please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Have been coming to this pub off and on for over twenty years and like some of the posters below, I remember well the days when it sold huge, rare, roast beef baguettes carved straight from a massive rib. That's long gone but many other things remain very familiar.
So, paid a visit a couple of weeks ago for the first time in about a year - packed outside as always but some standing space inside was quickly found. I and a friend had a few pints of Youngs Bitter and it went down very nicely, a couple of other mates were on the lager and said it was good!
Perennial problem is the upstairs gents - tiny and often smelly. On this visit the pong was so bad I actually gagged when walking in. Its hard to see what they can do given the age and shape of the building and the fact that the place has far more customers than the bogs can cope with.
Nonetheless, an enjoyable visit to a vertical drinking pub, where despite the 'crowd' service is good!
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Beautiful location in Leadenhall market even if the market long ago ceased to be anything other than a tourist trap. Beers are from the Youngs and Wells range and not especially illuminating. There is a curiously bijou upstairs bar which has elements of cosiness. In warmer weather the suited denizens spill out into the market's communal areas.
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First time visit on a Wednesday night to Old Tom’s Bar underneath this pub. As you enter the bar after negotiating the narrow steps you are immediately greeted with tiled walls making you feel like you are in a butcher’s shop (as commented on by blue_scrumpy below)
2 young bar staff on with both of them seemingly wanting to spend time talking to their friends than serving new punters, after a short wait and a few eyes towards one of the said bar person’s I choose a pint of Young's Winter Warmer from the 3 ales on the hand pumps, London Gold & Young’s Bitter being the other 2 choices. It was raining outside and was also pretty cold so a Winter Warmer also takes the chill’s away however not when it’s served in a freezing cold glass! It was like holding a glass full of ice, making what is normally a warm hearty ale very cold like generic lager!!
Music playing at a higher than average level, I guess the bar staff thought this was appropriate as the place was only a quarter full.
The interior of this bar is amazing and is worth a visit just for that alone.
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Having visited the Lamb over 5 years ago last, I returned to take in Old Tom's Bar, which is in the basement of this establishment. Whilst the Lamb itself was packed on my late Friday afternoon visit with many spilling out into the market itself, few manage to spot the narrow entrance, including myself. I eventually went into the Lamb to find out where the entrance to Old Tom's Bar actually was. The bar was much quieter and I easily secured a table. The look and feel is of an old butchers premises with white tiled walls and meat hanging over the bar. Sharps Coaster & Youngs Ordinary & London Gold were on offer. I plumped for Aspalls. Complimentary sausage rolls were on the bar. It's well worth knowing about Old Tom's Bar, if you're looking for something a bit more peaceful. I assume the ales are the same as in the Lamb upstairs. Only open during the week.
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This pub gets extremely busy and the crowd spills into the courtyard.
Due to the numbers, the toilets become disgusting as they are not designed for so many people.
There was a queue outside both ladies and gents toilet last night.
Maybe a Public Health inspector should drop in one busy evening.
If I'm paying top wack for beverages, I expect a clean bathroom.
I will never return.
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Wowsers talk about busy!!
This place is seriously packed out in the early evenings with all the city suits finishing work.
We had a couple of pints hushed in a little corner but it wasnt too bad. The outdoor setting with the covered market is fantastic and at christmas the area feels great.
I would return but would not actively seek it out.
Pint of Guinness & a Lager was an eye watering £9.10. Ouch.
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Went in here on a Saturday, when the market is usually shut. It was Open House weekend so that might be the reason the whole market was open. A Youngs Vertical drinking experience. Bitter was £3.79 and tasted fine the food was pretty good as well.
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my personal experience of pubs in the square mile..1989 2008
6am: unleash bowel movement , purging yesterdays cocaine, lager and sweet meats.
6.30am: get up/shower/power wank ..thereby processing remaining toxins down the plug hole
6.45am: violent argument with wife
7 am: no time for breakfast , off to work!!
7.45 am: toilet, wank , capaucino
8am : work!! push papers around, stare at screen , tap pen on teeth, toilet, wank.
