please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Very popular and crowded pub. Luckily most of the tourists seem to come and go in packs every 20 minutes or so, therefore not too hard to find a seat. Badger Beers in good condition and very reasonably priced for the area.
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Popular pub opposite Parliament. Too popular in fact, despite being post lunch & pre knock off the place was rammed & not all were tourists. Public servants dropping a shift? My stand up pint of Sussex Draught (£3.50) was cheap for the location & satisfactory in taste. However the jostling & braying was a bit much so I necked the pint quickly & departed.
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One of my LDN favourites, with a superb view of the Houses of Parliament from the front of the pub.
Also, home of Badger Beer - so a decent pint of Tanglefoot to boot.
Worth checking out.
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Given its location, surprised and pleased to get a seat so easily - it was busy but not mobbed. Nice compact little wood-panelled bar with a beautiful mirrored gantry. Four well-kept Badger beers on handpump, dispensed by four pleasant young barmaids from around the globe, mirroring the majority of the clientele. Carpeted lounge off the bar. Went upstairs to eat and surprised again to find the food reasonably priced. Much better experience than I had expected.
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A group of us met here last night. There is scaffolding around it, so they are doing something to it. As said before, it is a small traditional pub. We got a seat quite easilly and it did not seem overly crowded (customers were outside as it was a lovely evening). Service was good. There was a good selection of ales. I had the Badger, which was well kept and reasonably priced - for central London - at £3.30, although my friends lagers and Guiness were over £4 a pint. We didn't eat the food, but what went passed us looked good. A former civil servant friend pointed out the Division Bell - although why MPs would drink here when the beer is much cheaper over the road, God knows.
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Incredibly crowded on a Sunday night, and very lively atmosphere. Traditional pub in a good location. I enjoyed my visit here and would definitely go again.
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An architecturally historic building, right by Big Ben, the pub itself not quite as overrun by tourists as I thought it might be. Got served pretty quickly by one of the Eastern European members of staff, real ale was in good nick.
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Nice enough place - busy, nowhere to sit but what do you expect from a pub opposite Big Ben. Sexy Russian barmaid - but couldve had a smile on her!
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Absolutely full of tourists BUT what a brilliant old fashioned interior for a pub! Very small and cramped but still enjoyable, esppecially in summer when you can stand outside admiring Big Ben!
The major downside though, the prices! Everytime I come in here they must rocket up about 30p per pint! On average around 80-90p per pint more expensive than other pubs in the area....
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Oh dear. Not bothered about it being crowded - you'd expect it here on a Saturday - but why the huge argument over a glass of wine which was clearly not right? It smelt about right for putting on my chips. Come on guys, it's only a glass of the owner's wine (not yours) which needs changing. If they could have supplied blood from a stone, I'd have had it. It would have been quicker.
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Great pub in a great location. Very interesting interior - worth a look in for that alone. I went in recently on a saturday evening, packed with tourists of course but thats to be expected. I have also been here a while back on a sunday afternoon and it was virtually empty - so pick your time! Good beer too (Badgers). I like the place.
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A good old 'Victorian style' pub opposite (more or less) St Stevens Tower or Big Ben if you like. The only issue I have with this place is that it's owned by Hall & Woodhouse. But when I can bring myself to drink their ales they are usually in good condition here.
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I was quite impressed with the interior of this pub. It is full of tourists, many of whom are British tourists, it seems. This made it extremely difficult to get a seat. I finally managed to get a bench on the outside wall. This is a Hall & Woodhouse pub, dispensing 3 beers on my visit yesterday - First Gold, Tanglefoot and Lemony Cricket. I tried Badgers own Pear Wood Cider, which turned out to be nothing more than a glorified Magners. But it still went down well with a nice view of the Houses of Parliament over the road. The two bars at ground level have high ceilings and grand decorations. There is also an upstairs bar, which seemed to be more favoured by diners. Altogether a nice pub interior and certainly one to try out if ever in the Westminster area.
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Look, it's in Westminster so expect it to be busy with tourists and Members.
Don't blame the staff or the brewery for the space problems, that's how it was in the 1860's and it's a listed building so no changes are permitted, ok? And if the loos are smelly, use the disabled.
On the plus side, you can drink a pint of fine Badger First Gold while gazing through the most expensive etched windows of any pub in London at the Big Ben tower and the HoP - try it after dark, it looks lovely.
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yes,it is Small, not a bad Boozer though.
Apart from the religious nutter who accused some bloke of being a nazi.
Shame,as she wasn't a bad looking sort..........
