The Castle, EC1

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Rex Rattus left this review about The Castle

I wasn’t going to bother with this pub, as it looked like the sort of typical madeover Central London pub that has lost all its character. However, as we walked past my companion pointed out that there were four handpumps on the bar counter, and that we owed it to ourselves to investigate further. There were indeed four ales on; the ubiquitous Timothy Taylor Landlord, two Thornbridge ales in Kipling and Ashford (this being a brown ale according to the clip), and finally Cropton’s Yorkshire Warrior. The latter was an excellent rich flavoured bitter, and so far is my beer of the week. It was at a pretty standard £3.40 a pint. We were given a choice of dimpled mugs or straight glasses. The food was what you would expect in a modernised pub in this part of the world, with all the nouns on the menu having extra adjectives, at no extra cost, in order to describe fully the food on offer. I didn’t spot any cheese rolls or scotch eggs here. Main courses were around £9.
The exterior is clearly that of a traditional pub, with architecture a 100+ years of age, but there’s nothing original in the interior, perhaps excepting the ceiling. The flooring is varnished bare boards, there’s the usual banquette seating around the sides, some normal tables and chairs, plus some re-cycled butchers’ blocks now doing service as tall tables, coupled with tall benches and stools. Something for everyone then. All the tables had on them tulips in small vases (but no tea lights!). The windows are large, letting in a lot of light, and affording views of the cranes working on the new railway station opposite. They have the trademark green banded leaded light windows, confirming that this was hitherto a Charrington pub. The thing that dominates the decor is a massive (around 10’ by 8’) painting on the back wall, depicting George IV in The Castle of old, handing over a watch to the proprietor as security for a loan. According to a plaque under the painting this led to this pub having the unique distinction of two licences – the usual drinks licence plus a pawnbroker’s licence. Fascinating stuff – or at least the couple of tourists at the corner table thought so.
This pub was a lot better than I expected. It appears to be food based, it’s been made over to the extent that the inside has nothing left of its original pub character, but we got a friendly welcome, and it does do some decent ales at reasonable prices (reasonable for London anyway). I’d visit again, but I have to say that there are better pubs a short walk away.

On 23^rd March 2011 - rating: 6
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