1oam :pretend to read 'lloyds list'
11am : 'strategy 'meeting with other 'non marine facualty specialists', , in reality alcoholics all shaking like the drunken bakers in 'viz'.
item one, agenda one , priority one ..liase to meet in drakes wine bar or the english club 11.45am
11.40am: pick up folders and with the determined look of east german sprinter marlies goher, stride purposefully to the 'market' with durans 'hungry like the wolf' ringing in your head. eager for new business....
11.42am: simply decide against the exciting new buisness venture of going to see some cunt in his 'box' head straight for 'drakes' in leadenhall market.
11.45am. meet with other 'non marine facualty specialists' to discuss covering each others arses, if it all gets on top.
12.15pm: thoughts turn to the kibble and where we take our custom today.
will it be 'wraps', 'bar bed' , the counting house, the elephant or the wine lodge.(descisions descisions!!
1pm: time to take the show on the road!!: press buzzer to gain entry into bar bed's gentlemens club upstairs behind reinforced fire door.
1.01pm: time to mingle!!. associate with 'colourful' collection of junkys, theives, bullys, cunts,pimps, whores and reinsurance brokers.
4.30pm: leave establishment ripped to the tits and £2OO Lighter, but in possession of the life giving elexier that is the kibble. scurry' golem ' like to lloyds of london for an appointment with inaminate object 'the lutine bell'
4.45pm: 'rap' with bob the pristine yeoman at the entrance , of lloyds, cunted , like a long lost brother(making a mental note to ignore him the next day, if i survive the next 24 hours)
5pm: leave bob crying/scared and go to meet broker for my 2.30pm appointment
5.o2pm: wank in bogs, really unloading a pootle of toxoc semen in a prolonged orgasm due to being on the kib all afternoon.
5.11pm.... miss my 2.30pm appointment and express my apologies. my nans dying of 'testicular cancer 'or something
5:15pm ..'lunch ' more kibble and more pints in leadenhall market. discuss exciting new opportunities within a growing market with other 'specialists'
5.45pm..return to office. pack up leave.may 'jimmy' open the petty cash box and point the finger at the african cleaners...after all 'my word is my bond'
5.55pm..in to the wine lodge , more cocaine, more pints, more disscussion on pornography
7pm..asked to leave by management, quick inventory reveals dangerously low stock levels of kib ie 1/2 a grm. reorder critical.i repeat reorder critical!!
8pm..leave the counting house restocked..phew!!!1
8.15..in the cheshire cheese, reminiscing with other 'specialists' about our brave comrades that have fallen by the wayside and now live above a pet shop in a bedsit in tooting/eltham/basildon. either estranged from their wife and children or dead.
8.15pm to 11pm : have a fucking good laugh about the above 'fallen'. cunts.
11.15pm: time for home!!!. ring estranged ex colleagues wife on train home , wired to fuck, with propositions of a sexual nature, realise you have in fact rung your sister, but continue anyway.
12.15: jump in cab and share a few lines with colin the cabby.
12.25: home time!!!, throw dinner in bin have violent argument with wife, spend a night of fitful sleep on the sette in suit, waiting to do it all again!!
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The Lloyd's (of London not the bank!) insurance market's second trading floor. If you aren't a City type or dress and have hair like Nick Kamen or Luke Goss you might well feel out of your depth.
The Lamb is within Leadenhall market sets and on the ground floor feature is the spiral staircase. Tope floor has a restaurant, though I have never got used to the Tartan carpet the food is fine!
I believe that in his only UK film, Brannigan, John Wayne had a fight in the pub in 1975.
A word of warning, a distinct lack of gents bogs. If you need the, "dunny", on a busy night you'll need to organise yourself.
Invariably very lively on St George's day. Did I mention the Scotch Eggs...?
Oh yes, and you do need a bar presence to get served - be patient, all good things come to those who wait.
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Dropped in one evening last week. Busy as ever but Young's always reliable. I do remember when it was about the only thing served here. Lager drinkers have slowed down the service over the years but still a great city institution. I look forward to some Summer evenings standing outside!
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Can get very busy but standing "outside" in the Leadenhall Market is probably the done thing anyway.
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Another pub that was very very busy when i visited. Cracking beer selection even though it's a Youngs house, good pub, good staff, recommended.
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Youngs Bitter was good quality though why did the barman need reminding to top it up when he presented it with nearly an inch of head on it?! Very interesting tiling and architecture in a unique location - must learn about the history of the place.
