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It's not the easiest pub to find in Covent Garden but that doesn't stop it becoming very busy at times with office workers and visitors often spilling into the street summer and winter! But, unlike many other pubs in the area, because it is slightly hidden away, it is not quite so touristy. The Grade II listed Lamb and Flag is to be found down Lazenby Court (an alley) from Floral Street or up Rose Street from Garrick Street.
Leased by Fuller's since October 2011, and fully owned since 2013, the pub underwent a sympathetic renovation before re-opening. Though no longer a free house (and thus the cask ale selection is predominantly from the Fuller's stable), it remains an attractive and pleasant traditional pub without music, muzak or games machines.
The upstairs bar and restaurant, where the main food service is available (but, please note, food and drink is table service only upstairs) is named the Dryden Room, after the poet John Dryden, whose satirical writing made him many enemies as a result of which he was brutally beaten by hired thugs in the alley outside the pub in 1679. There are Latin inscriptions (with translations) on the wooden beams commemorating this ambush. When he was working in nearby Catherine Street, the novelist Charles Dickens was also a regular here, as was, it is said, Karl Marx.
The ground floor bar consists of two small dark rooms with down-lighters, low beams, wood panelling and bare floorboards. The back room has a fireplace and plain wooden seats.
Brass plaques dotted around the bar commemorate where regulars of the past always stood, and the tradition is still kept up now.
Historic Interest
Grade II listed, Historic England ref 1265122. Reputed to have been first licensed in 1623 and so the oldest such premises in Covent Garden, the building is one of the very few left in central London with a timber frame, dating from the early 18th century or possibly as early as 1688. However, much of what is visible is Georgian and the frontage is a 1958 rebuild. The pub used to be known as the Bucket of Blood because of the bare-fist fighting matches once held here. The source of the name Lamb and Flag has a religious basis. The Lamb in the pub name is from the Gospel of St. John: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world” and the Flag is that of St. George. Back in more modern times, in the early 1960s this was the pub used by the cast of the musical Oliver playing nearby, including cast member and Australian comedian Barry Humphries. Here he met Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, leading to a fruitful artistic relationship including the Barry McKenzie cartoon strip in the Cook-owned Private Eye magazine. Some further history of this site may be seen on the alondoninheritance.com website.
Three star - A pub interior of outstanding national historic importance
Listed status: II
This pub retains a lot of Victorian woodwork, and some even earlier, plus a partition that creates two separate rooms downstairs, as well as a separate dining room upstairs.
A pub of late 17th-century origin but re-fronted in 1958, it retains a fair amount of Victorian woodwork, and some earlier – see the closed in staircase. It still retains one partition that forms two bars but, sadly, another at the front left was removed in the early 1990s. Note the disembodied hand over the left-hand entrance pointing right to the public bar, thus confirming the front area would have been partitioned. The front bar retains an old panelled counter curved at the front with decorative brackets, and also cupboards said to allow access to the beer engines. The original bar back fitting features two large mirrors with decorative borders, old dado panelling on the walls, and leaded front windows.
The rear bar is partitioned off by a (now doorless) screen and contains some old half-height wall panelling. It has an old curving bar counter but plainer in style to the front bar one and looks inter-war. It has a fielded panelled fireplace, a good H & G Simonds Ltd mirror and settle pew seating in keeping with a traditional interior. Upstairs the Dryden Room also has old dado panelling at the rear, which was a separate room in the past. The bar counter with its decorative carved front looks like it could be an import but parts to the left and right are modern. The very good bar back with cut glass mirrors is modern. Opposite the counter is a fine three part mirrored mantelpiece (but no fireplace below) and there is a good settle at the front.
Popular pub of late 17th-century origin but re-fronted in 1958. Retains a fair amount of Victorian and (in, say, the closed-in staircase) earlier woodwork. Still retains one partition that forms two bars but, sadly, another at the front left was removed in the early 1990s. Note the disembodied hand over the left-hand entrance pointing right to the public bar, thus confirming the front area would have been partitioned. The front bar retains an old panelled counter curved at the front and with decorative brackets, also cupboards. The original bar back fitting features two large mirrors with decorative borders. Old dado panelling, black painted wooden floor and leaded front windows.
Rear bar partitioned off by a (now doorless) screen and containing some old half-height wall panelling and black painted wooden floored. It has an old curving bar counter but different style to the front bar one so looks inter-war. It has an unusual fielded panelled fireplace (date?), good H & G Simonds Ltd mirror and settle pew seating in keeping with a traditional interior. Upstairs the Dryden Room also has a bare wooden floor, old dado panelling at the rear, which was a separate room in the past. The bar counter with its decorative carved front looks like it could be an import but parts to the left and right are modern. The very good bar back with cut glass mirrors is modern. Opposite the counter is a fine three part mirrored mantelpiece but no fireplace below and there is a good settle at the front.
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This Pub serves 2 changing beers and 5 regular beers.
Lamb & Flag, London
Source: National
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