London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
Central London — Soho and Leicester Square
Traditional pub
34 Kingly Street W1B 5QH
T (020) 7494 0834 W www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/theclachankinglystreetlondon/
Open 1000-2300 (2330 Fri, 2230 Sat-Sun). Children welcome until mid-evening.
Cask beer 8-12 (Fuller’s, Sharp’s, St Austell, Nicholson’s guests) Cask marque, Other beer 1 keg, 3 bottles
Food Nicholson’s pub grub menu
Occasional meet the brewer events, functions
Clachan, London W1
The first boutique opened in Carnaby Street, on the western edge of Soho, in 1958. Eight years later the street, now crammed with “gear” shops and underground music clubs, was identified as the epicentre of Swinging London by Time magazine. An early beneficiary of pedestrianisation in 1973, the area has been through some tawdry phases since, but is still welcoming the world thanks to the enduring interest in the fashion, music and youth culture of its heyday, remaining a London must-see.
Pubgoing round here can be rather hit-and-miss, so it’s good to know about the Clachan near the top end of parallel Kingly Street, a pleasant Nicholson’s pub that boasts a particularly well-used range of handpumps. The regular trio of London Pride, Doom Bar and Tribute is supplemented by up to nine others from the chain’s changing seasonal range – Thornbridge is often spotted alongside Cropton, Harviestoun, Nethergate and White Horse. Duvel, Leffe and Vedett might be found in the fridges. Pub grub is the usual Nicholson’s menu, starting with breakfast. A decently sized main drinking area under a deep red ceiling surrounds an island bar with a big fancy bar back, and mosaic tiling featuring the pub name survives on the Little Marlborough Street side but has been sadly partly obscured by some more recent remodelling. Upstairs is an elegant room with a table service restaurant.
Visitor note. A clachan is a small settlement or hamlet once common in Ireland and Scotland – an image that contrasts sharply with the pub’s actual setting in the busy West End. For more conventional shopping than Carnaby Street offers, you’re right by Liberty’s department store and a few steps from Regent Street and the celebrated Hamley’s toy shop.
Underground Oxford Circus Cycling LCN+39, links to 6A, 50