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Beer of the Week (w/e 27th April 2025) with Thuck Phat
on the Pub Forum

Image posted by Rex Rattus
Submitted on Monday, 18th March 2019
With picture contributions to 1107 other pubs
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Detail Pages
The Edgar Wallace, Temple, WC2
WC2
WC2R 3JF
Served areas
Reviews of The Edgar Wallace (Average Rating: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about The Edgar Wallace
First visit back to this one post pandemic and found it still to be a good pub but now with a much-reduced ale range from a few years back and also for my visit only four of the eight chrome ale pumps were badged. These were dispensing Purity UBU, Crouch Vale Brewers Gold, St Austell Proper Job and Southwark’s Bankside Blond. Between us we tried all four and all were in very good condition.
The inside of this pub is however completely unchanged and every inch of the ceiling is still covered in one of the most impressive beer mat collections you are likely to see and equally impressive is the collection of period alcohol and smoking product adverts that festoon the walls. And it was good to find the shelf with the collection of Edgar Wallace crime novels still in situ.
So perhaps not the real ale Mecca this was pre pandemic, but it is still a cracking pub.
On 29th March 2023
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2236 recommendations about 2098 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Edgar Wallace
Dating back to at least 1777 and rebuilt in 1891, this renamed from the Essex Head to the Edgar Wallace in 1975, to commemorate the century since the author’s birth; his crime novels adorn shelves by way of décor.
Of great note here, is the vast collection of fags ‘n’ beer themed memorabilia; at last, a pub where the publican has got its priorities right. There are also old soap powder boxes, with thousands of beer maps to the ceiling; it’s like drinking in the Museum of Brands. There are also a great many pump clip faces too, hinting at the pubs main strength. Furniture is higgledy-piggledy, the floor is part grey lino or carpeted; customers are somewhat eccentric, certainly not barristers’ clerks, given the pub’s location and giving the place a good vibe, both floors packed out.
Sadly, this is no longer the ale mecca of yore, with four unused clips, the increasingly repetitive Landlord, but then Bath Gem, Southwark’s Bankside Blonde and Mayflower Session IPA, which was absolutely excellent and reasonable value – for the area – at £4.95 a pint, served by a fine old-school landlady.
This is an excellent pub, but needs to get more ales on to avoid its ‘destination ale house’ status slipping; four – including Landlord – just doesn’t really cut it, especially given the Harp’s full line-up, down the road. Nevertheless, it’s certainly worth a visit, even if it should really carry a government health warning.
On 26th November 2021
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2207 recommendations about 2164 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
hondo . left this review about The Edgar Wallace
Nice exterior with leaded square windows. The interior is quite small with the walls covered in adverts and the ceiling covered in beer mats. 7 real ales on during my visit.
On 25th November 2016
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2933 recommendations about 2866 pubs]
View more reviews of The Edgar Wallace (19)
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- Randomness Guide to London - Edgar Wallace entry
- CAMRA WhatPub :: The Edgar Wallace - whatpub.com
London Charing Cross, 0.73 miles, 14 min walk (show)
London Blackfriars, 2.21 miles, 42 min walk (show)
Pub Details
Pub details supplied by members of this site to the best of their knowledge. Please check with pub directly before making a special trip.
- Bar Billiards : No last updated 28 September 2013 by Quinno _
- Car Park : No last updated 28 September 2013 by Quinno _
- Hot Food : Yes last updated 25 November 2016 by hondo .
- Karaoke : No last updated 28 September 2013 by Quinno _
- Pool Table : No last updated 28 September 2013 by Quinno _
- Real Ale : Yes last updated 25 November 2016 by hondo .