Lamb and Flag, London WC2
London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
Central London: Covent Garden
Traditional pub (Fuller’s)
33 Rose Street WC2E 9EB
T 020 7497 9504 w www.lambandflagcoventgarden.co.uk
Open 1100 (1200 Sun)-2300 (2230 Sun). Children welcome in upstairs room.
Cask beer 8 (Fuller’s, 3 guests), Other beer 6+ bottles (Fuller’s), Also Some wines including several champagnes, a few malts.
Food Upmarket pub grub, Outdoor Standing area on street, Wifi Yes. Disabled toilet No but level access and wide doors.
Mon quiz (planned), Sun jazz, monthly acoustic music, functions, occasional big screen TV.
This historic pub in a timber-framed building dating from 1772 is tucked away in an alleyway just round the corner from the Piazza, with an even more hidden passage, Lazenby Court, piercing its side. For years it was a free house, once known as the Bucket of Blood thanks to its association with prize fighting, but in June 2011 it was reopened as a Fuller’s pub, sympathetically restored to appear little changed. Downstairs is dark and characterful, with well worn wood, plaques and photos commemorating now departed regulars, a small seating area at the rear and vertical drinking at the front, where large windows open on to the alley in fine weather. There’s more space in the Dryden Room on the modernised upper floor, named after the poet John Dryden, who was beaten up in Rose Street twice in 1679 at the behest of people who took exception to being satirised in his verse.
Friendly and enthusiastic manager Chris now thankfully keeps a more civilised house, and is working hard to build up the beer offer. Besides regular Fuller’s cask beers Chiswick, ESB, London Pride and Seafarers, he offers seasonals and guests from other breweries like Butcombe and Thomas Watkins, and the likes of 1845 and Vintage Ale in bottle. Quality interpretations of pub grub staples and posh sandwiches, alongside some more exotic choices like salmon niçoise and Greek salad, populate a tempting menu.
Pub trivia. The Latin verse inscribed above the bar, beginning “Meum est propositum in taberna mori,” is from the work of a 12th century anonymous writer known as the Archpoet. It translates as: “I intend to die in a pub / And have wine close to my dying mouth / Then a choir of angels will sing happily: /’God have mercy on this drunkard’.”
National Rail Charing Cross Underground Leicester Square, Covent Garden Cycling LCN+ 6 6A Walking Jubilee Walkway
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