Fox & Anchor Pub

We stayed in one of the 6 rooms at fox & anchor. We also dined a few times during our vacation. We cannot say enough good things - great location, 5 min walk to (2) different underground stations. The food was delicious. We had the fish & chips and the burger. Highly recommend both - juicy and flavorful. The French fries were a late night snack for us after a couple of tiresome days. The room was outstanding. We stayed in the market suite and it is truly a suite. Tons of space, beautiful amenities a and a private outdoor area! The bed was the only complaint. It was a little stiff for my husband. But everything else was great. Lovely snacks and fully stocked fridge each night. We took advantage of the espresso machine each morning and of course, the copper tub. The staff was very friendly and welcoming. There is a large, narrow staircase to go up, so just note your luggage will need to be carried! We loved our stay - highly recommend!

Due to Covid, we haven't been in here for a meal for 3 years. The food is still as good as ever. So lovely to sit and eat in a place with such history. Old fashioned wooden clad booths.

This lovely pub, located in the hotel of the same name, has a traditional, dark wood, cosy feel to it. The bar as you first enter is narrow with limited seating, but there is an additional room at the back and a dining room upstairs. The pub still has a Smithfield Market License, and therefore is open, and can serve alcohol, to hotel residents and non-residents from 7am. They also serve an excellent Full English Breakfast. Friendly staff, great selection of real ales & craft beers; this is a fabulous pub.

I was looking for a traditional pub to rest for a bit, have a nice beer and enjoy hot pub food. This looked like just that spot. Had a roast as it was Sunday ☺️ Not sure I ever tasted English roast before. Chose the beef roast it was quite tasty, the meat, the sauce and the potatoes. The only thing that was not ok was the “blue cheese” croquete, as it didn’t taste like blue cheese, it not even tasted like cheese, hence the 4 star. The waiter was friendly, he even guided me through my order, and the environment is exactly what you want to find in a English pub. Lovely tables, private rooms and very comfy chairs, hope I have the opportunity to return someday ☺️ It was pricey, but maybe on price for and English roast in London. They have around 15 different taps, and have common stuff like Peroni, Estrella and Guiness

A great haunt right off Smithfield. They do an incredible city boy breakfast and everything in between. We stopped in at midday on a Sunday and it was quiet. During the week the outside provides a nice place to drink during the summer. Previously we had stayed the night and they also have well appointed rooms. It is not like staying at the Rookery nearby, but it is a wholly different experience and they do not try to be the same. Definitely check out the Fox for fun times, any time!

Beautiful old pub, just a quick visit and a pint of Aspall as I was off to a party, but I'll be visiting again soon, hopefully.

I had a Sunday Roast at the Fox & Anchor after making a reservation at another restaurant and completely mixing up my timing. They saved the day! I like the decor, all the beautiful wood, and period touches. I was super basic and got the lemon and garlic half chicken which came with all the usual suspects – roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, cabbage, sweet potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, and gravy. I planned to share with my partner but he decided to get a burger so I was on my own. I guess chivalry really is dead 😆I persevered and it was all so good. I was really impressed with the chicken which was juicy and well seasoned. Also had a cider, not sure which, but I enjoyed it. Service was prompt but not like hovering, which is how I like it. Would definitely return for food or just a nice comfy spot for a pint.

This is an excellent pub right near The Charterhouse and Smithfield market. It's not too far from St. Paul's. It's certainly worth a visit if touring around the area. There are some fantastic pubs in the area away from the main tourists ones near St. Paul's and this is definitely on the list. We had stopped by on a pub crawl in the area and really liked the building and also the fact it was off the beaten track. I would come back for a pint or few next time I'm in the area.

We stumbled across this early opener as we had just arrived off a plane from Australia. The staff were wonderful and friendly. They pour a perfect Guinness too! Amazing menu which we are heading back to try today! Thanks for the amazing welcome to the UK!

