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Detail Pages
The Angel, St Giles, WC2
WC2
WC2H 8LE
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about The Angel
Sam Smith's house with three distinct and seperate rooms all served from an island bar.The left hand bar has the feel of a public bar with bench seating,a darts board and a small real fireplace,sadly unlit on a coldish night.The other two rooms are small lounges with some chesterfield chairs and rather more plush surroundings.There are some good mosaic tilings to admire around the side entrance.All very authentic and pleasing.
What's less pleasing is the beer choice.The pump clip for Old Brewery Bitter was reversed,leaving just a mundane selection of SS keg beers and ciders.My Extra Stout had a metallic taste initially,giving way to a featureless finish.Naturally this was a one pint visit,this is probably the cause of a transient customer base .If only Sam Smith's could brew some decent ale,this pub would have scored more points.Over to you,Humphrey.
On 24th December 2021
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2727 recommendations about 2727 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Angel
An upmarket Sam Smith. Split into a three roomed pub in 2000 from what was a single room place with a tiled entrance corridor to all three areas. The main bar has swirly gold and black carpet, large windows with heavy drape curtains, brown flock wallpaper and an impressive lincrusta ceiling. To the right rear is a wood panelled snug room. Nice mix of punters from the theatre types to manual labourers via office types on a liquid lunch. Dart board in situ and there’s also a rear garden, a central London rarity. Cask OBB available. Went for the Taddy Lager, which was fine. I rather liked this one and could have settled in for a session.
On 29th September 2019
- rating: 8
[User has posted 5081 recommendations about 5064 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
hondo . left this review about The Angel
Really nice 3 roomed Samuel Smith pub. Can be entered from the Main Street or via an old carriageway at the side. It's SS so you know what your getting beer wise and the interior is well worth a look. Felt like going back in time away from the modern buildings and construction work in the area.
On 25th October 2016
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2883 recommendations about 2820 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
custodian 42 left this review about The Angel
Never been convinced about Sams pubs. The beer is not my style, I'm afraid. But as it's here, it has to be done. The Americans and Irish in here also put me off - way too noisy.
On 25th October 2016
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1693 recommendations about 1691 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Angel
This is an attractive pub which apparently has modern internal divisions, which for a Smith's outlet doesn't surprise me at all. This was our second SS's pub in a row, the previous one being The Crown next door. Oddly, the Old Brewery here was on cask at £1.55 a half and yet it's on keg at The Crown for slightly more at £1.58.
The current layout is multi-roomed, carpeted, a nice ceiling and traditional furniture. A pool table is to the rear. Clients here seem a little 'eccentric' and also in attendance was the odd lost tourist. I think this could be a great pub with a decent ale selection, but at present it's little more than an odd curiosity, especially given that not all rooms give direct access to the lavs - you have to exit the pub and enter it again via a different room, but I suppose that's part of the charm.
On 30th April 2016
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1985 recommendations about 1951 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about The Angel
This is a proper old style traditional pub with separate rooms, requiring individual access to each from outside. So it was a bit of a surprise to learn that the internal divisions are relatively recent and that the pub was at one time a single room. The public bar is accessed off St Giles High Street and is an old style bar with a lino floor and a dartboard although the row of theatre flyers on the side wall seemed a bit incongruous. The other rooms are off a splendidly tiled side alley which may once have led to stables. The larger front room is a saloon type bar, carpeted and with an attractive moulded ceiling based on hexagonal patterns. Lots of dark polished wood in here, etched windows and framed prints and notices of historical interest. Seating is of the traditional type with small stools at round tables.
Out into the side passage again and through another door is a small and cosy snug from where stairs lead up to another lounge which remains unvisited by myself. A fairly grotty looking paved yard at the rear claims to be a beer "garden" but it didn't look very appealing. A sign says this must be vacated by 5:15pm, I assume the neighbours have complained.
The Sam Smiths beers are cheap, still £2.90 for handpulled OBB; I liked the pub a lot but the beer offering is rather mundane.
On 22nd February 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1708 recommendations about 1681 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about The Angel
I spent many an hour playing darts in this pub thirty or more years ago . It was a Courage pub then consisting of a single bar, although I'm fairly sure there would once have been Public and Saloon Bars.
I was very keen to see what Sam Smith's had done to what was essentially a basic boozer that did fairly standard pub grub at lunchtimes.
What they have done is something I don't believe I've ever seen before, in that they have built a wall across making two completely separate bars which only have access between them by leaving the pub or walking through the serving area. Other than that the furnishings are a lot more inviting than I remember but the wallpaper looked like it had been chosen by someone high as a kite on drugs. I went into the "Public" bar on the East side of the building, which is now fairly small and narrow. It was good to see the dart board there but on the opposite wall as the original one now has an operational fireplace which I assume the current brewery discovered when it was renovated. The Gent's toilet at the end has been converted to small separate Ladies and Gents. There are Theatreland posters adorning the walls, which didn't really do much for me.
I believe that one or more of the previously private first floor rooms are now in use.
To describe the tiny paved rear patio as a "beer garden" is a bit steep.
I had a pint of the Old Brewery Bitter (£2.90) which was in good condition, and probably the cheapest pint in Central London. If this place stocked some decent real ales then I would give it an extra two points, but OBB is not worth making an effort to find.
On 11th August 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Angel
A refreshing change from the other pubs and bars in the area. Perhaps more of a "working mens" pub than an "old mans" pub, but also frequented by some more bohemian types and students (and never seen an obvious tourist in there). Sam Smiths OBB at £2.90 per pint - not at all bad for central London.
On 16th June 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Angel
This pub is essentially unchanged since it was one of my regular haunts when I worked opposite in the now demolished and unlamented St Giles Court. It’s now a Sam Smith’s pub having been bought from Courage in the 90s. It still has two separate main bars accessed by their own doors from the street, the public bar on the left having been a later addition to the original Victorian pub (now the saloon bar) on the right. The saloon bar used to be a larger room, but the Angel was something of a forerunner to the nearby Princess Louise in Sam Smith’s style of restoration as they replaced some of the Victorian screening to re-create the snug at the back on the right. The saloon is carpeted, furnished with normal tables and chairs, and is a comfortable room in which to while away an hour or so. There’s a few tables in an outside area at the back; on the right there’s a covered carriageway, complete with some rather impressive tiling, that usually contains more tables and chairs but which seemed to be used as a storeroom during my recent visit.
Back in the days of public executions at Tyburn there used to be a pub on the site called “The Bowl”, and as it was roughly the mid-point between Newgate and Tyburn condemned prisoners could stop here for a last bowl of ale in this world. They would be accompanied into the pub by their guards, except for the unlucky one who didn’t get to drink as he had to stay outside to ensure the security of their transport. Hence the expression “on the wagon”.
Being a Sam Smith’s pub, albeit still with the handpump version of Old Brewery Bitter, the ale choice is certainly limited, but it is cheap.
On 16th July 2010
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about The Angel
Took the opportunity to pop in again the other night when passing. An old style 3 roomed boozer eloquently described by Roger below.
Its position on St Giles, and its not particularly inviting exterior tends to keep the tourists out, which means the clientel is usually a mix of students, local workers and beer drinkers who know of and appreciate the Angels charms.
The Angel will not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is mine and I’ll be back for another OBB on pump when in the area again.
On 27th June 2010
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2110 recommendations about 1992 pubs]