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Detail Pages
The Two Chairmen, SW1
SW1
SW1H 9BP
Pub Type
Taylor Walker (Spirit Pubs)Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Two Chairmen
Dating from the early 18th century, this is a backstreet pub I’d never seen before.
As mentioned, it’s a small room of a pub, owned by Greene King but oddly, there aren’t really any clues as to this other than the sign and beers. It’s well described below, except that there’s no chance of confusing it with the other Chairmen as it’s closed down. Otherwise, most of the interior is much like many other central London pubs, with a lacquered floor and tall furniture with trendy, subdued lighting and décor in the form of framed prints and plants. Customers were great in number, most drinking outside, in high spirits and probably nearby civil servants.
Ales up were Rockin’ Rudolph, Landlord, GK IPA, Tribute and Twickenham’s Autumn Red at £2.70 a half and rather nice.
This isn’t a bad GK pub for once, improved for not adhering solely to its own beer and Doom. Worth popping in for a snoop, but not a destination though.
On 24th November 2021
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1985 recommendations about 1951 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about The Two Chairmen
Small Greene King tied house,the ground floor has the bar running down the left side after some high tables in the window.There is an interesting mural of Two Chairmen with sedan on the back wall,while the rest of the area felt cramped with a large flatscreen to one side on mute.Upstairs is worth a squint ,via a spiral staircase.The room here is square,with it's own small bar and a chandelier and much calmer than downstairs.Probably more for diners,tables will be reserved but there were groups just drinking so it is multi use.The menu here is short,not with pictures of food but the same pub grub you will get at other local GK houses.The Fish & Chips was £12.99 so some London weighting but not the full amount.
The bar room has 6 handpumps offering on my trip Greene King IPA,Scrum Down,a House beer with guests Black Sheep Bitter,TT Landlord and St Austell Tribute (poor ,NBSS 1.5).Thats a very typical dull ale line up ,and when packed I can see little reason to visit despite the charm of the first floor.
On 14th February 2020
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2727 recommendations about 2727 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Two Chairmen
Backstreet Greene King (ex-Taylor Walker) outlet located between Westminster and St James's Park. Surprisingly small, but still has six handpumps which were dispensing IPA and the Radio X Amplified collaboration plus Wandle, Little Haka from Little Beer, Truman's Scorcher grapefruit pale ale (£4.45) as guests and Devon Mist cider on this visit. However, the main problems are: a) getting into the place, as the size dictates that most customers have to stand clustered outside in the street; and b) getting served, which is tricky given the narrow tapered bar layout. Sedan Room upstairs (still never visited).
On 5th August 2017
- rating: 6
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
custodian 42 left this review about The Two Chairmen
Small pub with an upstairs bar which I did not visit. Greene King with three hand pumps. Not a bad place but unspectacular overall.
On 1st March 2017
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1693 recommendations about 1691 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
E TA left this review about The Two Chairmen
A GBG regular, this Taylor Walker outlet is one of their best. Well described below, it has a gaming machine, dull muzak and WiFi that works. It had 3 ales on this visit. I had a pint of Portobello IPA which was in perfect condition, and went down extremely well. Highly recommended as one of the best places to go in Westminster for a quality pint.
On 6th January 2016
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3285 recommendations about 3250 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
paulof horsham left this review about The Two Chairmen
It's pretty much a Central London pub-by-numbers: dark wood flooring; subdued lighting; London Pride on the pumps. Food & drink are the standard Taylor Walker offerings. London Gold, Youngs Ordinary and Doom Bar were among the ales; Tribute remained tantalisingly out-of-reach, with a 'coming soon' label hanging round the clip. Lager drinkers may well do better with 5 or 6 taps offering a good range. The major drinks surprise was in the fridge, with the likes of Duvel and Punk IPA available. A major annoyance is that, while it's a quiet enough place for a drink during the afternoon, once the crowds descend and create their own hubbub, the music gets turned on and attempts to drown the chatter - don't know why they need to do that.
So, if it's close to where you work, you've probably been in. If it's not, there's probably no real reason to choose The Two Chairmen over any other pub in Central London, I'd say.
