The Old Crown Public House

I can’t speak to The OC as a pub, but I can say that when it comes to lunch spots, it’s a pretty solid choice in Holborn. I went here for burgers with friends, and was really impressed! I ordered The OC Burger, which had bacon and sweet chili jam on it (I can’t explain quite what that is, but I promise it was good). Apparently, The OC has been voted one of the best burger joints in London, and I’d believe that.
Stars deducted for exceptionally poor service — we didn’t get our food for nearly half an hour, though the place was nearly empty. Luckily the staff realized that they’d messed up and gave us our drinks for free, but it definitely made for a frustrating meal. It could have just been a one-​off, and other than that everything was fine.

So this is what’s goin on in London pubs: Burgers.
This spot is known for its deelish and unique burger options. I tore up the burger with pulled-​pork and coleslaw. Heavenly, bruv.
The pub interior has lots of brick and wood, traditional Victorian ish. Great vibe and pic ops.
It can get packed, with locals, but when I went it was chill. There was a DJ at some point but I was too slizzayed to notice the tracks.
Lots of ales to choose from, obviously. I think I may have had too many. Nah.
The barkeep was funny and def kill’t me when I ordered a half-pint…“you must be takin a piss, mate”. My bad.
I love the location and I will be returning sooooon…

So you all know I’m a serious burger addict, and this may come as a surprise to you; I hadn’t had a good burger in a few weeks, maybe even a month until I popped down to The Old Crown Public House on New Oxford Street. The pub itself is Victorian themed with exposed brickwork and super friendly staff.
The menu consists of burgers and hot dogs, yes, the stuff in which dreams are made of!
I obviously opted for a burger seeing as this has been voted one of the best burger joints in London! Although I did veer away from my normal cheese and bacon burger; shock horror! I chose ‘The Major Filler’ which was a pork burger with pulled pork on top and coleslaw. This burger was a monster!
After the first few bites I was covered in sauce and loved it! The pulled pork was perfect; I like it smothered in BBQ sauce! The skin on chips were great too! The partner in crime went for hot dog!
Filled with the spiciest chilli con carne we have ever tried and laden with cheese, this went down a right treat! The partner in crime opted for french fries which were equally tasty!
The atmosphere is super laid back, we felt at home with the staff and I know I will be returning! There are function rooms available for hire and plenty of themed nights!

I was disappointed with the service in this place. There were a few servers behind the bar yet I had to practically wave and say «hello, can I have a drink please?» I finally got served but before I could pay the server left me at the bar to run off and serve a whole table their food! A while later he finally came back, passed me my drink and took my money…
It could have just been a one off. The place was pretty small and crowded on a Wednesday evening. I probably won’t come back here.

Great crowd on weekends, crappy crowd weekdays, super nice staff (though some are a bit inexperienced).

No one could understand why my friends were out in Holborn but when I arrived at this fun pub I could see why. Unpretentious crowd and staff, with the DJ playing some great music for dancing. Caiprinhas were pretty good and reasonably priced. The menu looked quite interesting and was also fairly reasonable. Certainly a very good option in the area.

Bartender flirts well with the American tourist! Fun, not touristy and the cider is fabulous. Five stars! I particularly liked the Oc beast.

Went here last night for a catch-​up with two friends and had been before but never tried the food. Burgers looked amazing but I went with two ‘sides/​snacks’ instead:
Mac n cheese with jalapeño peppers and Korean beef short ribs.
Portions are big but unfortunately, ribs were very salty and fatty, i.e. they clearly could have done with a few more hours in the oven to get to the ‘fall off the bone’ stage. I had a lot of chewy meat and fat left at the end. Mac n cheese was ok but all dishes, including the burgers my friends had, were pretty cold when they arrived at the table. Guess they’d been sitting behind the bar for a while before they were given to us.
Otherwise would definitely recommend the pub for drinks etc. Maybe we were just really unlucky with the food/​service last night. Nevertheless, happy to give their food another chance sometime, I guess.

The unique aspect to this pub is the alcoholic milkshakes. I had the salted caramel flavour which was extremely tasty, but too sweet a drink for repeat servings. Watch out for the WTF, unless you love your spice turned up high. Everyone tried it, but it barely looked touched even by the time we left the bar!
They were offering a couple of ales, in the form of EPA and London Glory.
They seemed like friendly people working here, although they were able to deal harshly (but fairly) with a drunk who was bothering anyone who came anywhere near his radius (and unfortunately we were in it!).

