Cambridge WC2

London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
Central London: Soho and Leicester Square

The Cambridge, London WC2

Traditional pub (Nicholson’s/M&B)
93 Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DP
T (020) 7494 0338 W www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/thecambridgecambridgecircuslondon
Open 1000-2300 (2230 Sun). Children welcome daytimes upstairs if dining.
Cask beers 7 (Fuller’s, Sharp’s, St Austell, Nicholson’s guests) Cask Marque, Other beers 2 keg, 6 bottles, Also Some wines
Food Nicholson’s pub grub.

This Nicholson’s pub, perfectly placed right on Cambridge Circus adjacent to the Palace Theatre and McMullen’s pub the Spice of Life (p109), is small enough to achieve an intimate, local feel despite the bustling surroundings, with high copper-topped tables and a few more conventional tables and chairs in its single bar. It’s also one of the chain’s better beer stockists in central London, earning it a Good Beer Guide listing. Beside’s the standard trio of London Pride, Doom Bar and Tribute, the four guest pumps explore the more exotic reaches of the chain’s seasonal range: beers from Moor, Oakleaf, Quartz and Thornbridge when I visited. The last’s popular Jaipur regularly recurs. Kozel and Suffolk Blonde are quality lager choices while a smattering of bottled options includes Duvel and Sierra Nevada Pale.  The menu, available in the pub or a small, cosy restaurant area upstairs, is a little shorter than in some pubs in the chain, including options like roasted vegetable tart and tiger prawn and chorizo pasta besides fish and chips, fishcakes, burgers and steaks. A useful bolthole in the heart of the West End.

Pub trivia. The pub was built in 1887 on the site of an older pub known as the Kings Arms. Most of its original features are now gone, but look up to find a splendid tiled ceiling in striking yellow and green.

National Rail Charing Cross Underground Leicester Square, Tottenham Court Road, Covent Garden Cycling LCN+ 39 6 6A Walking Jubilee Walkway