The Angel Inn is in St Giles High Street London, very close to Charing Cross Road and Denmark Street. This is a perfect location for us, as Denmark Street is where you buy guitars and Charing Cross Road is where you buy books, thus covering two of our interest quite nicely. Its location is a real bonus, because like many a London pub and/or restaurant that is half a block away from a main shopping street, the tourists stay away in hordes. (The same thing happens either side of Oxford Street.) We were introduced to this pub by a friend of mine one evening a couple of years ago on our way to a John Hammond concert.
Inside and out, this is a traditional London pub, unreconstrected, ungentrified, and unadorned. It looks like it hasn't changed in 100 years, and unlike most pubs that give that impression there is no artifice involved. I went there in the beginning of May with Kippa, and again with Susan on our last weekday in London when we had to visit our bank and sort out that sort of stuff.
The food is good value, especially considering the sort of prices you can pay in London - main courses about £6 including steak and kidney, fish pie, some Indian dishes. The beer is good, too - Samuel Smith's on tap; a good strong Yorkshire brew, the bitter is particularly recommended if you have an educated palate.So - if ever you're in London and in need of sustinance, or even just some rehydration, try the Angel. Get it while it lasts, because I fear this pub is one of a disappearing breed.
Simon
2 comments:
Because I live on the other side of the Huge Pond, it has been years since I ate at a London pub. I rated the food negatively then; has pub food improved in recent years?
It always was (and still remains) the case that you had to know your pubs. Back in the grim old days there were some pubs with magnificent food, and even now, when the UK is touted as being a "food capital" you can still get some decidedly dodgy meals in pubs.
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