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The White Hart, WC2
WC2
WC2B 5QD
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Brainy Pool left this review about The White Hart
this is a modernised bar which is very handy for the Cuban embassy. It certainly doesn’t feel like an old pub, let alone the oldest. It may even be a gay bar judging by the flags behind the bar. Doom Bar and Wainwright on cask and the dire Dire Straits greatest hits playing. Just a few city bores in at 5pm. I found it dull.
On 16th May 2019
- rating: 4
[User has posted 1058 recommendations about 1023 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The White Hart
A first the other night into this, one of a small Covent Garden-based, family-owned chain – The Morton Scott Pub Company – since 2003. The pub boasts that it is the oldest licensed establishment in London, recorded back as far as 1216 with the name appearing in the 15th century; the pub’s current incarnation dates all the way back to 1912. For the record, the oldest pub fabric in London belongs to the Seven Stars (1602), not far from here.
Externally, this is clearly an early Edwardian pub as mentioned, and you can still see some of the original trademark green banded Charrington’s glazing. Inside it’s a long open plan place with a bar to the rear, above which hangs a modern square section tubular steel suspended gantry. Modern boards grace the floor then modern pale field panelled boarding to the lower walls, above which is much whitewashed bare brick, so distressed that it looks as if it has been bush hammered. Furniture is very eclectic with some benches. There’s a raised rear snug of sorts which is carpeted. The ceiling is dark timber, clearly an attempt to capture the spirit of King John’s reign, whilst the muted music and TV sport (sound off) would more than likely appeal to Prince William. Customers seemed to be young, raucous and mainly Spanish.
Ales: Fuller’s London Pride, the awful Sharp’s Doom Bar and Timothy Taylor’s Landlord at a very steep £2.50 a half and in so-so condition.
Forsooth, this was one of the best CG pubs we visited on our mini crawl, but that’s not saying much. I’d return if necessary but won’t be rushing back; Pride and especially the Doom are deterrents and the Landlord needs urgent medical attention.
On 24th February 2018
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1983 recommendations about 1949 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
hondo . left this review about The White Hart
Claims to be the oldest licensed premises in London. Long narrow interior with a raised area at the rear. 3 real ales and food served.
On 29th September 2016
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2883 recommendations about 2820 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about The White Hart
Open plan with a wood floor throughout a single roomed interior with a raised area at the rear past a large former fireplace featuring a stone bust and fire surround seating,while the rest of the furniture is wooden with a mix of low tables & stools and dining tables with more robust chairs.The windows are covered by drapes to complete the lounge feel although the exposed ducting around the ceiling was for me a design confusion.Three handpumps drawing the unexciting Doom Bar,Sambrooks Junction and St Austell Tribute (ok condition but £2.15 the half !) means this pub will never attract those focussed on cutting edge real ale and I found the pub sadly instantly forgettable.
On 21st December 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2727 recommendations about 2727 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
E TA left this review about The White Hart
This large, long corner pub is apparently family owned, though it has the look and feel of a Nicholson's and is, I believe, owned by a small chain (see JAQPTIO's review, below). The front door was obstructed by a gang of smokers, but once inside it was actually quite comfortable. The raised area at the rear is an extension whose roof rises to a point and is adorned with a variety of chandeliers and a glitter ball, which, together with the gild-framed 50 inch flatscreen TV, provides an ironic nod to the granduer of the period – if not the location – from which this pub originates. The food looked good, but they close the kitchen at 8PM so we weren't able to try it as we were 5 minutes too late. There were 2 ales on, Sambrook's Junction and Doombar, both well kept and quite potable. Worth dropping in for its beer, possibly worth including on a crawl, but don't expect a late meal.
On 4th November 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3281 recommendations about 3246 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The White Hart
One of the small Morton-Scott chain of pubs, the White Hart claims (however plausibly I don't know) to be the ”oldest licenced premises in London". The elongated bar with a slightly-raised seating area at the far end has been very heavily refurbished with light paintwork and a mix of styles. Loudish music. Young clientele. Doom Bar and Pride (£3.40, which is quite reasonable for the area) from the two handpumps.
On 15th August 2012
- rating: 6
[User has posted 8086 recommendations about 8086 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The White Hart
There are two handpumps on the bar. I got the impression that they normally both dispense London Pride, but only one was doing so during my lunchtime visit (the other had a Pride clip reversed). This pub has now been turned into one of those bars that do their best to emulate a hotel lounge. As has been pointed out by a previous poster, it has a very small frontage, but is nevertheless quite spacious inside. As you go in the first thing you see is a couple of sofas in front of you, and to the left is the main bare-boarded bar area containing some benches and tables and the like, and where the walls and pillars are painted grey, and the ceiling black. To the rear is a slightly raised area that is carpeted and contains more pine benches plus some normal tables and chairs. A couple of other things worth noting are the piano in the raised area at the back, which probably gets little if any use, and some tasteful green and blue backlighting in the alcove between the entrances to the toilets. The pub sign outside gives a clear clue as to the sort of place it has become – it’s now a plain black sign with the “The White Hart” in small (gold I think) lettering on it, whereas it used to have a picture of a white hart (of all things!) on it.
This used to be a real pub with plenty of dark wood, and real character, but now it’s just one more clean and comfortable bar. There’s room for these places of course, as a lot of people clearly like them, but it is nothing like the pub I remember from the early 70s.
On 20th March 2010
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Philip Carter left this review about The White Hart
Haven't been there for a while, as you can tell by my photo. The outside is deceptive, once through the door, you turn left and the pub is long. Used to be very good, worth a visit to see any changes. My rating is from what I remember.
On 20th December 2006
- rating: 8
[User has posted 757 recommendations about 720 pubs]