let down, as is invariably the case with Sam Smith pubs, by the lack of a decent ale selection. There are some Sam Smith pubs that are so good architecturally that they must be visited despite the lack of ale choice - this doesn't quite make that grade.