Pub of the Week No.5: The French

OUR NEW SERIES! Our round-up of our favorite London pubs on or near the routes of our London Walks. We’ll be posting reviews, giving recommendations and directions and from time-to-time delving into the stories behind the pubs and pub names. As always, we want to hear your suggestions, too. Send your Best Pub In London suggestions to the usual address or leave a comment below.


The French House, 42 Dean Street, W1 (Tube: Leicester Sq/Piccadilly Circus)
Somewhere in the realm of dreadful folk songs there’s a “comedy” ditty – as funny as an orphanage on fire – about “The Pub With No Beer”. And while the French House certainly isn’t that – try Becks, Leffe or Budvar by the bottle – they won’t serve you a pint. Why? Is this the fabled and erroneous French rudeness? Nope, they just don’t serve ‘em is all. Take this perfect opportunity to adopt a when-in-France approach – go for a Pastis, or a Breton cider. For the lil’ ol’ wine drinkers, try a perfectly acceptable bottle of Merlot for around the £15 mark or, for around the same price, a half bottle of Chablis. This legendary, wooden panelled single room bar (a haunt of de Gaulle and his Free French comrades during WWII) is bedecked with pics and characatures of the ghosts of barflies past and is simply a London legend. Vive le French House. 

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