I ordered the garlic lemon chicken roast and it was so delicious! It came with so many roasted additions- beets, turnips, potatoes and carrots. Yorkshire pudding was so good.. ive only recently discovered this English wonder. What a simple but delicious addition to a Sunday meal. My partner got the fish and chips and they were battered well and tasted wonderful. Service was hands down the best we've had in London thus far. Felt very welcome! Not to mention that the pub was v cute inside. Glad we stumbled upon this place on our last day in Europe. :)

We are visiting from Los Angeles and were looking for a proper Sunday Roast. The Fox & Anchor did not disappoint! Our family of 3 started with the City Sharer plate and then had the Fox's Roast and ended it with the sticky toffee pudding We got to check off so many things on our list of foods to eat while in the UK Scotch Eggs, Yorkshire pudding, sticky toffee! YUM! Our favorite meal in all of London! Don't miss!

Really enjoyed this place. Great, friendly, international service and AMAZING food. We booked a reservation in advance and had a beautiful booth and no issues whatsoever. We got the baked Brie appetizer and fought for every morsel. Definitely get the fish and chips--so fresh, and light and perfectly fried. Huge portions. Friends ordered the lamb with mash and truffle and the steak and both were amazing. I will definitely come back next time I'm in London.

This review is for the room at the Fox and Anchor we stayed in. We have eaten here at this classic pub many times and we have always been pleased with our food and drink. The room was clean, well appointed and very quiet. The room furnishings are very comfortable and elegant, as a boutique hotel. The wash room is good in size, with an antique copper sink and bath. I really thought the goings on in the pub might be heard in my room, but it was truly inaudible from the room on the second floor. Complimentary biscuits, tea and coffee service provided, and an honesty bar with a nice assortment of liquors and snacks. I will definitely return next visit to London. Clerkenwell is a charming quiet corner of London, right off the Farringdon Tube stop, which also has a National Rail station, easily accessed on a local from Gatwick. Try staying somewhere off the beaten path in a Grade II listed public house!

Great neighborhood bar!!! Great atmosphere! Great people!! Just a bit pricey. Cheers!

This place.. I discovered alot more once I got home and got onto their website then I did while I was actually at the damn place. This would be simply because it was so packed! I had to shuffle down between the bar and all of the people tucking into some traditional British fare (and believe me, every single table had someone sitting there eating.) and I managed to find a single table at the end. The waitress thought I was a very shady character indeed - not 60+ years old? Not well to do? Not eating?! How dare I sit in her restaurant. To be honest, I was a little bit uncomfortable as well. I looked around and was just mightily impressed with what I saw. The place reeked of old fashioned class, wooden and felt walls complete with what seemed like fully genuine paintings, wooden finishes and felt. Like a luxury train, a 1950's royal train carriage. Their are little alcoves that can be closed off from the rest of the restaurant floor, and it is here that you can imagine tycoons doing their business over a spot of Rarebit, or maybe even mafia kingpins deciding on who to kill... okay, getting a bit ahead of myself. But you get the picture - such a classy place. The menu itself is quite small in terms of the range of food but the food is so unique and traditional that this doesn't really subtract from it at all. Still awesome. Still beyond me.. for a good 10-20 years. Until I'm at the top and I can close off my alcove and cut my deals...

The Fox and Anchor is the sort of visitor to London would expect to see. It's got a traditional feel to it, with lots of wood panelling and a Victorian looking interior. If you have been to the Harp near Charing Cross, you would know what to expect. It is part of the Youngs brewery chain, although it felt more of an independant pub to me. The pub is long and can be a tight squeeze trying to get a pint, as the drinkers seem to graviate to the narrowest part of the pub. If you want a quiter drink, at the back of the pub is the Foxes Den, which houses small snug booths, which were originally designed for people who did not want to be seen drinking. The seastingin the den is on a first come, first served basis, although they can be reserved at the weekend. I did not eat here, but felt the prices were a bit on the pricey side for a pub. They do offer a 'City Boy' breakfast. It consists of 2 eggs cooked anyway, 2 sausages, sweet cured bacon, a minute steak, lambs kidney, calves liver, white pudding, back pudding, tomato, mushroom, baked beans and fried bread. To wash it down, you get a pint of London stout, all for £16.95. This pub also acts as a hotel. It has six rooms upstairs, all individually decorated.One of which is a suite with an outdoor terrace. It is worth signing up to their mailing list if you are in the area, as they currently send out a voucher for a free drink. This is not a pub I would ogo out of my way to drink in, but would certainly pop in should I be passing.

