Cross Keys

Disclaimer: There will be several reviews for pubs because SO loves pubs and we went on a pub tour.
I like pubs that have greenery outside. To me, it’s welcoming for people to pop in a have a meal and a pint.
This was off the beaten path of Covent Garden and not touristy at all which was refreshing after a day of doing touristy things. They served an good selection of beer (according to my tour guide and SO).
Pub was cozy inside and they are famous for their memorabilia. The walls were covered with Victorian brocade wallpaper, Beatles memorabilia and the napkin the Elvis autographed. It’s a good way to entertain yourself whilst waiting for your friends to arrive or if you take a break from looking at your phone.

Limited tap selection with a focus on Brodie’s real ales. They were super fresh and poured correctly. Cozy, small, dark interior. I stopped by in the afternoon on a weekday and it has a pretty lively lunch crowd. You can take your pints outside, which is very foreign to me as an American. Overall, pretty solid but not exceptional.

Phenomenally good value for a central London pub. Drinkers as eclectic as the décor and beer selection. Old style, friendly pub with a buzzing atmosphere. Will visit again, I’m sure!

Great décor. Breakfast was cold and the slowest service possible. Items missing. The coffee was good. A waste of time and money.

Unusual selection of beer compared to many I visited.
This is how a pub should look like! The right place to come an early afternoon.
Inexpensive! A pint and a half (2glasses) at £5.25.

Stopped in here for a pint of bitters. This pub was on a map that I picked up earlier showing pubs for craft beers. The pub generally fits the image of an old English pub. Lots of Beetles memorabilia was hanging above the bar. Other older English items decorated the walls and ceiling.

Coming from Toronto, where we have a plethora of ersatz English Pubs that all
Popped up in the 1970’s, it is a joyous experience to have a few pints in such a
typical, authentic, friendly pub. We travel to London every Summer and «The
Crossed Keys» has become my «local». Close to our Hotel in Russell Square, on
route to Covent Garden, it is «must» for a stop in and a good pint. Chris, the
bartender is very helpful with local directions when we sometimes need help in
finding our way around. I will be back again, and again and again. Well done !

This is an excellent pub! It’s a little dark and red and looks like you would imagine a Victorian bordello opium den would be like. They sell Brodie’s beer which is very London and very pleasant, the staff are good and it’s not touristy at all.

Lovely Olde
attractive pub with loads of stuff hanging up about the place adding to the
places charm (how does that work exactly?). Nice dim lighting. The outside is
covered with foliage. Belongs
to Brodies and while I’ve forgotten which of their beers I sampled I know it
was a new one for me and was seriously tasty.

I think Eamon described it pretty well.
To me, this is not a winter pub. It should be but the times I’ve been in here during winter, it was way too hot and stuffy. With that said, summer is great as you can take your drink outside and watch the tourists walk by. And if they’re not watching too closely, take your drink and sit on the curb.
The bar staff in here are friendly and to be honest, I don’t mind that the TV isn’t big (I’m not a fan of TVs in pubs — fine for the bigger chains but not for the smaller pubs).
Would give it a 4 stars but it’s lacking that little something.
However, if you’re in Covent Garden and just looking for a nice little boozer and want to avoid the chains, you can’t go wrong with The Cross Keys.

i like this place, we found it by chance because we were going for an Indian meal just up the road from here.
It gets extremely busy, and don’t expect to get a seat, they are usually all taken, at least when i have been in they have.
There are plenty of things to look at in here, including a very large mirror on the back wall that makes it look twice as long as it actually is.
The toilets could do with a bit of refurbishment.
Love all the pictures on the wall, you can have a lot of fun trying to name them all.

A decent bar in Covent Garden. As far as real ales, this place specializes in Brodies. When I stopped in, only three of their five Brodies pumps were active. The one I tried, though (Sunshine), was excellent.
The walls of this place are bursting with bric a brac: newspaper clippings, beer ephemera, portraits, all kinds of stuff. The first floor is pretty small (cozy?) and it was really, really warm when I stopped in. (I could see the Cross Keys getting really stuffy and claustrophobic.) The lighting was a bit too dim for me and had a reddish tint to it.
For an afternoon visit this pub would be great. At night, I think it could get very crowded. Definitely check it out at some point.