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Whatever happens - this pub is A LEGEND.
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First port of call of the evening, plenty of city type both in and outside the pub. Good atmosphere, no probs in getting served. Most notable thing was how my friend who was wearing pink stood out from all the grey and black suits. She was the only colour in a sea of monotone, no chance of losing her!!
Beer was in fine fettle, stood outside in the fantastic surroundings of Leadenhall, can't be many better places in the immediate area to have a pint.
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This was the last watering hole during a walk with friends on a Monday night. We got there quite late, about half nine, and the place was empty. A few city types wandered in and out. The Youngs was quite good. The decor, with the spiral staircase and photos of Queen Mum and Chas pulling a pint, was interesting. I can iagine that it does get packed in here at times.
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Very nice historic city pub used by well dressed ladies and gentlemen more for a quick drink at lunchtime or after work than a "session". Youngs very good, various lagers on sale and being enjoyed. Food is limited to hot beef and pork baguettes but looked good. I'd definitely go again and I'd go dressed like the other clientele rather than jeans and an anorak.
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Not my first visit, and I have always enjoyed calling in here and mixing with the well-heeled City workers in the early evening before they commute back home. It is a historic location and there are some nice old artefacts to be seen, particularly some glass panels and the tiled mural inside one entrance. Posh London drunks can often be found here, and their antics can be amusing at times. Unusually my pint of Young's bitter was poor on this occasion.
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Couldn't get served - so went upstairs opposite to Brokers. Great landlady and friendly locals.
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You make me smile blue scrumpy! A London pub full of arrogant, obnoxious types, oh dear why drink there then. So glad i left that cesspit of a city years ago!
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If only the Lamb had looked like the picture above when I approached it! After fighting through the crowds of drinkers in the market, I managed to get through the door to find a queue for the bar more akin to a nightclub, with people pushing and shoving and others quite happily jumping the queue. Luckily there were plenty of serving staff and I was served within around 10 minutes. However, choice is limited to either Youngs Ordinary or Special. I plumped for a bottle of Rekordelig cider! The interior is quite special, with its attractively tiled side entrance, wrought iron staircase, frosted glass windows and other features such as a Bass mirror. I found the clientele to be disagreable. Apart from the rudeness and pushing and shoving, I experienced one incident in the toilets which proved how snobbish some City folk can be. The crowds inevitably meant queues for the 2 urinals in the gents. Whilst waiting impatiently for his turn to relieve himself, I heard one particularly obnoxious 'gent' comment on how busy it was today and that there appeared to be a few people around that day that clearly didn't belong there. Being one of a minority not in a suit, I took this as a personal slight of my visit to the pub. It's a shame that pubs such as the Lamb do not open at weekends when the posh City types have disappeared off to their leafy rural village to wallow in their self-glory leaving London and London pubs to Londoners. Weekend opening would surely still attract a sufficient enough crowd to make it financially worthwhile and the experience could be much more enjoyable for real drinkers. A lovely London pub - just a pity it is so popular with arrogant types.
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So packed with arrogant young men in expensive suits its hard to describe the pub, one older gent said to me in the que at the bar that he hated the place haha - I sort of agreed in as much as the arrogant youngsters in suits sort of ruled the place, pushed in - got served first etc etc...........but obviously great location with the market - need to go back on a quiet day to appreciate it more.
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A splendid Wells and Youngs Pub in an outstanding setting. I am no fan of W&Y, and I don�t really like the beer since the move, it was adequate. I only score it so highly as it is a fine piece of history. I wouldn�t personally recommend it if you aren�t in the area.
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The 'choice' this evening was Youngs Ordinary, Youngs Ordinary or Youngs Ordinary, but at least the pint was in fine condition. Very much a 'vertical drinking' establishment for city types, but it is undoubtedly an interesting building in a historic location. Some nice engraved glass panels too. The mezzanine floor is a bit more civilised (if you can get a table), and there is also an upstairs restaurant (in the 'Private Bar') and a basement section called, appropriately, the Dive Bar.