Ich gebe mal 3 Sterne. 4 für den Pub. Junges, nettes Personal bringt flott die Pints an den Tisch, auch wenn es voll ist.
Naja und dann noch 1 – 2 Sterne für das Essen. Es gibt einige Variationen an Burger, u.a. Kangaroo und Krokodil. Wir waren ca. 10 Personen und hatten so ziemlich alle möglichen Burger bestellt. Mein Deep Sea Crab Dingens war eine recht kunstvoll kreierte Panade zwischen 2 Buns, die vom Aussehen her, mehr an Rosinenbrötchen erinnerten. Ein Blättchen Salat, eine Scheibe Tomate, Ketchup und Majo als Dip und fertig ist das Mahl.
Gute Güte, das braucht kein Mensch!
Wie schon in den anderen Beiträgen erwähnt, Ideal als Zwischenstopp bei einer Tour de Pub oder nur so auf ein Bier.
Chinatown ist nicht weit, wenn man leckeres Essen möchte, aber hier ist jedes Pfund zu schade.

@Burger_Breakout at The Old Crown — avoid it!
So in the recent influx of amazing burger joints springing up all over London, I’ve tried to make my way around to them all. So when I saw on the Twitter that a place called @Burger_Breakout had launched a residency at The Old Crown, i had to try it out. Someone called him a ‘Burger Genius’.
I made a reservation with the friendly chap on Twitter and headed over. The sign outside reads something about Best Burgers in London. Right, yeah, aren’t they all? The staff were friendly and informed us that all burgers were served medium rare. Is this a new thing? Because when i worked in restaurants this wasn’t allowed, for health reasons.
So my boyfriend ordered the Whiskey Burger (Dry Aged Orkney Beef, treacle cured bacon, Strathdon blue cheese and whiskey mustard) — he wanted it medium well. The waitress said the chef could only do medium rare or well done. How’s that? He doesn’t know how to cook medium well or just can’t be bothered?
Mine was The Swine Time (Rare breed pork patty, 24hr hour cooked pulled pork, Dairylea slice and jalapeño mayo). I asked if this was served rare too and she said ‘it’s pork’, which I took to mean it was cooked properly, as I don’t believe pork is meant to be served rare. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Suffice to say, they spent more time concocting this overhyped menu than actually paying attention to the food.
Let’s start with the chips — massively mediocre. They were described as smoked horseradish salted, they were just dime a dozen pub steak cut chips and just so pedestrian. I’ve eaten better chips out of a van.
And the burgers were awful. I’m sorry but they just were. Mine was totally rare on the inside and burnt on the outside, cold and uneatable. The Dairylea slice covering a few scraps of pulled pork was terribly misplaced on a burger. Dairylea, really?
When I dared ask why it was so rare, she said since it was such high quality meat, the chef liked to cook it rare. Or not at all.* And then just walked away.
My boyfriend hated his, said it was the worst burger he’d ever had.**
The waitress avoided us for the rest of the time we were there, even though it was obvious that we weren’t eating. Eventually she came to take the food away and didn’t even comment on the fact that my entire burger had been left on the plate, I’d only eaten around the outside like a mouse.
The only thing we did eat was the equally overhyped BBQ Battered Onion Rings with Four Roses Dipping Sauce… The sauce was just mustard — stop trying to sound like it isn’t just mustard! And the onion rings were just burnt.
It cost £41.20 — the burgers are £12 each. So massively overpriced for such mediocre and egotistical food. I think a lot of these pop ups are just churning out crap these days and yuppies and hipsters are too caught up in ‘the concept’ that they don’t realise.
* In case you think I am just a complainer, the burger i got at Tommis was rare for me but so delicious i ate the whole thing. I am still thinking about it.
** Honestly we wanted to love it.

Solidly four-​stars. Façade looks like it ought to be a decently grungy old place, but inside it strikes an appropriate balance between modern and been-​there-​forever. Perplexingly clean, music at an appropriate volume, and sufficient amounts of rather comfy seating. Lots of wood and a dim sort of atmosphere, and a more-​or-​less friendly barstaff. Might’ve been nice to stay for the pub quiz, but alas — dinner on Brick Lane called.

It’s a nice little place. Enjoyed it quite a bit.

This is a nice little pub with reasonably decent food and the look of a gastropub. You can reserve tables in the downstairs bar area, which is always useful in Central London on a Saturday night, and the venue has two private rooms upstairs.
Hiring the private rooms can be free or they may charge you something depending on when you want them. Saturday daytime usually comes at no cost but Saturday night is another matter. The larger can hold about 60 people (30 dining) whilst the smaller, apparently, can hold 25 (16 dining) but in my opinion it would be a bit of a squash.
The pub is a stones throw away from Tottenham Court Road and Holborn tube station and very near to the British Museum.