Guinness was good
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My heart always sinks when someone recommends meeting here and I promptly try to change their mind. Why on earth would anyone want to drink in a pub where the bar staff have more floor space than the customers. It's just tiny. You can never get a seat and there's no where to stand when you can't except outside where most people are. Avoid going here at all cost.
Saifa - 20 Jan 2010 15:57 |
I've been here a couple of times with the boys and girls from work, it's very, shall we say, cosy on the inside, and naturally, because it's opposite the Houses of Parliament, it's going to be a tourist hotspot.
A small, charming pub, with a good variety of beers - ruined only by the swarthes of people standing outside and blocking all entrances and exits, awful loos and it gets so cramped in there. Not too bad prices for beer considering the area, mind...
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Toursisty souless clean & corporate
bland with side order of pricey! Real ales.
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Good beer at fair prices and plenty of character. Much better than nearby rip off red lion. High ceilings, light streaming in and a gallery as well. But go when it is quiet.
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Tried that lemon flavoured Badger Beer on Saturday; fantastic. Location means it is a bit of a tourist magnet but a fine pub nonetheless.
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Went in on Monday night. beer was good, tried a lemony flavoured one which was unusual but perfectly acceptable. Well worth a quick pint if only to see the interior.
tanky - 25 Aug 2009 13:00 |
A seller of Badger beer in the heart of the Empire! Enough said.
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This is fabled as a haunt of various politicians, which given the recent outing of most of our MPs as greedy chancers might put some readers off. However, if one is fortunate enough to visit at a weekend, the clientele are rather more diverse. The difficulty is likely to be availing oneself of enough space to even stand comfortably, as for some reason (presumably its prominent location in the heart of Westminster) this pub is perennially packed. Don't bother squeezing past people to try the other bar, as whichever one you're in the other will be just as busy. I did start to wonder whether a pub crammed full of MPs mightn't actually be preferable to one full of tourists, but I shall leave that to you to decide.
For all this, I would still suggest popping in here for a quickie if you're in the area. The pub does have a well-preserved, characterful interior, and there is indeed no faulting the cask ale offerings - all Hall & Woodhouse but always on form in my recent experience. In fact if this place were transplanted to a quieter town well away from the seat of government and incessant tourism, the chances are its appeal would increase inexorably.
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Too crowded and impossible to move about in. Barmaid stared at me without any hint of a greeting went I got to the bar - maybe I caught it at a bad time (thursday evening at about 6:30pm) but nothing to recommend a return visit I'm afraid.
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I was lucky enough to wander into here just as a large group of tourists were leaving so there was plenty of space in both of the small downstairs bars. The range of badger ales was ok and Peroni, HB and HB export, Guinness and Dry Blackthorn cider were also available from the cheerful barmaid. If memory serves me correctly there was a little background music, but there were no TVs or other distractions.
I don�t think that this place really stands out from many of the boozers in the immediate environs, although I would take no issue with popping back in if passing.
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Nice to see somewhere selling Badger Beer (I played safe and stayed on the excellent Hopping Hare) and nice too to see such a traditional looking pub. Went there around 9pm on a Thursday and it was very busy.
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Good beer in here but it lacks atmosphere. I went on a rainy Sunday night and it was cold and the lighting was dim and lacked warmth. Couldn't fault the Badger ale on tap.
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Good for afterwork drinks but if there is a crowd it serves to get there early and bag a space upstairs. The bar area gets cramped and overcrowded but the bar staff are attentive.
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Badger shop if that is your bag the ales are above average (although thanks to CAMRA's fetishising tradition over practicality that is damning with faint praise).
On a late afternoon more of a transitory tourist camp than anything else. Not a bad stopping off point well connected next to Westminister tube. gets quite crowded quite quickly with a small crowd.
Not really a pub for a session more a convenient place to bump gums before moving on.
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This place is a fire trap the way it's been laid out;particuliy at the front bar. Prattish, low level civil servent haunt and political oiks covert the bar; so push through and spill a bit over em to make them take hees. The beers are good. The staff on the ball. Good for a smoke outside too. Wonderful view of the clock.
anonymous - 30 Oct 2008 00:18 |
I waited years for this place to reopen again. Well worth the wait. Any chance of closing the nearby Red Lion down now; always more like a dead lion service and beer wise. Long may the St Stephens last! Cheers!
anonymous - 25 Sep 2008 10:01 |
A very good pub. I work in Westminster and this is my favourite place for an afterwork pint. Great location with fantastic views of the Houses of Parliament from the cobbled area outside, plus a nice decor within.
Gets filled with an interesting mix of politicos and tourists, and can be a bit crowded as a result.
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This pub has a very interesting, comfortable interior and is in a great location. Prices are fairly reasonable, considering the location.
