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Cambridge PuG Crawl, Friday 5th April 2024 with Gann on the Pub Forum

The Somers Town Coffee House, Somers Town, NW1

60 Chalton Street
NW1
NW1 1HS
Phone: 02073877377

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Reviews (Current Rating Average: of 10) Add Review see review guidelines


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Bucking Fastard left this review about The Somers Town Coffee House

Situated between Euston and St Pancras stations,don't be put off by the Charles Wells pub sign,thankfully their awful ales dont feature here.
The interior is very traditional and pleasing with lots of wood panelling,traditional furniture and to the left side a rear section which looks like a dining area.There are a rank of high tables opposite the bar,while outside a front patio would be useful in good weather.I didn't investigate the cellar cocktail bar.There are 4 letting rooms on the second floor and that's why breakfast is available here from 8am on Mon-Fri,10am at weekends although the bar will only open at 11am.The food menu has some interesting dishes,my baba ghanoush was very tasty but beware of a 10% service charge which will also apply to any drinks bought with a meal and brought to your table.Discretionary ? Difficult to argue given the very friendly barmaid but minus a rating point .Median mains around £14,lite bites available.
There are lots of handpumps and three reversed clips on my visit ,leaving TT Landlord and a very good St Austell Proper Job (NBSS 4).12 keg taps do offer some craft options besides the dross.
I enjoyed my visit and would pop in again despite suffering the service charge in silence.

On 26th November 2022 - rating: 7
[User has posted 2709 recommendations about 2709 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Somers Town Coffee House

An attractive old building, thoroughly refurbished (but thankfully not ruined) in gastro-pub style by Charles Wells before passing to the Yummy pubco. Reverse 'J'-shaped layout, with a typically varied - although not all very space efficient - range of seating. Quite a bit of patio furniture out front, plus a partly-covered rear outside seating / smoking area. Also has a 'speakeasy' cocktail bar downstairs. Two banks of what are now only three handpumps on the counter, and on this visit I found Charles Wells Eagle IPA, Brewpoint's Legacy and Origin, plus Marston's 61 Deep.

On 20th April 2022 - rating: 6
[User has posted 8061 recommendations about 8061 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


john gray left this review about The Somers Town Coffee House

I was expecting this to be a bit of a food led posh pub but found a scruffy back street pub.The bar was piled up with unwashed glasses and felt a bit down at heal.Barstaff seemed unsure what cask beers were actually on.Charles Wells own this and i came because i wanted a beer from their new Brewpoint brewery.Had two on keg and they were both good.Plenty of rear outside seating.

On 15th January 2022 - rating: 7
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]


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Tris C left this review about The Somers Town Coffee House

3rd May 2016.

A while back this place was taken over by a French couple who got this pub's food standard up to the point where it was included in the French restaurant guide Les Routiers. Well, they've moved on and this is no longer a gastropub, though food is served. It dates back to at least the mid-19th century though was rebuilt in the 1930s and is named after the Earl Somers who lived at Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire - indeed until a couple of years ago, Somers Town was home to a pub called The Eastnor Castle just around the corner.
It's a big Charles Wells' pub, traditional for the period with lots of wood panelling and fairly standard/traditional furniture. Music was muted and there's an impressive coffered ceiling; I didn't spot any entertainments like TVs or games machines.
There were 12 pumps in total, dispensing too many beverages to record, but most came courtesy of Young's, Courage or Wells - in short, nothing to get excited about, but equally nothing to offend outright either. Bar staff were friendly and there was a more civilised crowd in here than you'd find in other Euston Road dross pubs, probably because it's slightly off the beaten track: you won't find it unless you know about it.
My pint of Bombardier Golden Ale was very decent and at £3.95 wasn't the rip-off price you'd expect to find in other aforementioned Euston Road clip joints.
This is by far the best pub in the very close vicinity and I'd actually be happy to come here again if passing - I'd give it at least another couple of points if it had a more imaginative ale choice.

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A return visit a few nights ago and my pint of Charles Wells' Extra Golden Ale, a 4.3% ABV beer cost a staggering £5.05 a pint! This pub is in somewhat troubled Somers Town which in 2013, recorded more violent crime than in any other ward in the borough of Camden. Why are some of the capital's highest prices to be found in one of London's most deprived areas?
Points deducted accordingly.

On 28th February 2018 - rating: 3
[User has posted 1955 recommendations about 1922 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Real Ale Ray left this review about The Somers Town Coffee House

Agree with Tris, the ale choice on our visit was also unimaginative and the majority of their ten pumps were in repeat mode. The pub did have a good and jolly atmosphere and the majority of the drinkers all looked quite respectable. The pub was also clean and tidy and the toilets were modern and well kept.

On 7th November 2016 - rating: 5
[User has posted 3376 recommendations about 3376 pubs]


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hondo . left this review about The Somers Town Coffee House

Interior as described below 9 real ales and 1 cider served.

