St Brides Tavern, EC4

There had been a pub here called the White Bear since at least 1755 although it was demolished in 1895. The St Brides Tavern that has now effectively replaced it is ab housed in a modern 60’sish development tucked away off the main road between Blackfriars Brdige and Ludgate Circus. The pub isn’t very big internally although there are 2 floors. The main bar is at ground level and is fairly basic with bare floors, plain décor and furnishings and a couple of ledges along 2 sides. The large open space in front of the bar suggests that there is a fair bit of vertical drinking. The walls contain some old pictures of London landmarks but on the whole there isn’t much to dwell on.. The upstairs bar (designated the Bridewell Bar) was closed during my visit but a quick peek through the window suggests that it is a bit more loungey although I couldn’t get a feel for the layout or facilities. The pub is part of Greene King although the 3 ales (served in dimpled jugs) included a guest beer (Roosters Leghorn) alongside a couple of in-house offerings (Green King IPA and Cobbold English Ale). The quality of my Roosters was very good but at a wallet busting £3.85 a pint it should have been. There was a limited food menu with meals priced between £6 and £11. There is nothing intrinsically wrong the pub apart from the prices but the place didn’t really convey any great sense of character that would make me want to return in the near future.

The St Brides Tavern is a Greene King pub that is open from 11am until 11pm during the week and is closed at the weekends. The street level bar area isn’t the biggest, but it was one of the quieter establishments that I came across during a crawl of the area so there was still room to sit. A standard draught selection is available alongside Peroni and there are three hand pumps that were drawing IPA, Black Cat and Rocking Rudolph. I had a decent pint of Guinness and I found the service to be very friendly. Food is served and the menu looked to be mainly standard pub fayre. There is a plasma screen that was switched off and I cannot recall any background music playing. There are a couple of tables outside the front of the pub under an awning and there is an upstairs bar (Brideswell) that is available for free hire. The ladies toilet is upstairs and the gents are downstairs. This is not a pub that I would go out of my way to visit, but I’d have no problem popping in for a quick pint if passing.