Warm, excellent service, reasonably priced drinks and fantastic wait staff. Would most certainly recommend!

If you're in the Farringdon area and are looking for a very traditional pub to go to - this is definitely where you SHOULD go. Everything about this place is quirky and cute, and makes you want to hug it - but you can't, and that would be silly: this is a pub. I fell in love even more when I discovered the little hidden rooms at the back of the pub, which gives an extra sense of mysteriousness and quirkiness to it. But besides the settings, the food itself was to die for. Death by Scotch Eggs, yes, that is a thing. Because I literally had the best scotch eggs in my life here. And since they are right next to the meat market, and get super fresh food - their steaks are really decent as well. But for me? A pint of shrimps. Yes, a pint of shrimps. A load of shrimps (whole) in a huuuuge pint, yummy mayo and lemon - and that is all. And it was great. I'm hungry now, I really fancy going back.

I am surprised there are not more reviews of the fox and anchor on here as it is a real little gem in central London. It is one of London's older pubs and was part of the central London boozing scene for years until it was closed down and then rescued by Malmaison. Its age is shown in the character it exudes and the beautiful decor - tiles, wood panelling, oak bar, the works. The inside is well worn and always packed. You enter into the bar through a set of almost bay doors and come straight onto a long thin bar which opens onto a eating area out of the back. Right at the back there are some quite special enclosed booths where you can hide away a while away a day. The food is pub food, but traditional pub food and well cooked. It all has an old school English slant; pork pies as bar snacks, Eton mess as pudding, fish and chips and big home made pies as mains. All of the well cooked, cheap and filling. On top of that the drinks are great, a good selection of beers and ales and you even get served the ales in silver flasks (replete with a glass bottom to watch out for assassins),

I found the Fox and Anchor experience to be a slightly disappointing one of a terrible Sunday roast and mediocre IPA, offset by a charming interior, good service and some surprisingly good desserts. I'll be honest: we came here because the Old Red Cow on the other side of Smithfields had stopped serving Sunday lunch. So the friendly reception with which we were greeted at the Fox and Anchor immediately got things off to a good start. The ye olde interior consolidated this, with high ceilings, plenty of wood panelling and some nice sunken booths. The food and drink however were two steps back in the experience. First up was a pint of IPA - the waiter's choice - which was the blandest IPA I've ever drunk. The food (Sunday roast) was worse, having clearly been sitting in the kitchen for hours. The potatoes were hard, the horse radish sauce tasteless and everything slightly cooler than it should have been. I was poised to rate the experience as 2 stars at this point. The desserts saved the Fox and Anchor from this fate. My bread and butter was an excellent, unusually delicate creation with the inspired addition of marmalade on the top. My girlfriend's apple crumble was similarly special, with the pureed apple rather than normal apple chunks a heavenly choice. Overall? Worth checking out for the old, well-maintained interior (and indeed the hotel rooms) and friendly service. Just be careful what you order from the menu and when - a late closing kitchen is not necessarily a good thing.

The Fox & Anchor has everything you'd want in an authentic pub but does a good job of meeting the present day - decent music, some craft beers, etc. Firstly they have some non-standard beers and ciders available. When all the pub-group owned pubs serve Becks, Carlesberg and Heineken - the Fox & Anchor has the standards but also some more interesting options. The atmosphere is laid back. They have a few screens for football. With a full food menu we'll definitely come back, and given how close they are to Smithfiields market and the local meats on the menu I have a feeling well feast well here.