On 23rd April 2015 - no rating submitted
[User has posted 2883 recommendations about 2820 pubs]


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Pub SignMan left this review about The Somers Town Coffee House

Conveniently located down a side street between Euston and St Pancras stations, this is a decent sized Charles Wells house with its own in house cocktail bar. The ground floor pub has a simple L shaped interior with two front doors leading you into the same main bar space with the servery running along the back wall. The dark wood bar back has the royal coat of arms as a centrepiece and some strange multi-coloured mosaic tiling which looks a bit out of place. The flooring is a mix of wooden boards and stone tiles, with a couple of sofas positioned under the front windows, but a predominance of standard tables and chairs elsewhere. To the right of the bar there is a nice dark wood panelled space with a few framed pictures of food on the walls and a nice small tiled fireplace. Over to the left, the walls are covered with some large mirrors above a row of banquettes, and the room extends further back into a rear room with more dark wood fittings, some sanded tables and a good deal more seating. A back door takes you out to a pleasant garden which has unusually been semi-subdivided into booth type areas by large multi-coloured wood panels. A good soundtrack played quietly over the hubbub of the post work crowd, many of whom were eating from the slightly pretentious disposable menu on which you are supposed to tick the dishes you would like to order before handing over at the bar. Stairs near the front door lead down to 'The Cosy Kettle' - a speakeasy style bar serving cocktails and cakes, but not explored on this visit.
The Charles Wells beer portfolio was stretched to the limit across the long bank of hand pumps which were offering Youngs Special, London Gold and Hummingbird, Wells Bombardier and Eagle, Courage Best and Directors and one guest in the shape of Wadworth Ipanema, with Wells Burning Gold having recently gone off. A final pump dispensed a real cider option. Keg lines included Estrella, Young's London Stout and Stowford Press cider. The Ipanema was okay, but overpriced at £4.00 a pint.
It's not that often that a pub with ten handpulls can offer up such an uninspiring range of ales and for me, this is a great shame as such a well positioned pub would easily attract me back if their choice of product was more interesting. I'd say this is worth a passing look but there are much better pubs within a similar distance of either station.

On 24th August 2014 - rating: 6
[User has posted 3102 recommendations about 3102 pubs]


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Malden man left this review about The Somers Town Coffee House

A single J-shaped space with a central bar, boarded floor with stone effect tiling in the bar area. The first thing I spotted on entering was the row of ten clipped handpumps however my initial excitement was muted rather on seeing that all but two were from the Charles Wells stable leaving just Everards Xingu and a cider, Thundering Molly, as non CW offerings. I had the Xingu, a World Cup beer apparently brewed in conjunction with a Brazilian brewer. The others were Youngs Bitter, Special, London Gold and Hummingbird, Directors, Bombardier plus Bombardier Gold and Wells Eagle. The bar back has a Royal coat of arms but this is spoilt somewhat by rather gaudy modern mosaic tiling. Hops around the ceiling beams are a better feature, dark wood panelling, mostly regular seating in the main bar albeit at school style chairs. The rear left area beyond the bar can be separated by folding doors, seating in here is more avant-garde with high backed benches and armchairs.
Food is served and features "British Tapas", sandwiches were listed on an old school rolling blackboard.
I believe the pub is a 1920s rebuild but that there has been one on the site for a long time and originally was a coffee house.
Continental outdoor seating to the front under an awning plus a bit of garden to the rear. Downstairs is something called "The Cosy Kettle", the signage in red neon lettering, I didn't take a look, I doubt it would be my cup of coffee.
A nice spot especially so close to the main rail termini and the Marylebone Road, a better choice across those ten pumps would potentially make this a destination pub.

On 8th June 2014 - rating: 7
[User has posted 1707 recommendations about 1681 pubs]


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General Staal left this review about The Somers Town Coffee House

This is clearly an old pub, with dark wood and mirrors. Laid out as an L shape around the bar, the interior is roomy and laid out with tables and a mixture of traditional wooden pub chairs and 'Regency' style leather chairs.

There were four real ale taps serving three ales, Pedigree, Courage Best and Directors. The Best and Directors were delicious.

Mrs Staal and I ate the food which is described as 'English Tapas'. This means evrything comes in smaller portions. I mean this in a positive way - Mrs Staal and I shared a Lancashire Hotpot, Barbecue Wings, Pork Bon Bons and Fish and Chips. After this, we were both stuffed and agreed that we had eaten a delicious meal. The bill, with drinks, came to a little over £30.00, which we both thought was very reasonable.

We are due back down here for the Olympics, and we will definitely eat here again. Very good pub, very good atmosphere, excellent food!

Oh, the unpubby Mrs Staal has just shouted to remind me to mention that tea and coffee is also served.

On 15th February 2012 - rating: 9
[User has posted 142 recommendations about 125 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Steve C left this review about The Somers Town Coffee House

The Somers Town Coffee House is basically a large L shaped pub with an area behind the bar that feels like a drawing room. There is seating in the bar area and on the wide path out the front there are some picnic tables. The bar is stocked with a mixture of standard and premium draught products and one of the three hand pumps was unused leaving Directors and Courage Best as the ale options. I didn’t spot any televisions, but there was some generic background music playing. The service was friendly and the Directors was good. The opening times are from 10:00 until 23:30 so I imagine that coffee is actually served.

Gone are the days when my step dad got his nose broken for the first time in here, but I still wasn’t that keen on this place. I’m not sure that it is worth the walk from the station.

On 31st January 2012 - rating: 5
[User has posted 5178 recommendations about 5147 pubs]

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