Crown and Anchor, Covent Gardenback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Was in the area last night, poped into the C & A for what was going to be a pint but what ended up 4 glasses on mulled wine (the smell gets you as soon as you open the door). Highly reccomended!
Certainly didn't seem as cold on the way home, think I'll do my shopping on Neal Street more often.
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Had a nice pint of Guinness in here whilst watching the hustle and bustle pass us by outside.
I actually quite enjoyed this place. I tend to stay away from Covent Garden but as I was going for drinks at Circus nearby we had one in here before it opened.
Guinness was well kept and staff were alright. 7/10
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First visit for me for some after work drinks a few weeks ago. Absolutely rammed, but not surprising considering it's right in the thick of it. Ales on were Harveys Best, Deuchars IPA and Greene King IPA. Had a few of the latter which were OK. Staff were quite nice. Prices normal for the area (I think about �3.60 a pint.)
All-in-all, it's a perfectly decent pub. It's not a bad choice if you're trying to meet up with people in Central London before heading off somewhere else. 7
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Good enough but uninspired....dreary ales and the usual lagers..probably tied to Marstons..as the Reigate Market is.. so neither are "Free" Houses as advertised..one for Trading Standards except there is no legal definition of "Free House" so murder is got away with! P.s. spotted a Ploughman's with distinctly industrial cheese....just like the beer...lol!
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Despite the reasonable passage of time since their comments, Gann and JohnBonser have it about right; this is a pleasant and worthy enough, yet unexceptional and essentially by-numbers hostelry. In essence it is not superior, but can't be dismissed as inferior either.
The outside appearance is of a well-preserved Victorian corner pub, and the decor on the inside is traditionally-orientated and in-keeping with its history, if a little faux and inauthentic in places. In any case, it helps to create a sense of wellbeing and pleasant conviviality away from the hurly-burly of Neal Street, beyond the unnaturally large front doors of the entrance.
The welcome from staff I find to be modest, but not as detached as one sometimes finds, particularly from the non-indigenous members of the team, and above all beer and whatever else is dispensed efficiently enough by all-female team: the bar was well-staffed on my last, recent visit.
Ale-wise, the usual keg nonsense one finds in London and every other town, but mercifully a 3-strong concession to cask, with the same ales as those mentioned previously featuring as regulars. Not an inspiring choice although conditioning seems to be in order. It seems a shame if this is a Market Taverns outlet that the successful template of its flagship, the Market Porter, can't be applied more here (then again they own the Market at Reigate so perhaps we can't expect as much as we'd hope on that front....).
Food is served, although as yet I've not been in need of it when visiting. It appears to be the usual pub grub fare, which presumably satisfies the majority of the innumerable tourists and never-to-return again opportunists who populate it day-in, day-out. If you are in need of sustenance I suspect you'd get a passable plateful here?
Atmosphere, though steady and comfortable, was somewhat lacking, though fortuitously I was last here for a private party in the upstairs function room, which featured a range of shiny happy people including a live jazz band, so we didn't go wanting for liveliness. This area is rather like an extended front room, with a fireplace, comfy chairs, and a plethora of old photographs adorning the walls. It has its own bar too, which featured Harvey's Best but no other ales. It seemed more chilled served from here than downstairs, but it was manageable.
Not a universally excellent establishment and if one pays a short visit for a quick 'alf then it definitely won't stand out in the memory above the many other London boozers of its ilk. However, in the capital one can't afford to pass up every pub that can be considered unremarkable; as it goes this offering is rather better than some of its peers.... And I would recommend the funtion room for a smallish group.
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I don't normally ike pubs in touristy covent garden, but this one is all right. friendly staff, good wine..
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A decent enough, but nothing special corner pub on the cobbled back streets just of Shelton Street in Covent Garden.
Internally the street level bar is a fairly plain, but there is a more comfortable upstairs room which is used as a restaurant during the day and as a bar in the evening.
Three handpumps and the usual beers as mentioned by Mr Bonser of Harveys Sussex Best, Deuchars IPA, and Spitfire.
