Calthorpe Arms

I love this pub. Classic atmosphere, nice staff, lovely location.

Visit here regularly at lunchtime as I work down the Grays Inn Road. This is one of the few pubs in the area that work will let us spend our lunch allowance in, which is how I found it (we get £8 a day towards our lunch since they closed our canteen, which we can spend in certain places, and then claim it back), and the Calthorpe does lunch for £6 you get the drift.
First of all the food there is a set menu of gammon and scampi that type of thing. Where this pub excels though are the home made specials on the board. They are always varied, always exceptional and delicious favourites include the salmon and prawn fishcakes, the chicken and ham pie, and on a Friday they do great fish and chips. Incredible value.
Next up the drink they do a good range of real ales and lagers, plus Meantime which is great. There is a good selection of wines, and soft drinks as well. Prices are pretty reasonable.
The atmosphere as has been mentioned earlier, this is very much a local pub at the centre of the community. A lot of my colleagues drink here post work and there is a great atmosphere, with generally friendly locals engaging in fun banter. Bar staff are OK they do their job and thats it, the owner seems like a nice bloke though.
There are no Sky Sports or music, which personally I like, but they have Sky News on in the background. Upon entering it genuinely does look like you have entered a time warp, very 70’s décor, but don’t let that put you off, its a good place.

This is an excellent pub in a good location on Grays Inn Road.
It
has a large airy room downstairs, a function/​meeting room upstairs and
does lunch seven days a week and dinner every night except Sunday.
I
visited this pub on Sunday for lunch, having been tipped off to arrive
early which puzzled me. Got there at 12.00 and was welcomed warmly by
the barman, and noticed that in old traditional London fashion there was
a range of free nibbles for customers on the bar, including seafood,
chorizo and cheese and biscuits which is a brilliant touch or a free
appetizer depending on your point of view.
I ordered a pint of
Carlsberg which was ice cold and hit the spot on a scorching day. I
noticed there was a full range of other beers on tap, as well as a large
selection of bottled beers. There was a great atmosphere with funny
banter between a load of locals and we loved the fact that it was dog
friendly with the couple of canines in being completely spoiled by a
really sweet lady giving them treats.
Onto treats for the human
customers now, and I have to say the Sunday lunch was one of them. For
the incredible price of £6 we could choose between Roast Pork or Roast
Chicken, so we had one of each. Both were excellent three generous
slices of lean Roast Pork was served with a delicious sweetcorn fritter,
and a tender half roast chicken was juicy and succulent. They were
served with crunchy roast potatoes and a selection of vegetables
including red cabbage which was unusual and delicious one slight
criticism no desserts, maybe there is not the demand.
This for me
is what an excellent local is all about friendly polite staff who
know their customers, a nice landlord, great food and a fine selection
of drinks. People new to the pub who attempted conversation with the
regulars were welcomed into it, and in a couple of cases were still
there when we left. This pub seems to be at the heart of the community
and long may it continue

Netter und ehrlicher Londoner Pub. Es gibt verschiedene Biere, wie z. BYoung Special, Guiness und weitere4−5Sorten. die Einrichtung ist sehr authentisch, viel Holz und Tweetstoffe als Teppich. Es läuft kaum Musik, aber da der Laden oft voll ist, ist trotzdem viel Leben vorhanden.
Essen kann man auch gut und günstig. Für ca.6Pfund gibt es wirklich leckeres und abwechslungsreiches Essen. so z. B Chicken Gumbo, Carribean Pork und Greek Braised Chicken. Teils sehr scharf, aber immer lecker und gut bekömmlich. wer also in der Nähe von Kings Cross Absteigt, sollte hier einmal einkehren.

I am a huge fan of this pub… well of the management of this pub!
We have held a couple of pub quizzes in the room upstairs, and the staff have always been welcoming, kind (they gave us a bottle of wine for one of our prizes), and relaxed.
— They don’t mind that we have no idea about how many will turn up until the last minute.
— They can put together platters of cheap, yummy (fried) food for all the quiz teams.
— Giving us the private room means we could be a little noisy without disturbing the rest of the pub!
— It’s busy downstairs, but the staff are speedy, so you can get served quickly in between quiz rounds!
— I love the smell of the soap in the loos. I came back smelling like honey each time I washed my hands.
The main pub doesn’t have amazing decoration, and it is quite full of old men… but this just adds to the charm of the place. It really is cheap, friendly and cheerful. We have raised over £700 for charity with our two pub nights here… so I really hope we can come back to this pub to do it all again.