On the outside, it seems a traditional pub, but the dinner menu and selection of brews make it much more special. Greatly located near Smithfield meat market. There's comfortable seating inside for drinkers and diners alike. Fox & Anchor has it's own brewery, and I highly recommend their ale. The oysters were a good size and very salty (but in a good way). The scotch egg with curried mayo was a great starter as well. You can't go wrong with any of the meat dishes, but the pork belly special (on Fridays currently) was by far the best thing on the menu.

A great but small and intimate pub, it was a great find whilst walking the streets in the City area of London, close to the Barbican. We didn't stop for food, although we did drool over fellow punters delicious looking steaks and chips and rabbit pies. There is a great selection of champagne, wine and cocktails, but we stuck to the stout and draft ales of which there was a good selection and spent a pleasant 2 hours people watching and sheltering from the cold weather outdoors. Warm and friendly with helpful staff, definitely recommended.

With all the great traditional pubs in the area I unfortunately bypassed the Fox & Anchor for way too long. What a fool I was as this is one of the good ones. Right across the road from Smithfield meat market in happening Clerkenwell, this lush pub is traditional in every sense of the word. It serves a good pint, has gastro pub capabilities and you can even check into rooms upstairs to spend the night. Ornately decorated outside you can't miss it. Inside the public space is cozy, with sitting booths giving way to a dining room in the back. The front room is 'old England' at its best with plates of cheese and bread on the bar, hanging glasses from the dark wood racks, and smokey mirrors along the walls. The rooms upstairs are stylish boutique hotel types with each room being different with themes like that of the St. Bartholomew Church (which is just down the road). The serving staff are amiable and cheerful. Don't make the mistake I made of walking by this pub. Stop in and stay for a pint.

The name of this pub makes me laugh, as I can't think of 2 more unlikely items to come into contact with each otherbut it works somehow. This pub has 6 different real ales, most of which I had never seen before, including a couple from the Nethergate brewery (one sharing the name of the pub). Had a couple of them in a dimpled mug and they were good. They also have some pewter tankards here, but I'm not sure what you have to buy or ask to use one. Although this place was refurbished not too long ago, it has a wonderful old fashioned décor and some lovely little intimate sections at the back. I suppose some would complain that it's not the original decor, but I thought it looked rather nice. The back part of the pub does seem a bit more geared towards food. It does have a bit of a gastro feel to it. Still I would recommend it for a pint or 2. They even have posh rooms to stay in if you happen to drink too much (and happen to be loaded).

Fantastic bar with a lot of character great selection of beers and spirits and really helpful bar staff. I love the interior and that you can get your pint in a tankard. I would also recommend the pork pies with Piccalilli. These are very tasty and the perfect bar snack. I actually cannot find anything to fault this bar, for me it's brimming full of character and style and is a true London treasure.

Summary: Good food, decent space. Came to this gastropub on a weekday night. Tried a bunch of small plates. They unfortunately were out of two of the things I ordered (cracklings and pickled egg), which was surprising. I ended up getting the cockles, soup of the day (watercress), Welsh rarebit, and Scotch egg. All of the food was good, and reasonably priced. Would come again if in the area.

As a Canadian, living in the U.S., I am easily wow'ed by proper English pubs! The Fox & Anchor and the Frank Incense brews were delicious, the Tempranillo was spot on, the food was delicious and of good value. We had: Goose fat fries/chips (underwhelming) Scotch egg (perfectly cooked egg although maybe slightly burnt on the outside) Braised ox cheeks with mash (perfect. hearty. buttery goodness) Rabbit and cider pie (yum) Roasted turkey from the cart All were solid and came out to £75 for the three of us! My favourite thing about this place is the atmosphere. I love the creaky, old, dark wood, the ornate jade-coloured tiled ceiling, the bar area, the booths, the dining area in the back... the patrons are great too and the bar staff are real attentive and friendly. Enjoyed every minute of my visit there!

