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The Dolphin, WC1

47 Tonbridge Street
Kings Cross
WC1
WC1H 9DW

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


Moby Duck left this review about The Dolphin

A two room Irish forward pub, ably described as ever by Pub SignMan. No real ale on when I visited leaving just a standard keg lineup with a couple of craft options of which I chose Salt Jute. A nice enough looking pub but the generaly mundane beer lineup brings the score down.

On 10th July 2023 - rating: 6
[User has posted 1868 recommendations about 1841 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Pub SignMan left this review about The Dolphin

This is a two room backstreet boozer, with a great location, just over the Euston Road from St Pancras station. Entering through the corner door, you find yourself in a small public bar - a rather basic space with bare boards, plain painted walls and the servery to the rear. Seating is limited to a few high tables and stools and a few old boys were perched at various points around the room, watching the live cricket on the TV screens whilst a 60;s and 70;s country music soundtrack played over the top. The bar has a tongue and groove panelled counter and modest bar back with some inlaid gold lettering across the top. A door to the right leads past a staircase that goes down to the toilets, and on into the larger lounge bar. This room is also bare boarded, and has low wood panelled walls with dated floral wallpaper above - the paper looks like it has been here since some of the country tunes that were playing were recorded! Nice curved padded banquettes along two walls make for comfy seating options, whilst to the rear, there’s a drinking ledge with high stools and another around a central pillar. A TV screen in here remained off, with visual distraction instead coming from old photos, whiskey mirrors, Guinness memorabilia, a cabinet full of miniature figures and houses, various random certificates and a map of Ireland. A surprising amount of pavement seating is also available, should the weather permit.
Just two cask options here, and the Greene King IPA was off when I arrived, leaving Sharps Doom bar as the only alternative. I was served a middling pint by a proper old-school landlord who was somewhat short on formalities.
I only visited this pub as a result of a recommendation by the barmaid at the London Welsh Centre, who said I might enjoy the interior. Well, I certainly did, as it has a real timewarp feel about it, especially in the evocative lounge bar, which you can imagine being packed in days gone by, but in which I was the sole customer on this occasion. The lack of decent beer options would be a serious prohibitor for me to return, as much as I like the pub itself, but it seems to serve a few locals well and that might be all they need to keep things ticking along.

On 30th October 2022 - rating: 6
[User has posted 3102 recommendations about 3102 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Delboy 20 left this review about The Dolphin

Nice little pub just off the main drag. Had Whitstable Bay pale ale which was fine. Enjoyed a chat with some Newcastle fans after the football. Well worth a visit.

On 18th March 2022 - no rating submitted
[User has posted 1650 recommendations about 1552 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Dolphin

Quite an attractive, if old-fashioned, side-street Irish pub retaining some interesting historic features. The main entrance on the corner leads into the larger public bar, whereas the less-obvious side door along Hastings Street accesses the lounge bar / 'restaurant'. Both are simply furnished, with basic traditional decor. Just Greene King IPA from one of the pair of handpumps (and adorned with Six Nations tat at that) in the right-hand bar on this visit, but the landlord was as welcoming as usual and we were offered a round of free St Paddy's Day +1 mini-Guinnesses so you can't argue about the hospitality here. So, hardly exciting, but an option for a quiet pint if waiting for a train from the nearby railway termini.

On 24th March 2019 - rating: 6
[User has posted 8061 recommendations about 8061 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Lester Ford left this review about The Dolphin

Many years since I’ve been to the Dolphin, it hasn’t really changed internally and still has 2 different bar areas, an upper and lower area separated by the stairs down to the gents toilets.

St Austall Tribute was the only ale on which I didn't fancy so I went onto bottles of Kippenberger Fruit Cider, fine to start with but after 2 they become rather sweet and sickly, this coupled with the numerous pints I'd consumed all day.

We stopped for several hours, packed with lots of Spurs lads after their semi final defeat, boxing on the tv helped wile the evening away.

A decent evening, I may revisit again when I'm not so under the influence.

On 30th May 2017 - rating: 8
[User has posted 80 recommendations about 78 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Real Ale Ray left this review about The Dolphin

A traditional and basic pub, that looks as though nothing has been altered in a good few years. Greene King IPA and Fullers Pride seem to be the two main stays beer wise, so I went for the Pride, which was in good shape and served from the down to earth and friendly manageress. The bar counter top was unusual in the fact that the bar top was in red leather. This pub satisfied my curiosity for a visit, but nothing adventurous beer wise would draw me back.

On 31st July 2016 - rating: 4
[User has posted 3376 recommendations about 3376 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Tris C left this review about The Dolphin

A first in here for this pub with its Watney Combe Reid roundel and rather fine older Reid's tilling. Very basic certainly but not in an unpleasant way and indeed very Irish but not some awful Oirish-themed dive; rather melodic Irish folk tunes played at a muted level over the gramophone. Actually quite nice, I spied the main bar - the pub is split - and there are vestiges of what I assume to be art-deco stained glass; snooker on the telly. A friendly barmaid, and a perfectly decent half of Fuller's London Pride at £2.15 is about the going rate around here; a second pump, clip reversed, dispensed Greene King's IPA. Rather a quiet place save from an invasion of German tourists, I might be tempted back. Might be...

On 26th April 2016 - rating: 4
[User has posted 1955 recommendations about 1922 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


john gray left this review about The Dolphin

Old style pub tucked away from busy Kings Cross.Bar and small lounge.Bar dominated by a pool table.Nice for a quiet drink if you like Gk -ipa on cask.

On 20th April 2016 - rating: 5
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


hondo . left this review about The Dolphin

Tucked away just off the main drag. A bar and lounge with an old style tiled exterior. 2 real ales and food served. The pub has a dartboard and a pool table.

On 15th August 2014 - no rating submitted
[User has posted 2883 recommendations about 2820 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Rex Rattus left this review about The Dolphin

They still do London Pride in here. It wasn’t the best pint I’ve ever had, being in the “drinkable” category. Thai food is advertised (lunch for a fiver), but any diners there might have been had long gone by the time that I arrived at about 3.30 PM on Wednesday. The Watney Combe Reid signage remains extant on the outside. There are still two separate rooms, with what has all the appearance of a public bar on the left, and another room on the right signed as a restaurant. The public bar was as basic as they get, with no tables or chairs, just a few stools at the bar and at ledges by the windows, and with the room dominated by a pool table in the middle of the floor. The walls in here are decorated with framed, and some signed, photographs of (mainly football) sporting teams. I wasn’t sure whether the restaurant room was available for drinkers, and in any case not wishing to appear isolationist (the restaurant was empty) I shared the public bar with the guv’nor and a few of his regulars.
There is now a London Pride clipped handpump in the Public Bar, but maybe just to show what is available as the guv’nor went through to the restaurant room to pull my pint. This is the place to go if you are after a quiet pint, although based on my one visit the ale quality isn’t brilliant as I suspect that it’s not the main seller in here. It’s not the place for you if you’re after sumptious luxury.

On 7th April 2012 - rating: 5
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]

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