Maybe I’m a harsh critic, but coming from Wandsworth «Home of Youngs» Town, I wasn’t bowled over by this place. Yes, it has Youngs Ales. Yes, it even had a guest ale on the night I went (Tribute ale). And yes, the food was reasonable. But pretty much all the pubs in and around Wandsworth Town offer the same, and more. It’s also a pretty small place, but not with quite enough ye olde charm (e.g. the Jerusalem Tavern, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese) to make up for it. It may have won CAMRA awards in the past, but with the likes of the Craft Beer Company and the Cask and Kitchen to compete against now, I can’t see it winning any such awards anytime soon.
Overall then — it has the standard selection of Youngs ales. It has reasonable food and service. It’s fairly cosy. A-​OK.

My favourite pub in London.
Great pub, committed to real ales, run with pride by a nice Landlord Adrian, who has a real culinary flair. Speaking of which, the food is excellent and really good value with everything about £5. The Sunday Dinners are superb, with proper meat and yorkshire puddings!
The staff are always well mannered and polite.
The locals are lovely and you are never stuck for someone to chat to if you want. A rarity in this city.
The fact that the pub does not have sky sports is a real plus as it keeps the idiots at bay who tend to frequent the inferior pubs in the area.
Fine choice of ales. Won CAMRA London pub of the year loads of times for a good reason.

Very quiet and somewhat dated, but perfect for a quiet pint and it’ll always hold fond memories of student days. Very nice in the summer if you can find a seat outside and sit in the sun.
If you’re looking for something a bit livelier though, there are better options nearby — try the Lamb or the Perseverance on Lamb’s Conduit Street.

Preserved like a museum!
I really like this pub, they have some good ales and some good food to, You can even buy a couple of types of bottled ale to take off the premesis.
The place really feels like it might not have changed in years and that’s a good thing, a place with such character stands out in a London littered with boring modern bars with no point or personality. I’d hate to see this venue modernized.

This is a really lovely pub. It’s pretty snug inside and the décor is rather dated, but that’s all part of its charm: as one of my friends put it, other pubs pay interior decorators to make them look like as authentic as this.
The landlord and staff are very friendly and the pub has a warm atmosphere, even with Sky Sports on in the corner. As others have commented, this is a Young’s pub, so you have the full complement of their ales. Worth a trip over from Theobald’s Road, Lamb’s Conduit Street or Russell Square.

This pub is literally a time warp — it’s straight out of the 1970s. The wallpaper and carpet definitely haven’t been changed for decades, and the ceiling is yellowed with years and years of nicotine staining.
So, you might think this makes it sound like a bit of a dump, but no — it’s like a piece of history, and it’s oozing character. You really feel like you’ve gone back in time. The customers all seem to be regulars, who have been sitting at the bar all day, drinking away their pensions, and the barman looks like he was born behind a bar.
The beer is also great — it’s a youngs pub, so lots of classics like waggle dance, ramrod, etc.

As far as pubs go, this one may be too quiet and simple for some but I think that’s one of its strengths. It is a nice place for a quiet pint. No TVs. No music. No fuss. Just some lovely beers in a relaxed 1970s environment.

Class boozer which featured on our mid-​week Russel Square pub crawl a few months back. Huge throwback to yesteryear, both the décor and the clientelle — gastro it is not.
The Youngs is excellent and there are no braying suits. Lovely.

This unspoiled and historic local pub is owned by Young’s brewery. It’s on the corner of Gray’s Inn Road and Calthorpe Street.
Consisting of a single large room downstairs and another bar and dining area upstairs, the décor is very traditional, in a comforting, old-​fashioned way: patterned carpets, embossed ceiling wallpaper, large windows and banquette style seats. It feels as though nothing has changed in over 40 years, and that includes friendly service. Unusually for London, the bar is just a simple open counter, without any screens or overhead glass racks.
The pub has a unique claim to fame: in 1830, it was used as a temporary magistrate’s court following the first recorded murder of a Policeman on duty.
The clientele are mostly middle-​aged locals (and mostly men in the evenings), with a passing trade from beer fans and visitors to the Welsh Centre opposite — don’t be surprised to hear Welsh being spoken here. Hip and happening it’s most definitely not! But it’s quiet and friendly — the perfect place for a relaxing pint.
It serves the full Young’s range, which last night included Winter Warmer, Bitter (ordinary) and Special. It has a reputation for keeping its ale in tip-​top condition, and last night that was certainly true. It was the local CAMRA* branch’s pub of the year in 2001 and 2004. The food is apparently very popular too.
Recommended.
Nearest tube is Russell Square (5 mins): Chancery Lane, King’s Cross and Farringdon are 10 minutes’ walk.
CAMRA = Campaign for Real Ale