Rising Sun — Restaurant in London

Long before Covid-19, pubs in London faced a series of challenges: property development, increasing overheads, the high turnover of (mostly) EU staff, the lack of training or social mobility in staffing, the rise of Sky Sports monopolising the viewing of football, and making pubs pay for it….the list goes on. On a neighbourhood level, the lovely English boozer is always the focal point for whines about noise and alleged anti-social behaviour. It should, according to Star bars, be the place where loneliness is resolved….1 in 4 couples start their romantic lives in a bar. Why a neighbourhood would mind or resent the existence of the very building the housing was built around is God's Own Mystery….but not here. Back when The Gin Palace was created it was meant as a beautiful substitute for slum housing...where issuing tons of drink to a miserable and lowly population kept the really poor in a warm and blissfully inebriated place, mental and physical. Life however, has moved on and where pubs are used as a substitute for housing now, or as a refuge from poor relationships, it fails to fulfil an obligation towards community and locality. This bar is English to its very foundations and was granted its first licence when Dick Turpin was at large. It is fashioned on The Coaching Inn, though not on as grand a scale - nor with anything like the presence or history of The Swan with Two Necks in Holborn, or The George in Borough. Both these were so famous and important to the local economy that they were allowed to have their own mint. The Rising Sun is a rare thing, with a lovely beer garden, a function room for hire and a cosy front bar. It looks and feels like a bar in the Home Counties, but like a lot of unique spaces in London suffers from a bad management and a lack of foresight as to damage being done by surrounding bars with nothing like its charm and character, but with a nasty crossover in residents and staff. There is a culture here which is totally inappropriate to space with damaged lives spilling out into the streets and a big penchant for binge drinking. Over and over, the business has proved incapable of attracting new people on a regular basis, outside of the occasional tourist due to a handful of influential heavy drinkers dissuading the passer by or resident from parking themselves sufficient to call themselves a new regular. The place is totally controlled and influenced by the cross fertilisation between here and inferior Irish shop front bars in the High Street. This is totally inappropriate which gives the space the wrong culture. It means, it is in the wrong hands. Time and time again this has happened in London, when bit by bit areas have become Mayfair status without deserving it. The bar is thereby threatened to become a gastropub, that nasty of creatures which is a restaurant by definition. Rather than function as a warm space for the neighbourhood (there is no other pub for quite a large radius), it is a ‘Working Men’s bar’ - a space for a handful of folk to treat as their own to the complete alienation of anyone of class, gender or profession to enjoy. When a business such as this depends on the same people drinking to excess, it is a problem, not just for the neighbours, but the prospect of closure and identity theft from a corporate brand becomes a reality. If a bar has a larger than proportionate ratio of men to women and where those men sit for long periods sporting beer bellies or high visibility workwear, it stops being a bar/pub, but an extension of the will of a fistful of people. Any bar that serves customers to the point of harm should be avoided….and sadly it is the case here: a council estate bar with an acute aversion to intellectualism, real class and...

On entering the Rising Sun pub to access the Thai restaurant at the back (a separate entity), my teddy bear fur stiffened.

The pub staff clearly are not accustomed to a talking teddy on their territory; they all wore trout expressions on their faces!

However, our Thai Red vegetable curry was better that I had prejudged it would be. Vegetables with biting space were a pleasant surprise, when Thai food in pubs tends to be over-cooked slop.

I did suspect the red curry sauce was made from block and stock but it may have had enough additional flavor that rose it above.

Mummy had not looked at the rice on the menu but just asked for plain boiled as we both find it doesn't detract from the flavors of the food it accompanies. It turned out to be sticky rice which I am not over keen on. Thankfully this was not too sticky. The vegetable spring rolls were crispy with succulent filling.

Sitting at our paper table-clothed table, the empty restaurant was at least peaceful without music on. Suddenly, the airwaves were bombarded with pop music. Mummy (Autistic and sensitive to sound) asked if they could turn it off. We were the only people in there.

The man asked if she would like English music. She had not even noticed it wasn't English. It was just pop music and she finds that hard to stomach when eating. He indulged her with some light jazz-ish music when she asked do they have any light jazz or classical, and played it at a low volume. This was far more comfortable and conducive to dining.

I would maybe eat here again, if with Mummy's friend, who suggested it and lives nearby but not otherwise. Okay for what it is, it's not a touch on Som Saa, my favorite Thai haunt.

On exiting back through the pub, I bid the staff good night just to see the trout...

Rising Sun — A Pint of Comfort in Central London If a classic London pub could talk, Rising Sun would probably start with, “Pull up a chair, mate — I’ve got stories to tell.” Nestled on Tottenham Court Road, this spot isn’t just a place to grab a pint; it’s a little urban sanctuary where office chatter, tourist trails, and after-work musings converge.

Atmosphere: Think polished wood, warm lighting, and a timeless charm that feels like stepping into a Victorian postcard — gently updated for modern comfort. Sports screens are present but never intrusive, adding energy without drowning conversation.

Food: Honest British fare — fish & chips, burgers, Sunday roast. No culinary acrobatics, just solid, satisfying plates. Portions are generous, prices fair (£10–20 range), and vegetarians won’t feel like an afterthought.

Drinks: A respectable selection of beers, especially if you appreciate cask ales. The bartenders know their stuff and are happy to guide you toward something...