Duke of York

Duke of York

Part of our Best Pubs in London microsite. See if we've included your local.

People say that Ye Olde Mitre is the most difficult pub to find in London. We'd argue that the Duke, a short walk away, deserves that questionable honour.

This small, corner boozer is hidden down a side street off a side street. Charles Dickens would have found it (had it existed in his time) — his house museum is just around the corner, and this makes for a memorable stop-off after visiting said house.

The tiny front bar hasn't changed a jot since we worked around the corner at the turn of the Millennium, and it may have been untouched for much longer. It's Grade II listed, and Historic England suspects that 'it is very likely that most of its fabric is original'.

Certainly, the interior looks like a film-set 1930s pub. Wood, leather, linoleum... an attractive combination not quite repeated anywhere else in central London. The food menu is all sausage, pie, mash, gravy — the kind of stuff your great grandparents might have rustled up. We half expect the tones of Neville Chamberlain to leak from the radio. Even the website is from a bygone age, with an archaic font and has a fax number instead of social media.

It is, in short, charming, and a world away from the too-cool-for-school shenanigans of the nearby Lady Ottoline, or functional modernity of the Yorkshire Grey. A 'local' that anyone can enjoy.

Address: The Duke 7 Roger Street, London WC1N 2PB

Phone: 020 7242 7230

Email:
[email protected]

Website:
http://www.dukepub.co.uk

Monday: noon-11pm

Tuesday: noon-11pm

Wednesday: noon-11pm

Thursday: noon-11pm

Friday: noon-11pm

Saturday: noon-11pm

Sunday: closed

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