I wouldn't never have found this place, however, was meeting a friend who works in the area. Ironically, my friend recommended this for exactly the same reasons as an earlier yelp reviewer when they mentioned you 'could sequestor yourself from the inquisitive eyes of colleagues during an extended city lunch'....Ha spot on.
After turning down a side street and then into a small unassuming alley, the bar opens up into a small little beer garden surrounded by the bar and the dining room. There is also a downstairs area with 2 pool tables. We arrived around 1pm and it was fairly quiet, however, after 1:30pm the place was suddenly full of businessmen settling in for a Friday afternoon drinking session.
Being a green king king bar, the standard beers were fairly predictable, however, they did seem to have a small 'beers of the world' promotion where i was able to get some craft beers including sierra nevada pale ale and a brew dog punk IPA.
I ordered the smothered chicken with streaky bacon and gruyère cheese and my friend got the fish and chips which had great presentation including pots of mushy peas, tartare sauce and a mini jar of Aspall's vinegar. The fish was apparently quite good, but my chicken a little overcooked.
This place is far from a fine dining, however, along with the quaint layout of the bar and history of the tea warehouse (apparently can be traced back to 1592), this is not too bad a place to spend your afternoon if your in the area. read more