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Disappointment of the week with Gann
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Detail Pages
The Porcupine, Leicester Square, WC2
WC2
WC2H 0BS
Pub Type
Nicholsons (Mitchells & Butlers)Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Porcupine
The previous reviews still hold true as far as I could see. There’s a very attractive bar back, which could be original to the pub’s rebuilding in the 1870s; the interesting pot shelf is probably modern. What’s not modern, are the lovely glazed polychromatic Art Nouveau tiles to the dado across the right-hand wall. Otherwise, the floor’s bare boarded and walls are smoky blue, with a white Anaglypta ceiling. Furniture is conventional, the tall stuff comprising barrel tables; lighting is brassy and Victorian in style, whilst customers looked like theatregoers.
Ales: Rosie Pig cider, Doom (reversed), Pride (reversed), Nicholson’s Pale Ale (reversed), Ghost Ship and Brew York’s X-Panda at £2.75 a half and very nice indeed.
This is a pleasant little place, made all the better for actually having a more imaginative ale; worth an extra point in its own right.
On 5th November 2021
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1984 recommendations about 1950 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Graham Coombs left this review about The Porcupine
A Nicholson's pub on a street corner, next to an exit from Leicester Square tube station, with a typical dark wood and glass feel to the interior. There are a couple of tables outside on the pavement and a dining room upstairs. It had a fair selection of beers for a smallish pub, with examples from Adnams, Redemption, London Brewing and Hobgoblin, as well as the St Austell-brewed house bitter.
On 2nd October 2018
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3339 recommendations about 3276 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Porcupine
Small for a Nicholson's pub - not many seats downstairs, and the upstairs Theatre Bar claims to be table-service only. However, it's not a bad spot for a quick pint if you can squeeze in. Six handpumps in the main bar (with three more at first-floor level), and on this visit I found NPA, Doom Bar, Pride, Proper Job, Hooky and Jaipur (£5.05) from the six handpumps.
On 18th February 2018
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8092 recommendations about 8092 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about The Porcupine
The ground floor of this Nicholsons in certainly small,rather functional with a light wooden floor and not much seating,vertical drinking will be the norm at busy times.There is seating outside under canopies,but inside a few tables and chairs by the corridor entrance,and some high tables on the otherside ,where you may spot some fine tiling below the dado rail.The flatscreen had BBC24 News on mute,and muzak was playing at a sensible volume.Food is served from a short corporate menu,but if you want to eat in peace,there is quite a charming restaurant on the first floor with it's own bar with three handpumps,but off limit to folk just drinking,all tables being set for diners.
The 6 handpump in the tap room were ,on my trip,serving London Pride,Doom Bar,Nicholsons Pale Ale,Bray's Gold,BAD Co. Brewing Lighter Shade of Pale and Great Heck Dave (decent ,but pricey).I was disappointed that the range was dominated by low ABV brews,and with little of interest internally I was happy to drift on after a quick one.
On 6th January 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2727 recommendations about 2727 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
hondo . left this review about The Porcupine
Small pub by Nicholson's standards serving 6 real ales and food (didn't visit upstairs). Bare boarded interior with some ornate tiling on the bar gantry.
On 24th October 2016
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2883 recommendations about 2820 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Porcupine
This compact Nicholson's pub is situated right outside Leicester Square tube station, making it a pretty unappealing prospect to anyone familiar with the area, but I recently popped in just before closing time on a mid week evening and was pleasantly surprised with what I found. The pub has a single room layout in a broad wedge shape thanks to its street corner position, with bare floorboards throughout and a dark wood servery to the rear. Seating is pretty limited - just a button backed banquette to the right of the front door and some low stools to the left plus one high table and stools next to the bar - but there is a good deal of standing room for the peak tourist/pre-theatre/post-work periods. There is plenty of dark wood panelling around the room, brightened by a number of gold chandeliers and light fixtures. Several theatrical themed portraits can be found dotted around the place, not uncommon in this part of town, and there is a sign on one wall reminding us of Charing Cross' famous book shops. A few pillars break the room up a bit, including one rather unusually sited behind the bar. The bar back has some modern looking floral patterned tiles around a nice etched mirror, lots of dark wood and a small section of the original bar gantry with frosted glass and a pump clip collection. A TV screen was showing a muted 24 hour news channel whilst music played at a sensible level in the background. Should the main bar get too busy, there is a theatre bar upstairs which looks smart but pretty small, whilst a section of pavement is roped off and offers a few tables to watch the world rush by.