It’s a little expensive (though not so much so for the West End).
It’s a pubby version of a DJ bar– a bit like a teensy weensy version of the Dogstar in Brixton.
It’s got one major thing going for it, though: It’s open late (not sure how late, but I’ve been past around 2:30AM and it’s been rocking) and the late crowd seems to be not giant wankers.
And the pour a decent pint of guinness.

I went to the Old Crown on friday evening with a couple of friends. It was my first visit since the incredible drunken scenes of my birthday drinks last summer.
Even though I work in the West End, I’m always at a loss when it comes to good watering holes in the area. Everything’s either expensive/​pretentious, touristy, scummy, and/​or crowded, so if you are looking to avoid any or all of these there’s slim pickings. (please correct me if I’m missing a trick here!) If one is not in the market for a pub, the pickings are slimmer still.
Enter the Old Crown. I was introduced to it by a very discerning friend about a year ago. Comfy seating, good drinks, and very tasty nibbles. It feels quite welcoming and has a quite diverse clientele. (note: I have generally arrived here on the early side. It definitely gets a *lot* more crowded after 9pm). Not too loud either. Décor includes old pub finishings and exposed brick walls. The wide open windows/​doors onto the bustling street outside are a nice touch too.
Overall, the Old Crown strikes a nice balance between relaxed pub and nicer bar. Highly recommended for West End drinkers.

Yeah, this pub is alright. It’s right by another pub called The Crown which is annoying. I nearly ended up in the wrong pub.
But, it’s nice in here. It’s busy, but not packed to the rafters (although it was upstairs where the private party was). They could really do with some sort of air con upstairs, we were all turning into jerky.
But, it’s a cool place. There’s outside seating and I’d come back. But, with the Princess Louise down the road, I wouldn’t choose it specifically.

Stopped into this Pub for a drink. I remember the selection including many cask conditioned ales. Good place.

Strangely enough The Old Crown is about 4 or 5 doors down from The Crown and looks a lot newer. I doubt the two have any connections other than the name, and who knows, the Old Crown may actually be an older building, but inside it is far from a traditional boozer…
white and charcoal paint job, ipod DJing, felafel, wifi, raw wood tables, bar staff on laptops, belgian Heffs on tap, antipasto, ornate chandeliers, javascript website (?)
Sounds cool, right?
Sounds familiar too, I think about 100 or so if this kind of pub cropped up in the past decade in London and you know just what to expect.
Where Old Crown is worth the extra mention are the two rentable rooms upstairs. The larger one with its own bar (dangerous) and A&V kit-​out and the dinky one with comfy leather chairs and a fireplace. Both these private hire rooms are networked-​up nicely so you can stream iPod or laptop music to your content. Very 21^st century and very tempting if you have a bit of spare cash and fancy throwing a blow-​out for your advertising and fashion chums.

This is one of my favourite pubs in the West End. It’s a total haven from the hustle and bustle of street life and the interior design is very handsome too, all in all it’s the perfect setting for escaping the crowds.
The atmosphere is always classy yet unpretentious and vibrant. But I will mention that it’s only a small pub, so during lunchtime it can be quite impossible to get a table as everyone else who knows about this little gem wants a piece of the action between 12 – 3.30pm. The menu is a crossover of British/​International and the barman tells me that they do their best to source local produce, that’s probably why it tastes so great. I’ve tried the pan fried steak sandwich and the cottage pie, both of which were super tasty. In the evening the menu changes for the 5.30−11pm serving and there are some really delicious canapes and platters on offer. Many of teh drinks are also from independent distilleries, so there’s an interesting choice of both draught and bottled beers.
I most recently went on a Friday night to ‘The Old Crown Jewels’ where you’ll find a DJ spinning a mixture of reggae, soul, funk and hiphop, which goes down surprisingly well. They also have a life drawing class on a Monday night from 7pm and for only £7 (paper included) in one of the lounge rooms it’s great value and a really nice mix of people attend.

This is a hidden gem of a pub. It is close to tottenham ct road but just enough away from the tourist crowd. They serve ale and good food. There is an open fire place which gives this place its old traditional pub atmosphere.
The food is british and has a home made feel to it. I also like the fact that this place has wifi access so I can go there to do some work whilst in Oxford Street.