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This is a Young�s house situated in the middle of the splendid Leadenhall Market, and with the usual ales on offer. The special I had was OK. It�s a fair bit less intimate than the nearby Jam Pot, with its high ceiling and, presumably modern, addition of a mezzanine floor. It was pretty crowded when I dropped in at 2.15 on a Wednesday, and the noise level was very high with a number of office workers still hard at it in the pub with their raised voices echoing off the high ceiling. The pub still retains what looks like some original etched and cut glass from the Victorian era, plus I spotted the excellent W B Simpson tiled mural of Wren showing the plans for the Monument to a lady in a carriage.
This pub has a somewhat unusual feature of an iron spiral staircase leading from the ground floor bar up to the mezzanine bar. I�m not sure why it�s considered necessary as it takes up space in the ground floor bar, when there is a separate staircase up to the mezzanine floor at the side of the pub. But not to worry � it�s just an oddity. As a pub, it�s a bit too loud and noisy for my taste. I certainly don�t think that it�s a bad pub, and OK for a pint if you�re in the area and don�t mind Young�s ales, but I doubt whether I shall go out of my way to visit again.
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Great pub in fantastic surroundings of Leadenhall Market. The Youngs was even better. The pub is on a number of levels with a spiral staircase leading to the mezzanine. The pub is also just around the corner from Lloyds insurers.
Sausages and meat for the sandwiches and baps looked fantastic - though didn't try.
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Classic City boozer with only Youngs best and Directors on offer both of which were in good condition and easily quaffable. Beef and sausage baguettes looked good and were popular but our focus was only on the beer.
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Lovely old fashioned pub in the corner of historic Leadenhall Market. Great pint of Youngs.
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Wow - fantastic pub. I have always passed the Lamb and thought it was too busy and I'd have to wait too long for drinks. I went down with some girlfriends after work and was plesently suprised. Grabbed a nice table in the market with 4 friends and sat there all night while they offered free table service. We passed the time by watching all the hotties dressed in there fancy suits. Not a bad night at all!!
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One of the great old City pubs. Went there last night to meet a couple of friends and found the Young's Special in good order. Can get really busy especially around Christmastime but that's the beauty of a City pub. You get the complete spectrum of ages in places like this, unlike the dreadful, plastic bars in places like Canary Wharf! Not too busy last night but it was a Tuesday.
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This place was very busy during my visit last Thursday evening, but the staff did a good job in serving even though you had to lean past a sea of suits that were lined up against the bar. I spotted a couple of Youngs Ordinary and Special pumps along with Bombardier and a selection of standard and premium lagers.
The toilets and some seating can be found up a spiral staircase located in the centre of the bar. There is also a private function room upstairs and a dining room downstairs, not that I checked either out. There are some high tables located outside in Leadenhall Market, but it is no smoking as the market is enclosed. The beggars are very active in this area and can be a pest to get shot of.
The beer is good and the staff are pleasant so if I was in the area at a quieter time of the day I would pop back in here again.
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Very nice indeed. Only been in downstairs bit (Dive Bar) on a weekday afternoon & at teatime but is ideal for any tungsten tossers. 2 boards available which can be reserved as well. Proper old fashioned pub decor and imagine downstairs has changed very little over the decades. Good clientele as well. Dwarf barmaid a bit miserable but can live with that. Concur with previous comments regarding the canopy and are other pubs of similar high standards in the surrounds. Well worth a visit but be warned, karaoke downstairs on first Weds of every month
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One of London's great pubs but not as good as it could be due to inattention to smaller details. The lack of seating downstairs I can live with as it is clearly a practical solution to the bustle of the locale. The canopy of Leadenhall Market is drop dead gorgeous and the upstairs area is pleasant indeed. However, on the night of my visit, a plasma screen was blaring out Clive Tyldesley banging on about "that night in Barcelona". True, it was a big match but it does tend to intrude on the mood of such a characterful place.
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Was a good pub for many years, but is it going downhill after the refurb? The staff now seem more interested in chatting than serving.
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Renowned stand-up-to-drink pub in Leadenhall Market retaining many original features - one of my favourite city pubs. Youngs Beer was in good nick early yesterday evening.
John Wayne fans may recall that this pub featured in a fight scene in an 80's film - Brannigan.