The Nicholson's brand can normally be relied upon to provide a decent ale range and I thought the options on this visit were pretty good, comprising Nicholson's Pale Ale, Sharp's Doom Bar, Stewart Brewing Dakota, Moles Mole Catcher and Roosters Yankee, with Truman's Runner not quite ready to come on. A 'Coming Soon' board lists future ale options in the hope of luring you back. The staff were really friendly which was the last thing I expected in this part of town and there was nothing wrong with my pint of Dakota.
I can imagine that a visit to this pub on a different day and at a different time could well have left me with a less favourable impression, but I enjoyed a good pint in a pleasant interior with excellent service. Plan your visit well and you should find this is a very well run pub.
On 14th November 2014
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
E TA left this review about The Porcupine
This Nicholson's pub is well situated for Leicester Square and Theatreland and occupies a corner site which has hosted a pub business since 1725. Currently, the floors are stripped back to wooden floorboards and the décor is the standard Nicholson's livery. The single ground floor bar was busy, full of drinkers, while an upstairs bar was occupied by diners. Four ales on: I had a pint of Broughton's Oatmeal Stout, which was very pleasant, but I felt it was a little too cool for the genre. Well worth including on a crawl, but lack of space makes it difficult to sustain a whole evening here.
On 23rd May 2014
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3281 recommendations about 3246 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about Porcupine
This small and rather cramped corner pub is situated in a prime position on the busy Charing Cross Road next to Leicester Square tube in the heart of tourist and theatre land. There has been pub here since 1725 although I suspect the current building is probably late 19th Century when the area was totally rebuilt following slum clearances and Charing Cross Road first laid.
The main bar is quite simply laid out with bare floor, dark patterned paper ceilings and solid furnishings although there is not much space for anything other than a smattering of tables around the windows edges and a few stools. There is an ornate mirror and traces of old tiling behind the bar as well as a few displays, old pictures and a tribute to wedgewood who had a showroom nearby. There is some seating outside on the pavement if you can handle the bustle of passing pedestrians and nise of the traffic.
A corridor beyond the main bar has stairs to an upper bar that is generally used for table service dining but has a couple of additional handpumps that usually offer the least interesting of the beers in the main bar. The stairs contain theatre postrs and photographs of various film stars and theatre luvvies. A couple of old brewery mirrors are also on display.
Currently part of the Nicholsons chain, there is a good offering of 6 ales available; Doom Bar, London Pride, Itchen Valley Godfather, Jennings Cumberland, Cropton Blackout and Jaipur IPA but prices are quite steep by Nicholsons standards with my Blackout clocking up £3.70 at the till. A list of the current Nicholson’s ale pool is on the wall next to bar.
Unsurprisingly it attracts a transient customer base and staff who don’t appear to hang around for long either. It gets extremely busy but is usually relatively civilized. The piped music is a bit bland but isn’t too intrusive.
As West End/Soho pubsgo I don’t have a problem popping in on occasions but, like most pubs in the area, it always has such an impersonal feel to it.
On 4th January 2012
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Porcupine
Tiny corner pub that is handily placed for Leicester Square tube. A Nicholsons outlet, it’s less obviously attractive than a number of their other London pubs but still has a few points of interest and has a bit of history - according the plaque outside a pub called the Porcupine has stood in the site since 1729. Four handpumps for ale – usually Doombar and Pride plus to guests. The interior is designed mainly for vertical drinking and clearly caters for a fairly transient market. Apparently there is also a room upstairs but I’ve never got that far, the place often being rammed when I end up in the area.
In the greater scheme of things this is nothing special but is a useful stop-gap and a good meeting-point for theatreland.
On 21st June 2011
- rating: 6
[User has posted 5072 recommendations about 5055 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Porcupine
This is a small corner pub right next to Leicester Square tube station. It’s a Nicholson’s pub, with the trademark Mitchell & Butler pumpclips with tasting notes, prices, etc. The ales on were Pride, TT Landlord, Thwaites Nutty Black, and Craig Vale Bitter. The London Pride was the cheapest ale on offer at the wallet friendly price, for Central London anyway, of £2.50 a pint. There’s still a little of its Victorian heritage intact; some tiling just inside the door on the right; a rather nice etched and cut glass mirror behind the bar; cast iron pillars; and possibly some of the bar back and the tiling above it. But now it’s a typical small West End pub. It’s difficult to say what if anything is wrong with it, but it just doesn’t seem to be the sort of warm and welcoming place in which I would want to spend an evening. It’s better than some other West End pubs, and is in fact a decent enough place to stop for a pint or two. I wouldn’t object to dropping in for another pint, but I doubt whether I would go out of my way to do so.
On 25th February 2010
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]