The French House, Soho, W1

I had to come here because I was doing Camra heritage pubs on this visit to London, but I didn't fancy a keg beer, and what better place to have a coffee than the French House? It had only just gone 12 noon, and there were a few pubs to do, so it seemed like a wise move. There were three members of staff crammed into the tiny space behind the bar - it looked very inefficient but my coffee took a normal amount of time to prepare and was a normal kind of price too (£3.50). They were friendly though, and didn't seem to mind me chiming in with answers for their general knowledge crossword - though the answer for frozen rain should surely have been hail rather than snow, as the crossing letters suggested. As a heritage pub this one is a bit of an oddity - if I hadn't read about it beforehand I'd probably have thought "scruffy back street local" and walked on by, but its history gives it some interest. I spent the short time it took to drink my coffee looking around at the photos of famous Frenchmen on the walls - the ones that weren't immediately identifiable for their fame were instantly, recognisably French. Date of visit: 9th January 2024

What to say about this place? It’s unique, and I like that. I’m sure some people won’t. Only half pints at £3 a go, no real ale so I tried the NZ Pale and some kind of French lager. Full of Soho’s ‘wonderful’ characters at Friday 3pm, many drinking wine. The place was absolutely buzzing, this is still a thriving and characterful pub despite the awful beer choice. Very cramped so I propped up the bar throughout my visit. Glad I did it and I will probably do it again, it’s fun!

So much has been written about this place that you can only add bullet points... 1) 1840s pub - losing its frontage to a doodlebug 2) Charles de Gaulle formed the French Free Government from upstairs 3) Dylan Thomas got pissed here and left the only typescript for Under Milk Wood under a bench 4) One of the unholy trinity of three pre all day opening drinking dens - including the Coach and Horses and the Colony Room In a break from tradition - you can now order pints at the bar without being laughed at for being a tourits. In these (semi) post covid lockdown times, they are trying to limit the number of visits to the bar. A must visit london pub.