Nowadays, it is of course rather more civilised, although I was apoplectic to see that karaoke is now being offered as an "attraction" in the downstairs bar on occasional Wednesdays. I think I'll give it a wide berth
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A great City boozer that is exactly that. This is not a wine bar. This is not an All Bar One. This is a pub where anyone - men or women - come during and after work to have a few beers and let the tension of being a trader / underwriter / broker / journo / PR etc drain out of them.
That it does food is inconsequential. Good Guinness, decent Youngs ordinary and a special atmosphere.
Particularly "up" around Christmas, good place for a long lunch.
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Renowned City pub in the heart of Leadenhall Market. It�s a Youngs House that has an upstairs restaurant a main bar at street level and an interestingly tiled cellar bar. Gets packed most lunchtimes with drinkers spilling out into the market.
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Of course it was closed on a Saturday - it's the City!!!!! No need for it, or many other pubs in the nearby radius,to be open as it is absolutely empty even on an apparant "busy weekend"! Think the wealthy landlords/brewers make enough dough during the hard 5 day slog! Something warmingly traditonal about this notion and this glorious pub!
anonymous - 27 Nov 2007 16:58 |
Heard a lot about this pub so decided to visit one saturday and guess what......It was closed. WTF Leadenhall is a nice place to visit.
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Decent little restaurant on top floor serving usual Youngs-traditional English fare.
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Due to there being far too many people crammed into the small space that is the City, this pub is usually rammed (hee hee, geddit?!) so there's rarely anywhere to stand at peak times, never mind sit. Despite this, the service has always been prompt and the beer is good, as is the house white. The decor inside is very wooden and a bit spit and sawdust but it's very appealing and authentic. Nice to sit outside in the beautiful Leadenhall Market and look at the intricate dragons that watch you drinking from the ceiling. But only if you go for lunch at 3pm.
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After being served up two woeful pints elsewhere it was nice to get a decent pint. The Lamb is a good solid pub without being outstanding. Always worth a visit.
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Good solid pub, nice decor, V handy to stand outside in the market, good beers and good location.
Usually stop off here when on a city pub crawl. Definatley worth a visit.
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A great pub in a great location. It's just a shame that it doesn't serve decent beer (are there any Sam Smith's pubs in the square mile?) and doesn't allow dogs in the saloon bar. It's gets a bit nippy outside!
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Disappointed to discover that they have no Winter Warmer - otherwise we enjoyed our visit. It can be a bit like standing in a wind tunnel outside though.
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Not been in a while but always visit when in the area. I like the beer and the basement bar brings back lots of memories. Suits? Your in the f*ing City!!!
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Great city pub. A few concerns over the opening of a 'proper' restaurant upstairs, but at least it means they've sorted out the gents. Every time I go there, there's a strange bloke with glasses and a dirty rain mac drinking the Ordinary outside, even when it's minus 5! Overall, decent, historic boozer.
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The best drinking place in the City. Great location, great beer, and they've even sorted the gents loos out.
My wife loves it too. It's a pub for male and female (unlike the Moon which is strictly an Essex boys pub, and don't get me on the Cross Keys and its clients!!)
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to 'anonymous' on the 16th sept. If you will wear Next suits, square shoes and shirts with epaulette attachments then what do you expect you big poof.
Went to The Lamb about a month ago and had a very disappointing pint of Young's Ordinary. Hopefully this was a one off as opposed to the norm. A nice location to drink nevertheless.
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Great pub if you�re into meeting men in suits. Yep this pub has it all - 900 men in varying shades of black and grey with bad ties and shirts stapled into their trousers by a belt sitting on a 90 degree angle due to their expanding waste lines.... the talk is all the same; has-been financial boys claiming they made money in the 90's... these blokes are the rejects from the real city trader pubs... think I prefer to listen to my Dad tell me how hard it was in the 80�s when interest rates were 19% than go in here and listen to the diatribes from post-40 balding men who are on there second divorce... oh did I mention they serve beer here as well ? the place stinks like piss and they serve plates of chips for a fiver that a rodent wouldn't eat... give it a miss... better places town.. hint: try the Jamaican Inn.
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Looking for a city pub? You've found it here. Can't wait to have a drink outside under the beautiful market when the weather becomes that bit warmer. Busy but you'll see why. Very efficient staff and friendly with it.
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A nice pub in a beautiful location. You couldn't not enjoy having a drink here. Well perhaps you could, you know how them there city types can get!!