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Contains some interesting original Victorian features (notably the bar back), but it�s just too full of tourists for my liking. Not surprising considering its proximity to the St Stephen�s Tower end of the Houses of Parliament. I�ve nothing against tourists, but I prefer a slightly less crowded pub. Definitely worth seeking out for the excellent interior, but I do not think that I would make it one of my regular haunts. Hall and Woodhouse (essentially Badger) ales, which were fine on my recent visit.
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Nice view of the Palace Of Westminster from the window, and a decent pint of Badger to go with it.
The interior has been tastefully refurbished and is worth one visit on that point alone.
Sadly, it�s not the biggest, and being slap bang on the tourist trail, it�s hard to get a seat, or space whatsoever, right throughout the day.
I have to say, that the Badger beer is better at The Ship and Shovel.
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For such a touristy area this is an excellent pub. Good service, good Badger beers well kept, fairly sensible prices and good mix of clientele.
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What a nice pub. Despite living in London for 15 years I'd never been here. Very good selection of well kept Badger ale and the food was good. Staff very friendly and efficient. Nice touch - got slightly cloudy pint and the landlady was over in a flash apologising, replacing it and giving a lecture on how to serve beer, very nice lady, just like the pub!
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Fine interior decor and decent pint of Badger yesterday evening. The pub has a typically transient London feel to it, but I enjoyed the visit. Staff seemed unusually keen and enthusiastic for a Central London pub.
Worth including in any crawl of the area
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Quite how I have managed to miss this place until now escapes me (since I must have been past it umpteen times over the years). Even though I am not a great fan of Badger beer, the Pickled Partridge went down well, and the interior decor (and the balcony bar upstairs) make it well worth a visit.
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Beautiful interior, impressive array of Badger ales,an ideal refuge for a damp wintry afternoon
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Visited here at a start of a recent pub crawl. Always pleased to see Badger beer on pump. Well worth a visit and it looks good too. Highly recommended.
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Great pub, clean toilets, always a plus, friendly staff, the food and beer (Badger) were excellent.
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What a cracking boozer! There isn't much space, but you have to love the ales. Very friendly service. I'm a fan, what more can I say..?
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I had to post a review as I love this pub! It does get v busy, but wait 10-15mins and you can always get a seat. Good old-style pub, strong ale selection, tradditional food menu. Mixture of civil servants, tourists and mates just out for a decent pint and a catch up.. you can see Big Ben from the window and pre-empt the call for 'time at the bar'!
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Old fashioned pub just outside of Parliament. Great ales but can get very busy as its a small place. Best ale is Hopping Hare!
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Not a bad pub at all when you think it is so close to the Mother of all parliaments and it is visited by so many tourists. I miss the old pub on this site which was SO old fashioned!
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Very olde worlde, well 1950/60s, which makes a change from some of the antiseptic modern refurbishments. Can get very busy with tourists. Good choice of ale. Worth a visit if your're in the area.
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Excellent pub, with good, well kept beers, decent food and great service. It can get busy after 6pm weekdays but it's well worth the effort just to soak up the atmosphere and ambience. I now regard this as my local as I work about 5 minutes walk away and can often be seen propping up the bar.
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A good pub, with some great decorative features, such as the wall-paper (!) which gives it a wonderfully authentic look. The beers are interesting and have a good enough turnover to be fresh. The pub also features a division bell for summoning the MPs to vote (never heard it myself though!)
It's a little unfair to criticise a pub for being jam-packed when it's in an area of London which is probably the most densely populated by tourists, working people and MPs per square foot per hour. One needs to keep a sense of perspective; this pub probably has more that is authentic in its little finger than all of what the pubs and bars of Islington and Clapham can claim altogether.
My recommendation is to go there between lunchtime and five o'clock, or else expect a squeeze, and if MP-spotting is your thing, then this may not be such a bad thing.
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Can't really give this place a rating as whenever I've gone in for a drink, its always - always - been absolutely rammed, with not a seat nor a space to be seen.....But the stone wall outside is nice to sit on and watch tourists eat home-made sandwiches. Quality of drinks can vary drastically. But I'd give the wall a 4, maybe more if its sunny.
anonymous - 29 Dec 2006 11:24 |
Caught lunch crowd during a recent stop.
Not a seat to be had for some time. Eventually managed to grab a stool as my food arrived. Not the most comfortable seating in the world. Ham, eggs and chips were fine but not many places can muck that order up.
Fursty Ferret and the Tanglefoot were both fine. Staff were friendly and talkative which was suprising given the crowds.