Big fan of their meat pies. A little pricey for a pub, but that's London for you! Meat pie #1: Rabbit, bacon and cider...oh, yeah! So tasty! Meat pie #2: Chicken and ham...creamy filling...yum! If you are staying at The Malmaison, I definitely recommend stopping in for a visit... it is literally 2 doors down from The Mal; perfect for dropping in, grabbing a cider or beer, eating a meat pie, and stumbling back to the hotel.

I came here yesterday to hang out with fellow Qyper TikiChris. He'd told me about their goose fat chips you see and I just had to try them. What he didn't tell me about was the great selection of ales they have. It seemed only fair that I sample as much of it as possible. What started as a few afternoon drinks in the sunshine led to me not getting home until gone midnight. It's a cute little pub. Not very big, but it wasn't very busy either which surprised me. Maybe people were still hiding from Bank Holiday hangovers. They've been bought by Malmaison and there's a few swanky rooms upstairs if you want to stay. The chips were in fact amazing. They even tempted our vegetarian friend without even a little bit of guilt! Quite rightly too. The rest of the menu seemed pretty good. They pride themselves that their produce is local and to be honest, the staff here like this pub too. They're friendly and they seem like they really look forward to going to work. Beer is served in 'faux old' metal tankards that are quite deceptive. They don't feel pint sized. Which makes for a very drunk Siany. Especially when they have Meantime beer in bottles as well. Go to this pub! Right now! Sit outside and watch the world go by. Forget about work and relax. It's sunny after all.

Just gonna reiterate what Siany said. Goose fat chips are awesome and drinking ale from a metal tankard is goofy fun. The F&A is a bit off on its own in a little alley with the less trafficked end of Smithfield in view and the ancient and beautiful Charterhouse nearby as well. As Siany said, it's a lovely pub for sitting outside in the sun. It's equally nice to imbide inside, especially with it's cosy nooks perfect for a romantic rendevous or hush-hush business meeting.

What a pub, read your reviews and had to visit,this place to me is a drinkers heaven,great ales, love the tankards,so much so my local brought me one, possibly to shut me up about how good the ale tasted from one,great menu, although I did find the pub a little hard to find,but was worth the effort, great staff, and a visit that will happen again and again, I thank all qypers who reviewed this pub for without you,I would have missed a great pub next time im there I will try the food, im sure it good,I was tempted, well reviewed by all.There is one small point I feel I must make, I will not be spending the night there,not at those prices.

Tucked away near Smithfield Market (indeed, near the Smithfield pub), there is a gem of a pub. But shhhh. Don't tell anyone. I am torn. Part of me dreads writing about the Fox and Anchor, as it's such a wonderful and secret find, I'm afraid to share it, in case it should become inundated. It is a treasure. I am a bit of a pub aficionado. I love real ale (despite being American) and traditional English atmosphere. The Fox and Anchor serves several real ales in pewter tankards (nice touch), including one of its own. You can buy your beer at the bar or one of the incredibly friendly bar staff (or even what seems to be the world's greatest landlord - a young Irishman who clearly took landlording lessons from a master) will come and serve you with an actual smile. You'll pay around £3.30 for a pint of ale, which is a tadge dear, but not unexpected for the Farringdon area. The food is a bit pricy - I paid just over a tenner for a burger, for example, and a fiver for soup, but it is excellent. It is home made - my burger was requested medium rare, and lo - medium rare it came! Again, the food service is excellent. If you are eating, as you sit down (and there aren't that many seats - it is a narrow pub, with displays of oysters and the carvery cart near the back of the main room, and then a bunch of snug rooms, including the stunningly signed 'Fox's Lare' - that spelling is theirs) you are given some very nice bread with stunningly good butter and a little bowl of salt to start - like I say, classy. My friend had a lamb and pea pie - the crust was freshly cooked, though the filling a wee bit runny (but tasty and obviously freshly cooked). Apparently, the Fox and Anchor also does rooms - they have six 'boutique style' rooms, ranging from £95 a night on the weekends to £165 a night on weekdays (and going up), but I've neither stayed in them nor seen them. All in all, this pub should be held up to show how good pubs should be. The staff and landlord are amazing, the beer is well kept and immaculately served, and the decor is charming and old world. Highly recommended.

