The Dog and Duck

On a warm Friday evening a few weeks ago I went to The Miller over near where I work.  The work lads like to go there as the nurses from guys hospital go there after work, not that I’ve ever seen any of them actually talk to a nurse.  It’s a pub that’s gone for the trendy approach to pub life and it seems to be doing well.  After a pint there I went over to London Bridge to hop on a Boris Bike, they are easily one of the best ways to get around central London.  They cost less than the tube or a bus and you don’t have to cram on with lots of sweaty Londoners.  I’d recommend them but don’t drink and cycle of course!  I cycled up to Soho and parked the bike. 

Soho is a vibrant and busy part of London with lots of bars and restaurants.  There are plenty of good pubs as well as the more modern wine and cocktail bars as well as the unfortunately inescapable eye sores of pubs like a ‘Slug and Lettuce’.  In terms of pubs, there must be 100 pubs within 10 minutes walk of Soho Square.  There is a good website that has mapped all 48 of the pubs within the Soho area, it’d be one hell of a pub crawl.  

The Dog and Duck

My destination for the evening was the The Dog and Duck on the corner of Frith St and Bateman St.  My mates were drinking outside on the pavement so after saying a quick hello nipped inside, crossing the interesting mosaic of a dog and duck to get a pint.  I’d never been for a pint in this pub before and from the outside it looked like a good establishment.  I had my suspicion that it might have been a Nicholsons pub and on entering my suspicions were confirmed. Not that it is a bad thing by any means, they always have a good range of interesting beers. 

The pub would certainly fall into the historical pub interior section.  It is certainly old, the note on the website made me laugh though saying it was ‘famous for serving John Constable, George Orwell and Madona’, I wouldn’t exactly put Madona into the same historical figure list as the previous two.  It’s not very big inside and the bar is particularly small.  The three bar staff behind the bar were whirling around in the non choreographed dance of the bar staff, always just managing to miss one another.  They were doing a good trade but the queue went quite fast and I got a decent IPA style beer.  I am generally a fan of a Nicholsons pub and this one had been done well in my opinion.  The back area of the pub where the tables were looked like it could have done with a bit of work to smarten it up a bit but least there was somewhere to sit if you wanted to.  We were happy enough outside and we had bumped into a school mate of ours.  Our mate ‘Coogs’ was working the crowd and came to say hi for a while.  I told him about this blog and asked his opinion of the pub.  “More Duck less Dog” was the reply, a slightly cryptic message but one that at the time when a few pints down I somehow completely understood.  

Overall I thought it was a good pub.  It had just enough to make it stand slightly above other pubs in the immediate area.  I’d definitely go there again for a beer or two.  As far a recommendation I’d say its worth going to if you are fan of historic pub interiors, the etched glass, wooden panelling and interior features are worth a look.  If you are looking for a real ale then you are guaranteed a good one here.  If you have time I’d suggest exploring the area a little and trying other pubs in the area too as many of them have a lot to offer.   

The Argyll Arms

Being a true gent I took my girlfriend out for a drink and dinner the other week up in central London.  I did manage to chose the location so of course there was no question that we would be going to a pub on my list.  We went over to the Argyll Arms as she had been shopping on Oxford St.  Located in one of the busiest parts of London just near Oxford Circus the Argyll Arms is certainly not going to suffer from a lack of passing trade.  Finding the pub easily it was obvious that it was popular with a wide range of after work drinkers.  Everyone from, city boys, scaffolders and tourists were outside having a pint after work.  Entering the pub it was clear it was a Nicholsons pub.  I’ve been to enough now this year to be able to spot the pub styles very quickly.  The dark wooden panels and bar with dark wooden floorboards and etched glass reminded me of several of the pubs I’d been to already.  The dark wooden interior with some dividers around the bar reminded me of the Windsor Castle and the etched glass reminded me of the Sailsbury.  Neither features were as striking at the two pubs mentioned but they are well set out and provide a good historic looking interior.  I’m not sure how much is original or not.  The back of the pub was carpeted and did suffer from the stale beer smell that gets trapped in the windowless rooms at the back of pubs.  The bar man was pretty useless, a bored South African who was clearly tired of working in a pub serving tourists who didn’t speak English.  

We managed to get ourselves a drink after some eager non English speaking tourists worked out what they wanted.  I had a pint of the Atlantic IPA by Sharps which also had quite a sharp taste.  The range of beers is not too bad, fairly decent for a central London pub.  Nothing overly special about the beer though.  

When I had mentioned to my mate woody that I was going to the Argyll he gave a shake of his head to indicate he didn’t think much of it.  I found it a fairly middle of the range pub compared with the pubs visited so far on my list.  This is not by any means a write off as I think I’m usually fairly critical so to get middle of the range from this list means it would be bloody good compared to most but not outstanding overall.  The best thing about the pub is that it has managed to maintain its character in such a busy area surrounded by other standard pubs and ubiquitous coffee chains.

I’d recommend this pub if you are up in that part of London but don’t go too far out of your way for a pint there.