I wish this pub weren’t in such a fantastic location. I also wish that it were perhaps just a SMIDGEN less attractive so that every single person that works in the Covent Garden area wouldn’t come here after work and make this place so freaking crowded.
There are few places I will go to, knowing that they’ll be jam-​packed with, well, everyone in the West End, and the Cross Keys is one of them.
The have a plethora of ales (glorious ales!) and their spirits aren’t all that expensive, either. The outside of the Cross Keys is decorated with gorgeous plants and flowers, which gives it the illusion that the Cross Keys is actually a gateway to a secret garden.
Which, it kind of is. Minus the secret part.
I feel like Covent Garden is lacking in quality pubs that don’t just serve Carling and Guinness, so if you’re looking for a place with fantastic ale and a lively atmosphere, the Cross Keys is it.
Just don’t expect to find somewhere to sit down. Or to have a very quiet, intimate conversation. This is the place you go to with five or so workmates to stand outside with a pint and gossip. I mean «discuss work».

When in doubt, if it comes to décor, less is always more… well apparently not at Cross Keys. Along with brocade style wallpaper, every inch of space is cover with a gilt-​gold covered frame surrounding a terrifying animal or unimportant historical figure, or both in a sort of hunting tableaux. It’s what I’d call good in a bad way if you get what I mean.
Covent Garden is a pricey area and it seems like this part of Endell street is a pocket of joy for the smaller budgets. A daily changing menu for basic British pub grub, pie, chips, ham, chips, bap, chips… well you get the gist. So yeah, a nice little watering hole, popular with the local workers as an after office tipple spot.

Be cautious walking down Endell Street this time of year — you might trip as I did, and fall into the depths of a boozy North Pole alternate dimension.
…and you might love it.
We all know Santa’s secretly a boozer… how else would he stay warm all night on that sleigh? Cross Keys confirms it, as this is definitely his proper British booze cave of secret sippy cheer where the elves and reindeer can get Christmas crackered at the toddy tavern before the long trek.
Alternatively, you can come and do the same.
On a Monday afternoon at 1:15pm.
Might I suggest going crazy and spending £5 on a turkey dinner with all the fixins’? You’ll be very full and festive, and you’ll leave the pub ready to deliver Christmas cheer throughout Covent Garden.

Wow this pub had Christmas cheer vomit all over it. I am not talking dribble either, someone projectiled, tinsel, hangy, glittery things that draped from every orifice of this truly divine little tavern. This place is so cute, so warm, so full of ornamental clutter it immediately brought a smile to my face.
Located smack bang in the middle of Endell Street I now understand why the after work crowd love this place so much. Being in Covent Garden you expect expensive drinks. Not in the Cross Keys. Cheap booze for everyone. They sell food too. Real pub food: chicken pie with season vegetables, chips drenched in gravy, burgers and roasts and guess what? It is dirt cheap. How does £5 grab ya? Plus, and three of us can vouch for this, the food is very good.
So lets conclude:
Gorgeous décor
Cheap booze
Great and cheap food
Close to the heartbeat of Covent Garden
Wow… 5* in each and every way

The outside looks covered in greenery and the inside is covered with framed pictures, brass kettles and the like. There is so much to take in when you walk into this pub. In fact it is worth walking in even if you don’t stay for a pint just to check it out.
You will find a small, really quaint looking old fashioned traditional pub. It is hard to find a seat in here, it has always been busy when ever I have taken people in here.
The choice of ales is good, I chose Brodie’s which the barmaid recommended. I thoroughly enjoy my visits here whenever in this part of town. You can get good quality beers and ales and excellent pub atmosphere.
If you ever have friends from abroad who wish to see a traditional looking pub, take them here! Five stars for the true pub spirit.

I imagine that an American tourist might describe this pub as ‘quaint.’ It is quintessentially English with enough flowers outside to make it look like a country pub and enough Beatles memorabilia inside to make it look like Liverpool. There are also a random assortment of cooking pots and fire pokers attached to the ceiling, making it possible to imagine a Dickensian Granny shuffling around here with soot on her face and a jug of ale sometime in the distant past.
I do like it, but seeing that it’s behind Covent Garden, I also get the distinct feeling that all of the frou frou is for someone elses benefit, an American tourist for example. I’ve had some good times in this pub, it’s not my favourite in London but it’s pretty with character and friendly staff. It does get very crowded here at the weekends, but during summer it’s a good people watching destination and close to lots of other pubs if you do get bored.

This is your classic London pub complete with brass pots and kettles, dim lighting, strange pictures hanging on the walls and good local ales. There’s a beautiful seating area outside and it’s right on the edge of Covent Garden so most of the tourists miss this little gem and it keeps itself for the locals.
It’s a really beautiful place and I would recommend a visit just to experience it and see it. My favourite thing about this place is the gorgeous shrubbery outside and architecture. This is somewhere I would take my dad!

Today’s review is based on a visit to the ladies’ only having been caught sneeking up the stairs we felled compelled to stop for a drink (even though the last hour of valuable shopping time had rung in); we were ignored at the bar, so left. It wasn’t very busy!
My friends were relieved as it was rather smelly; I was disappointed because this used to be such a lovely and friendly pub.