I met up with a couple of mates at this hidden gastro pub in a small street right near the Smithfields markets. It's tiny inside, so given that it hadn't rained and we still had glimpses of sunshine, we decided to stand outside. It's the only pub I've been to in London that sells their unique selection of ale in metallic tankards, with a bottom built out of plastic. Being a gastropub, they do have a small number of tables inside, with probably no more than 12 at a time. The menu is well designed with all the ingredients obviously kept very fresh as our waiter informed us of the number of dishes no longer available after the lunch rush hour. Their selection has everything to keep anyone well occupied with an oyster bar to kick start the meal, with some traditional British fare to have on toast including welsh rarebit, potted salmon and duck egg mayonnaise. They have a number of pies and a series of daily specials that all sounded very tempting like grilled lemon sole. The prices remain reasonable as well with most of the mains around £12-13. This place is definitely a great place to visit with a small handful of friends.

I thought this was a great place, mostly because they serve beer in tankards. You don't get that often. Like other reviewers, I wasn't blown away by the food, or rather the service. Nice pub though.

I was really looking forward to going here. It was hot date night with Mr H, and after hearing so much about it (he's been three times already) I was desperate to go. I shall not be going again. Oh my god could the service get any worse? Thankfully the food was good, but, I've had better for the price. I really enjoyed the starter. I had duck egg and rarebit soldiers. The egg was perfect, though they initially forgot to bring me anything to eat it with, but I let that one go. Mr H had the salt beef - he loved it. I didn't. It just wasn't my thing, rather than there being anything wrong with it. A good variety of food on the menu left me spoilt for choice. I really wanted to eat a number of the dishes on there, and in the end I went for a huge steak and mushroom pie. I liked it but it was a little dry, there was not much gravy in the pie, and being a northern lass I like my gravy. We ordered carrots and parsnips, which were also well cooked, not too soft. We also ordered mashed potatoes. These were cold, so I sent them back. After telling the waiter they were cold he stuck his hand on it. I wonder, if he'd thought the temperature acceptable, would he have expected us to eat them? We got a new piping hot mash. Eventually. Dessert was Eton mess for me. This was okay, but Mr H had a better third course. His choice of cheese and biscuits was lovely; it was a really nice selection of both. At the end of the meal I ordered a port, to go with the cheese I was stealing from Mr H. He asked the waiter for a list of whiskeys. We got the menu but he never came back to take the order. This was the kind of thing that was typical throughout the night, nothing major happened, no-one spilled food on me or anything, but the service was just poor and inattentive to the point where it became really annoying and kind of ruined the night. Whilst I hate nothing more than waiting staff looming over you, interrupting your conversation, this was at the other end of the spectrum - we were more-or-less ignored. We were sat with empty glasses; no-one asked if we needed another drink. I managed to get the attention of the waiting staff and before I'd finished asking for another glass of wine, he's started to walk off without waiting or even bothering to ask what my partner wanted. Being tucked away in the back dining room may have been the problem, but it shouldn't be an excuse for this type of service. Also, when paying, the waiter proceeded to talk to other people at the same time, handing back the card and receipt with little acknowledgement. It was just rude in my opinion. So, after being so keen to go, I was truly disappointed. It was a shame because the food wasn't bad but the service means I won't be recommending it to anyone

This is less like a proper pub and more like a upscale restaurant with a huge selection of drinks in a brightly lit, quiet venue with staff that dress like formal restaurant waiters and snicker at you if you just want a beer... Perhaps I am too trashy for a place like this. Or perhaps this place is just kinda boring. I'll try the food if I ever go back, cause everyone else here seems to rate it highly. But I guess even though it's traditional to eat rodents, it just didn't take my fancy the time I visited...

