I think you need to go further out of town for that kind of experience. Cornwall and North Yorkshire perhaps...What is the Soho pub made famous as the venue for Jeffery Bernard's exploits / residency? That should get pretty close to Aaron's criteria. Has anyone read Toby Young's book - a colleague of mine said the pub mentioned in the book might have the requisite drinking den characteristics. He can't remember the name though. One other "brew your own" place is Freedom, though the interior and clientele is more trendy than traditional (or at least it was when I went there on our groups pre-Christmas party bar crawl).

QuoteOriginally posted by: csparkerWhat is the Soho pub made famous as the venue for Jeffery Bernard's exploits / residency? That should get pretty close to Aaron's criteria. i believe that would be the horse and coaches?i have to agree that london is rubbish for good pubs, but "the Bell" just off cannon street is very close to Aaron's statedpreferences.

OK, who wants to choose - I have been looking at pubs.com and would propose one of the following, which are in the "City" and entirely based on personal experience, before I moved to the steel and glass of the wharf:- Fox & Anchor, Smithfield, just across the road from my old office, Barbican tube- Old Cheshire Cheese, Fleet Street, very old, huge place, easy to get lost inside, St Pauls or Blackfriars tube- Cittie of York, Holborn, another large, old place, less easy to get lost, Chancery Lane tube (depending on Central line re-opening)I looked at some more "West End" pubs, but without direct experience, wouldn't want to pick one at random. Please make further suggestions if you don't like my taste...

Parker, nice site, but its missing a few, especially the ones I'm trying to remember . So far Cittie of York looks interesting. (central line should open by mid Feb, fingers crossed) else we switch. Anybody been to the pub in Chancery Lane which stands at the original address of The Bank of England, that would be best in context of history,

I think SixSigma has presented us with a good sign. His anagram for:WILMOTT FORUM USERS GROUPis:"PURE ITO LOGO = MUST SURF". MR. W. It made sense, sort of, in the context of the thread which started out as a stochastic process question directed at Paul, and wandered into surfing stories.I think the latter phrase is unmistakeable and will not encourage questions from the uninitiated.

Kutilya is referring to the Old Bank of England. I went there once - it is a good pub with the bar in a very old and ornate banking hall. Kind of like the bank in Mary Poppins... From memory (albeit distant) it is a "stand up" kind of place - when I went, it was packed with suits, many of whom were Andersen droids (according to my then boss, an ex-Andersen guy). Not sure what the clientele will be like now - foresnsic accountants, administrators, receivers...I agree that the pub guide web site I posted was far from complete. I keyed London Pub Guide into Google, and that was the best I got from the first page. Does anyone know of a more Zagat-like guide to London pubs?

Parker we have 2 (Cittie of York and Old Bank of England) nice pubs but we also have a small problem, our risk is lumped in one place, if the central line doesn’t get fixed everyone will either be very late or skip, we need an alternative not dependent on the central line, Once we have the alternative we can switch last minute to miss DCFC K

We could diversify by all going to different places

We have three weeks to see how they do with the Central Line. Given the risk of paralysis by analysis, we should re-open the venue search to off-central line and see who comes up ith anything better than the Fox and Anchor.

Close to Green Park, distinctly English, there's a really nice spot called Shepherd's Market. The Bunch of Grapes is one of a few good pubs there, and generally not too busy on a Thursday night, and there's a quieter upstairs bar as well.

Hey there is this other bar in the same shepherds market off curzon street right across from that indian/singaporean restaurant ..... How about that? Its probably got the best upstairs in the westend??

I know i am gonna probably regret posting this, but it just cannot be an accident. So help me god, I am taking one for the team...Here is the real evil anagram hiding behind the text "WILMOTT FORUM GROUP USERS MEET". Anyone who doesn't believe me, please check.It is actually a threat that goes like this, "Girls or femme must put out or we..."

Hooky Dooky! Aaron has picked The Old Bank of England Pub, Ceteris paribus (and central line working) we shall be meeting here on Thursday, February 27 from 6.30 pm onwards.K

For more details on the venue and a link to a map, look here. In summary, the pub is at 194, Fleet Street, not too far from Goldmans, the old Citibank House, The Savoy...The central line shouldn't be an issue since Fleet Street is actually pretty close to the district / circle lines. I hope to see you there. In case of plan changes, send me a message nearer the time and I'll send my cell phone number (or I'll take my life and privacy into my hands and publish it here...)

we shall be meeting here This is of course a very specific definition of 'we'....I shall of course be there, but assuming a martingale will drink alone Perhaps we should have a prize for the person who avoids me with the greatest style ?