The Seven Stars, WC2

A fantastic old pub, quirky yet oozing old London charm,a survivor of the Great Fire of London no less.Always good for a couple of pints,beware the stairs to the toilets if you stay for more, they can be challenging.

This is a great old pub building, with five hand pumps serving on my recent visits Darkstar Hophead, Sambrooks Wandle, Adnams Southwold and Broadside and, on my last visit, Ghost Ship - consistently good quality and as I recall at £3.60 a pint. Lunchtime visit didn't feel particularly comfortable, something of a lawyers' eating venue, with a menu starting at £9.50 for a bruschetta. Evening visits have found it busy inside with customers spilling onto the road - but nevertheless a pleasant place to have outdoor vertical drinks with friends on a summer day. I think this pub is excellent as a venue to visit, and almost a 'must visit' for a local crawl, but not one in which to settle.

I really want to like this place, but have never really felt comfortable here. That’s probably due to the fact that I tend to visit early evening when the small inside space is packed to the low rafters with members of The Royal Courts, who act as if they own the place (which they are probably entitled to do as they spend a lot more money here than I do), and the resident Landlady and her serving staff always seem to suffer for their profession and let you know about it. But I will keep popping in because the Seven Stars is a charming ancient, historic pub that's full of character and usually has well-kept ales on the hand pumps, mainly from the Dark Star Sussex brewery and the pint of Dark Star Hop Head I had just before Christmas was top notch.

Very small back street pub full of character, there are small seating areas at each end of the bar. The tables were covered with French Bistro style squared plastic clothes on my visit in afternoon. Quirky and worth a visit, there are 4 real ales & the quality was good.

Randomness Guide to London - Seven Stars entry

Randomness Guide to London - Seven Stars entry