Classical atmosphere , and my father enjoys this place.....only if Im paying lol. but a nice place, near the tube so no major faults .

I know that Fish and Chips are a cliche when visiting the UK and it's usually a sad experience of soggy chips and tasteless fish but the Fox and Anchor did it's job; lovely succulent fish in batter that was crispy on the outside and moist on the inside, served with chips fried in goose fat to give extra crispiness. I've never had Fish and Chips so good.. The Fox and Anchor also do a whole range of traditional pies and all round this is a great little pub to try out some true English pub grub. We were originally seated in one of the cute tiny cubicle rooms out the back but we asked to be moved after we realised those rooms are like saunas..

Loved the interior of this pub! We brought a friend here for a new year's eve dinner and were tucked away in a booth in a private nook. We had the fish and chips, scotch egg, and duck salad. All were good, but I could have passed on the duck salad (I wasn't crazy about the beetroot crisps sprinkled on top).

Located in the old industrial part of London, the now-gentrified streets still carry that Dickensian feel. The pub itself was all mahogany and green leather, with "snugs" or small private rooms situated behind the bar. Handcrafted ale was served in quaint pewter tankards, but the biggest surprise was the food which was simply, traditionally, unpretentiously and faultlessly prepared - from the Welsh rarebit and lamb shank pie to the bread and butter pudding.

Excellent pub, but be warned it's not the biggest (it's quite narrow) and it gets very busy most nights.

Delicious starters, classics reinvented. Mains are disappointing. Service seemed to not be a fan of having non-brits as customers. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Now that's what I call a pub. Small snugs at the back where foor or five of you cen get together and put the world to rights over a pint of porter. Lovely pork pies and pickled onions, and the much-vaunted fish finger sarnies. It's marvellous. The bar is long and thin, with apparently not much room inside. Squeeze your way down to the end where it opens out into the aformentioned rooms. You can stay all evening. I'll see you there.

What more can I add! It has all been said below. Excellent pub.

Having worked in Farringdon for many years I was a bit apprehensive when the Malmaison Group took it over but I have to say that if anything its better than ever. Very much a traditional pub with good food and good Beer. Prices have gone up a bit but its always busy and the only complaint would be that that they occasionally run out of pies before I can get there.

The decor of this pub is amazing. The pewter mugs are amazing, the fancy wine saving atmospheric cabinets behind the bar are amazing. Even the cutlery and crockery is amazing. Everything is served beautifully. But in the case of the food, this Gibbon sincerely believes the substance does not match the style. A greasy burger looked nice until picked up from its wooden serving platter, whereupon a murky pool of cooking juices were revealed. Then the chips - served in a dinky little cone on the side - tasted of FISH. Very, very FISHY. Gibbons like fish, but not essence of fish in dirty cooking oil... I can't give this more than two stars because if you can't get a burger right - and you charge £12.50 for it - you don't deserve monkeylove.

It's near London's meat market. No not that kind of meat market, the other one, with steak and stuff.

Stopped by here for lunch it was great pub in a hard to find location the first time coming here. They bring you complimentary bread and butter. They also have fresh seafood chilling on ice at the bar. The fish and chips were delish. They have a bunch of beers and extremely friendly staff. Located between 2 underground stops which makes it convenient.