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Decent pint, excellent location, and really good beef rolls. However, what happened to the lady who used to administer the carvery? took 20 mins plus yesterday to get served when there were only a handful of customers waiting.
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Yeah one of those ones where you are not so much rating the boozer,..but rating the experience of standing on the pavement outside.......and,......as pavements go,....this isn't bad,..partly cos it aint one.....nice cobblestoned under-cover market,..decent environment for the city,...bring your trainers in the briefcase though,..don't wanna jar those knees on the jog back to the office.
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The meeting point for the Insurance world. Known to every broker and Underwriter in the city. Youngs pub serving excellent ale. At lunchtimes always surrounded by suits drinking outside. If you are a "man" and you like to get served quick go down to the cellar bar which is always a bit quieter. 2 dart boards.
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Young's pub. Nice pint of Special.
The upstairs non-smoking room was a treat and the view of the market is nice. I will be going back.
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Excellent venue for lunching. The Young's is invariably spot on and the beef or pork rolls are first rate. The only real complaint is the tendency to get over-packed on occassion.
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Beer usually quite good whenever I have done this one. Architecturally impressive as previous contributors have commented. Kierandinan, you are correct, the answer is Brannigan, starring John Wayne, Richard Attenborough and others of that ilk. There is a splendid punch up staged in the pub which quickly turns into a free for all. Look out for it, next time the film's on TV !
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Full apologies to `John`of the prev comm...getting my Widmark & Wayne mixed up! Brannigan was the cop film,so hopefully I can go back to bed now!...and to tell you the truth the pub is much better-in its layout & locality-than I previously gave it credit it for...My grumpiness has exited the building!
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Either empty or full of suits.....don`t like either!...don`t rate the beer....good location & quite a few places locally for a proper pint/atmosphere...MOVE ON...
P.S. prev comment- answer probably Madigan.
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A city legend. Youngs beer always in good nick and the architecturally impressive and atmospheric Leadenhall Market to drink in also. A proper pub for proper people and accordingly always deservedly popular.
A question for fellow anoraks - what was the name of the film featuring John Wayne as an American cop which included a fight scene filmed in this pub ?
If you dont know the answer, I will put it on this page next time I post a comment here
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Would be well worth a visit for its architectural merits alone. Seems to be mid-Victorian, and in harmony with the rest of the buildings in the market. It can get crowded with professional people in suits but there are three floors and the upstairs bars are each worth visiting. Beer is from Youngs and is very decently kept
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Fantastic Youngs pub slap in the middle of the wonderfully atmospheric Leadenhall Market.
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Great old-style city boozer. Well kept youngs ales, legendary roast beef baguettes. Fills up with brokers from Lloyds at lunchtime, but punters spill out into the Victorian covered market so there's never an issue with space. Non smoking upstairs I believe, tricky spiral staircase up to the loos after a crafty lunchtime sharpener or 3.... If you like All Bar One etc please stay away.
Mr Lash - 8 Oct 2004 13:51 |
One of the best pubs in London. I imagine those not liking it prefer sterile boxes full of chrome. Always had great service and good beer. I think it was the first pub in London to have a no smoking area, for what its worth.
Dave - 23 Aug 2004 15:04 |
A city institution in the beautiful Leadenhall Market. poor and rude service, mediocre overpriced beer, tatty furnishings and disgusting toilets. I love it!
Stephen - 15 Jul 2004 16:02 |
I've been here for an annual reunion for the last 4 years. On each occasion the staff are surly and the toilets are appalling. The beer is adequate. The only redeeming feature is that you can stand outside.
Simon - 29 Jun 2004 13:52 |
This City pub has a public bar on the ground floor with a wrought iron sprial staircase to a mezzanine ,a no smoking bar on the first floor and a surreal bar in the basement. Treasure it whilst you may. Rate as 8 or 2
andy - 16 May 2004 20:50 |
Fantastic old style pub(owned by Youngs) dating back to around 1780 apparently. Serves a good Youngs pint for around �2.30. Hot Roast Beef baguettes are the speciality. It's "Fagin Week" this week in Leadenhall Market. Milk maids, one man bands, chimney sweeps..you get the idea. A real nice way to spend a lunch hour standing outside.
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