The Bear & Staff, Leicester Square, WC2

Official page of the Bear & Staff, contains menu and real ale details - www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk

Official page of the Bear & Staff, contains menu and real ale details - www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk

They had six ales on when I was in there the other day – Hobgoblin; London Pride; Timothy Taylor Landlord; Morrissey/Fox blond; Doom Bar; and Black Sheep Bitter. This is a typical Nicholson's West End pub. I noticed the sign at the back, next to the cigar moulds, proclaiming that the pub had been extended into Inderwick's the tobacconist in the 90s. I thought the pub looked bigger than it used to. Nice touch acknowledging the traditional tobacconist that they had subsumed. I thought it was fairly gloomy inside, mainly due to the blinds outside providing cover for the smokers' tables. But it's a traditional West End pub – not excellent, but certainly not bad. And it has a decent ale selection. There are many worse places to stop off for a pint in this area.

I liked it in here as, along with a range of standard and premium lagers, there were six ales available from the very welcoming staff. This was definitely a good find and I will visit when next in this neck of the woods.

Part of the Nicholson's chain that seems to be quite dominant in the area although in my opinion, they are one of the better chains. The current pub dates from 1878 however they can apparently trace the continuous licencees back to original pub which was built in 1714. A history of the pub, the local area and some of the people associated with it can be found on various displays around the pub. The interior is fairly small and quite typical of many of the pubs in the West End. The bare floor main bar has been knocked through into one room slightly extended to a raised area at one end with a collection of old West End theatre stars. Service is also typical West End, impersonal and functional European staff who generally prefer to talk to each other whilst serving than concentrate on the customers in front of them. The piped music is safe and bland but the big plus is that they do have a fairly decent beer selection, the 6 ales on my last visit being Jennings Cumberland, Landlord, Spitfire, Doom Bar, Pride and Bitter & Twisted. Prices are very reasonable (as they usually are with Nicholsons) and taster notes, strengths, prices etc are displayed on each pump, another nice Nicholsons touch. Food is standard pub fare with a few special meal deals. A separate restaurant can be found upstairs, named after Charlie Chaplin who apparently used the pub when performing in the West End. There is some seating outside with a couple of barrel tables but the road is a constant stream of buses, taxis and tourists so not exactly a peaceful option. If the pub were anywhere else it would probably have more general appeal but in the heart of the West End it is a pub that is easy to dismiss as just an average London tourist pub which is a bit of a shame, because it does have enough to merit more than a passing glance.