London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars Updates
Central London – Soho and Leicester Square
Traditional pub
28 Rupert Street W1D 6DJ
T (020) 7437 1415
Open 1100 (1200 Sat-Sun)-2330 (2400 Fri-Sat, 2230 Sun). Children welcome lunchtimes only.
Cask beer 4 (Fuller’s, Hopback, Timothy Taylor, guest) Cask marque, Other beer 2 keg, 3 bottles
Food Simple, good value pub grub, Outdoors Standing room and barrels on alley
Tue quiz, Sun lunchtime and evening live jazz/blues, meetings & functions
The Blue Posts, Rupert Street, London W1
The best evidence that a genuine community exists alongside the throngs of tourists, shoppers and entertainment seekers in this part of London can be found in its handful of thriving local pubs. The Blue Posts, at the end of an alleyway on the western edge of Chinatown, is a case in point. Michael, its landlord since 2004, says most of his customers are regulars he knows by name, but the casual visitor can still expect a warm and friendly welcome. The downstairs bar, which looks like it was last refitted in the 1970s, is small and basic but homely, with an impressive collection of maneki neko beckoning cat ornaments; upstairs there’s another smallish square room with a big window, where bands play on Sundays and BBC scriptwriters hold regular meetings.
The lengthy traditional menu is impressively low priced for the area, with sandwiches, jacket potatoes, curries, cottage pie, chile con carne, smoked salmon salad and a choice of hot vegetarian options. The beer range at this Enterprise tenancy opts for better known names which are kept to Cask Marque standards – London Pride, Summer Lightning and Landlord are regulars with a changing guest that might come from Black Sheep, Wells & Young’s or Wychwood. Keg Hoegaarden and Leffe and bottled Budvar, Duvel and Newcastle Brown extend possibilities. At Christmas they go for strangely sculpted topiary rather than a tree.
Visitor note. Most authorities on pub names explain names like the Blue Posts by the pre-literate practice of using visual features like blue painted poles to identify particular buildings. But that doesn’t explain why there are so many pubs in the West End with that name – currently five but once at least seven, with the nearest only a few minutes walk away in Berwick Street. Michael says blue posts marked the boundaries of the hunting park that formerly stood here, but if so it must have been a very strangely shaped park. The Blue Posts in St James’s claims blue posts once indicated sedan chairs for hire. Whatever the reason, make sure you arrange to meet in the right one!
National Rail Charing Cross Underground Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus Cycling Links to LCN+6A, 39, 50 Walking Jubilee Walkway