The Black Friar, Blackfriars, EC4

This is a must visit unique pub. Built on the site of a former Dominican Friary, the pub is wedge shaped, like a flat iron, and both inside and out are decorated in opulent Art Nouveau style using mosaic, marble, alabaster, brass and dark wood. On approaching look up above the now disused door in the thin end to see a Black Friar standing guard under the clock. The pub name, saloon bar and street number are made up of thousands of mosaic tiles and brass plates have jolly friars directing the drinker to the bar. Inside the marble topped bar curves around the main space which is now one room. There are friezes everywhere of friars fishing, collecting fruit and generally having fun. The large fireplace has a couple of goblin like creatures on the end, pity though that the fire these days is electric. The best area however is the arched rear room, entered via three archways and being completely faced in various hues of marble, although sadly a couple of bits have been damaged. The walls in here are lined with mirrors, and there are inscriptions around the cornice level such as "Silence is Golden", "Wisdom is Rare" and "Finery is Foolish". The pub windows are leaded with some good quality stained glass scenes incorporated. Carpeted in the arched room with wood flooring elsewhere, seating is conventional with banquettes, stools and chairs. Nicholson's run the place so expect a reasonable if often rather mainstream selection. My visit had Doom Bar x2, Taylor's Landlord and Golden Best, Pride, Adnam's Broadside, White Shield, and one pump was unclipped. There is also a large amount of exterior seating, some covered, if you can tolerate the traffic thundering past.

To say that the interior of the Black Friar is interesting would be somewhat of an understatement and this Nicholsons pub is worth a visit just to have a nose around, but I would avoid lunchtimes and office kicking out times as it gets very busy. Traditional pub food is served and I spotted about eight hand pumps that were drawing Pride, Landlord, Reverend James, Doom Bar and at least four guest ales. There is also a range of standard and premium draught products and I found the Guinness to be perfectly acceptable. The toilet is located downstairs and there is some covered seating on the extended path outside this pub. I will make a point of visiting here again as I visited at a busy time and didn’t get to see as much of the pub as I would have liked to.

Another Nicholson’s establishment in the area of Blackfriars Bridge but one worth searching out for the fantastic decor as well described by the previous posters. The pub location also benefits from a fairly large pavement area out front, which means that on hot evenings, most of the regular punters from nearby offices are drinking outside. As it was last week which enabled me to get a seat in the cloistered area described by Rex. The beer range has been improved since I last visited and there are in the range of seven or eight ale pumps going now. Very nice pint of Harveys Best, very nice pub with a bit of character.

As others before me have intimated, this pub boasts some of the most spectacular, and probably expensive, pub interiors around. The pub itself dates from around 1875, but the remodelled interior of around 1905 is what makes it so special. This was hailed as one of the new breed of pub, being light and humorous and the sort of place a gentleman could bring his wife, in contrast to the perceived decadence of its Victorian predecessors. It didn’t really catch on though, which is why there are so few of these sorts of places around; in fact the Black Friar is largely unique. The marble cladding of the cloistered drinking area at the back of the main bar would effectively be prohibitively expensive nowadays. It was threatened with demolition back in the 60s, but a campaign, led by John Betjeman, that champion of our architectural heritage, achieved its salvation. I know others have been a bit unimpressed by its ale selection, but whenever I have visited I have found something worth drinking. I think it’s a comfortable enough place to stop off for a pint, but it does get busy at times, so choose your time well if you want to have the freedom to have a good look at the interior.

Randomness Guide to London - Black Friar entry