Resting Hare, WC1

Located in a side room of the County Hotel and accessed via a walkway to the left of the building, this is a relatively new venture from the people behind the nearby Euston and Cider Tap bars. The pub has a single room interior with a few nice art deco features dotted around. The room is bare boarded and runs quite a long way back from the entrance to the U shaped servery at the rear. The bar has a padded counter front with a pewter top and a dull metal frame bar back. Banquette seating booths run down the side of the room, giving way to high tables and chairs further back and then drinking ledges with high stools to either side of the bar. Large mirrors in the art deco style hang from the walls, which have been covered in places with hare motif wallpaper. Some large, attractive light fixtures run through the centre of the room and there are a couple of posters further to the rear, which brighten the walls up a bit, but otherwise the décor is fairly muted, with plain pastel shaded walls dominating. Music played quietly throughout my visit, but the large empty room made everything echo a bit, so there was a strange ambiance within. On entering, you pass through a small, fenced off front garden with several nice tables and chairs. This was my fourth attempt at visiting this pub, which previously only opened Monday - Friday, but the barmaid assured me that weekend openings were due to commence fairly soon. The bar counter was refreshingly devoid of keg taps, with four handpulls to the fore and a bank of keg taps consigned to a central column in the middle of the serving area. The hand pumps offered Moor Norhop, Wye Valley Butty Bach, Adnams Mosaic and Redemption Trinity. A no nonsense barman poured me a pint of the Butty Bach in record time and it was a very enjoyable drop. I quite liked this place and thought it was a good use of a nice room which was otherwise going to waste. I found it a little devoid of atmosphere late on a Friday evening and wondered if the place still needed a bit longer to properly bed in and establish a bit of character. It seems like a pretty good addition to the local area and I'm sure I'll visit again before long.

I wasn't quite so enthusiastic about this place as previous reviewers. We dropped in early Wednesday evening and the place was quite busy, but we managed to bag a couple of stools round to the right of the horseshoe penisular bar counter. Within half an hour it got so busy and noisy that normal conversation was impossible. I'm afraid it gets no extra points for having hip and trendy bar staff, although it has to be said that they (there were four of them) worked hard to keep the drinks flowing. I didn't get close enough to note the furnishings or decor, but of course noted the outside seating at the front that we walked past to enter the pub. There were four ales on - Timothy Taylor Landlord; Adnam's Ghost Ship; Vermont Tea Party; and Fyne Ales Scotland Jarl. Pints of the the Landlord and Jarl came to £7, which seems to be good value bearing in mind that in pubs around King's Cross we paid £4 and £4.50 for pints of Wandle and Mad Goose respectively.

The entrance to the Resting Hare is situated down the side of the County Arms on Woburn Walk. I really took to this place and found their choice of beers and prices excellent. The staff in here were hip and trendy and service was impeccable. We ventured into here on two consecutive nights as we enjoyed it so much. Four pumps, so we went for the Brewsmith Bitter and Bristol Brewing Co Southville Hop.

One room bar with lots of circular booths and high tables and stools.Grey painted walls with panels with hare motifs.Modern blend with original art deco style.Love it.Great lighting.Horseshoe shaped bar with unusual centre keg dispense.8 keg beers and 4 cask.Adnams -old ale and lighthouse and Moor -so hop and confidence.Cheap beer for central London.Outside seating.

Official site of Resting Hare - restinghare.com

Official site of Resting Hare - restinghare.com

Official site of Resting Hare - www.imperialhotels.co.uk

Official site of Resting Hare - www.imperialhotels.co.uk

The County Bar at the County Hotel is more like a single roomed pub than a hotel bar. My visit was just before 17:00 on Thursday afternoon when there was one other customer who was eating some food with the barman whilst the pair watched the conclusion of Deal or no Deal. The barman did get up and promptly serve me a half of Guinness as I noted the other offerings of Fosters, Carlsberg and John Smiths. One of the two hand pumps was unused leaving Ruddles as the ale option, although there was a list of bottled ales up on a chalk board. The Guinness was fine and I got my first and last taste of Celebrity Road Trip thanks to Channel Four. There is a fireplace that had a radiator leant against it, which basically summed this place up as it is a bit tatty. I do not plan a return visit and if I was a guest at the hotel I would be adventurous and find a decent pub nearby.