Although it’s changed a little in recent years, brought up to date after years as an old-school holdout, the darkly handsome Crown & Two Chairmen remains a Soho crowd-pleaser. There’s real ale, plenty of lager and cider on tap, and substantial, high-end pub grub.
Bar stools at the windows allow singletons to entertain themselves with central Soho street life, while a low-lit slouchy area of tattered red leather banquettes and red-beaded lampshades at the back gets the vote of courting couples.
Quirky details – such as a ‘Beer tastes better in a plastic glass’ sign for those wanting to drink outside – add appeal for the chatty, friendly mix of slumming-it business types and self-consciously bohemian media workers who make up most of the pub’s clientele.