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Submitted on Friday, 2^nd February 2018
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The Coach, Clerkenwell, EC1

28 Ray Street
EC1
EC1R 3DJ

Phone: 02072788990

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Served areas

Clerkenwell

Reviews of The Coach (Average Rating: 5½ of 10) Add Review see review guidelines

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Rex Rattus left this review about The Coach

This one has suffered a serious makeover recently, as reported by Tris C below. I think the fielded panelling is a fairly new embellishment, but I did like the stained glass in the window on the left, and the vestibule entrance on the corner looks the real deal. But some screening has been lost. This is a pub of two halves, having the bar area at the front, with a restaurant at the back with all tables laid for diners of course.

But they did have a couple of ales on - Timothy Taylor Landlord and Bath Session Ale (£2 a half). This is an OK pub, without being anything very special.

On 15^th April 2018 - rating: 5
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Tris C left this review about The Coach

Reopened just two days ago, last night was my first visit to this pub which closed on 31st August 2015, seemingly destined to be lost forever, so it was something of a surprise when we learnt just before Christmas of its impending resurrection.

Externally this is an attractive corner pub, probably dating from the end of the 19th century though has existed in some form since at least 1695 in what was once the slum area of Hockley-in-the-Hole and later Rag Street, given a polish and renamed Ray Street. The pub is now known as the Coach for some reason. Of note is the retention of the Taylor Walker lanterns devoid of their original glass, panes now being clear. The Taylor Walker sign frame with cannon remains, a reminder of the old Cannon Brewery a few hundred yards from here. Also of note are the wonderful gilt-adorned bronze fluted columns which flank the corner entrance with its fine etched Saloon Bar glass twin doors.

The most obvious alteration though is the interior - not one iota of the original remains, as evinced from Google’s images, September 2011. Probably dating from the 1950s, the tired tongue and groove interior of yore has completely gone as have the stairs to the rear, with their worn carpet. Likewise, the eastern end of the bar. This was apparently a gastropub prior to closing though judging from the images I doubt it, not least because the menu blackboard isn’t particularly gastro and the interior looks tatty, especially so due to the old furniture and collection of fire extinguishers.
The stairs to the rear have gone, with the pub being knocked through into a conservatory dedicated to dining. The eastern bar is now used for dumb waiters and gent’s and ladies’ lavatories which are modern Edwardian and small – just one cubicle and two urinals for the boys and a single cubicle for the girls (I know this because you walk past the open door to the ladies’ on the way to the gent’s). The net effect is that the original ground-floor interior is a lot smaller than before meaning greatly reduced drinking space.

The interior is now three-quarter height oak panelled as is the bar with its modern mirrored bar back. Above the panelling is a strip of pale grey paint then the white ceiling which sadly replaces the original fibrous plaster one and now features spot downlighters to illuminate the new parquet floor. There are dark leatherette studded banquettes to part of the periphery, thereafter furniture is fairly conventional; the only décor comprises some old prints to the walls. A bonus is that there are no electronic distractions; these can be found at the Wetherspoon’s down the road.
On to the ale: Steve balks at the Landlord’s cost of £4.00 a pint in December 2011. I don’t know what a pint costs but my half was a blistering £2.80 and just ok. Also on offer was Adnam’s Ghost Ship.

An attractive and sympathetic conversion which is head and shoulders above the neighbouring Clerk & Well and Gunmakers, the Coach is clearly aimed at the increasingly affluent who are moving to EC1 and to me recalls the Sekforde up the road which also closed in 2015 to reopen a month ago. However, despite its limits, the Coach’s choice of ale beats the Sekforde’s hands down. All in, not a bad place if you can get a seat and carry a fat wallet, but there’s better to be had east of the Fleet so I don’t envisage this being the first port of call when in the area.

On 18^th January 2018 - rating: 5
[User has posted 2208 recommendations about 2165 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Steve of N21 left this review about The Coach & Horses

The Coach and Horses has the décor, both in and out, of a traditional London boozer. But in reality it is a gastro restaurant hiding inside a traditional pub skin.
Externally it looks like the old Victorian boozer it once was and you enter through either of the superb stained glass double doors which remain in tact.
Also the two internal spaces still have the traditional pub feel with three quarter panelled wood walls. The larger section is all laid for dining, but the smaller saloon section has a few wooden tables that are not set, and there are four bench seats on the pavement outside.
And it is a decent place for a well kept pint, in that it has three hand pumps that regularly dispense London Pride, Adnams Bitter and TT Landlord. But be prepared to have pain in the wallet as the beers will set you back over £3.60 for a pint and the TT Landlord was £4.00 I believe, and at that price I don’t care how good the décor and ambience of a place is, it’s not getting my money.
Suffice to say I also have never eaten here and seen what its like as a gastro pub but a quick look at the menu would indicate that the target demographic are the local business on expense accounts.

On 19^th December 2011 - rating: 6
[User has posted 2236 recommendations about 2098 pubs]

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