The pub has no official outside drinking area, but in summer the cobbled pavements are utilised and it�s a fairly decent place for an outside pint, as it was last week.
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Largish pub on a street corner in the heart of busy, touristy Covent Garden.
Outside some ceramic tiling advertising Watneys Pimlico Ales and Reids Stout reveals the pub's former ownership, but, although we learn that the pub was established in 1904, it's now a rather featureles and uninspiring bare boarded single bar.
The pub's Licensing Certificate tells us that it's a Market Taverns Limited pub - these are the people who have the Market Porter in Borough Market and the Carpenters Arms near Marble Arch. On my visit, the three pumps were serving Harveys Best, Spitfire and Deuchars IPA. Not seeing any other pump clips decorating the bar anywhere, I would hazard a guess that these beers are regulars. The Deuchars IPA - � 3.05p - was quite good.
I'm not sure why the previous poster thinks this pub is "beneath contempt", but it's not a pub to go out of your way to visit and it's not on my list for a return.
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When I recently suggested that the Round House not far away might head a list of decent pubs that had gone to the dogs I had forgotten the Crown & Anchor. Once a Prince of Pubs it is now beneath contempt. What a waste of a prime location.
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This was the pub I spent my last evening in before getting married in the mid 90s and I have to shamefully admit I probably haven't been in it since. It's been refurbished since then although not in a bad way. Most of the customers were refugees from the nearby shopping streets (which have improved dramatially in that time).
Ales were Spitfire Harveys Best and Deuchars IPA. There was slightly too loud RnB style music on which I don't like and would discourage me from returning in the daytime but overall this is a decent pub.
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Went in there last night (Friday) and it was packed, 3 staff & the landlord. A bit of a squeeze to get to the bar but once there was served very quickly (by the landlord). I had the Pedigree and my 2 friends had the Harveys and they were as good if not better than anywhare else in the area so we stayed for a couple.
Well worth a visit if your up for a lively night out with a quality beer.
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Shockingly bad service in here last Friday night. You need decent staff on a Friday evening in Covent Garden. Place was not that busy but took an age to get served, staff had no idea who was next. its not rocket science.
Avoid
HENDO - 17 Jun 2009 16:32 |
They had Pedigree, Spitfire and Harvey�s Bitter on. The Harveys was �3 a pint, and tasted OK. This is a small corner pub on bustling Neal St, and which I found to be clean and comfortable. It�s bare-boarded throughout, and has one large flatscreen TV, but which was not on when I visited early lunchtime on Wednesday. It�s quite nicely decorated, with some shelving between the main room and stairs cluttered with miscellaneous nick-knacks. I didn�t eat there, but the menu looked reasonably priced and unpretentious. This is a decent enough pub without being anything special.
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I visited the Crown and Anchor on Saturday, and went inside thinking it would be a typical London pub. I'd just come off an incredibly delayed train journey, and then caught the tube from London Euston to Covent Garden, and needless to say, I was tired, and needed some food to refresh me! I needed my energy for an audition I was going to, just down the road, literally, at the London Film School, and therefore, I thought the Crown and Anchor would be the perfect refreshment stop.
I walked in, and it seemed quite pokey and small, but the typical of a London pub. Even the man, who no doubt was a nice, pleasant man when not a raving alcoholic at just past 12pm - at the bar, ranting and raving about being imprisoned in Strangeways in Manchester, but now living in Hackney - added to that glorious London feel, and I love London. I looked at the menu, and it seemed suitably lengthy (especially as gastropub's now tend to have immensly concise and restrictive menu's, which do nothing for my appetite. I like choice!), with a good selection of starters and mains, but no pudding, which was quite disappointing. I like a pudding. Anyway, I ordered the Steak and Guinness pie, which apparently came with chips and vegetables, for �6.95, but stipulated to the girl at the bar that I wanted double vegetables and no chips, instead of chips. I'm quite terrified of potato. She was lovely, but evidently vacant, as the meal came within fifteen minutes, with chips, perhaps one or two brussell sprouts, and something vaguely resembling pastry. I was expecting a PIE - as in, in a dish, with a crust, and with meat on the inside, oozing with it's Guinness enhancement - but instead, I got what looked like a tin of stewed steak on the plate, and an actual piece of puff pastry. The plate was freezing, as generally was the food, and it was all doused heavily with black pepper. I informed the girl that I'd wanted double vegetables and not chips, but she said I could have the chips anyway, and when I actually tried them, they were the hottest part of the meal. The steak was tough, tasteless, and in quite a greasy sauce, and the puff pastry much the same. The brusell sprouts were hard, the carrots cold, and the seasoning incessantly over powering.