On 6th September 2012
- rating: 6
[User has posted 453 recommendations about 425 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Nick Davies left this review about The Two Chairmen
Not to be confused with the other Two Chairmen near Trafalgar Square, this Punch Inns pub has managed to survive the worst excesses of their corporate cloning policy, possibly due to its small size. It makes a reasonable fist of its primary function, which is to refresh the vast number of civil servants who work around here. If you get their early enough in the day and hit lucky there's be six beers on offer, TT Landlord and Black Sheep on top of the more usual suspects, though like many Punch pubs once they're off they're off for the night. I do wonder if they have one cellarman who goes round a series of pubs each morning to do the beer and that's it for the day.
OK if you're passing or have business in the area.
On 24th October 2010
- rating: 5
[User has posted 567 recommendations about 559 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Two Chairmen
It's a Spirit Group pub, so the beer choice is unlikely to be very imaginative. When I was in they had on Bombardier; London Pride; and Deuchars IPA. The Deuchars was £2.80 a pint which is a pretty good price, but unfortunately mine tasted fairly lifeless. The exterior of the pub has got the appearance of a classic hidden backstreet gem, but in comparison the interior is a bit disappointing, having been given the Spirit Group corporate appearance. The pub itself is a small one-room affair; carpeted throughout (which I always think gives a pub a warm feel) and with furniture consisting mainly of banquettes and stools. There's not a lot of natural light getting inside, making it fairly gloomy, but which is not a problem as it can lend a more intimate feel to a place. The interior is not completely soulless I suppose, but it would be so much better without the SG style faux chalkboards above the bar, as well as the games and cash machines. Banal pop music being played of course – but where doesn't play it? Par for the course I suppose.
For some reason I didn't really take to this pub, but I can't put my finger on why. Perhaps it's because I expected so much more from a pub with such an attractive exterior, or perhaps because I was the only person in there for most of my stay – or maybe it was the below par pint. Anyway, I'll give it another try when I'm next in the area.
On 26th August 2009
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about The Two Chairmen
This place is ok, but nothing special in an area full of real ale boozers. The barman was friendly enough and he was dishing out Pride, Bombardier, 6X, Greene King IPA and Deuchars along with Guinness, Strongbow and three standard lagers.
There is a small TV set up in the corner, but I got the feeling that it is only turned on for royal weddings and funerals. There is some pew seating jutting out either side of the fireplace as to face it at 30 degrees and this does drastically cut down the standing room of the pub, but it looks quite cool and it wasn't very busy when I visited anyway.
I would go back here if passing.
On 25th March 2009
- rating: 6
[User has posted 5250 recommendations about 5218 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about The Two Chairmen
This being one of the closest pubs to my office, I have tried hard to get to like this place. It has all the ingredients of a decent pub but somehow it just lacks anything to make it stand out. Dating from 1756, it stands in a grand street where every other building seems to have a blue plaque. The alley that runs down the side, now called Lewisham Street, was once a major thoroughfare linking St James to the Houses of Parliament and was a base for operators of sedan chairs and the pub name is derived from this trade. The interior of the pub is quite cosy but rather dimly lit and with little natural light to lift the gloom. The décor is fairly dated with old fashioned wallpaper, dark paneling and a dark patterned papered ceiling. The central area is divided by 2 low angled wooden screens with pew seating and a tiled fireplace in a wood panel surround. At the back is more pew seating and 3 fading murals depicting 18th century scenes but these are badly lit and best observed from distance. They do a decent range of Real Ales, usually 6 at any one time although the guest beers generally tend to be rather unadventurous. Quality is usually OK and they have Cask Marque accreditation. Food is reasonably priced and looks fine but the choice is standard pub fare. There is an upstairs “Sedan” bar into which I have yet to venture. It can also be very smoky although this will thankfully be a thing of the past come July. I can't help feel that this pub is a bit of an underachiever given its location and targeted customer base and whilst the cornerstones are in place to make this place become one of the best in the vicinity, it really needs a bit of brightening up.
On 17th January 2007
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]