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Submitted on Tuesday, 2^nd May 2023
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The Hand & Shears, EC1

1 Middle Street
EC1
EC1A 7JA

Phone: 02076000257

Correct details

Served areas

Smithfield, Barbican

Reviews of The Hand & Shears (Average Rating: 7½ of 10) Add Review see review guidelines

Will Larter left this review about The Hand & Shears

One of Camra's heritage pub interiors, and welcome for that as much as anything. So it's a bonus to find pretty decent Bass on one of the three hand pumps (Hobgoblin and Landlord the others). This was a stonewall NBSS 3.5, but I gave it a 4 as I was on the rebound from a dreadful Sam Smith's OBB nearby. I was the third or fourth person through the door, but they knock off early in the powerhouse of the British economy, and by 4:03pm it was full of successful entrepreneurs and the booze was flowing. It was only two hours since I'd finished my lunch, but I'm just supporting pubs, not the whole economy.

On 7^th November 2024 - rating: 7
[User has posted 4348 recommendations about 3996 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Blackthorn _ left this review about The Hand & Shears

A traditional looking street corner pub located between Smithfield market and The Barbican complex, it has an attractive dark green wooden frontage with leaded windows and a curved doorway on the corner, with troughs of plants running along top. A sign above the door says that it was established in 1532, although I'm sure the current building must be more modern than this.

Internally it doesn’t disappoint either with full height, dark wood panelling on much of the walls creating quite an elegant feel, old church pews for seating with green padded bench cushions, a large wooden clock on the wall and numerous old black and white portraits and drawings. An old black fireplace was in one corner, although I’m not sure if this is still used, and there was also an old pair of shears on the wall, presumably in reference to the pub’s name, although I did not spot any hands, fortunately. The central bar counter is an oval shape serving both the front and rear rooms.

Beers on tap were Timothy Taylor Landlord, Bass and Directors, whilst a fourth pump appeared unused. The solitary cider was a rather disappointing Aspall’s. Overall though, other than the cider choice, a very pleasant pub and well worth seeking out.

On 19^th May 2023 - rating: 8
[User has posted 2070 recommendations about 1970 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Moby Duck left this review about The Hand & Shears

Still unchanged from my first visit over twenty years ago, definitely the archetypal traditional pub.The beers don't seem to change too much either, on this visit there was Courage Best, Black Sheep Bitter, Youngs Original and Timothy Taylor Landlord, not my particular beer scene but a must visit pub nontheless.

On 28^th April 2023 - rating: 8
[User has posted 2183 recommendations about 2150 pubs]

View more reviews of The Hand & Shears (14)

This pub features in the following crawls:
Clerkenwell to Barbican by Roy Collins

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