And no pudding!
A pudding would've been hotter, and I need something to fill my tummy on these cold days.
Plus, numerous times throughout my 'meal', the Hackney alcoholic kept coming over, and talking about fish. He even managed to spit on me, in his recollections of sea life.
I've rated this pub 5 simply because I love Covent Garden, and the decor is typical of London pubs. Other than that, the food's dreadful, and there's no pudding. The resident drunk tops it all off. I wouldn't go hear again, especially as two hours later, I found myself in the toilets in quite a hurry, at The British Museum. Pleasant.
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Went here yesterday and ordered food with a friend at 1.10pm - nothing fancy, just two sandwiches.
Mine came at 1.50pm, so I just had enough time to cram a bit in before dashing back to work, however, they made things quicker for me because lo and behold, my chicken and bacon club LACKED BOTH CHICKEN AND BACON. Nice work there guys!
Needless to say I got a very speedy refund.
It's a shame really because the staff were nice and attentive and the pub is spacious and clean... especially for a pub in Covent Garden at lunch time...
Having said that, if they can monumentally mess up two sandwiches like that it's no wonder there's plenty of space at the bar.
Not going back.
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Fairly large pub in Neals Yard area of Covent Garden. Had three beers on offer. Harvey�s Young�s Ordinary and Spitfire. Young�s was in reasonable nick.
Given the size of the pub the amount of seating downstairs was quite limited, so had to go outside as the upstairs area (which looked quite nice) was locked.
Would certainly go back if I were in the area.
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Finaly this place has been turned back into a PROPPER PUB. I used to frequent this place befor it lost its identaty and now I will start to frequent it again. It always used to be a great place to spend sunny afternoons so I can't wait for the summer.
On the beer side of things there were Youngs, Harveys & Spitfire(Harveys & Spitfire were of exceptional quality) & a good selection of lagers.
Good to see a traditional pub back in Covent Garden WELL DONE!!
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will somebody please explain to the non-english speaking management what music is, cos they dont know!!!!!.
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Seemed pleasant enough, though was outside most of the time
Okay range on tap, but seemed a bit small inside...
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As an Aussie visiting for the first time, i found the bar to be well looked after, the music ok-ish - jumping CD player though!
Staff were all a great laugh thou, especially the blond haired barman - what a spunk! and very charming too. Well worth a visit.
anonymous - 23 Dec 2006 03:10 |
Not the worst pub in the area certainly not the best
juzza - 12 Aug 2006 12:08 |
Once stopped here for a pint of something, can't remember what but suspect it might have been a lager. Certainly can't comment on the ales. Obviously this has a fabulous location but otherwise I remember vert little about it so assume it is fairly featureless. A bit of nice ceramic work on the exterior.
anonymous - 9 Feb 2006 10:40 |
Very busy modern pub, teeming with people. Was surprised that the Young's Bitter I had was in such great shape when it appeared the clientele was nearly all lager drinkers. Worth stopping by for a quick one.
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I used to often stop there for a pint if I was shopping in the area. Always found the view out the large window to be good. Lots of pretty girls to observe while downing your drink.
The Stallion - 5 Sep 2004 17:14 |
A good bustling place on a busy intersection of three-wheeled Australians trying to run over the pedsetrians on Neal Street, and aggressive dodgy minicabs coming the other way, so good viewing overall. Cant remember what I drank, but Federer won the tennis whilst I was there, so must have been good.
Lawrence - 21 Aug 2004 00:49 |
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