The Crown, WC2

Decent enough pub with Trumans -emperor and a Cottage beer on.Clean and tidy so worth stopping in.

So-so Taylor-Walker pub in the Seven Dials area and consequently relying heavily on passing trade in this now-fashionable area. Probably as a result the staff seemed totally disinterested in serving, preferring to chat between themselves. Having said that, the Pride was in excellent form. Overall impression = average.

This is now branded as a Taylor Walker (i.e. Punch Pubco) pub. There were some menus tucked at the end of the bar, but no sign of any food at 5.30 PM. I’m sure the food, when available, would be usual Taylor Walker offerings. The ales on handpump were Bombardier, London Pride, Young’s Bitter, and Brain’s Reverend James (£3.50 a pint). I had a couple of the Rev James, which was in good nick. This is a well established pub right on Seven Dials, in what was once one of the most disreputable parts of London. It’s an upmarket area now of course. The pub itself retains the same internal structure that I’ve known for the past 40 years or so, with a main front room reached by the corner doors on Seven Dials, and a back room reached through the main room or its own set of doors on Monmouth St. There would undoubtedly originally have been more than two rooms of course. It’s a reasonably comfortable pub with a smattering of normal tables and chairs in the back room, but with seating mainly stools at ledges in the front room. It’s definitely more like a real pub than many in the area, although much of its original pub character has inevitably been eroded over the years. When I was in the noise levels were high. There was some music being played quite loudly, which forced customers in the crowded pub to shout to be heard which had the effect of making the music inaudible. A bit pointless really. Anyway, I do still quite like this pub – I’ve been a regular visitor over the years, and will undoubtedly visit again.