Philomena's, WC2

Reviewed as O'Neill's: Once a Bass/Charrington pub called the Sugar Loaf and visited as above around 17 years ago. Typical for the breed, it was one of the better examples though could get impossibly crowded. Converted from O'Neill's into Philomena's in 2012.

Official site of Philomena's - www.philomenas.co.uk

Official site of Philomena's - www.philomenas.co.uk

They had on Doom Bar and Black Sheep Bitter, with a couple of handpumps unused on my Monday afternoon visit. The BSB was £2.20 for a half, which is somewhat over the top even for this area. There was a pretty standard pub grub menu available, with ciabatta sandwiches at either £5.75 or £5.95, and main courses range from £7.95 (gammon & chips) to £12.95 (lamb shank). I saw a special of the day advertised for £6.95, and on Monday it was "chicken breast, chorizo, smoked cheddar, jalapeono, ciabatta and fries". Now there's a cacophony of flavours for you. This used to be an O'Neill's, but is now an Irish themed cafe/bar/restaurant converted from two shops/houses. They open fairly early in the morning. Furnishings are mainly normal small stools, and standard tables and chairs, but there are a couple of those tall fixed tables and benches where your feet don't reach the ground if you're under 6'. A couple of tall tables are out on the payment for those needing some fresh air, or wishing to enjoy the late Autumn sunshine. There's a bit of attractive panelled on the floor at the back, but otherwise it's quite unexceptional. Of course there's some Irish themed decor about, such as an England/ROI football scarf being displayed. Live sport is big here, with seemingly something being shown every day of the week. I saw a bank of seven small chalkboards displaying daily events being shown, with each of the panels labelled with a day of the week in some foreign language (Lundi, Mardi, etc) for some reason. This place is handy if you need an early sharpener, and is an improvement on its predecessor.