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Very busy on a rainy day as you might expect. I like the interior and the staff were friendly. The beers are quite good too.
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This was the first stop on our Sunday pub crawl/ tourist walk. It is located right next to Parliament (Big Ben End) and while crowded wasn't that bad considering one is in the middle of probably the most touristy section of London. This place practically drips atmosphere so I was surprised to here from London Porter that it had been closed for some time. They had three Badger ales on including Badger first gold, TangleFoot, and Fursty Ferret. They also had King and Barnes Sussex bitter on. All the ales were in good condition. I stopped here twice and found the staff to be friendly as well as the folks drinking in the establishment on both occasions. Again, quite surprising as they have to deal with quite a few tourists.
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the nearest you can get to drinking in the house of commons without being there! beautifully refurbished pugin-style interior. it inevitably gets inundated by tourists. nice quieter bar upstairs.
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I was here on Sat Aug 26th, and all the only real ale available was a cloudy Thirsty Ferret. Nice location, nice view of Parliament, but however is charge of keeping the beer needs to do a better job.
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Nice pint of K&B Sussex and was looking forward to the Stinger (organic nettles!) but too hot inside and too busy in the alley with tourists for me. First time visit so will return when it's colder! Looks good inside and staff attentive.
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Gr8 2 see my favourite brewery's ales in London. Had a nice pint of Thirsty Ferret served from a very nice friendly barmaid. Lovely decor but i imagine it can get a bit rammed on a busy day.
My Rating 8/10
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Hall & Woodhouse pub refurbished in the currently very fashionable traditional Victorian style. Well kept and with a decent atmosphere. Can get very crowded with drinkers spilling out into the alley. Decent selection of the Badger, K&B and Gribble range of cask beers served in good condition. Nice pub.
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Very nice. Good splashes and great decor. Food was OK some reasonably priced food. Did I say great decor and good splashes. ra ra ra
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Smashing pub. Just right for a lunchtime pint, and a good place to start a Whitehall pub crawl.
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I liked this one. Had a good beer, interior is dramatic to say the least.
anonymous - 5 Jan 2006 18:59 |
High Victorian style pub, a recent refurbishment has paid off nicely. Grade II listed pub. Excellent Badger Ales on tap. Well worth a visit if your in the area.
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Very neat and tidy pub, with nice selection of Badger Ales. Looks enormous when approaching from Westminster Underground but only 2 tiny rooms (unless there's an upstairs). I liked it.
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Good decor, attractive bar staff, well-kept ales. You might occasionally spot the odd MP in the upstairs bar, which has cosy alcoves. Get there early for a seat, as it does get crowded.
anonymous - 26 Jul 2005 15:43 |
Beautifully restored pub and a great location - which add up to make it a really busy place at peak times.
The beer's decent and so's the food.
At least half a dozen tourists came in to take photos of the place when I spent an evening here a few weeks ago. Recommended.
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How long has this pub been here ? I used to live in London and thought I knew the Westminster area inside out. But I never heard of this place.
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fantastic pub, planned to go on a pub crawl before getting a train back to newcastle but ended up straying all morning. Interesting decor, good lagers and the regulation backpacker barmaids. They just love it when i tell em I'm the duke of northumberland.
mark - 2 Nov 2004 13:21 |
I heard the bell (6pm) - took me a while to work out what it was.
The bars are tight (in the space sense) downstairs and the tables are invariably taken by civil servants (and ladies who may or may not be their secretaries...) but it's a decent meeting up place.
Tell your pals to meet you "at the pub opposite Big Ben" and you can't go wrong.
Good range of bitters - the German(?) lager seems to be the only one on tap apart from Stella.
Staff attentive and friendly - once saw a matriachial landlady about, giving the impression this was a boozer in the old sense of the word.
And yes, every passing tourist has to peer through the window...
Wullie - 22 Jul 2004 22:06 |
Good pub recently reopened in High Victorian style, three or four real ales, sandwiches made with fresh bread not soggy, good on a spring Sunday for watching tourists go by.
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Alright for a beer after work - really friendly staff but can be a bit crowded. Not a pub for a nightout
Jack - 20 May 2004 16:46 |
New pub just opened opposite the Palace of Westmminster, on Bridge Street.
Pub spread over two floors; public & saloon bar and baclony bar upstairs. Decor is in the style of late 19th century. And has been done tastefully. Which makes a surprising change. And as with most pubs within a *very* short distance of Parliament the pub has it's own division bell.
Good range of beers and ales on sale. The Stella was a little flat though.
Can see this place bcoming a "bolt hole" for all the reprobates from across the road.
Rob - 16 Jan 2004 09:25 |
