Lamb & Flag, Covent Garden, WC2

Wonderfully situated roughly halfway between Covent Garden and Leicester Square, this is a pleasant traditional pub tucked away slightly from the main tourist procession thanks to it being positioned down a short side street. The pub has a long, narrow interior, with the bar running along the left hand side of what is essentially a single room, although there is a sense of partitioning towards the end of the bar, just before the room opens out slightly. There is plenty of dark wood throughout which, combined with the limited amount of natural light, helps to create a nice ambiance. It's not too cosy though, with very limited seating and large numbers of customers meaning that you're likely to end up drinking you pint stood up, unless you bag one of the few tables at the rear of the room or a stool along the drinking shelf opposite the bar. The walls are decorated with all sorts of seemingly unrelated pictures and adverts and the servery is lined with old pump clips. There is a second bar upstairs, but I overheard a barmaid saying how busy it was up there, so I decided to stay propped up at the main bar rather than go exploring. This was a Young's house not all that long ago, but it is now run by Fullers, so it was their beers dominating the hand pumps, with London Pride, ESB, HSB, Bengal Lancer, Seafarers and Chiswick to pick from, plus guests in the shape of Wytchwood Hobgoblin and Butcombe Bitter. I found myself standing next to a number of brass plaques displayed in memory of former patrons of the pub and I very nearly earned a plaque of my own when I was told that my pint of Bengal Lancer would set me back £3.90. Thankfully I just about survived this shock and was able to savour every last drop of what was actually a decent pint. A simple sandwich and pub grub menu was on display and I noted that main meals came in around the £7.00 mark, which seems much more reasonable. I thought this was a nice old building with a decent beer selection and well worthy of a stop off, although the lack of comfort meant that I didn't fancy staying for more than just the one. A decent option to have for this part of town, but brace yourselves for tourist prices.

One of the oldest pubs in the area, if not London, the Lamb & Flag was first licensed in 1623. The street outside was once known as Blood Alley and the pub had the equally enticing name of the Bucket of Blood thanks to it being a well known bare knuckle boxing venue. There seems to be much debate as to exactly how old the current building is. The blurb in the pub says it dates from 1772 when it was called the Coopers Arms but reports elsewhere suggest parts are from the 1600’s and much of the visible exterior is late 19th Century. It has been known as the Lamb & Flag since around 1883. The main bar is a single room with remnants of a divide that would have separated the rear section. The floors are bare wood painted black and the furnishings basic and battered. Several memorial placques can be found baring the names of former regulars now at the great bar in the sky although some are now so worn that the names are unrecognizable. There is planty of clutter on display ranging from a 1714 copy of the Evening Post, the old pub sign, Save the Lamb & Flag bumber stickers (the pub was under threat when the area was being renovated after the market closed in the 1970’s), a 1746 Weights and Measures poster and numerous random pictures, caricatures and oddities. Upstairs is a separate and surpisingly large bar known as the Dryden Room after the 17th Century peot John Dryden who nearly met his end outside the pub having been set on by a gang. It has its own bar with 3 handpulls and a food counter. Note the “Famous Fights” memorabilia at the top of the stairs reflecting the pasts past traditions and the Channel Five In/Out sign between the bar and rear section (an explanation is on the wall). The pub has recently been taken over by Fullers (it was once a Youngs pub) but they do have pretty much the whole range of Fullers/Gales beers (Pride, Chiswick, HSB, ESB, Bengal Lancer, Seafarers and the new Black Cab Stout, as well as Butcombe Bitter as a guest. The quality was fine on my visit but the prices are perhaps expectedly high with the Stout at £3.75. Food was quite reasonably priced at around £6-£8 albeit the menu wasn’t particularly extensive. The area may be a bit of a tourist destination but you can’t help feel that the Lamb has had a succession of regulars who have helped shape its character over the centuries and it does still feel like a local’s pub albeit not as unwelcoming as it would have been in days gone by. It is certainly a pub full of character and one to be experienced.

The pub's popularity seems to increase as time goes on. This time it was very crowded, especially upstairs where we could hardly move. This endorses the views of previous reviewers - with which I concur - that the L&F is one of the better pubs in the area. This time there were 5 ales on - I had a pint of Young's Bitter which was in very good condition. I wil certainly carry on coming here and recommend it for inclusion in a crawl.

Rickety old joint, boasting six handpulls which are mainstream ales – Harveys perhaps excepted – the quality of which can be variable. Often gets packed as the ground floor area is very small but there is extra seating upstairs. The ground floor retains an olde worlde feel to it (this place is supposed 350-odd years old) with wood panelling and low beams. Some of the customers can be a bit knuckle-dragging (easily spotted as they usually congregate outside). As mentioned, the toilets are a bit of a struggle but there probably isn’t a great deal that can be done about it. Worth a quick sample for the interior, but I’ve normally struggled to garner any real enthusiasm for it.

A good boozer and a heartening find in the middle of tourist rip-off central. Adnams Broadside in good condition alongside Harveys Best, Courage Directors and Youngs Special. Lots of interesting historical bits and pieces hung up on the walls, and I'll definitely come back to sample the Ploughmans lunch as I bet they serve a good one. I liked this pub and would return in a flash.

Reputedly the oldest pub in Covent Garden, and still one of the capital's best known pubs, The Lamb and Flag is situated in a quiet side street almost equidistant between Leicester Square and Covent Garden underground stations. Despite being opened out at the front and the two bars merged into one many years ago, the pub retains something of an "olde" pub feel to it, characterised by much wood panelling and old floorboards. Note the brass plaques by the bar in memory of previous customers and the numerous photos and prints of the pub in days long gone. It's very much a stand up to drink pub at the front with seating limited to stools at the bar and around the walls. An adjoining room at the back has several old tables and seems to be favoured by tourists. An upstairs room - The Dryden Room ( named after a famous poet beaten up in the alleyway outside in 1679) - serves meals. On my recent visit, beers on were Courage Best, Bombardier, 2 Young's Beers, Adnams Bitter plus Dark Star Hophead. The Adnams - £ 3.20p - was in good form. Despite being a popular tourist destination, this is still one of my favourite pubs in the area. Consider combining it with visits to The Harp and The Salisbury for a high quality three pub crawl of the area's finest