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Detail Pages
The White Lion, Covent Garden, WC2
WC2
WC2E 8NS
Pub Type
Nicholsons (Mitchells & Butlers)Reviews (Current Rating Average: 5½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john gray left this review about The White Lion
Nice pub.Always busy but with a reduced range of Nicolson guest ales.handy for Covent Gardens and the beer quality is always good.
On 5th October 2013
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
BobOs . left this review about The White Lion
I think this is quite an average city pub and bearing in mind its location I'm always surprised that a little bit more effort isn't made. The ales are kept well and the staff are friendly enough and quite efficient but, overall, the pub is nothing special.
On 13th July 2011
- rating: 5
[User has posted 370 recommendations about 355 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about The White Lion
This small corner pub stands opposite the Nags Head and is barely 30 yards from tourist hot spot Covent Garden market although it does have a surprisingly non-tourist feel to it. Internally it is a simple single room with bare floors and wooden division screens between the metal top round tables. There is an upstairs bar labeled as the Bedford Bar and Dining Room although I have not ventured beyond the main bar to date.
A framed history of the area stands at the end of the bar and there are a few old prints of the surrounding area on the walls. An impressive coat of arms (presumable the Duke Of Bedford’s who has connections with the area) stands above the doorway to the upstairs bar labelled as the Bedford Bar and Dining Room although I have not ventured beyond the main bar to date.
There are 5 hand pumps with a limited range of ales by Nicholson’s normal standards – my most recent visit enconntrered Harvestoun Bitter & Twisted, Castle Roack Pale, Sharps, Doom Bar, TT Landlord and London Pride, the last being off. A blackboard advises what is available and what is upcoming. Prices are higher than some of the other Nicholsons pubs in the area with 3 of the 4 at £3.30 a pint making the Doom Bar at £2.75 a bargain. Sadly my pint of B&T was absolutely rank and barely drinkable, something I rarelt experience in a Nicholsons pub. There is a try before you buy policy that with hindsight I wish I had taken advantage of. They have a Casque Marque plaque outside that usually guarantees a decent pint but certainly not this time.
Being in the heart of tourist Covent Garden the place is invariably busy at most times of the day and night and with minimal seating it sin’t the most comfortable pub to spend any length of time in. I would hope that the poor quality ale was a one off but despite this, the place wouldn’t currently rank particularly high on my pubs in the area to revisit beyond a passing pint.
On 3rd March 2011
- rating: 4
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john mcgraw left this review about The White Lion
A fairly small single bar pub in the middle of Covent Garden.Had 4 real ales on and my pint of Doom Bar was well below standard.Can get very busy early afternoon and evening but was nice and quite on my morning visit.
On 9th July 2010
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2044 recommendations about 2025 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The White Lion
The White Lion is slap bang in the middle of tourist central. Covent Garden is just too busy and crowded for my taste, and this is a fairly unremarkable pub. However, it does have a nice little brass ledge outside on which to put your beer if it is nice enough to stand outside, and it did have a decent pint of Thwaite's Wainwright on when I was there the other day. Not worth trying to find (though it would be hard to miss it) but OK for a quick one if you happen to be in the area and don't know anywhere better.
On 22nd July 2008
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]