Please also look at my blog http://hungryinlondon.com/2010/10/fox-anchor-clerkenwell/ for more details and pictures :) I was very lucky to be invited to Fox & Anchor as the food in this lovely and authentic pub has really challenged my (admittedly slightly snobby) view on British cuisine. Of course I occasionally enjoy a traditional Sunday roast, well done fish and chips are a real treat and British desserts are my guilty pleasure, but overall British cuisine has not yet made it into my top ten. With the exception of St. John's Bread & Wine (I have not eaten at St. John yet) which has definitely introduced some very interesting and delicious British dishes into my as I can see now - very limited culinary universe, I have not eaten much British food worth writing home about. As opposed to St. John's Bread and Wine, Fox & Anchor is not fancy at all. It serves simple British dishes without any fuss and pretense and (to my surprise) I liked the result very much. Having said all this, we made the mistake of ordering one non-British dish, the steak tartare, which was a disaster (very red light). But even with this single culinary catastrophe I heartily recommend this place to everyone for authentic, reasonably priced and delicious British cuisine in very appealing surroundings. In fact, this is the must-visit place for us Londoners with non-English roots to take our parents to when they come to visit. We went on a Friday evening and a jolly crowed had gather already outside and in the front room of the pub for post-work drinks. When we finally pushed through the crowd we got to the small dining area at the back of the pub with a main room and some little side rooms and alcoves. The pub which is attached to a small hotel with 6 luxury rooms in close proximity to Smithfield's Market has been serving food and drinks since the Victorian era. It has been renovated in 2008 but has retained the atmosphere of the prototypical English pub: dark wood panelling with an open fire place and mismatched furniture all together very cozy. We had a lovely table in one of those little alcove and if this is not the perfect place for a date then I don't know. It was very busy and as a result the service was a bit slow over times, but the waitress who was responsible for our table was very friendly and gave us some excellent recommendations on what to order. Fox & Anchor are not cutting corners: even after everyone else is serving ciabatta or focaccia or whatever other kinds of fancy bread, they do not follow the fashion but serve traditional English white bread which actually was not bad at all. I was very intrigued by the menu and I was determined to order dishes I either never tried before or only had in very bad versions.Coronation Chicken,(5.95) clearly is one of them. I know coronation chicken only from our lunch seminars at work where we usually get very bad sandwiches and of all the bad coronation chicken is the worst. Coronation chicken has been invented in 1953 for the banquet at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth and the Fox & Anchor version was surprisingly pleasant. The cold chicken immersed in a creamy curry sauce with raisins and almonds was served on toasted bread with fresh green salad on the side and had very little to do with the sandwiches at work. This is how British cuisine gets its bad reputation! Also for the next starter I had no idea of what to expect: Potted Beef with Piccalilli (6.50) turned out to be deliciously flavoured and tender cooked beef in a beef broth which tasted remarkably similar to the clear beef soup (Rindsuppe) that we love in Austria. Piccalilli, which I found out translates as 'spiced mustard pickle', is a relish with pickled vegetables such as cauliflower in a mustard and tumeric sauce. Very peculiar but not unpleasant at all, and it tasted lovely together with the beef. As I have newly discovered my love for pies (I tasted a delightful chicken pot pie in NYC a couple of weeks ago), I was keen on trying the British version and Fox & Anchor did not disappoint there either: the rabbit, bacon and cider pie (13.50) was enormous but I did not leave a crumb behind. The golden flaky crust was light and breaking through it I got to the steaming hot filling of tender rabbit and small potatoes in a subtly flavoured but very delectable sauce. Everything went very well up until the moment we sampled the steak tartare and chips (16.95). The nice waitress recommended us to try the steak tartare and we went along not knowing that we would be getting something remarkable resembling a Meat Bloody Mary. One could not taste the meat at all (which appeared to be of high quality) as our taste buds immediately got numbed by an explosion of Worcester and Tabasco sauce. Only the celery stick was missing.. If this is the British take on steak tartare then I would recommend sticking with indigenous dishes. As you can imagine considering these more than generous portions I was absolutely stuffed but I was led

lovely traditional Pub with a great selection of my favourite whiskies. Very friendly staff and a very hellful polish manager who is very customer friendly.